If you are in Harris County, then I would suggest you to visit this website, Harris County Extension, which explains alots about suitable plants in this area. http://harris-tx.tamu.edu/hort/pubs/vegherb.htm I live in Katy, west of Houston, and about 100 yards South of Harris County. I did buy Brussels Sprout plant about a month ago but returned because they would take about 100 days to get matured. It will be too hot by the time BS to be big, so it did not work for me for now. I had BS planted last autumn and they were ok, not enough harvest but very they were tasty. I understood why they were expensive. Generally speaking, I would plant veggies like this: Feb: Snap Pea seed - I try to get bush type due to the space issue. Mustard green seed - I forgot the name of variety, but this one is very easy to germinate & grow. Spinach seed - I tried Melody and it was good. Carrot seed - I try to get short type due to the space issue. Beg to Mid March: Onion plants - My hubby likes Sweet Onion and Purple onion, so that's we get, and they came from either W-Mart, Lowes, or HD. Green (or yellow or purple) bean seed - So far, any bush type bean equally did well. I like yellow bean. Lima bean seed Swiss chard seed Carrot seed *Seeds are inexpensive, so if they die due to the late frost, I will put more seeds. Mid March after frost: Tomato plants - Celebrity worked good, have not tried other variety yet. Green pepper plants - I can not remember the variety, but they came from either W-Mart, Lowes, or HD Cantaloupe plant - I can not remember the variety, but it came from W-Mart. Cucumber plant - I can not remember the variety, but it came from W-Mart. Raddish seed Cucumber seed Sep or Oct (when the store start carrying the plants): Broccoli plant - I can not remember the variety, but they came from either W-Mart, Lowes, or HD. Brussels Sprout plant - I can not remember the variety, but it came from HD. Garlic Green (or yellow or purple) bean seed Oct: Snap Pea seed Mustard green seed Spinach seed Carrot seed Cabbage seed I strongly recommend to try to grow carrot. All of the homegrown veggies taste stronger and better than the store bought. But the carrot are incredibly better - they are almost a completely different food. Good luck!

Hre's the one I use....never EVER had a better one nor one nearly as good. Note the buttermilk and the lower amount of oil than is usual in a carrot cake....and the glaze! Oh my! the Glaze! 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.

Glenda this is tried and true by me, who doesn't like to fool around much with desserts so if I can do it, anybody can! Sol's recipes are all great - as are Marilyns! Molten Lava Cakes -Sol ½ pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped ½ pound butter 6 whole eggs, room temperature 1 ½ cups sugar ½ cup flour Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter the bottom and sides of 8 6-ounce ramekins and sprinkle with baking cocoa, tap to remove excess cocoa. Set aside. In the top of a double boiler or in a microwave, gently, melt the chocolate and butter. Whisk until completely melted. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour until just blended. Gradually whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Evenly divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are firm and beginning to crack and the edges are set. Remove from oven and serve immediately, with ice cream, your favorite chocolate sauce, a few chocolate-covered coffee beans and giddyap baby!. I can almost feel my zippy-self coming back to life, just thinking 'bout it ;-à Note: I didn't use ramekins. Instead I used mini wonder-molds for these cakes 'cause I liked their shape. These molds are quite a bit larger than the ramekins, so for me, this recipe only yielded 5 servings. Chocolate Sauce 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1/3 cup light corn syrup 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or liqueur Heat the cream, sugar, salt and corn syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Allow to stand a few minutes until the chocolate has melted, then whisk gently until smooth. Whisk in vanilla or liqueur. Note ~ I know you love Valrhona, so do I. But for this, I used Lindt because it's another favorite, and it's what I always have around. As long as the chocolate tastes good and the texture is silky to begin, then it'll be a good candidate for this sauce. If you end up using another type of chocolate and you notice tiny lumps in your finished product, don't panic. Just strain the chocolate mixture through a fine sieve, it'll be fine.

Same here, deamn, concerning the chocolate cake with Miracle Whip. We call it Salad Dressing cake, and it has been my family's favorite chocolate cake for at least 30 years. We even use the recipe in a bundt pan sometimes and top each slice with Cool Whip instead of frosting. Moist and wonderful! I bet it would also work great for the carrot cake and biscuits mentioned in the other posts.