If a dog eats a lot of fats he will get fat and may have heart disease. Seriously dogs do get the same problems people get. You can actually put it the green bin to take away to the city compost dump, which is a big dump and all foods are ok in it, they say. That keeps it out of land fills. But, if it is large amounts of used cooking oil it can go to whole foods for recycling into bio diesel. But, I did stop composting chickens and turkeys because it made my dog too obessed with the compost. He was trying to eat my pile when I took it out of the bin for turning. He had to be locked in the house and barked the whole time. I used to have a dog who would eat young compost and then throw up yellow bile. It was a problem, I had to age my compost longer and I was not even composting chickens back then. I also had one who would never touch compost ever. He was a good dog for me. Dogs vary on their levels of compost consuming.

Boy, does that sound like a fun program! Here is a recipe I LOVE. I love cabbage, apples, and caraway together, so I searched for recipes on line and finally selected this one, printed it, made it, and filed it away with my own comments and changes. Then I forgot I had it, and went through the process all over again a couple of weeks ago, searching, selecting, and printing. When I went to put the new recipe in the file, I laughed to see that it was the SAME one I had printed out last time -- and I had made the SAME notes and changes! Both times I had felt the dish needed both more caraway and some sweetness, for which I added concord grape wine, which made it perfect, in my opinion. It made the flavor much more complex. I will give you the recipe as I found it, with my changes in brackets. This recipe doesn't have bacon (no recipe you ever get from me will!), but you can probably add some if you like. Warm Red Cabbage, Red Onion, and Apple Slaw 5 T extra-virgin (only) olive oil 3 T balsamic vinegar [I like more] [a good splash of very sweet red wine, or maybe try some grape jelly or brown sugar] 1/2 head red cabbage [I used white once and it was fine] 1 large red onion [I used white once and it was fine] cut into 8 wedges [I cut it smaller] 1 t caraway seeds [I think it needs a lot more] 2 Granny Smith (or any tart) apples cored and cut into 8 wedges [I cut it into smaller pieces] salt and pepper to taste 1. Cut out the core of the cabbage and cut the cabbage into small pieces [I shred it] 2. Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. 3. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. 4. Add the cabbage, apples, caraway seeds, and vinegar [and wine or sugar]. Stir well. 5. Cook, uncovered, 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. 6. Season to taste with salt and pepper when the cabbage is soft. 7. Transfer to serving bowl and serve immediately [I found it just fine serving it later].

I like sugar or honey in some of my vinaigrette (I checked the spelling on this one!). It depends on what I am putting it over or with as much as it does what I feel like at different times. My favorite vinaigrettes are ones that use various different vinegars too, but I think the oil can be the star too. I like Walnut Oil very much. And, I like to mix oils. I will mix a rich fruity olive oil with a basic vegetable oil to get the flavor but not overpower my greens or whatever foods I am using the vinaigrette. I have always thought that the basic portions for oil and vinegar was 2/3 oil and 1/3 vinegar. But, I will do whatever tastes best to me and sometimes that is the right mix and sometimes I will do a half and half. I also like to mix mustards in my vinaigrettes. I like to add various herbs too. One of the best vinaigrettes I made was for a salad that had greens and fruit with nuts in it. I got wild and added feta cheese, buckwheat honey, and orange zest. It was wowzer for flavor! I have added cilantro, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, lots and lots of sweet basil, (not all together, separate usually), and even added a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon with walnut oil and rice wine vinegar over a salad that had baby greens and tiny cream cheese/goat cheese balls in it. My neighbor takes an envelope of Hidden Valley and does an oil and vinegar dressing with it and tosses in lots of chopped raw vegetables and everyone gobbles it up at our block party pot-lucks. It is really, really good! I guess the trick is to know what you like and to maybe start with the rule of thumb that says, 1/3 volume of vinegar and 2/3 volume of oil.. whether that is in cups, teaspoons, or shot glasses as measuring tools!

I have one cast iron kettle that I use as a deep fryer, trsinc. I use shortening in that one (Crisco, that is) and it works out just fine. It keeps through many uses before needing to be replaced. For non-deep frying the way Bumblebeez does, I've usually used peanut oil. Lately I've been using the Palm Oil shortening for those applications. But long term that can get expensive (cost me almost 7 bucks for a 24-oz tub). Once I use up what I have I will most likely not replace it. I'm surprised you can't find peanut oil. It's one of the commonest. Most supermarkets carry it. Is there a Walmart or Kroger near you? I know you can get it there. Barring that, however, you can use corn oil (the #1 oil sold in America). Until Canola started making inroads, corn oil was the most likely vegetable oil on grocery shelves. If you're eliminating the use of Canola, do not buy any of the ones that say "mixed oils" or "blended vegetable oils" or something like that without first reading the label. Most of those blends are Canola and something.