We have been enjoying Mediterranean and crock neck Squash since the end of June and still have more than my family can eat. Picked our first zucchini last week with more to come. Spinach did great this year and we enjoyed it up until the middle of this month when it finally bolted and seeded. We will be replanting a fall crop soon. We have a few varieties of loose leaf lettuce that we enjoyed all spring, it is still growing but has become bitter so we are periodically pulling it up and using it as chicken food, which they love. Peas are still going! I planted them under a shade tree and we still pick some on a daily basis. Pole beans are Giant and we should have some beans coming on soon. Kohlrabi we also planted i a shady area are starting to get large! well be picking them soon and replanting a fall crop. Chards are large but almost done. I have 15 Tomato plants and four varieties. The Romas are doing quite well, loaded with medium to small fruit right now and some are still blossoming. I have had some blossom drop due to the hot weather though but it hasn't really slowed the fruit from setting. The Celebrities are done blossoming and should start riping in the next couple of weeks. My old Germans are just now coming on strong.... I didn't get many early blooms but now that they are 6ft+ they are getting more and more and are closer together. I don't know if that's normal for that variety but the first blooms on both plants only had two flowers an neither one of them produced. the next set happened at about the 3.5 ft mark and they produced one each. the next group had twice as many flowers and have about 4 or 5 each and is get better the father up the plant you get.... it's strange but I have never grown this variety before. I have two Brandywines that I planted mid June, I rescued from D@B, they were half dead and very root bound. But they have done tremendously well after I transplanted them and trimmed them up. both are about 5 ft high now and are loaded with tomatoes. They just started setting fruit about two weeks ago and even the high temps didn't slow them down. It's been a good year all around so far for me.

Most of the time I use the Aunt Jamima mix where you do have to add egg, milk and oil. My kids don't care, but I do eat a couple and I don't like the texture of the "complete" mixes. But I am willing to try the Krusteaz complete mix if I see it next time. If I don't have any mix, I will make them from scratch. But I am just as likely to be out of one ingredient or the other. Sometimes I add stuff to the mix, like vanilla or fruit or cocoa. But once I reached for the vanilla and accidentally grabbed the peppermint extract. Didn't notice until they started cooking and smelled kinda different ;o) I let a kid try one, but we ended up throwing it out and starting over... from scratch, that was the last of the mix. DS spent the night with a friend a few weeks ago and his mom made pancakes "from a can that looks like whipped cream, you spray it on." Sure enough, next time I was in BJs I saw it, in a can you hold upside down and push the nozzle. So I agreed to try it. The kids still didn't care, but I thought it made tough pancakes, not fluffy. Last week I saw the same stuff featured on the Today Show with Kathy Lee and Hoda. I will not buy it again. That's my review: thumbs down.

I make it ahead of time and freeze it. Its delicious and frees the time after the turkey comes out to tend to other things. I found the recipe over on the cooking forum a couple of years ago. Makes about 2 quarts For more flavor, after roasting the turkey you can skim the drippings from the pan and add them to the gravy just before serving. It's best to discard the strong-tasting liver before using the giblets. This recipe makes enough to accompany a large turkey and still have plenty for leftovers. 6 turkey drumsticks, thighs, or wings reserved turkey giblets reserved turkey neck 2 carrots , chopped coarse 1 head garlic , halved 2 ribs celery , chopped coarse 2 onions , chopped coarse Vegetable oil spray 10cups low-sodium chicken broth 2 cups dry white wine 12 sprigs fresh thyme 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Table salt and ground black pepper 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place giblets, neck, drumsticks, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in roasting pan, spray with vegetable oil, and toss well. Roast, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 2. Transfer contents of roasting pan to Dutch oven. Add broth, wine, and thyme and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced by half, about 1 1/2 hours. Pour through fine-mesh strainer into large container (discard solids), cover stock with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until fat congeals, at least 2 hours. 3. Using soup spoon, skim fat and reserve. Heat 1/2 cup fat in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until bubbling. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until honey colored, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in stock, bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Gravy can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.) Reheat gravy in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling.

Thanks for all the answers, folks: I'm glad to hear from other bakers! Of all the breads I hear about here, plllog's are the ones that speak to me most. But, although, if I really set about it with determination and a decent financial investment, I might be able to get the tools and supplies necessary to make bread as I see described here, I'm not willing to do that. I live in the country in Italy, and 98% of my groceries come from our small local supermarket. There is no Costco. No Whole Foods. I have no store that offers rye flour, grain berries, molasses, bran, wheat germ, reasonably priced oatmeal, or a host of other ingredients for baking standard in the U.S. I don't like to drive, I don't like to run around, I'm reluctant to add to our terrible air pollution, and gas costs about $7 a gallon. Add to this the absolutely horrible dis-service offered by our post office-affiliated package delivery company, which, after my last traumatic experience, caused me to swear that I would never again order by mail anything that would have to be delivered through them (there are other couriers, if one has a choice). So I work with what I have. This suits me, from a philosophical and practical standpoint, and while it's likely possible to make better bread, mine makes me happy. I've gotten used to the fresh yeast, which is reliable, and I have a fair variety of recipes I've worked out. The last one was potato and buckwheat (I was able to find buckwheat flour again, thank goodness!) and it turned out really tasty. That one was majority whole grain, simply because I had run out of white, and that improved it. Plllog's comments make me think, again, about how much I could learn about bread baking. The "soaker" is new to me. Who knows, this may stimulate me to some modest experimentation. Like Annie, if I want substantial nourishing bread, I have to make it myself. The Italian bread is good with a bowl of beans and broth but it just doesn't work as standalone food. Add to this that Italians don't really eat breakfast, so there's not much of an offering of sturdy food for the start of the day. I think my tolerance of grain-based foods has diminished as I've grown older, and it may be that baking with a sponge, and adding a variety of ingredients improves the digestibility of my breads. My diet is relatively low in cereals--I eat them regularly, but in much smaller amounts than when I was younger--and I mostly eat bread as the centerpiece of breakfast. It powers me up! in the most satisfactory way. Today is the potato and buckwheat bread--we're on our last loaf; I'll have to make more. There's a non-sweet almond bread in the freezer, made with milk, olive oil, and lots of almonds. If it gets cold enough I might even want to try a sweet bread. I made one last year with raisins, fennel, and orange juice and peel that I remember as being good. The basic dough of that one was similar to that of the almond bread, made with milk and oil. The loaves made with fats don't need butter. All my breads are part whole-grain, usually one third, though I may try upping that in some cases.