I keep the extra jars of natural peanut butter in my pantry turned upside down. Then when it's time to break open a new jar, I turn it right side up for a few hours. I usually stir it with the long end of a sturdy wooden spoon, but I like Lars' idea of using a knife honing steel. I'm going to have to give that a try. To me, the most important thing is to make sure to bring up the harder & drier gobs from the bottom and incorporate them well into the rest of the peanut butter. Otherwise you run into those dry gobs later when you try to spread the stuff. I usually start slowly, poking the spoon end down to the bottom of the jar and moving it slightly to the center to let the oil can go down. Then I repeat that action until I've gone completely around the bottom of the jar. Eventually I get to the point where I start bringing up the bottom stuff and incorporating it with the rest of the peanut butter. The oil is what makes the peanut butter soft and spreadable. Without it, the peanut butter is more like peanut clay. It takes a while, but the results are worth it. The natural peanut butter gets as creamy as it's going to get and is perfectly blended. I store it in the fridge, and it stays blended until we finish the jar. I only buy 1 lb. jars, though. I tried doing it with the larger jars, and it was more difficult. I much prefer the taste and texture of natural peanut butter. The super creamy stuff like Jif or Skippy taste strange to me, and I don't like their texture either. I feel like I'm eating sweetened, peanut-flavored shortening.

I'd love it too! I like to eat all over in Grand Rapids, I've got a list of new places to try and I have old favorites too. There's a relatively new Mexican place downtown called maggie's Kitchen, they even have barbacoa made of beef cheeks, there's a Caribbean place with some kind of goat dish that's only got curbside service, a fish place on Kalamazoo down by the Mediterranean Market, and there are old standbys like Pietro's. I love the Blue Water Grill but that's clear over off Plainfield on East Beltline, and there are a lot of places I haven't even tried downtown near VanAndel and The B.O.B. Any preferences? Sushi? Indian? Fish? Diner? Even chain restaurants if you have a favorite, heck, we've even got a Sonic now, right across the street from Gordon Food Service on Alpine, LOL. You tell me when and we'll find a where! I'm definitely going to have to check D&W for Koeze's, though, and the one on 44th has DeRueze's Gourmet Market right next door. They now have a cut rate gourmet department where they get pallets full of stuff for really cheap, it's fun but you never know what you'll find for a buck... Annie

I can just peel and eat a mandarin. But navel oranges I slice. I like to cut the orange in half top to bottom, then slice the half into 3-4 slices. So I've got half circle slices 1/3 inch or so thick. That way when I "stretch" the slice to the rind is straight, the little trianglar sections just pop out. That's how I like an orange. I slice one, put it back together in a ball, then in a baggie for lunches (mine and the kids). My 7 y/o loves oranges and is eating 2 a day lately. We bought some very good navels a few days ago. I love citrus season! Loved it when we lived in Floria, too. The trees look so pretty with all those bright orange balls on them, like the whole orchard is decorated for Christmas. ;o)

Oh Jimminy! Must be in the air, the muffin thang. :D PB and Banana muffins? The thought give me the heebie jeebies, but my husband would likely LOVE them. Maybe I'll be nice to him this week and give them a try!This isn't one of the requested recipes, but a very good muffin recipe which I developed as a (relatively) healthy muffin alternative to bran muffins when those were really popular...never found a bran muffin I liked. These contain enough fiber from the veggies & fruit to compete, and filling enough to work as a quick breakfast. Muffin Meals 2 c flour (white or a 2 to 1 mix of white & wheat...I've played with oat flour, millet flour, rice flour and barley flour with mixed results) 1 1/4 c sugar (white, brown or a mix) 1 T cinnamon 2 t baking soda 1/1/2 t grated orange peel 1 t vanilla 1/2 t salt 3 large eggs 1 c vegetable oil 2 c shredded carrots* 1 c shredded zucchini* 1 Golden Delicious apple, chopped* 3/4 c raisins* 3/4 c shredded, sweetened coconut* 1/4 c chopped nuts* Now, the thing about this recipe, is that as long as you keep overall amounts the same, you can play quite a bit. All of the ingredients followed by a * are substitutable or interchangeable. As long as you end up with appx 6 cups of ingredients, you can pick and choose...1 c carrots + 2 c zucchini? 1 c carrots + 1 c zucchini + 2 apples? 3/4 c nuts +1/4 c raisins? See what I mean? You can also sub mashed banana for a cup or so of the carrots, zucchini or apple, if you have an overripe one hanging about. Now, naturally, if you do something like substitute 2 c of nuts for the carrots, you'll probably have trouble, but I think you get the pic. I like using different dried fruits as I'm not really a raisin fan (except for just eating them as a snack). Dried cranberries, mango, pineapple, cherries etc work fine, cut in raisin sized pieces. Sometimes I use cardamom instead of cinnamon (1 1/2 t or so instead of a T, as cardamom is quite pungent), or pumpkin pie seasonings (1 T), once I even used Chinese 5 spice, which was interesting. Likewise, the orange peel can be lemon or lime or even grapefruit. The vanilla can be almond or citrus or whatever. You can substitute unsweetened coconut, if you can find some that is moist. Anyhow... Grease muffin tins & set the oven for 375 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients together except for the eggs, oil & vanilla. In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, oil & vanilla and then fold into the other ingredients. These muffins don't rise very much...too much stuff in them I guess...so fill the muffin cups to only slightly under the top. Bake for 25 minutes, and do the clean toothpick thing to make sure they're done. Cool a bit, and then gently remove them to a rack to cool completely...you might have to sort of pry them up by sliding a fork down one side to the bottom and using it as a lever, they're very tender and break easily if you try to just lift them out.