I thought of one more thing to do with beets that I didnt think about last nite! The Pennsylvania Dutch make something called Red Beet Eggs. Its hard boiled eggs, pickled with beet juice. I was curious about what kind of recipes you could find online, so I looked and none of them sounded quite right, so I got out my "very authentic," 1966 Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Bookthat I bought when I lived (briefly) back in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, so I could look up some of the recipes my (ex) mother-in-law, CONSERVATIVE Mennonite, made! In case anybodys interested, Im gonna post it here! (The cookbook also has recipes for "genuine" Schoo-fly pie, funnel cakes, corn soup, rivel soup, stuffed heart, scrapple, souse, and mincemeat (A Christmas and Thanksgiving necessity), starting with 4 boiled calves tongues and 2½ pounds of suetand a quart of brandy and 2 quarts of whiskeytho that doesnt sound very Mennonite to me!!!) Red Beet Pickled Eggs 2 cups (about 1 lb.) young beets \[If cooked tender, I dont know why theyd need to be "young!"\] 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup vinegar 1/2 cup cold water 1/2 tsp. salt Small piece stick cinnamon 3 or 4 whole cloves 6 hard boiled eggs Wash beets; cut off leaves and stems, leaving on about 1" of the root end. Cook until tender. Drain and skin. \[cut up if big!\] Boil together, for 10 minutes, beets and all remaining ingredients except the eggs. Let beets stand in this liquid for several days. Add whole, hard boiled, shelled eggs to the liquid and let stand in refrigerator for 2 days. All the recipes I found online just used white sugar and didnt have the spices in them. I think that would make a pretty big difference! When I lived back there I also discovered my MILs barbeque (sloppy joe style), tho extremely similar to my mothers, tasted better than hers. When I asked my MIL how she made it, the only difference was that she used brown sugar instead of white! Ive made it with brown sugar ever since! I got my beets cooked today! Separated the bigger ones from the smaller ones and did it in two pot fullsto keep from overcooking the smaller ones. And since they dont keep all that long once theyre cooked, I guess Ill be peeing red for a while! ;-) Gonna have some hot with butter later, and will cook up a batch of the sweet and sour ones, and that still leaves lots left for eating coldor heating up more with butter! Beets keep for a LONG time in the fridge if theyre not cooked. I cooked all the ones I had inside, but still have more outside in the ground. Were gonna have colder weather for the next week or so, but otherwise, if our weather stays warm, Im gonna have to dig up the rest of what I have outside. Even under their blanket of leaves, they start to grow again when it gets too warm outside! Happy beeting, Skybird Jennifer, beet skin is pretty rough, and I dont think Id like them if they werent peeledand its SO easy to slip the skins off once theyre cooked. I kind of think I wouldnt like them raw either, but your "beet crackers" sound good!

Hi, I was searching for info on Blum spice drawer insert, though this is not what I was looking for, we're both in this Michigan deepfreeze so I thought I'd help out... I looked up the website and the tins look like a cool design, but ask the company what they are made of. Traditional Indian Masala Dabba, or spice box, is made of stainless steel and has tins with snug lids that are all nested in a larger tin with a snug lid. These protect the spices from humidity. One of my collegues brought her spice box from India when she came to the US. She taught me how to make curry, so I learned about this. If the tins you are looking at are aluminum, they may be reactive with the oils in the spices, the spices may change the color of the aluminum, or worse, the aluminum may leach into the spices. In general, you should avoid aluminum for food prep because of this. So, have you finished your kitchen yet? The prelim pics looked fab and I'd love to see it.

Two adults here, as well. Wasted food is the most expensive food you purchase, so I do careful meal plans to help reduce that "forgotten" something-'er-other, especially in the crisper drawer. I dehydrate, freeze, or vacuum seal with a FoodSaver for longer storage. Instead of waiting for the celery go go limp, I'll dehydrate a portion of it. Works great in soups, casseroles, etc. I also dry the celery leaves. Can't get all those mushrooms used? Slice and dehydrate them. I make entire soup mixes with a wide variety of dehydrated foods. We eat dehydrated zucchini as a substitute for potato chips. Hard cheese keeps longer in FoodSaver bags. When grapes are on sale, I'll stock up and freeze them in FoodSaver bags. I like the green bags for bananas, as well as freezing or dehydrating bananas when I can get a deal on them. FoodSaver canisters are great for leaf lettuce and fruit in the refrigerator. They keep much longer when vacuum-sealed. When potatoes are buy a 5# bag - get one free, I make them into mashed potatoes and freeze them in dollops and vacuum seal the dollops in FoodSaver bags. Otherwise, we'd never be able to use 5#, let alone 10#... I also cook and mash sweet potatoes and dehydrate them on the fruit roll-up trays. When crispy-dry, I run them through the blender and make sweet potato powder. Reconstitutes to make mashed sweet potatoes by adding hot water. I do the same thing with tomatoes for tomato powder. Reconstitute it with water for making pizza sauce, etc. It's amazing how many tomatoes you can get in a quart jar when you dehydrate them, and even MORE when you make tomato powder. Ripe fruit can be made into fruit roll-ups. You can dehyarate yogurt. I even dehydrate lean cooked meat cut into 1/2-inch cubes. After they are dry, I package it in FoodSaver bags and stick it in the freezer. Make sure your refrigerator is 40°F, or colder, and your freezer is 0°F or colder. Food degrades faster when those temperatures are warmer. -Grainlady

Cooking2day, I'd love to send you spare change, except I put all mine into pig feed, so I can make sausage. (grin) I get casings from Butcher-Packer, based on Detroit and price depends on size. I can get about that amount (the site says it will stuff between 45 and 60 pounds) in 20 mm sheep casings for $35.50, 22 mm sheep casings are $40.50, 24 mm sheep casings are $44.67, but the 24 mm sheep Vienna sausage casings are $60.50. The hog casings are anywhere from $3.50 for enough to stuff 25 pounds, all the way up to $25 or so for larger sausage. I'll attach a link. malna, that's funny, Elery just found that site this morning and emailed it to me, since he uses an iPod and I do better with the desktop and the BIG screen, LOL. I'm old and set in my ways, plus I can print from mine! I still need to try sleevendog's sausage recipe that I saved from the past thread, the one for boudin. Here I'm lucky. I have some sandy soil and some red clay but largely I have a nice loam, a mix of everything. Every fall I add a nice layer of cow manure and stuff from the chicken coop, along with whatever kitchen compost has been mixed in. I mulch plants with old hay, straw, chopped leaves, etc. The manure layer sits on top and gets worked in every spring before planting. I don't use any chemical fertilizers/ etc and the only problems I really encounter is potato bugs, not much wilt or other plant problems. Well, unless you count purslane and lambs quarter as problems, but I react by eating those! Annie