Mary, I don't do anything to prepare the A incarnata for the winter. I just leave it be. In the spring, I will cut back the dead wood as the new growth appears. My older plants are not doing so good this year, so I will probably replace them next spring. The plants seems to lose vigor after several years. Sandy

I do lots of things with different kinds of dried and fresh shelley beans. Like beans and greens (use pinto, crowder, black eyes, etc. with your favorite green cooked in the bean pot - add hot peppers, onion, bacon or sausage and serve over rice with lots of juice. Corn bread on the side of course). You can skip the rice if you want. I also like to make different bean soups with the usual dried or shelley beans. When I make green beans I always make extra so I can later make Cream of Green Bean soup. Sounds gross but it tastes similar to Asparagus soup if you like that. Just whir the g. beans up in a F.P. or blender, pour in pot, add milk to taste (when you get the taste right, if it is still too thick add water to thin). I use 1 or 2 percent milk but any will do. Heat and eat. Another good green bean recipe came from a Jewish cookbook I have. Basically fill a pot with fresh green beans, salt, pepper, 4 allspice berries(dried), onion and garlic to taste, and water. Mix it up and insert a small beef roast. Simmer until roast and beans are tender. The beans seem to have a tenderizing effect on the roast. It tastes wonderful. Throw a few potatoes in and you've got a meal!.

Tossing in a couple of ways I've been cooking fillets lately - simple, utilitarian, and you can prep it up then when everyone is at the table enjoying the appetizer, you can sneak away and do the cooking in 5 minutes. These are usually tilapia, halibut, cod, or other whitefish. Salmon doesn't taste right if cooked this way, to me. Miso-marinated and simmered - Make a miso soup, cool it to room temp - Marinate fish for 1 hour. Can be fillets or small steaks, less than 6 oz - Meanwhile, bring to boil 1 cup sake, 1 cup miso, 2 TBSP mirin, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP sugar. Turn down to a high simmer and reduce for the hour that the fish is marinating. Should reduce by appx 1/2 to 2/3. If desired, mix 1 TBSP cornstarch with a little water and add that to the sauce. Adjust taste with sugar and salt. - Remove fish from the miso marinade, bring the marinade to a full boil for a few minutes, then turn down to a high simmer and add the fish back. Simmer fish for 5 minutes only. Longer simmering will produce tougher fish. - Place each piece of fish in a small bowl. Add a little of the simmering liquid, to keep the bowl and fish warm, but not to cover the fish. Pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with something pretty and serve. Milk simmered - Pat fillets dry and salt lightly - Melt two pats of butter to coat bottom of a pan - Optionally, sautee some minced garlic or onion in the butter - Raise heat, place the fillets in the pan and cook for 30 second per side on med-high heat - Pour 1/4" of half-and-half in the pan, turn down heat, simmer for 5 minutes for 1/2" fillets, a few minutes longer for a thick fillet - Remove fish to plate. If desired, thicken liquid with some flour and add another pat of butter plus salt to taste, to use as a pan sauce. Parsley or a little plop of bright green pesto looks nice with this. Wok fried - assumes fillets - coat fillets with cornstarch and salt, knock off excess - Mix up a sauce from 2 TBSP rice wine, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 TBSP finely minced ginger, 1 TBSP finely minced garlic, 1 TBSP cornstarch, 1 TBSP chopped green onions, 1 TBSP fine diced red bell pepper (this last is just for color). I like some hot sauce too. - Place wok (a cast iron pan works too) on high flame, leave to heat for 4 minutes. Pour in enough veg oil to be 1/2" deep at center of wok (if using a flat-bottom pan, don't try for 1/2"), leave on high heat until oil starts to shimmer and then to smoke - Slide two fillets into the hot oil (slide, don't splash!), tilt the wok so that the hot oil gets to all parts of the fillets, after 30 seconds flip the fillets (flipping away from you!), after 30 seconds remove the fillets to blot on paper towels. Replenish oil if needed, heat to just smoking, cook two more fillets, etc. - When all fillets are cooked, place them on serving dish. Pour off the oil, return the wok to heat up, then pour in the sauce. Cook until liquid is bubbling and garlic is fragrant but not burned, pour sauce over fish, and serve. - If you want the fish more cooked or more thoroughly sauced - or if they are thicker fillets - lay each fillet in the wok with the sauce just long enough to cook to your desired doneness. I like my fish just barely cooked, personally, so for me this step would be 5 seconds.

"It sound delicious but at the same time, I'm lazy and it sounds like a lot of work..." Debby, it's really not much work and more a matter of time since it takes the meat awhile to cook. I know the recipe I posted looks long, but it's more about the time it takes to cook the corned beef low and slow. It usually comes with a seasoning packet, so you could just add that to the pot with the meat and water. Use whatever veggies you like once the meat's cooked. It's truly one of my favorite meals.