LindaC, it's all in what you're comfortable with. Remember, I'm the person who has had a couple of house fires and so I don't ever light a fire in the fireplace and I refuse to burn candles. It's my own particular phobia... I do have an old Presto pressure cooker which I don't use a lot but I really like it for certain thins. Elery uses it to make beans, I'd prefer to just dump mine in the crockpot in the morning. I do use it to make chop suey for Ashley, even slightly tough round comes out fork tender. I don't like taditional chili in the crockpot, the ground beef "overcooks". I am a huge consumer of vegetables, though, and sometimes make a vegetarian chili that's delicious. Plus, like Chase, it gets used as a "warming" device for office potlucks, to keep soup warm and even to make oatmeal because I'm not a morning person and would never make oatmeal before I go to work, and I detest the instant stuff. Annie

slowlane, I make brownie mix from the King Arthur Flour recipe on their website, as well as this whole grain pancake "mix". I just use regular whole wheat flour. They also have recipes for biscuit mix and a quick mix that can be used to make muffins. Homemade Whole-Grain Pancake Mix These pancakes are just shy of 90% whole-grain; and they're absolutely delicious, featuring the sweet-nutty taste of oats and wheat. This recipe comes courtesy of Susan Reid and Susan Miller, two of the authors of King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. Thanks, ladies! 4 cups King Arthur white whole wheat flour 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon baking soda 1 cup vegetable oil Pancakes 1 cup homemade mix 1 cup buttermilk, or a combination of plain yogurt and milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey 1 large egg 1) To make the mix: Grind the oats in a food processor until they're chopped fine, but not a powder. 2) Put the flour, oats, and all other dry ingredients into a mixer with a paddle. Mix on slow speed, and drizzle the vegetable oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running. 3) Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer. To make pancakes: Whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 cup of buttermilk (or a combination of half plain yogurt and half milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey), and 1 large egg. Don't worry if it seems thin at first: the oats will soak up the milk, and the mix will thicken a bit as it stands. 5) Let the batter stand for at least 20 minutes before cooking. Heat a lightly greased griddle to 350�F (if you've got a griddle with a temperature setting; if not, medium-hot will do). 7) Drop the batter onto it in 1/4-cupfuls (a jumbo cookie scoop works well here) to make a 4" diameter pancake. If you have English muffin rings, use them; they make a perfectly round, evenly thick pancake. 8) When the edges look dry and bubbles come to the surface without breaking (after about 2 minutes, if your griddle is the correct temperature), turn the pancake over to finish cooking on the second side, which will take about 2 minutes. 9) Serve pancakes immediately, or stack and hold in a warm oven. Yield: a batch using 1 cup of the mix will make about 5 to 8 pancakes, depending on size. Recipe summary Hands-on time: 20 mins. Baking time: 4 mins. to 8 mins. Total time: 60 mins. Yield: 10 cups dry mix; enough for 50 to 80 pancakes Tips from our bakers ◦If you're not in the habit of having buttermilk around, reconsider: you can freeze leftover buttermilk, in 1-cup portions, for future batches of pancakes. And if you don't have buttermilk, but do have buttermilk powder, add 1/4 cup buttermilk powder to the dry mix along with 1 large egg and 1 cup water or milk. ◦These pancakes hold in a low oven for half an hour without getting tough or rubbery, and they're more than willing to act as a vehicle for any kind of fruit addition. A partial list of combinations that have made successful appearances so far: peach, raspberry, banana-walnut, cheddar-apple, blueberry, and cranberry-apricot. ◦Do you enjoy making your own Greek-style, thick yogurt by draining plain yogurt through a strainer? If so, don't discard the drained-off whey; it's a great stand-in for buttermilk in this recipe. Since it's thinner than buttermilk, you'll want to use 3/4 cup whey in place of the 1 cup buttermilk called for. ◦Variation: Add 1 tablespoon orange juice to the dry mix along with the buttermilk. We've found that the acidity and sweetness of the orange juice helps mellow the tannic taste some people perceive in whole wheat flour; while the pancakes won't have any orange flavor, they may taste slightly milder to you, if you're not a fan of whole wheat flour (but still want to get more whole grains into your diet). I agree about the soup base/bouillion/etc in most of the dry soup "recipes", the sodium level is astonishing. I think some people here found a lower sodium alternative "base" but I don't much like any of them, they taste fake to me. Good luck. Annie

Here are two I make when we have company at the cottage. Both are courtesy of Woodie and are always very well received. OVERNIGHT BREAKFAST CASSEROLE 2 lbs. package frozen Hash Brown potatoes, thawed 1/4-1/2 cup chopped onions 1 lb. cooked, crumbled sausage (breakfast or Italian style - I use Italian) or cooked bacon or ham 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese 8 -10 eggs 3 cups milk S & P to taste Spray 9 X 13 dish with cooking spray. Mix potatoes and onions, salt and pepper together and place in pan. Then spread sausage on top, then cheese. Beat eggs and milk (S & P) together and pour over other ingredients in pan, cover and set in refrigerator overnight. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour at 350*. CRÃME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST (Courtesy of Arthur Schwartz, WOR Radio) 1 Stick Butter 1 Cup Brown Sugar 2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup 8-10 inch round country loaf, or 1 pound French bread or 1 Challah 5 eggs 1 1/2 cups half and half 1 teaspoon Vanilla 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier 1/4 teaspoon salt 1. Melt butter, sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over moderate heat. Pour into 9 X 13 pan. 2. Slice bread into 6 slices and place on top of the sauce in the 9 X 13 pan, press together to fit. 3. Whisk together eggs, half and half, Vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt. Pour over bread. 4. Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours. 5. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes, until puffy and brown.

Annie, I don't think anyone objected to your answers. I have to remind myself to use salt because a lot of foods taste naturally salty to me. When I'm cooking for the elders, I have to balance enough salt so their worn out taste buds are happy (they don't eat enough when the food seems bland, so I salt with more verve than usual), but not enough to put them over "go easy on the salt". Luckily, they're not restricted, beyond things like salted pretzels and fast food (the latter of which they wouldn't want to eat anyway). It's interesting about the perception of chain restaurants as salt palaces, however, because I find some of them tolerable on that level. Not that the food is great, but I have some friends who for convivial occasions only want to eat at those places. In California, at least, there's some basic nutrition info on the menus, and the salt isn't nearly as bad as in a lot of fine dining restaurants where they believe in "layers of flavor" or "every component must be seasoned [i.e., salted]." Every now and then I eat something out that's really delicious and I realize that, while it doesn't taste salty, it is a heavier hand on the seasoning that is the thing that makes it so. That's rare. Often, I'm presented with food that's otherwise well prepared, but overwhelmingly salty. The food at the chain chain restaurants my friends take me to may not be wonderful, but they really don't overdo the saltiness. Hm.... They're the kind of places where seniors make up much of the early rush. Maybe that's why? BTW, I do make the brisket with coke recipe because it's universally loved, and who am I to object (it's one of the recipes that came up when packaged foods first started having rabbinical checkmarks that they were kosher--especially at Passover when everything has to be new and more kosher than kosher, have premixed, certified for Passover, sauces and seasonings can be a massive help). It's a whole brisket (or about 10 lbs.), a 12 oz. can of coke, a bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce (i.e., fancy ketchup) and a packet of Knorr onion or leek soup mix. It doesn't necessarily all get used. Enough to cover. There's plenty of salt! It doesn't make the meat salty tasting, although it does a good job breaking down the connective tissue. I've made a GF version which calls for soup base (Better than Bouillon, which has been recommended in this forum), but that's way, way saltier, and I had to rewrite the recipe to use my own concentrate! Which didn't have enough salt, and the brisket was fine on the cook but underseasoned. I think that might be part of the reason why soup mix became so popular in the first place -- because it's more aggressive on the salt than many people would have the courage to do. I remember a couple of decades ago reading that the secret to every Italian (in Italy) mamma's cooking was bouillon cubes. The piece was kind of alluding to the food shortages following WWII as an origin for this. All I could think is the secret is not "soup"! It's salt and MSG! (My mother's "secret" is good homemade chicken stock which has no seasoning in it.)