OhioMom : I told Kathleen last week, that You don't have to give up food for Lent. It is just the sacrificing, for the things you like to do. When I glanced, I thought you were giving up love, til I reread. Now that's a sacrifice, although I guess for some of us it would'nt be. Makes it a lot easier for Lent though. I don't worry it to much, because I'm always Sacrificing myself here. Testing recipes,to be sure they are safe. I don't know how many times, I put my life in Jeopardy, doing this for you women. Lee: All kinds of things come into my mind. Really, I have a lot of cake mixes and wanted to use some of them up. It would have been easier, just to bake a Yellow Cake but that isn't very creative. I'm glad I did, because I came up with something good and it's easy. Kathleen: Someday, I'm going to sing " Danny Boy " to you. I'm the best, Italian, Irish, Tenor in North America. End wieth aein Iiierish Brooogue, ie'll ave ye !!! When I rolled the Dough into a Log, I had a lot left over. So, I took pieces from it, to fill in the larger spaces, as can be seen, in the Photo. Just stuff them in. I let it rise a little and the Rolls all filled in solid, before I Bake them. I may try dried fruit next time, or just use Raisins and Nuts. Because it was a little soft under the Apples. Was I nice enough !!!! LOU

Thank you, Dr. Henry, for that paper on toxic GM-effects on goats. Corn & soybean & canola & cottonseed are genetically modified, the Republic Magazine stated that other grains are safe: "Other than corn, no GM grains are sold on the market. Look for 100-percent wheat pasta, couscous, rice, quinoa, oats, barley, sorghum, and dried beans (except soybeans). Most GM ingredients are products made from the “Big Four:” corn, soybeans, canola, and cottonseed. Sugar beets and 50% of Hawaii papaya are genetically modified." **** from Straw: That's why I buy sugar-cane products, rather than sugar made from beets. I fed my kid those Pepperidge Farm cookies (made from cottonseed oil) and she broke out in rashes and scratched herself bloody. I ate those cookies and had the worst hayfever: runny nose & sneezing. Went shopping yesterday: They had strawberries for $2.50 versus organic strawberries for $3.45. I sniffed both: the organic strawberries was more fragrant, versus the regular with a slight chemical scent. After sniffing both for several times, my nose was in pain (I stuck my nose too close). I realized that it's the pesticides sprayed on that inflamed my nose. My nose burned for hours afterwards Two years ago I tasted grape at the store, and had a tummy ache. Strawberries is known for the most pesticides I'm very sadden by UK’s Daily Mail report that an estimated 125,000 farmers in India have committed suicide because of crop failure and massive debt since planting GM seeds. Recent Center for Human Rights and Global Justice report: "Indian farmers bought genetically modified Bollgard Bt cotton seeds from the Gates Foundation-backed Monsanto corporation ... 85 percent of cotton grown in India being Monsanto-controlled Bt cotton by 2009. However, the seeds were expensive, and spiralling prices (coupled with planting restrictions from the multinationals selling the seeds) led farmers to hefty loans. Almost 300,000 cotton workers have committed suicide to date, some of them by drinking the same insecticides they were sold by multinationals." From Straw: Years ago I watched a documentary film "Seeds of deception" where Mexican agriculture scientists voiced concern with GM seeds corrupting the bio-diversity of local seeds, which are well-adapted to drought and adverse local conditions. Dr. Frank Lipman, from http://www.drfranklipman.com/basic-questions-on-gmos/ stated, "The major benefit of all commercial GMO’s is that they are bred to either tolerate direct application of herbicides and/or have the ability to produce their own pesticides. They have not been bred to increase yield, become drought tolerant, improve nutrition or to have any other benefit to the consumer. So at present they have no health benefit, their benefits are purely economic." *** From Straw: It's about power, money, and control. Politics and economic factors are factors, besides ill health. The vindictive dirt-throwing, defamation attacks against international scientists, and bullying tactics of big corporations made me more sick than the ill-effects of GM-foods. We are saved from our wheat being genetically-modified, thanks to the farmers voicing concerns that our wheat can't be exported, if genetically modified. More from Dr. Lipman: "In Europe, over 175 regions and over 4500 municipalities have declared themselves GM-free zones. And in 2009, Germany along with France, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Austria, Poland and Romania banned Monsanto’s MON 810 GM corn because of its documented dangers to biodiversity and human health. Additionally, states in Australia, regions in New Zealand and Brazil and the countries like Venezuela, Zambia, Sudan, Angola and others, all want to be GM-free.The balanced reporting of the press in Europe of the dangers of GMO’s made a significant contribution to the decision to reject GMO’s. Below link is a detailed list from Republic Magazine on which foods are GM-tainted: Here is a link that might be useful: List of GM foods vs. non-GM This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 15:06

I tried posting this yesterday and got some kind of maintenance page, so I know this is late. AM, King Arthur Flour sells the cinnamon chips (see link below). I'm sure other online sellers do also, but that's where I usually get them. I've never seen them in stores. That doesn't mean they aren't available, but the selection of baking items is pretty skimpy in my neighborhood. Annie, we have 3 sugar maples along the front road, and if I were to guess, those are probably the only sugar maples for a 100 miles. My DH found them root-bound and neglected in an overgrown "no-man's-land" at the back of an old nursery owned by an elderly gentleman. I doubt tapping those would yield more than a teaspoon. Not to mention we've had almost no cold weather this winter. The crocuses are up and the ornamental cherries and plums are blooming. Hardly ideal for maple-sugaring. Thank goodness for Trader Joe's and the lovely (and well-priced) Grade B maple syrup they offer from our Canadian neighbors. Costco's I haven't tried. Since there are no children in the house, even with baking maple syrup lasts a long time here. Definitely OT, but I'm remembering the homemade pancake syrup we made when I was a child. I think it was some mixture of brown sugar, white sugar, water and Watkins maple flavoring. Karo has its uses, as Annie mentioned, especially for candy-making. I use a small amount in maraschino cherries to prevent the syrup from crystallizing and the same in some fudge recipes. Carol

Oh, no! Bad sentence on my part. Southern California. We had a wonderful Syrian bakery that made brilliant pita. I still miss them. My heart breaks for what has happened there, but I've never been to Syria. You haven't said why you're eschewing "enriched flour" and don't need to, but white flour products are required by law to use vitamin enriched flour, and even most home baking white flour (bleached or unbleached) is enriched and has a little malted barley flour in it as well, which has a lot of an enzyme that's needed for rising. Unless you have a specific problem with one or more of the vitamins or the barley, the enrichment shouldn't be a problem. Maybe you're just concerned that there's white flour in there. White flour is often added to whole wheat flour to make the rise spongier. Sometimes vital wheat gluten is added to strengthen the gluten (the bran in the whole wheat can weaken or cut it). Wheat gluten can be isolated by hand by washing the wheat and kneading out the starch, and has been done for centuries, so it's not a weird industrial product. Anything that's made with white flour in the U.S. uses enriched flour. There may be some places that mill and sift their own flours that do not, but that's an extremely rare exception. Therefore, I would guarantee that the Lebanese pita are made with enriched flour. The thinner thing is probably a lack of leavening. Even in the Middle East, nowadays, the pita have leavening and are a bit spongy. That's not traditional. :) I haven't seen Kontos, and I'd guess it's an East Coast brand. I don't doubt that it's good! Whole Foods might be a better place to get 100% whole wheat, however, unless you can find a Middle Eastern or halal store where people are into the "new" kind of dietary laws (no white flour, pasture raise livestock, etc.). Maybe try stores near the colleges? College kids tend to be into better eating. Turlock is from California. I know they freeze to ship it to avoid preservatives, so you might find it there, but more likely the Whole Foods have something local. Good luck on your quest.