Okay I used dried fruits....with a little stretch of the imagination. Tomatoes are a fruit...right? And therefore sundried tomatoes are dried fruits.....right? My friend Brenda left a week ago for 3 months holiday in England and so she cleared out her kitchen and gave me some sun-dried tomatoes which I believe she had brought from England some time ago. I've never seen them here. So I soaked them this morning and put them on some oiled pieces of puff pastry, topped them with another piece of pastry and put them in the toaster oven for 20 minutes. Easy peasy and Wolf loved them! I'll be doing the same in a day or two with some dried mushrooms she left me. I'll try and do a better job next time. (The pastry was even the frozen boxed stuff from the supermarket.) SharonCb

Yeah Lauri... I POOP'ed, POOF'ed, and POOG'ed that 12 quart chili pot within a 1/2" of the top. I ran all the tomatoes, spices, and peppers in the blender before pouring into the pot and boiled them good before adding the rest of the goodies. Made a really colorful looking chili with white, black, and red kidney beans and yellow corn. Finding my blender makes a good spice grinder so I blend whole peppercorns and whole cumin seed in with the tomatoes. Awesome smell... turned many heads when I warmed up my lunch at work today. The wood ear mushrooms worked out great. I've not used them in chili before and they were a good fit. Day two of the chili pot going so it needs to be perked up. Room for more cabbage and some onion. Edge is gone off the peppers so I'll add a couple to keep the fire going. I've got two chunks of tenderloin that I was supposed to grill... they will probably fall into the chili pot tonight. Feeling sick again and don't have the energy to cook them proper. Deanna's egg sandwich sounds really good... both eggs and bread to use up. Reminds me I forgot to buy butter. : ) lyra

Beets are one of my favorite vegetables. Unfortunately I don't fix them much because they are kind of expensive in an urban grocery store usually, and they are a little touchy to prepare. Don't get me wrong, they are easy, easy as far as technique, but beet juice stains and I am a clumsy cook. A lot of people like roasting them. I like roasted beets, but I also like steamed beets which I think are a little easier to prepare. Just cut off the tops and bottoms of the beets, scrub them a bit, then roast or steam, or even boil. You have to peel off the outside skin of the beet after they cool. My preferred method for cooking beets is in my steamer. I also steam the greens along with them. Very good served just with butter and salt, or a little parm. cheese. I adore beet greens, they are my favorite green, but it sounds like you don't like greens in general, so you might not like beet greens. You can also eat the stems, at least the non-woody ones. If you don't like the texture of greens, you can sneak beet greens into lasagne or soup. The classic beet soup is borscht, which I love. Once the beets have cooled and you have peeled them, you can put the beets in salads. Below are my two favorite beet salads, and I think a good way to perhaps introduce yourself to beets. Another way to serve them is sweet and sour, sometimes called harvard beets, or there's beets in orange sauce. I never have them that way since I prefer them more savory, but you might prefer them the other way. I don't have any of those type of recipies, but there are plenty out there, I once even posted a beet thread about four months back you might be able to find that. I have the recipies saved some where so I may be able to get them some time but I'm pinched for time right now. Potato Beet Salad from "Moosewood Restaurant Lowfat Favorites" cookbook 4 med. beets, scrubbd and leaf stems trimmed off 5 potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/2 cup minced red onion or scallions 1 cup non fat yogurt (when I make this I use a mix of 1/2 cup mayo and 1/2 cup yogurt or lowfat sour cream) 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (or dried dill weed to taste) 1 tsp. cider vinegar 2 small dill pickles, chopped (about 1/2 cup) (Can also use plain cukes in a pinch) 2 tsp. prepared horseradish (optional, I never use it) 1 tsp. sugar (optional) salt and ground black pepper to taste Boil or steam beets until tender, immerse in cold water to cool, then peel. Check for tenderness by piercing them with a knife. If they can be easily pierced, they are done. After peeling, when they are completely cool, chop them into bite sized pieces. (I like little half moon beet pieces) In separate pot, boil potatoes until tender for about 20 min. Drain potatoes and cool. Put the beets, potatoes, onions and pickles in a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Stir gently to distribute the dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill at least 30 min. before serving. Note: depending on what else you're eating, you can also add feta or goat's milk cheese crumbles to this salad, and serve over a bed of lettuce. Beets with Goat Cheese and Dill from Williams and Sonoma "Vegetable" cookbook 6-8 small beets (or 3-4 large ones) 1 1/4 lb total, approx. 2 shallots or 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 tsp. sugar salt 1 TBLSP balsamic vinegar Juice of 1/2 lemon 1 TBLSP olive oil 1-2 TBLSP chopped fresh dill (or 1-2 tsp. dried dill weed, but fresh is so much better) 3 oz. fresh goat cheese (or feta if you don't like goat cheese, I love it) Clean beets and remove stem ends. Place in baking pan just large enough to hold them. Pour water into the pan to a depth of 1/2-1 inch. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or a cover. Bake in the oven at 375 until the beets are tender (easily pierced with a fork). This will take about 40 minutes for small beets and an hour for large ones. Replace the water if the pan looks like it's getting dried out. Once done, remove beets from the pan and allow to cool enough so you can handle them. Peel the beets and cut them into wedges. Place the warm beets in a bowl, add the onion or shallots. Combine the dressing ingredients and toss to coat. (It has been my experience that you need to make twice as much dressing as the recipe calls for to get a good kicky flavor). Spoon the warm dressed beets into a serving bowl or individual plates. Can serve on a bed of lettuce. Top with dollops of the goat cheese. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can save leftover beets in the marinade, will keep for a couple of days. Both salads good with toasted sunflower seeds tossed onto them before serving, for extra protein and some crunch. I like to take the beet and potato salad to work with a lowfat swiss cheese sandwich, sometimes also add fake ham to the sandwich. The beet/goat cheese salad is good with a hummus sandwich, hummus and cukes on rye is one of my favorites. Can also serve with baked pita chips and hummus dip.

Here are some hints/tips for using freeze-dried foods.... 1. You can eat it as-is, but make sure you drink extra water. 2. Hydrate it with less water than you think. I like to cover the bowl with a plate to keep the steam in when rehydrating vegetables. Fragile food (fruit and cheese) place in a bag or bowl and spritz with water. Place in refrigerator and stir every few minutes. Rehydrate cheese (by spritzing with water) and let it sit in refrigerator overnight before eating/using (and yes, it will melt on your pizza ;-). Spritz/add only "enough" water - NO puddle of water in the bottom of bowl. Pour any extra water off before it's fully rehydrated. 3. You don't always need to hydrate first.... Rule: If it's covered with liquid at least 15-minutes how it's used in the recipe, don't hydrate first. Just add 2-4 T. extra water for every cup of freeze-dried food. 4. If you are using freeze-dried meat, DON'T overcook it. Hydrate in warm or cold water and then add to what you are cooking. If making chicken salad, don't add much water at all to rehydrate because you also add mayo. 5. Antioxidant phytochemicals found in the fruits' fresh state are retained at levels almost as high after freeze-dried. 6. A #10 can = 10-20 pounds of produce - depending on type. 7. At camp, when you heat water be sure to heat enough to fill a Thermos or two. You will have "instant" hot water for rehydrating freeze-dried foods. If you take several Thermos bottles, you can also "cook" in them. http://www.thermoscooking.com/ ____________________ Tomato powder: Storage: Place in small jars (user-friendly amounts) with airtight lids. Store in-use jars in the refrigerator, which is a dry environment due to the frost-free feature. Don't leave the container open any longer than what it takes to take out a measured amount. I also place moisture-absorbing packets in the top to help prevent clumping. Even a folded white paper towel placed on the top of the tomato powder will help absorb moisture. If the tomato powder begins to clump, you can grate it on a grater or microplane to make a powder again. Tomato powder has an indefinite shelf-life, when properly stored. Quick Pizza Sauce (for 12" pizza) 1 T. tomato powder 3-4 T. hot water (it will mix with cold water, as well, but you will get a better consistency with hot) Italian or Pizza seasonings to taste "shot" of vinegar sweetener of choice, to taste (optional) pinch of salt Mix together. Allow to sit for a minute or two to absorb the liquid. Mix again and add more water if it's too thick. ~~~~~ For 1/2 c. tomato sauce: Mix 1/8 c. (2 T.) + 1/2 c. water ~~~~~ For tomato juice: Mix 3/4 c. powder + 8 cups of water = 64 oz. bottle of tomato juice. You can make it as thick/thin as you like. Add some Fruit Fresh and a dash of salt (also Tabasco and/or Worcestershire). ~~~~~ THRIVE Spaghetti Sauce 1/2 c. THRIVE tomato powder 1-1/2 c. water 1 t. salt 1 t. garlic powder 1 t. basil (dried) 1 t. Italian Seasoning 1/2 t. pepper pinch of sugar 1/8 t. baking soda Combine tomato powder and water in a medium sized bowl. Once mixed, add in dry ingredients with the baking soda last. Add the baking soda to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes. If you like the more "crisp" taste you can omit the baking soda. Don't worry about the sauce foaming or getting lighter when you add the baking soda, it will settle down.