Plenty of ideas, recipes, and uses for all vegetables. It takes a bit of time to read through the many hundreds of threads and posts. Here, I must harvest my cukes every day, or they will not produce. Luckily, I decided early on what vegetables I want to grow, and how many plants of each. A good for instance is broccoli, and leeaf lettuce. Broccoli is now all harvested, except for a few small flowerettes here an there. The leaf lettuce I grew are about 7 dufferent types , all of which have very close naturity dates. I have picked about 25 pounds of it and have given a lot away to friends and neighbors. Because of the success of the letce, I planted more seeds in the beginning of July, these are just now showing several leaves. For squash, none ths year, but my favorite is butterup types. Things like crooked neck summer squash are good too, but if I plant them, there would only be a few, so I am not overwhelmed. I did post an note about making cucumber sandwiches, and I am sure the kids would love these on a hot summer day. You have lucked out and have been fortunate enough to get produce that would definately save you money later on. As payback to the generous people, I must assume that your going to give them some of your home canned items, or other things. If you can't pick yourself, maybe a pick your own by the customer would help. My apples are just now starting to ripen and, I do plan to make something out of them, when the weather is cool enough, I also have garage sales, which help to reduce my over abundence. Because I do can, some of the older canned items are also offered in my sales. Most are simply tomato sauce and pickles.

Hello ladies and happy every Holiday I missed. To those of you who do know me, I am back and mentally back on track (I think). To those of you who don't, well I was I am a member, love everyone here. Went away to do some great mission work and had some very tragic things happen. Many hours of therapy later, and actually returning to the Dominican I think I have healed, I am not bitter, sad, or frightened to leave my house any more. I am able to talk about it and I feel that I can share with postive feelings now. But enough of that. Am I to late for April? Please tell me that I can play in April? Max is 4 and we just looked at Co-op preschool. HE is a mama's boy and didn't want to go to big boy school yet. Maryanne~ I have a box for you that I need to send, but um lost your address.. So Merry Christmas when it comes. Ahh. I just don't know what to say or who to say it to because I am scared I will leave someone out. I tried to read as many posts as my brain can handle, but I am sure that I will need some help. Babies and ornaments, tornados and ahhh.. I am not in Kansas anymore. Please feel free to email me with any personals that you'd love to share. I apologize for being gone so long. If there is anything that you want to know email me. If I need to re-join let me know if there is room. Mayanne_ my big sis.. I hope all is well, miss you and thanks for all your support thru this, even though I was a bad lil sis and became an introvert. But guess what? I am back and better. Missed you all Laura.... beans

Stacie, I love that your kids are such good eaters. Ilene, I could be wrong, but I thought that it was best to avoid peanuts and peanut butter during pregnancy. There is some connection to Asthma and peanuts, peanut butter and other nuts as well as causing an allergy to peanuts. I think there are a number of ways to add vegetables to baked goods, but i don't think it is ever okay to sneak them in and lie about them being in there. If I know someone hates zucchini or carrots, or squash, I would never serve them something with those ingredients with out first telling them. Here are a couple of recipes to use up some zucchini. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ======================================================= Adapted from: Krinos Foods (The original recipe called for a large can of tomatoes and did not include garlic or oregano.) Green Bean, Zucchini and Potato Stew (Fassolakia Iadera)This is a traditional vegetable mixture that is often eaten cold, accompanied by hunks of country bread and feta cheese . 1/4 cup olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1 clove of garlic, minced 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed, halved crosswise 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 8 ounces zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick slices 8 ounces russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes 3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh oregano chopped (or dried) 1 14 ounce can of Italian-style tomatoes, chopped. 1/2 cup chicken broth . Heat oil in heavy large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saut5 minutes.Add Garlic and green beans and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini, potatoes, cayenne pepper, parsley and oregano. Pour tomatoes and their juices over vegetables. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, stirring frequently, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Can be prepared 1 day ahead -- cover and refrigerate. Serve warm or at room temperature. 6 To 8 Servings Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ============================ These can be made earlier in the day and heated for dinner. Tomato and Zucchini Tambourines 2 zucchini 2 Tablespoon butter 1 garlic clove, finely minced 4 teaspoons finely minced shallots 1 tomato diced salt and pepper 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese . Preheat oven to 400 degrees Slice zucchini into 1 1/2 to 2inch chunks (little logs) In a saucepan filled with lightly salted boiling water, cook zucchini pieces for 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain Scoop out pulp, but not too deeply,leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch bottom. Chop pulp and set aside. In a skillet, melt butter and cook zucchini pulp along with garlic, shallots and diced tomatoes until liquid has completely evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Stuff each zucchini tambourine with filling and heat in oven for 5 minutes and serve.

Pork chops, apples and potatoes. Fry the pork chops (thick ones or thin ones as you like) in a frying pan according to recent cookbooks (they don't dry out with the fast fry used in Joy of Cooking and they are a little pink in the center when they are done.) In the other fry pan, melt two pats of butter and some cooking oil. Add as many thinly slice potatoes as desired, unpeeled for more nutrition. Brown slightly and then cover the pan as they finish cooking to near tender over low heat. About 10 minutes before the potatoes are done, thinly slice 2 to 4 cored apples, top the potatoes in that frying pan with the apples, and sprinkle with 1/4 or more teaspoon of cinnamon. Turn the apples and potatoes frequently till the potatoes are tender and the apples are as tender as you like them to be. You can add more cinnamon to the potatoes when you turn them into the apples if you like. If you want the apples real soft, put them in with the potatoes earlier. That's dinner. Sometimes I sprinkle the porkchops with a little cinnamon just after I turn them too.