You can compost all of it. If it's raw and goes into the center of a hot pile it is cooked pretty fast. My bin for potentially icky stuff - food that might attract rodents, dog poop etcetera is a re-purposed municipal garbage can, one of those 90 gallon jobs, with a few hundred 1/8th inch holes drilled in it for good air flow. You can't handle the stuff a foot or two deep til it cools off because it stays so hot. If it came from a plant or animal it composts, period. If someone is just starting to compost then it is probably a good idea to follow the usual (and incorrect) advice given by cities and the internet to stick with the stuff that won't attract pests or cause an anaerobic mess if mishandled until you get the knack of it and keep a consistently 'hot' pile going and then I bury things with potential pathogens a foot or two deep and put stuff like meat on top because condensation on the lid keeps the top of my compost too wet and I get a thriving colony of soldier fly larvae which can vermicompost a steak, 20 pounds of pumpkins or a horny teenaged boy who brings my daughter home late in no time. Too much of the advice out there is intended to keep newbies from doing something unwise or to keep the squeamish from freaking out. Have a too-dry pile of mostly 'brown' compostables? Fill a gallon jug with urine, mix in a little molasses and spray on your compost and watch those leaves disintegrate as the pile hits 170 degrees. You don't see that advice because pee makes people squeamish but it's cheap nitrogen for the pile and adds moisture and a plethora of major and minor elements required by healthy plants and unless someone has a bladder infection pee is sterile and wasting 5 gallons of water to flush 8oz of pee into our sewage plants is inefficient and irrational.... I'm betting over the next decade the entire population will get smarter about composting and waste disposal. We don't have the space or the water to keep doing silly stuff.

When I need bacon flavor in a vegetarian dish, I just sprinkle a little of the "bacon bits" made out of TVP. Very little though, they are salty and have more flavor per "bit" than bacon would. I finished off the Cookalong last night by making Alexa's recipe for collards, albeit with a small amount of turkey kielbasa instead of the ham hock. I made it in the crockpot, as one burner is out on my stove and this was a stove-intensive meal. It was yum. I had never made fresh collards before. I liked them a lot, but they are kinda pricey (compared to spinach and kale) so I might not eat them very often. I served the collards with a blackeyed pea stew that BF made with red and green pepper, zuchinni, onion and fire roasted tomatoes. It was FAB, and so colorful! Wish I had taken a photo. That got served over cheesy polenta, to use up some asiago I had languishing in the fridge. Definately a keeper meal and will make again, although next time in may be with kale. Tonight is brussel sprouts. Then I just need to find a way to use up the bottoms of the beets and I will have finished using up all the produce I got for the Cookalong. I am so weird, I have LOVED this cookalong, with all the vegetables that most people turn their noses up at! I hardly ever eat them even though I like them, since they are usually outside my budget. So for me, these two weeks have been a luscious treat! Oh, and here's a freeby for the beets that go with beet greens. Syrian Beet salad (from "Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special" cookbook) 2 quarts water 3 large beets 1 TBLSP chopped chives (or 3 scallions) 2 TBLSP chopped cilantro (or parsley with some ground corriander seed) 2 garlic cloves, pressed 1/2 fresh chili, seeded if you want milder, minced (about 1 TBLSP). I often have to use a healthy dash of Aleppo pepper instead 1 tsp. ground cumin 2 TBLSP lemon juice (or cider vinegar) 3 TBLSP EVOO 1 tsp. salt or to taste In a large pot, bring water to boil. Wash and scrub beets well. Cut beets into quarters and ease into boiling water. Turn to simmer and cook until tender and easily pierced with a knife. Alternately, you can cut the beets into 1/8ths and coat with salt and EVOO and roast at 400 for about 1/2 hour. Put a little veg or chicken broth in the bottom of the pan to prevent the beets from drying out. Cool the beets. Peel the beets after they cool and dice into bite sized pieces. Combine other ingredients into dressing and pour over beets. Chill at least 30 min. before serving. Good cold or at room tem. I serve over a lettuce salad with goat's milk feta, chopped walnuts, and maybe some sliced cuke, pepper or celery. Can also top with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds if your are into the anti-oxidant craze. Can sub blue cheese for feta, but not as authentic, IMHO.

Ann H., traditional Chanuka foods vary with the community. Jews of Eastern European descent eat latkes (but never agree on how to make them). Israelis eat fried filled doughnuts. As you see in the string, and can find on many web sites, everywhere in the world, Jews come up with something different for Chanuka. The one constant is that it should be something cooked in oil; that's the point. The idea is to commemorate the story about the oil for the menorah. lpinkmountain, if you use a mix for matzo balls, you will go to hell. JUST KIDDING! But really, I have never understood what the point is of that mix. I mean, matzo balls contain matzo meal, salt, egg, water or broth, and fat (chicken fat best if you are not a vegetarian and your cardiologist isn't looking). So what's in that mix? I think it's just matzo meal, salt, and some bouillon powder (which I don't like anyway); you still have to add the rest -- doesn't really save any time and just costs a lot more and uses more packaging. Lakeguy, here is how I (a genuine Jewish mother) make chicken soup and matzo balls. It's a very simple recipe, without even any dill or garlic, but it really doesn't need it, because the strongly developed chicken flavor holds its own, so try it this way first. Really, you can make any kind of chicken soup your family likes, but make sure to follow the two essentials about the type of chicken and the length of cooking. Try to find a kosher chicken -- the bigger, fatter, and older, the better. The taste is just much, much better. It's not that the kosher slaughtering makes a difference. But they grow them bigger, and they don't feed them chemicals (not for kosher purposes, just to broaden their market to foodies), and the soaking and salting of kashering is like brining it. If you can't find a kosher chicken in your town, then go for an organic one, I guess. Lindac taught me the money-saving tip of using a package of wings instead of a whole chicken (kosher chickens are not cheap). Gellchom's Jewish Chicken Soup (eat! eat!) 1 cut up kosher chicken, or a large package of wings, necks, etc. 2 stalks celery, NO LEAVES, scraped and cut into sticks 2 large carrots, scraped and cut into sticks one whole onion, peeled Salt and pepper Rinse the chicken and put it in your soup pot. Cover with water to about 3/4 inch from top. Bring to a good hard boil, reduce the heat, and skim. Then add the vegetables, 1-2 T salt, and some pepper. Cover and simmer a LONG time -- absolute minimum 1 1/2 hours, but I like to let it go to much longer, even to 6. If it cooks too far down, then just add some water; the taste will still be plenty rich, I promise. Remove chicken and use for something that can have seriously overcooked chicken! Discard onion (and celery, if you want, but I like it in the soup). Remove carrots and set aside. Strain soup and return carrots, celery, and maybe some of the chicken. Chill and remove some but not all of the fat before reheating. Serve with matzo balls, kreplach, noodles, or rice. Matzo balls (this is just the old recipe off the back of the Manischewitz matzo meal box, before they changed it from schmaltz to oil) 2 T schmaltz (rendered chicken fat; buy frozen in kosher market or make your own) or oil (if you must!) 2 lg eggs, slightly beaten ½ c matzo meal 1 t salt, optional 2 T water or broth (use broth if no schmaltz) Mix schmaltz and eggs. Mix matzo meal with salt and blend. Add water and mix. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes. Boil slightly salted water. Reduce heat to low, form balls (with wet hands, and note that they will enlarge as they cook), and add to soup. Cover and cook 30-40 minutes.

Black raspberries? YUM! ! ! Haven't seen those in many a year! Grew them on the farm when I was growing up. Red raspberries were added during my early teens. No raspberries at all down here in South Texas, until a few years ago, when the reds started showing up in the store. Ridiculously expensive, but once in awhile I splurge on a half pint, just to indulge myself. It's funny, when we first got them on the farm, I thought they were really good, better than the black, But now I would much rather have the black, if I could ever find any! ! ! I did no cooking or baking this year, a first time ever. But we had our Christmas yesterday at Grandson's house, 165 mi. drive from here. I went up early yesterday morning, and came back last night. He decided that getting myself and his Dad there was enough of a task for me, but I still felt bad about arriving with no food to contribute to the dinner. But there was more than enough there, and every bit was delicious! Rusty