Having a 2 year old around for Christmas sure makes things exciting! She loves candy and it was hard to keep her out of it. She got a oak doll cradle from my parents. The first thing she did was take the blanket and pillow out and sit in it and rock herself. She would like to wish all the Idylls a "Merry Missmas" :o) I forgot my camera at my parents house. I'll have to post some pictures later. Jerri, I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. How great that she didn't have to be in a nursing home. Cynthia, great to hear from you. Deanne, I love the Christmas card. The cardinal is just perfect in the wreath. Eden, your cookies look delicous and the silver trays are a nice touch. It looks like Bella is enjoying Christmas and it is so great so see your mom doing well. Jennie and BF make a handsome couple. Norma, no snow here either. That is our grove last winter. Mary, your sister will love the bag. Mine is black with a purple stripe and some purple beads. It is very special to me. Enjoy! Michelle

Gravy is easy, Jeff. Just cook your cheap cut of pork or beef (cheaper the better) in a crock pot all day with the veggies you like (esp onion, carrot, leek, etc), a little water, and 2 bullion (SP?) cubes. At the end, take out the meat and put the rest in the blender with 3 tsp of corn starch (and 3 tsp of sour cream if you like it). I have a "blender on a stick gadget now' so it's even easier. Voila! Healthy gravy. Put the meat back in - you won't have to carve it, it will fall into chunks. My boys have been slurping it down over rice, usually with cornbread crumbled on top for years, and they don't even know it's how I sneak in extra veggies on them. Incidentally, the same recipe using either barbeque sauce with the meat or water/tomato sauce/chilli powder/onions with the meat makes rat BBQ beef/pork or chili. Lazy cook ---> she's out in the garden.

I was born in VT. Many of my mothers relatives lived there too. A couple of years ago, I was in Burlington VT visiting an uncle, and found a shop that sells cheese ends. Basically, they are bits, chunks, and all shapes and sizes of Cabot cheeses. The cost per pound was only about $2, but that was because they had several different cheddar chunks all clumped together. I bought about 8 pounds and it took a while to use it all up. I make a 'mean' mac and cheese, and use a bit of mustard powder as well as onions, and some Velveta to get it to be a bit more creamy. I mix in some no fat milk, along with a big dollop of margerine. Its mostly Cabot chedddars though, and is a real 'comfort' food. Mixed with some bits of cooked hamburg, you now have even more flavor and texture. There is a specific brand and type of pasta I use, which is a bit larger than regular elbows, and it gets cheese inside each elbow, its a 'casserole' type pasta.. Yum! An interesting thing about pepper, is that once its freshly ground and added as a meat rub and baked, the 'heat' will deminish. Tellicherry peppercorns are one of the best there is. I make an 'egg mcmuffin' with eggs, either homemade sausage patties, or slices of home made Canadian bacon. These are placed bewteen a split, toasted English muffin, with a slice of American cheese. I have a round metal ring form that I use to make the egg portion, and use both the 'Egg Beaters' product, but also add some powdered egg. It cooks up much firmer and holds up better to freezing. I use 6 inch wide FS bags and then freeze them. When I want one, its an easy thing to leave sealed, and allow it to heat in the microwave for about a minute. I flip it over and continue to thaw/heat it. The bag will expand and pop open due to steam buildup. Once that happens its usually done. The popping of the plastic bag can be heard, but doesn't seem to explode any of the contents inside the microwave. Only problem I see is that becaue of the intense heat, the muffins (which contain gluten) will firm up, making for a very chewy muffin, kind of like a bagel. If I want it to be a bit more tender, its removed from the plastic bag, and is wrapped in a paper towel and heated a bit slower, with about 40 second intervals while flipping it over a couple of times. A 1000 watt microwave is what I have, so your results may differ. Both the eggs and cheese are fine when frozen and thawed, and I even see a bit more moisture coming from the egg part, so thats a good sign.

"The whole point of these posts is to ADD to the file of information. By dismissing someone else's process or by stating one's own process as THE ONE AND ONLY way of doing things discourages many from participating in this forum, in the least, and encourages others to be demeaning and distractive, at the worst." Again WOW! I thought I was simply participating. Was not trying to "put down" or "dismiss" your method of baking ribs, and I am sorry you chose to take it that way. Lighten up sweetie! This is CYBER SPACE :)