MsMisk ~ love your purple/reddish cockscombs and those wonderful blue morning glories behind. Wow! Eduarda ~ I want you to know that I miss you being here. Ellen ~ your goldenrod and asters make a wonderful combination. I need to see if I can get some goldenrod to grow down here (zone 10 s.e. FL), as I don't have a lot of yellow and those looks so 'cottagey'. lindakimy ~ I love your blooms and your coleas are so wonderful too. Is that Russian sage in the background behind your yellow flowers? Michelle ~ Love your gardens and that we could see it from above. Your dear GD is a sweetie. It is still hot and humid down here in Plum Cottage gardens. When oh when will we get some cooler weather? They are predicting night time temps in the high 50's the end of the month. We'll see, it sure would be a welcome relief. I've been working in my potting garden. Setting up my mini green house and getting ready to plant some seeds for lots of colorful blooms these next 6 months or so. I've still got weeds to pull, vines to trim and weedwacking to do. I've said I'd like more garden space, but I really don't think so latley. Our 1/4 acre is plenty for me to handle these days. I don't want to be overloaded. I want to putter and enjoy our little haven. Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

To Mom2wildboys: When I freeze the chicken meat, I spread it out on a baking sheet. That way it freezes into individual pieces. I then put it in a freezer bag and grab a handful when I heat the broth back up for my husband's Thermos. Same with the noodles. I bring the broth to a boil, add a handful of noodles and boil for 5 minutes. While it sits in the Thermos, it finishes cooking without being mushy. My husband says it's the best chicken noodle soup he's ever eaten and he eats it every day!

Well, Ann T's tuna casserole was decadent. My kids never had tuna casserole before and they were a little weird about the breadcrumbs on top. When we were kids growing up in my house, we fought for the toasted buttery crumbs! However, I think our casserole was made with a creamy soup from a can and often had crumbled potato chips on top. The chicken pot pie was pretty good, too. It was from a magazine and was supposed to be a light version of pot pie. I'm not sure how light it was but it was made with a white sauce and lots of veggies and shredded chicken. The kids and DH were fighting over the leftovers. lpink -- I recently mashed some leftover butternut squash and added it to some homemade tomato soup (made with canned whole tomatoes and pureed). It added a different dimension. The puree reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld's wife's cookbook for families where she makes lots of purees one day a week and adds them to various meals to up the nutritional value. I don't want to hide veggies from my kids but I wouldn't mind getting more into them when they don't even know they are there. Split peas continues to be a big favorite - but I don't think of baked beans at this time of year. So many comfort foods, so little time. Tonight, I made a horrible meal! It was supposed to be shrimp with feta over pasta. We forgot to buy shrimp. I substituted turkey bacon. I like turkey bacon by itself but it didn't taste very good as the base of a pasta dish. Then I added misc. veggies from the fridge - zucchini, grape tomatoes halved, lima beans, red peppers. Don't try it. It was not a pleasant combination! It wasn't like a soup that is very forgiving. Comfort food is Tried & True. The experimental was just too weird this time around. Kari

I agree on the bread. I wouldn't really worry about making much else beyond bread, soup and a dessert. I recently did the same thing (friend even had the same surgery) and all my friend was capable of eating was a piece of toast and half a bowl of soup before climbing into bed, nauseated from the anesthesia and wiped out from the pain meds. Have her eat before taking the pain meds if possible. One other thing you might bring: soothing tea and/or ginger ale. My best wishes for your friend's complete and speedy recovery. ~Amanda