But if they will turn to mush, I wonder if it's worth it. Has any tried freezing grated carrots for baked goods and had good results? Not if you understand how freezing works. ;) When thawed, the cell walls of the food rupture in anything that is frozen. That is why we switched to diced carrots as I said above. The larger the piece that is frozen the better the thawed texture will be - still soft but at least not mush. Abd the shorter the frozen time the better the thawed condition. So given what you want to use them for, freeze very large chunks and then thaw and grate the chunk when ready to use. Dave

George, It probably is. I will poke holes in bags of leaves on purpose to allow moisture and air flow. This process can create leaf mold just over the course of the winter, if it is a wet winter like we just had. Nothing has improved my soil more than the leaves. Yesterday I was scooping last year's pathway mulch, which was a combination of shredded leaves and lawn clippings, up out of the pathways and onto the tops of the raised beds. It all is decomposed, so dark brown, rich and crumbly. It always amazes me, even after all these years, that something as simple as shredded leaves and grass clippings layered into pathways all spring and summer will give me such beautiful compost for the next planting season. I never tire of the marvel of it all. Composting directly in the pathways is so much more efficiently than hauling stuff out to an official compost pile, waiting for it to break down, and then hauling it back to the beds, so during the growing season I drop weeds right into the mulched pathways where they decompose along with everything else. I still have an official compost pile too, but I've moved it inside the big garden so I don't have to spend as much time taking stuff to it. Jessaka, It really is too bad your sister doesn't live here. Think of how wonderful it would be to have all those leaves! Dawn

My carrot cake makes great muffins....or just freeze it in squares after baking in 2 8 by 8 pans. Carrot cake Julie TÂs 3 eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup buttermilk 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 tsps cinnamon 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 2 cups grated carrots 1/2 cup raisins chopped with 1 Tablespoon of flour Buttermilk glaze 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup butter 1 Tblsp light corn syrup 1 tsp vanilla Orange Cream Cheese Frosting 1/2 cup softened butter 4 oz softened cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp orange juice 1 tsp grated orange rind Preheat oven to 350 With a mixer Beat eggs, add oil and buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. beat to combine. Stir together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder and stir into batter. stir in pineapple, carrots and raisins. Pour into a greased 8 by 13 pan or 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes until set in the middle. Remove from the oven and immediatly spread with the buttermilk glaze. Cool completely and frost with the cream cheese frosting. Buttermilk glaze: In a medium sauce pan ( don't use a small pan) combine all ingredients but vanilla. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes stirring often...it will bubble a lot. It should be a light caramel color, stir in vanilla and pour over the cake Cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light add vanilla powd. sugar and juice and rind...beat until smooth and frost the cooled cake. Linda C

Hi Ladies, I appreciate all the responses. Only after I posted my query, I should have introduced myself. I frequent the Houseplant forum regularly, but often "lurk" on this one to get ideas and learn lots as well. Nothing has changed regarding my baking utensils or anything else. The thing that bothers me is my hubby gets requests from his co-workers for my muffins and butter-tarts. (They buy them). The other day was the first time it was noticed they were green, when the lady asked dh "what the green things were". If it were a zucchini muffin, that wouldn't be a problem, but they were carrot-bran with buttermilk powder. I honestly don't know what to do except go back to using buttermilk and see if it corrects itself (which it should). The powder is so much more convenient when I get sudden orders from his work which happens often. Sherry