Zabby, I could have used your help on that dinner! Our waitress/friend guessed the crab sauce had no cream, but when I made it just with chicken stock, wine, butter, and flour, it tasted like gravy! I'm sure an expert sauce-maker could have done better but I would have preferred a cream sauce to what I made. Maybe next time I eat there I'll talk to the guy who made up the recipe. It was a special, it's not always on there. Anyway, ok dinner, but I should stick to cooking vegetables since they're always my favorite part of the dinner anyway...I finished the broccoli and potato cakes but not the halibut. Thanks to all the feedback, I decided to use up the crab by making crab cakes tonight. I looked at Tyler Florence's recipe (which my friend made once) and kind of estimated for the amount of crab I had. They were good, not very stuck together, but great taste and hardly any filler. I fried some leftover mashed potatoes into potato cakes, sauteed some mushrooms that didn't fit in my shepherd's pie, and spread leftover roasted garlic on bread my friend made & brought. Voila! A delicious dinner for two created entirely from leftover ingredients. The best part was the drinks, which I made with both the halibut and the crab cakes. Also inspired by my favorite restaurant. Lavender citrus martini: Mix vanilla vodka with a bit of Cointreau, enough lemon juice to give it a little tartness, and lavender simple syrup (I like it kind of sweet). Delicious! Lavender simple syrup: Mix equal parts (by volume) sugar and water in saucepan. Add a few sprigs of lavender and boil till sugar dissolves. Cool in a jar in the fridge, leaving in the lavender. Use up within a day or two. Good in the martini, delicious over grapefruit, spectacular in lemonade. Dancinglemons, glad to see someone else in central VA. I wonder how many of us there are. I was thinking of organizing a berry-picking trip to Westmoreland Berry Farm on the Northern Neck. My kitchen isn't big enough to host a jam-making afterward, but we could have a canned goods pot luck picnic at the berry farm. Maybe I'll make a post in May when it's almost berry season. Melissa

Squeezo is a very old name for the newer model Villaware or Roma food strainer. These use a very good design that incorpoates a spiral auger that pushes the juices through a fine holed screens and removes all traces of seeds and skins. No prepping needed, unless the tomatoes are really big, where you simply cut them in quarters. Its similar to a meat grinder, but its for most any food that has skins and/or seeds. I use it for red raspberry jam without seeds. The use of a finer hold berry screen is what gives me just the juices and soft pulp, and any seeds are pushed out the end of the conical sieves. They also make a shorter spiral for large grape seeds and a pumpkin screen or even a 3/16 inch hole salsa screen. These are extra attachments. If you were dong a LOT of tomatoes or othr things, also suggest the motor unit. I have one here and 'crank' out a bushel in about 10 minutes. The newer ones have a twist on strainer screen, while teholder models have two big wingnuts on each side of the screens. Of allthe models and improvements, the nerwer ones work better, leak less and are very easy to work. Here is a link that might be useful: Food strainer

Well, I have done a little reading, and here are my impressions, which seem consistent with what has been mentioned in this thread so far. A centrifugal juicer such as mine separates liquid from solids. The solids contain most of the vegetable's fiber and pulp. Fiber is typically considered to have about 2 calories per gram or 56 calories per ounce, when eaten by people. It actually has more energy, but we are not able to extract much of it. How much, depends on if the fiber is soluble or insoluble in water. Which means that I could do a little weighing and estimate the calories in the juice and in the solids. The pulp contains exactly what, I dunno, but apparently skin, pith, etc are nutritionally significant in some way. The juice contains most of the vegetable's nutrients - vitamins etc - and sugar. The advantages of drinking juice include rapid and convenient consumption of a large quantity of vegetables, or at least the veg sans fiber and pulp. The disadvantages include rapid consumption of a quantity of sugar. I tend to juice vegetables more than fruit, which might reduce the sugar content. When the vegetable is juiced, it starts to oxidize and lose some nutritional value, compared to the whole vegetable. I can't find any reliable information about how quickly, or how significantly, that happens. It may not be meaningful at all. I mostly juice beets, and mix it with a small amount of carrot juice and apple juice. I started doing this because I like beets. Now I want to test the effect of beet juice, and whole beets, in reducing blood pressure.

Much obliged for the helpful hints to you all. I may need to go back up to Julian to get more apples. The last box - 3/4 full cost me $30. So I'm hopeful that my own little apple "orchard" will start producing soon. Some of the apple picking places are almost as expensive as "DisneyLand." Anyway, I am now on my latest batch of Skeeters Pee. This is almost 2-3 weeks down the line from first prep, and only yesterday did it start to perk. It has been extremely cold for Oct., and was slow to get a heat source to it. I now have a grow lamp near the bucket, and wrapped a flour sack or 2 around the entire scene. When I checked it late yesterday, it looked "bubbly" - so I hurriedly put on the cover and air-lock. Since then it has bubbled - like put, put, put, put, etc., and this early morn - it is put,put, put -- put, put, put, etc. In summary then, I have either a re-start ferment - or - it is about to go to lime juice heaven - i.e. down the drain. So much fun. By the way, my last Skeeter's Pee was a bit bitter near the end. Why was that - could be too much added flavors - tartar or ? How about remaining seeds in the mash - would they affect taste? So many questions, so little time. Bejay