I only freeze these veggies, sugarsnap peas, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, greenbeans, corn, both on cob and cut off. I both dry and freze okra, the latter for stew. I also freeze fruit: strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples and elderberries. i also make fresh juice--beet-carrot-apple-cabbage is my favorite--and freeze it in pint jars. I also make my own beef and chicken broth which I freeze in pint jars. I mainly use my dehydrator to dry jerky and make yogurt. After I blanch the milk at 160 degrees cool it to 120 and add the starter which I buy at the health food store, I put it in the dehydrator at 100 until it thickens. I can pickled veggies. okra, green "dilly beans" jalapenos but not cucumbers. They always go mushy on me and I won't use alum. I also make saurkraut in a five gallon crock and can that. We have an unheated storage building that we don't allow to freeze. I buy bushels of apples and sweet potatoes in the fall and store them out there. And this year I have a basket of butternut squash that I raised. Potatos go under the bed in the house when we dig them in July and usually last until the next Jan. Onions I dry and braid and hang on nails on the glassed porch. They usually last only til Sept or Oct. Wish I had a root cellar, and a greenhouse, but I make do. Dorothy

I usually do it in the oven, but I do the same thing for outdoors. I used to salt the eggplant, since I was taught that way, but I find that if you have a good firm eggplant that sounds hollow when you thump it, but still has a nice dark skin, you don't get enough joy from salting and squeezing and draining and all of that to make it worthwhile. If it's softer, I'll just flame or broil the heck out of it (fork the skin all over first to vent the steam, until it's all charry and sunken floppy and roasty toasty goodness. For grilling, I think firm eggplant works a lot better, but it takes a long time to cook and you have to be patient. I slice 1/2-3/4", and put my seasoning (sometimes with dried herbs) into a little oil in a bowl or pie plate and coat. You can just brush or spray. I find my way easier, if messier, but it's important to have enough oil that it doesn't stick, but don't leave it sit in oil or it'll soak it up. I guess what I do is more like the motion of dregging. Just kind of swing it through and make sure it's coated. It's also important to leave it on long enough, like meat, so that the bits that touch are caramelized and it releases. Anyway, once coated, onto the grill or grill pan. I know there's a new school of thought for eating eggplant firm. If you're in that camp, salting might help you. It's at its yummiest, however, when it's mushy and looks like snot. The slices should evaporate well on the grill (which is so much easier than trying to get them to weep!!), and shrink. If you want them to remain slices, however, it's important to get them off before they turn into goo and fall into the fire. Cooked through, but still with some internal integrity. Otherwise, you could have just roasted them whole. For skinny Japanese or Italian eggplants, I also cut them into spears--they do have to be skinny though, because you want skin on each spear. Then oiled the same way but with stronger seasonings (not essential, just what I do), and a little lighter on the oil, though maybe a little extra on the skin side. Seasoning may be garlic pepper, or herbs and citrus, or sumac (or zataar which has a lot of sumac in it). Grill/roast the spears skin side down until the flesh is all shrivelled up. OMG!! Most yummiest ever. You need to do a lot of them, though, because they tend to disappear. They're also good cold, so don't count on any left for another purpose. :) Have fun! The only wrong way to do eggplant, really, is undercooked. Then it's disgusting.

I make several of the things listed here, but I also make the following: Chicken & black bean burritos: Preheat oven to 350°. Mix together: - 1 c. cooked chicken, pulled apart - 1 can black beans, drained - 1 c. sweet corn (I use frozen) - canned salsa to moisten everything - about 1/2 t. cumin and 1 t. chili powder Lay out six flour tortillas, and split the chicken/bean mixture equally among them, laying it in a stripe down the middle of each tortilla. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the chicken/bean mixture, then roll up and put side-by-side on a cookie sheet. Spread some more salsa and shredded cheese on the tops of the burritos, then bake for about 30 minutes, until hot. My other use for cooked chicken is stir-fry: Cut up about 1 cup chicken in cubes or smallish pieces. Then cut up whatever vegetables you have on hand, raw or cooked, into approximately even-sized pieces. I always use an onion to start, and will often use carrot, celery, broccoli, sweet red peppers, zucchini, whatever. Heat a wok or big frypan over high heat, and add about 2 T. oil. While this is heating, mix up a simple sauce of about 1/2 c. cold water, 1 heaping T. cornstarch, and some ground ginger and soy sauce. I mix it in a Tupperware container with a tight-fitting top so I can shake the mixture. Now, when the oil is hot, start adding vegetables. Start with the onions, cook until soft but not done, then begin adding other vegetables. Add the ones that need to cook longer first, and the ones that don't take long later. Add the chicken near the end, as you just have to heat it. Keep everything moving, using a spoon or spatula. When everything is cooked, turn down the heat to medium-low and add the sauce mixture. Cook for a minute or two, until it's hot and thickened. Serve over rice.

In his defense, he has very bad digestion--ulcerative colitis, so I think he is always worried he is going to aggravate it/have a flare up. But then he limits himself so much food-wise that then he binges on something. Like when he was bragging that he didn't salt his food or like salty foods, I pointed out that the crackers, breads, boxed meals, ham and salami and canned soups he eats are more loaded with salt than any amount you would get from a casual sprinkling from the salt shaker. He just got mad at me and said, "I don't want to argue about it, I'm just saying I don't eat salt." I've tried for DECADES to get him to create some healthy eating habits for himself. It will never work, better and smarter people than me have tried too. But cooking for him is sure a roller coaster ride. Some of his lady friends and neighbors tried cooking for him right after mom died, but they soon gave up! I just do what I can, try to detach, as long as he's not wasting away not eating, there's not much I can do about the quality of what he eats. The more I push for something healthy the more he pushes back, that is just his nature.