I've only dried rose petals once. When my MIL died I went to her rose garden, picked all the fragrant varieties and created "Rene's Country Rose Garden Potpourri" which I put in some of her antique bail canning jars and gave all the children, grandchildren and greats for Christmas. I dried them outside on screens. A dehydrator or oven will tend to inhibit the delicate scent. Even then I did add just a few drops of essence of rose, but for culinary uses that shouldn't be necessary. I found a discussion of drying rose petals on the dried and pressed flowers forum. Check the link below. P.S. for your meals, don't forget the Persian tea. I got this recipe from a young Iranian woman: 1 part "light" black tea (i.e. not assertive like Irish breakfast) and 1 part Darjeeling. Brew with crushed green cardamom and a splash of rosewater to taste. Be sure to get the right brand of rosewater. Some taste like soap. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Drying Rose Petals

Thank you, Annie, for that tip ... my kid loves almond-cookie, so I will get the almond extract. Thank you, Cloud_Swift, for the info. on Spice House to save money. Thank you, pkramer, for that tip on Rosemary indoor. It died on me last winter. I grew up near Grand Rapids MI. Now I'm in Chicago's suburb, zone 5a, much colder than zone 5b in MI. What I grew in the summer was probably Russian Tarragon ... no smell whatsoever. The right thyme also makes a big difference ... so I make sure that pinch off a leaf to sniff before buying the herb. I'm lucky to have a sage brush that survived zone 5a winters for the past decade. I sun-dried the sage leaves in the fall ... great flavor, no sage-spice can beat. One year I used Organic Spice's Hunter Herbes de Province, that gave good flavor to all my soups. Then I bought some cheap brand recently, and it stank up my entire pot. I bought "Imitation Vanilla" last year, and it had a weird & odd chemical smell, so I threw the whole bottle away. The real vanilla is what matters. A friend gave me Organic Extra virgin Coconut oil Nutiva brand. I used 2 tablespoon of that in making granola. The fresh coconut smell perfumed the entire house, and the granola was absolutely delicious. In contrast, the coconut milk I bought from Trader's Joe, or Oriental Market has this "soapy" flavor from stale coconut, or else it's so loaded with sulfites or potassium sorbate(chemical preservatives) ... that I break out in rash. I quit using coconut milk a long time ago ... so glad to find Nutiva's extra-virgin coconut oil with the most intense, delightful fresh coconut essence. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jan 10, 14 at 23:33

There are a number of low-sodium members who have a lot of great information and have freely shared it in the past - as posted above. I always suggest sticking to whole foods and skip the processed foods as the quickest way to avoided added sodium in your food. You can instantly cut sodium by using less of something. You can make a grilled cheese sandwich with half of a slice of cheese. Or better yet, find a low-sodium cheese and use grated cheese - about 1/4-1/2 ounce. You can use a stick of mozzarella string cheese (170 mg. sodium) and grate it for topping a 12-inch homemade pizza. Or, grate 1/4 of a stick of mozzarella string cheese (42.5 mg sodium), and that is enough for a grilled sandwich, or as a topping for any Mexican entrée, Italian entrée, salads, etc. A trip to your local library and you will find any number of low-sodium cookbooks if you need inspiration and some new recipes. I also like to have nutritional information for recipes printed in cookbooks, and can adjust them accordingly to lower the sodium, if necessary. I'm a big fan of Salt-Free Mrs. Dash seasoning blends and use them for all kinds of things. I make potato chips and sweet potato chips in the microwave - no added salt. I dehydrate zucchini slices with Mrs. Dash Salt-Free seasoning blends on them for a chip substitute. I also use a lot of herbs (fresh and dried) out of my garden. I use Coconut Aminos because it is soy-free and less sodium than soy sauce. In order to avoid added sodium in tomato products, I use low-sodium tomato powder (The Spice House and other sources on-line) and make tomato sauce and tomato paste, pizza sauce, pasta sauce, and can even make ketchup and bbq sauce with a few pantry ingredients. Some commercial low-sodium products just have too many questionable ingredients in them - even if they ARE low-sodium. Better off making your own! Make sure you have some Hain Sodium-free Baking Powder, and ENER-G Baking Soda (double the amount to substitute for regular baking soda) for low-sodium baking. Try making your own vegetable, beef, and chicken broth - they are far tastier than store-bought. I use homemade broth I freeze in cubes to make a quick pan sauce. Melt a couple beef or chicken cubes and bring to a simmer. Add a pat of unsalted butter and heat through. The butter will lightly thicken the broth - no additional thickener needed. Add some herbs or spices, but cracked pepper may be all it needs. For a Type II diabetic, the less high-glycemic foods, like flour, the better. Try using almond flour and coconut flour in baked goods, instead of high-glycemic wheat flour. Go wheat-free..... I try to make 3 new recipes each week, so that helps keep me interested in new dishes and new ways to make old favorites. Another thing.... it's a LOW sodium diet, not a NO sodium diet. We all require some sodium in our diet to function properly. I'd just rather have it naturally-occurring in real food (even if it's just a small amount for flavor). I'd suggest skipping the low-sodium salt products, which can cause a whole bunch of other issues. Get creative.... Can't have celery? Use celery seed for lots of celery flavor. Lemon and lime juice are your "friends", OR True Lemon and True Lime crystalized lemon and lime product which has 0-mg of sodium and lots of flavor. Make low-sodium breads and baked goods - especially those made with coconut flour and almond flour. Good luck on your search! -Grainlady

They have super online service. Just opened a box last week... double strength vanilla, cardamon pods, and a dozen small glass spice jars I needed for another project. Love to see the cataloge arrive in the mail! I share them around at work because they have recipes. This is a very rural area and most "exotic" spices have to be purchased online.