You can split the anaheims in half, remove stem, seeds and membrane. Place on a lined cookie sheet, skin side up and broil until skins are black (alternately, you can grill them). Cover and let cool (I use foil and a kitchen towel). Peel, chop and freeze for "Mild Chilis" all winter. You can freeze bell peppers whole, halved or chopped for use in cooked dishes. Or can them. I just made pickled jalapenos, banana and anaheim peppers (separately, not mixed together). Congrats on your gift!! Be sure to post and tell us what you do with all of them! Those type of gitfts are my favorite kind too. Something I love and it's useful! My FIL hit the mark one year when he brought me all the sawdust and small branches from trimming his mesquite tree in Arizona. I've made some delicious smoked meats from something most would consider trash! Deanna

This may be more fussy than you want but I'll toss it out anyway. I make easy homemade, cheese-filled pretzels. I bought some from QVC years ago & we loved them so I started making them at home...easy. Make pizza dough. Tear off chunks of dough & roll into long strips about 1/2" wide. Take your rolling pin back/forth a couple times to flatten the strips. Brush strip with pizza sauce (lots of basil!) & sprinkle with a bit of mozz cheese. Roll up the strip as for cinn buns. Cut into 10" strips using kitchen shears. Then, loop each strip so it looks like one of the breast cancer awareness ribbons. Dab a bit of egg white where the loop crosses over the strip & push the top down a bit to adher. Brush the strips with olive oil infused w/garlic & then sprinkle with pretzel salt (available from KA). Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. If you need a pretzel dough recipe, I'll be glad to post. Yum. Pizza Pretzels! /tricia

Cherry Republic (Glen Arbor, MI) has wonderful food gifts. They have all products containing Traverse City cherries .... and everything is absolutely delicious!!! Their Cherry Salsa is EXCELLENT. I have bought it by the case and have seen others do that also. They have cherry chocolates, pretzels, granola, peanut butter, etc., etc., etc. AND, if, you visit one of their stores, they are very generous with their samples ... oh, and they have fun clothes too. jody Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry Republic

How true! I try to provide something nice to eat for guests with particular needs, and when I'm a guest, I try to eat what's in front of me, if it won't kill me. The last thing I want to do is cause a stir or make a hostess who has worked hard to make a nice table uncomfortable. I talk about food allergies a lot more here than I do IRL, partly to bring it into the conversation. OTOH, I've learned that going along with the Thai idea, and just finding the one thing on the menu that doesn't have fish or coconut can also upset one's companions, who would rather have gone elsewhere if they knew I was allergic. Those are the same people who really didn't want to go anywhere but Thai, so I guess you can't win for losing, but either way, I try not to make a big deal of it. Re the OP, I forgot to say: I don't do fake food. I'm happy to eat a seitan burger which tastes like seitan. I was at a very fancy, very pricey Vegan restaurant once where everything was named for its non-vegan counterparts. Some of it was very good--especially a cashew "cheese" which wasn't cheeselike at all (unlike, for instance, the almond milk "cheese" slices, or soy cheddar, that's cheap at the grocery store, which is fairly cheeselike if you squint and don't try to melt it. I don't like those, but at least they're actually cheeselike, whereas the good stuff at the restaurant was shaped like a round of goat cheese, but a gray cashew color, and the consistency and texture of margarine, though it tasted fantastic). OTOH, they had an abysmal sticky wad of congealed mess that they called "risotto" which was nothing at all like a proper risotto. You can make risotto with just water and a little seasoning--vegan to the max--let alone what could be done with a good veggie stock, so it's not the veganness of it that made it bad but the utter incomprehension of the cook as to what it was supposed to be, trying too hard to make a "vegan" version. (Hint: If you have to add cream or cheese to your risotto to make it "creamy", you're doing it wrong. It's the shed starch that gives it it's signature texture.) I love Buffalo cauliflower "wings" aren't trying to be chicken. At one local vegan place, they're fantastic. Much better than Buffalo chicken wings, IMHO. But while the pieces are cut to a similar size as wing pieces, that's the only resemblance to their chicken counterparts. They look and taste like cauliflower. The exception to all this is one little hole in the wall place which serves the vegan analogs of popular dishes in the traditional style of their homeland. I think it's Thailand. That vicinity for sure. They use soy products and TVP, and do call things "chicken" and other meats, and the flavor is reminiscent of those things, though the whole menu is vegan. They have the benefit of cultural knowledge and practice making their dishes good, rather than just someone who cares more about what he's not eating than what it tastes like throwing together a few bits and calling it "meaty". Of course, one also gets a lot of lovely vegetables which are the stars, rather than the TVP, and one is less demanding of a cheap lunch joint than a fancy dancy schmancy restaurant. So, no, I'm not making pretend foods at home, since I can barely tolerate them out. :) And I'm not buying fancy ingredients for them. Better to liven them up with real food flavors like onions, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce, pickles, etc. OTOH, if you want to try, why not? You'll never know until you try!