@ lindenska: I live in NY and plan to put my bananas in the ground. I bought Musa Basjoo. This banana will not only fruit, but it's supposed to be cold hardy as well. Mine says it grows to 10' more or less. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to proceed with mine as yet since I don't have a greenhouse. From what I've read, you could do one of 3 things, bring it in for the winter, cut down (it will regenerate again in the spring) or just leave it as is with some protection against the elements. Since mine is still quite small (only about 2 feet tall) and has several pups, I plan to re-pot and give away most of 'em save one or 2 in hopes of getting fruit. On bananas.org there's tons of info regarding growing nanners.

I see you have curry -- this is an adaptation of a Bon Appetit recipe. I have made it with chicken, pork (can't remember if it was a leftover cooked or uncooked pork loin). I think you could also use one or more beans for the protein and it would be yummy (black and garbanzo come to mind for some reason, but use what you like). I have pumpkin puree in the freezer but first made this with canned. Butternut squash comes prepped if that is easier for you -- or prep enough for several meals and have it already done. Pumpkin Shrimp (or whatever) Curry 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup sliced onion 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 plum tomato, chopped 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée 2 cups vegetable broth 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup butternut squash, roasted and diced 1 zucchini, sliced (or baby zukes if available) 1/2 cup or more green peas (fresh or frozen) 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice Steamed rice Cilantro Lime zest Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and ginger; sauté until soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in plum tomato and pumpkin purée; cook, stirring frequently, until pumpkin is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add vegetable broth, coconut milk, curry powder, and cayenne pepper; simmer for 20 minutes. Add butternut squash, zucchini, peas, shrimp, and lime juice. Simmer until shrimp are cooked and squash is warm. Serve with steamed rice. Top with cilantro and lime zest. Another good idea is to make a batch of marinara sauce and freeze portions you can put over pasta, something simple like stuffed zucchini (we're having it tonight), use it for pizza sauce. Meals in the freezer are a great way to maximize the benefit of your time in the kitchen and control cost. Even if you don't want to have the same meal over and over, roasting a whole chicken gives you a hot meal plus cooked meat that is ready when are. Veggies like pumpkin, butternut and other winter squashes are so nice to have on hand already prepped and they freeze well -- cooked or raw. When we had our kitchen redone, I cooked ground beef and froze it in ziploc bags. I seasoned some for tacos or taco salad and made sloppy joes with some. I had some cooked chicken and turkey. For me it was a good way to lessen the icky dishes I had to wash in the bathtub, but the same idea can make your time easier to manage with whatever proteins you use. Salads are a great way to eat this time of year -- some sliced meat, fish or chicken (a great way to use leftovers), beans or cheese with lettuce that's ready to go plus fruit or fresh veggies or not. Also things like a bean salad, pasta salad (can include beans, tuna or chicken), corn salad or other marinated salad. Most of those will make a nice lunch or casual supper -- but they don't freeze well, so you need to learn to make them with leftovers, what's on hand or other ways to keep the scale down. I tasted a bean salad at Trader Joe's today that was just 3 cans of different beans, a container of their prepared chopped veggies (broccoli, cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, radishes and celery in about 1/2 inch dice - easy enough to do yourself) and a bottle of Tuscan Italian Dressing. That and a Southwest Bean salad (made with salsa and lemon or lime juice for the dressing) are things I could eat a bowl of for a meal. If those appeal, let me know and I'll look up the recipes. Sandwiches and breakfast for dinner are usually both economical and on the quicker side. Also -- baked poatatoes, white or sweet. Athenian Stuffed Potatoes 4 8oz baking potatoes 1 6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts 2 tsp olive oil 1 onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced 1 red bell pepper, diced (I've used mixed reed,yellow and orange too) 1 tomato, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 c (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese 2 T minced kalamata olives 1 tsp dried oregano The recipe says to foil wrap and bake the potatoes at 375 for an hour, but knowing that you don't want a long hot bake, I will tell you that we have always cooked the potatoes in the micro and move on. Drain the artichoke hearts, reserving the liquid. Chop artichokes. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, peppers, tomato and garli. Saute about 8 min. Add artichokes, 1 T of the reserved marinade, cheese, olives and oregano. Saute 1 minute more or until thoroughly heated. Slit the cooked potatoes, fluff with fork and scoop 1 cup vegetable mixture into cavity. If you have leftover filling and don't want another potato, the filling is great tossed with pasta and grilled chicken or sausage -- though not vegetarian. I had a large group to feed this spring and doubled the filling, added a can of petite diced tomatoes, tossed it with pasta and served it with sliced grilled chicken and sausage on the side so we had a vegetarian and a non-chicken option. I liked all three variations. Hope that helps.

Eh, it's getting to be way too much trouble to even bother making pizza, now that I've thought about it this much. I think Elery should just make pizza when he's at his place and I'll go to Pizza King for the grandkids. Voted "Best Pizza in Big Rapids" for about 11 or 12 years in a row now, and owned by a neighbor next door to the farm. Mike Mohnke, he also owns/runs the local funeral home. I'm not asking him what makes his pizza so popular, LOL. Annie

This is a fun thread. I've had such a weird love/hate relationship with my new construction home. We bought the land over a year ago, then decided to put off building until Spring. Over the past fall and winter, I had so many misgivings about building the new home at all. We were staying in the same township, same school district, etc., but were building a bigger home on a much bigger lot - so money worries exacerbated the whole idea of the build, and the fact that I've never been totally in love with the new area (moved from NJ to NE PA 5-1/2 years ago) added to my misgivings. In March the build just sort of started up; I'd spent the winter in denial that we were really going through with it, and then in the midst of the build, it took us four solid months to sell our old house, so I was afraid to like the new house for fear that we would end up putting that one up for sale and see which one went first. We ultimately accepted our first and only offer in July, closed on both homes in September and moved in on Sept. 15. It actually felt comfortable and homey right away; it is a beautiful, large home, with a lot of acreage, and it helped that my daughters felt at home almost immediately as well. (Naturally, staying in the same community and same schools helped their transition immensely, and ours too.) Ironically, now that we have been in just over two months, I'm starting to discover things that I don't like about the house that I hadn't really focused on before. And I mean BIG things, like dh and I really aren't that in love with the two-story foyer (like that's ever going to change!), the fact that my daughters' bathroom is directly above the stairway and can be seen from the foyer and the huge window on the front wall (how did I not notice THAT gaffe in planning - I modified the home plan myself!). And small things, such as odd placement of light switches, closet shelves too high to be useful for my girls, etc. etc. My dh and I are so fortunate to be here, it is a great home on five acres on a cul-de-sac in a small, quiet, new community of only 20 homes, we have so much to be thankful for, but still . . . we both agree that new construction is great in that you can design things your way, and get everything brand-spankin' new, but it also allows for so much second-guessing and re-thinking and re-assessing, and you have only yourself to punish!