Sue, I could almost look forward to going back to work if I could work in your office! You spoil those people rotten:)

Can you stand another "linda tells how to do it recipe"? Because the only place this is written down is in a hand written cook book my mother made for me. Start with 2 big fat pork chops...or pork steaks...or shoulder...about 1 1 /4 pounds of meat. Brown it in a dutch oven and as it's browning add a lagre onion cut up and a good sized green bell pepper, chopped and 4 or 5 cloves of garlic also chopped. Brown slowly and when the meat is brown and the veggies soft, add about 1/2 cup dry red wine and 2 28 oz cans of plum tomatoes which you have torn up with your hands ( good for the skin....keeps the cuticles soft!) and 2 small cans of Contadina tomato paste ( no other brand!....and not the stuff with any "seasoning" in it)....conti ue to simmer and fill the tomato paste can with cold coffee and add that....and fill the other paste can with broth....beef or chicken doesn't matter. Add 3 bay leaves, a generous T. of fresh oregano...( or a tsp of dried)...same with basil...and 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley ( or i T. dried)..and 1 generous Tablespoon of parmesan cheese... Simmer about 2 or 3 hours....adding more water if it gets too thick....check for salt and perhaps add some dried red pepper flakes. Break up the meat....remove any bones and serve....with or without the meat. Linda C

Thanks everyone! It was a great way to "break in" at least part of my kitchen! The Strawberry Festival was a great success! It was held on land that we've purchased to build our church as a "Light on the Hill". The Festival was held in celebration of making the half-way point of Phase I of our building. Another 18 months and we hope to be in our new church! Now, to your questions: What makes it my baking center? Well, a lot of thought went in to that. It's a combination of the configuration and location. First off, when everything is finished, my KA mixer will be in the far left corner (along w/functioning outlets), my baking paraphernalia will be stored in the cabinets/drawers of that same corner, and the DOs are diagonally across from it. The "center" is made up of a mini-peninsula + the area b/w the peninsula & cooktop. My vision has been that I will have my cookie pans on the mini-peninsula, I will roll out my dough on the counter to the left of the cooktop, and I will have my mixer, cookie cutters, etc. in the corner...everything right at hand w/plenty of room to do it all! Here're the best pictures I have right now... Baking Center in upper right corner... In lower left corner here... Ovens across from peninsula....but not right in it's path...next to the pantry... You can see the end of the mini-peninsula that's part of my baking center on the right. Gluten-Free Shortcake 2 1/3 cups Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix 3/4 cup shortening mix together then add 1/2 cup milk 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted 1. Heat oven to 425F. 2. Stir ingredients mix, milk, sugar and butter until soft dough forms. Drop by 6 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. 3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9"x13" pan ... check it frequently, I don't remember how long it took to bake...maybe 18 or 20 minutes? From: http://leaisglutenfree.blogspot.com/2007/05/shortcake.html While just about anything can be baked/roasted using convection, there are some exceptions...cakes being one. My understanding is that it has more to do with aesthetics than actual baking performance. In most cases you want a cake with a smooth top. Convection baking does not generally lead to a smooth top. Usually, when I'm making just one or two batches of brownies, I use regular (thermal) bake. However, I had 12 pans to make so I decided to use convection mode so I could bake 3 pans at one time in each oven. The temperature was reduced by 25o but they took the same amount of time to bake. So while bake time per oven load was the same, I was able to bake more at one time...instead of doing 6 "oven loads" I was able to do it all in 4.

Mainly bread. I did make some nutty-oatmeal bars but they're lacking something, to me. I want something chewy like the packaged/processed ones. This called for maple syrup as the sweetener and glue, maybe honey or corn syrup would be better, I don't know. But yes, cold weather=oven. I made a meatloaf and pork tenderloin and roasted veggies on Sunday, all in the oven. The meatloaf was for Monday's dinner.