I received my goodies from Nancy for this swap and the Homegrown Recipes swap. :) Wow!!! For Recipes Nancy sent these from her own collection: Grilled Shrimp with Feta and Tomatoes (I love SHRIMP on the grill!) Zuppa di Scarola e Fagioli (Shcarole and Beans soup, YUMM!) Chicken Posole (Can't wait to try this. :D Whole Wheat Pastry Flower Waffles and Carrot Cake (YUMM) White Out Mexican chicken recipe Feather Rolls (Who told her I was a carb-aholic?!?! lol) Penne with Zucchini and Ricotta (Divine!) Sweet Orange Salmon (I could eat it like this for sure!) Pumpkin Bread Fried Green Tomatoes(Another of my favorites but different recipe. Can't wait to try this one too) Straciacella Alla Romano (AKA Torn to Rags) This one sounds excellent too! For Extras Nancy sent: A Salad spinner! I was looking at these the other day! LOL It also has a bonus Knife and Veggie Peeler. Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger tea (One of my favs!) Chocolate Chip cake (OMG, this will not make it till tomorrow here! hehehe) Raspberry Vinaigrette (YUMM!) Caramel Apple Butter (Someone was spying one me! :D) Cooking Christmas Lima Beans with a Yummy recipe on the back for Creamy Christmas Lima Beans. She also sent me plants for Teddy Bear Sunflower and Ambrosia Cantelope! (Both from my wishlist) :) These are going straight into the garden when it cools down this evening. Dove milk chocolates. These are being savored as I type! LOL (They didn't melt. :D For seeds Nancy sent: Marconi Red Peppers (From my list) Strawberry Popcorn (From my list) Golden Bantam Improved Corn(From my list) Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash (From my list) Winter Savory (From my list) Purple De Milpa Tomatillo Dr. Wyche's Yellow Tomatillo Tiger's Eye Bean (From my list) Brockton Bean Sunberry (Last berry on my list! LOL) Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean (From my list) Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon (Thought this was on my list?! lol) Golden Hubbard Winter Squash Lazy Housewife Bean (From my list) Missouri Love Apple (I wanted this one soooo BAD!) Fish Pepper (From my list) Blue Podded Peas (I thought my chances for this one was over cause everyone I've checked is out of them already.) Golden Treasure Pepper (from my list) Blacktail Mountain Watermelon Mexican Sour Gherkin (thought this was on my list too?!) Crystal Apple Cukes (from my list) Limon Hot Pepper (from my list) Joe's Round Pepper (from my list) WOW! I can't believe how many you found from my list, and how you knew just what to get. I'm so very happy with everything Nancy, you have truly outdone yourself. :D I can't wait to use the salad spinner, what a neat kitchen gadget this is. :)

Oh, boy, do I hear you. For some reason, I've never been good at salads. I hear people talking about how much they enjoy chopping up the vegetables -- not me! Ruthanna, I'm going to try that lemon spinach salad. It sounds great. Here is the salad that changed my life, salad-wise. It's delicious, a little special, and unlike any other leafy salad I can think of, the leftovers keep nicely. I love to eat it with breakfast, too. I got it from Betty Rosbottom's "For the Gourmet" column in the Columbus Dispatch a couple of years ago and we have eaten it many times since. I even started growing kale, we like it so much! KALE SALAD WITH PINE NUTS AND GOLDEN RAISINS Makes 4 servings (sez she; I think more) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 teaspoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Scant 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 6 to 8 ounces kale (I use more; there's plenty of dressing) 1/4 cup golden raisins 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, syrup, mustard, salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper in a nonreactive bowl. (The dressing can be prepared 1 day ahead; cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before using.) Remove and discard the tough stems and center veins from the kale leaves. Then cut the leaves crosswise into 1/2 inch-wide strips to yield 6 cups well-packed kale. (I often just chop up the leaves rather than worry about pretty strips; it's a LOT quicker.) Place the dressing in a salad bowl and whisk well. Add the kale and toss to coat greens thoroughly with dressing. Divide salad evenly and mound on 4 salad plates. Garnish each serving with raisins and pine nuts. (I like to serve it in a big bowl instead of on individual plates, so I just put the raisins and nuts on top and eventually it all gets tossed together.)

THANKS again for all the hand holding/help. The dinner was quite nice although a lot of work to get the house in order, so I simplified the menu quite a bit, plus I sort of had a headache all day. I had hot spiced cider (yum), lowfat cheddar cheese and crackers (BF's idea on the "low fat" cheese, an oxymoron if I ever heard one), low fat spinach artichoke dip, rye bread (from the store, not my bread machine), store bought and slightly doctored squash soup, marinated mushroom salad, cucumber and sour cream/scallion salad over torn romaine, and the cabbage rolls. Even though the pear cake would have been perfect, I just wasn't up to it so BF bought cheesecake and chocolate cake at the market. I made something approximating Ruthanna's recipe, only with ground turkey flavored with 1 tsp. Penzeys Bavarian seasoning (I had to do something with it), and 1 TBLSP dried onions. The sauce was my home canned italian style tomato sauce (with carrots, onions and celery, but not italian seasoning), cider vinegar and a little sugar, and 1.5 tsp. paprika and dash or corriander. I mixed in a yellow squash, red onion and carrots with the sauce. I did it in the crockpot but finished in the oven with my braising pan. While I was starting the layering in the crockpot, and just had the first layer of tomato sauce in the crockpot, I went to move it with wet hands or something . . . and the crock fell off the counter, shattered into a gazillion pieces and splattered tomato sauce all over my kitchen. Luckily I had another crock from my last crockpot that the heating element went out on. But it took me considerable time getting off all the tomato sauce from the kitchen, especially from all the nooks and crannies in the radiator. I'll be making these again, hopefully with less accidents.

This is a favorite I got from my SIL. It was adapted from the recipe on the label of the key ingredient to this pasta salad - McCormick Salad Supreme Seasoning. PASTA SALAD 12-oz. spaghetti (cook, rinse, cut-up) 8 oz. Italian Dressing (bottled) 1 t. sugar 3 green onions, chopped 1 cucumber, seeded and chopped 1-2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped 1 sweet pepper (color of choice) 1/2 bottle (McCormick) SALAD SUPREME SEASONING (I use much less than this, so try 1 t., or to taste) Mix all ingredients together. Chill overnight. Keeps well in the refrigerator for several days. ------------------ I've altered it over the years to be LOTS of veggies, and only a small amount of pasta, which makes it less heavy and more refreshing. I add Italian dressing to taste (I use MUCH less than the recipe calls for). Once you've made it, it quickly becomes a what's-in-the-refrigerator dish, like it is with most pasta salads. A good recipe when you have a dab of cooked macaroni or spaghetti and some veggies that need to be used up. Although the recipe calls for spaghetti, any kind of pasta will work, and as much or as little as you'd like to use. It's all about the dressing and seasonings. -Grainlady