Ha - Saw the double post. I figured I should move my reply here to make it a little less confusing... I'll be happy to make a trade with you. I have five items on your want list: Ugly Ripe, Red Calabash, Jelly Bean, Chives, and I can go with 10 Black Krim seeds too. I'm interested in: 1. Green zebra 2. Copia 3. Old Ivory Egg tomato 4. Amur Tiger tomato 7. Cantalope - Hale's Best 8. Arugula - Roquette 9. detroit red beets Check my list to see if there is anything else you'd like. Thanks!

BAKED POTATO SOUP (serves 2-4) 1 cup sliced celery 3/4 cup chopped onion 2 TBL butter 2 TBL flour 2 cups half-and-half 1 tBL chopped parsley 1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp chicken granules 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 4 large baking potatoes, baked & cubed Garnishes: grated Cheddar, sour cream, chopped chives, bacon bits In a large saucepan, saute the celery & onion in butter for 8-10 minutes until tender. Blend the flour with 3/4 cup of the half-and-half. Add to the celery & onions, blending well. Add 1/2 cup water, the parsley, bouillon, salt & pepper. Simmer until heated but do not boil. sitr in the potatoes. Add the remaining half-and-half & heat through without boiling. Serve with a choice of garnishes.~~Perennials: A Southern Celebration of Food & Flavors

I agree with Wildchild. I like variety, loaded potatoes and the like too (a huge campfire baked potato covered with good chili is a treat), but no, mashed potatoes are a type of dish. And just because it's not in a dish rather than a bowl doesn't change the preparation method and style into something it's not. You can't call cheese filled potatoes mashed potatoes any more than calling hash brown casserole hash browns. They're not the same at all. Liking other stuff in it and changing it is fine but why sit and lie about it? Say you don't like potatoes! Be honest! LOL It's no different than ordering a hamburger but substituting tofu for the meat and a lettuce leaf wrap instead of a bun and saying I love hamburgers. Not a burger and cheez-n-cream-n-whatever-else is not mashed potatoes to me. I too grew up with gravy for mashed potatoes and still like them that way. The other "dishes" are combined with other things to replace gravy I suspect, or do you put gravy on them anyway? Or maybe the problem is people don't like gravy? It certainly isn't for lower fat or something! LOL I've grown tired of the adulterated taters. The last week I've been feasting on simple baked potatoes with some butter and seasoning on them and sometimes little or no seasoning. To me it's the same thing with other foods. I don't need honey or syrup on my ham. Save it for the pancakes thank you. I don't need cheese on cauliflower either. I don't need brown sugar on my carrots. Guess it's easier to see why people weigh in as they do! LOL I'm off to cook a turkey breast. No sugar on it, no glazing, just some seasoning probably. Although I'm debating about doing one bacon-wrapped sometime. But I'll take instants over the poorly prepared potatoes. I've had many that are pretty decent, just add some extra butter and salt to them and no lumps. Some places use leftover baked potatoes mixed in with the instants to simulate lumpy mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes aren't to be lumpy - then eat them baked, boiled or steamed for chunks of potato. They're good that way. I do like potatoes a variety of ways, but they have to be properly prepared anyway. I don't like raw baked potatoes, lumpy mashed, mushy boiled or grease-soaked french fries! It's not hard to do them right.

Oh dear....not the ideal dinner for us! We had been invited to some close friends' home for dinner over a week ago. I asked if there was anything I could bring and she insisted that everything was covered.....she was making lasagna. She turned down my offer of a salad. I love lasagna, but I have a real problem with wheat pasta. When I make it, it's a veggie layered meal, with ricotta, Italian sausage, gooey and delicious but no wheat noodles. She had yummy appetizers, puff pastry treats mostly, which I adore but can't eat much of. Luckily, there was a veggie platter. Her lasagna smelled and tasted divine, but I knew if I ate more than a bite that I'd suffer all weekend. And NO salad! I guess I'm going to have to declare myself 'wheat free' to my friends. I've never been to a restaurant or dinner where there were zero options and this was a bit of a shock. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home so I could have their Southwestern salad with grilled chicken. Robert stuffed himself with lasagna, lol.