I discovered swiss chard when I lived in San Diego, an asian neighbor dug up some of her plants and gave me 2 big plants. I LOVED them. They had big huge leafs, I would steam and then briefly saute in fresh garlic and butter..YUMMMY...Now for some reason, the chard I have planted here in GA is not as good to me, the flavor is very different. I got a bunch of seeds in a seed exchange, so maybe the varieties were just not the same. I'm going to try to plant more of the big green ones, the shorter more colorful (more red stemmed ones) just dont have the same buttery taste to me. I also got seeds from a neighbor last year of what i was told was a climbing okra...turns out that it is something else which I cannot recall the name, I know that they are used when left to dry out to make luffa's?, and since they were planted so late last year, I did not get a chance to try them out..but they were really big long pods. I'll try them again this year and see what happens. I LOVE Okra, planted Emerald for the first time this year, last year and the few years before, I planted Clemson Spineless, hope I am not dissapointed with Emerald, as I have NO Clemson's planted at all this year. My first year here, I planted 6 yes SIX okra plants, I'll never forget, I was admiring the very lush garden of a neighbor of my MIL's , he's an older gentleman and I was so proud that I too had planted OKRA, he asked me how many plants I had, and I told him SIX...and he chuckled outloud and says "well you might be able to get a mess from them" I learned quickly, there was NO MESS of any kind with just six plants...the next year I planted 20 and even then never had enough to put any up...and it took a week to get a "mess" to cook up. this year I have planted 3 rows (15 feet each), I'm hoping this is enough :) I also have for the first time successfully grown garlic, I bought a mixed bag (she sent me a few of each of several different varieties) from a lady who sells on the farmers bulletin from Atlanta, I think I planted like 6 or 7 different types. they are all over my garden..cant wait another surprise that I just love are the multiplying onions. got free bulbs from someone on freecycle, and now I have more of them than I know what to do with.. last year I also for the first time successfully grew PEANUTS!! that was WAY COOL...harvested and put up a dozen gallon bag full of them. of course here in the south we boil them in salty water, yummy!! I have volunteers all over my garden!! I have enjoyed mustard greens and love having parsley in my garden...I found some growing in the cracks in my lower patio, I had let some in the flower beds go to seed, and I dont have the heart to pull them up!! And finally sweet potatoes! no hassle great reward!!

You do have a challenge, especially with two little children! I am sorry to hear about the jars. Your time is short and I'm sure the last thing you needed to be doing was returning to the store. It sounds like that case was damaged in transit. Plums have all kinds of pectin, so odds are very good the jam will jell and be wonderful. In fact, I once made a plum butter but ended up with spiced plum jam. Even with the reduced sugar it was setting up before I ever got to the "butter point." You already have some good ideas for the green tomatoes, but it's also fine just to let them ripen and enjoy something close to the "real taste" on salads or in recipes as long as you can. Whole tomato plants can be hung, if you have a basement, garage space, etc. and the tomatoes can be picked as they ripen. If you have time, for more specific ideas, you might want to do a search on the tomato forum. Raspberries. Well, those will probably go fast, but if you have plenty and plan to make jam, measure out the raspberries and sugar for a batch and toss in the freezer. Later, if some time frees up, you can pull them out and make jam. Actually, it's kind of nice to be making berry jam in February. Apples will keep longer, so you can leave them to the last. Also remember such things as applesauce and apple butter can be done in the crock pot or oven, reducing your need to monitor once the prep is done. Remember frozen grapes make great sweet and healthy snacks for little fingers (and are quick and easy). Carol

Another Oklahoman here. Familiar with Porter peaches, though I grow my own. In Bartlesville there's a little restaurant where people love to eat. It's nothing fancy. Last time I was there, the surfaces of the tables were worn looking and mine even had a hole in it. But people wait in line at noon to eat. What do they order? The Hot Hamburger. It's a hamburger, what can I say? The difference in the dish is that it comes with a huge plate of french-fries covered in brown gravy. Now, I never saw the charm of this dish because I don't like gravy on my fries. In Tulsa, there's a little cafe-style restaurant called "Claud's" that was written up several times in the local newspaper as making the "best burger in Tulsa". Claud is now deceased and his wife Wilma is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. But some of the kids run the place, and use the same methods and recipes. The favorite dish from there is an onion hamburger. They grind their own beef, pat it out thin, smear one patty with chopped onion and top with another patty. Throw it on the grill and fry it up. The grill is where you can watch, if you want. The NE section of Oklahoma is known for beef, peaches, pecans, all what David said (lakeguy). We have a lot of lakes and boy do I love that crappie! Biscuits and what "northerners" call "cream gravy" is standard breakfast fare in every restaurant. You also cannot have a meal that includes any kind of fried meat unless you also have gravy and mashed potatoes. Chicken fried steak is big here, though I don't really care for it. We like sour cream on lots of things. And we put cheese in and on almost everything. Yes, I too remember getting Frito chili pie at the concession stands during ballgames. Ever since, whenever I make chili I always want Fritos in mine instead of crackers. Does anybody remember the potato bars that were so popular in the '80's? We had a restaurant downtown that catered to the office workers there. Huge baked potato with your choice of all sorts of toppings. My favorite was bacon, sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheddar. Now we have a Starbuck's. I notice lots of cars in the parking lot.

I'm originally from the village of Metamora in Michigan. I haven't lived in MI since 78' and a lot has changed since. My idea of classic regional is skewed. Most of the family and people my parents associated with then were very much into hunting, fishing and all sports. No one I knew as a child frequented restaurants except maybe a hamburger in a bar. We had one wealthy friend who took us to a steak house once. There was a slant towards German style foods and Irish. Also, it all depended on the time of year and the hunting and fishing season. We had venison, pheasant, wild goose, rabbit and fried fish. Sometimes turtle stew or bear jerky. On Sundays there was roast beef dinners. In the summer everyone got together for cookouts where a few of the above meats and fish was brought as well as hotdogs in the skin and there was always a few different types of potato salad, macaroni salad, many kinds of relishes, garden items, there was always fresh ground bologna salad and sometimes blueberry and rhubarb pie. Wisconsin Colby cheese with Ritz crackers were popular as well as Canadian pepper cheese. In between having wild game or fish there was always pots of ham and potatoes stew, and an American version of goulash made with ground beef. In my teen years after the parents divorce most of my food consumption came from a can unless I was at grandmas house and she could have been a famous chef. I'm now in Florida in an area where everyone is from somewhere else. There is a big mix of cuisines. I cannot think of one dish that would be considered regional.