If you have not served your family, especially your children a lot of fresh veggies on a regular basis, I would not expect them to like them right away just because Mom grew them. You may have to 'wean' them on to eating them. Try: 1. Carrot cake - a moist, spice cake that tastes like pumpkin pie. 2. Zuchinni Bread or Soft Cookies ditto carrot cake. Both a great source of Vit. A. 3. Veggie Pizza - Take you favorite frozen pizza and add: thinly sliced zuchinni and/or with yellow summer squash on top of pizza; add sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle on your garden chopped basil, and top with lots of fresh grated cheese (to hide the squash and tomato) 4. Broccoli Dip with Doritos - cook broccoli in salted water just until it turns dark green. Drain. Chopped. Melt velvetta cheese with a can of mushroom soup, a tsp, garlic powder (or to taste), salt and pepper (to taste). Add the chopped broccoli and serve warm with their favorite Doritos or other tortilla chips. 5. Spring Vegetable Medley (A Homemade Skillet Casserole, fast, easy and yummy) - little kid-sized beef meatballs with new (baby) peas, green (baby) onions, baby carrots, etc. (I can post this recipe if anyone is interested). 6. Corn-on-the-cob (cut ears in half for kid size ears) 7. Veggies and dip - sliced cucumbers, bell pepper, broccoli pieces, cauliflower pieces, carrot & celery sticks, lettuce wedges served with Ranch Style Dressing. 8. Ants-on-a-log - peanut butter on celery, sprinkled with raisins 9. Tuna Burgers (toasted open-faced sandwiches that kids and grumps both like)- Turn on oven, Set on broil. Take burger buns, open, and lay halves on a cookie sheet. Spread each half with some Mayo or Miracle Whip, top with some drained tuna, sprinkled with a little fresh tarragon or basil from your potager; top with a thin slice of your garden-fresh tomato, then dill pickle slices, and top w/grated cheese, or American cheese slices. Broil in oven just until the cheese melts and is bubbly and the bun toasts a little. Serve with chips and etc as you would a hambuger. (one of my kids's favorites besides the broccoli cheese dip) 10. Bruchetta (fresh tomatoes on halved, toasted French or Italian bread)- spread bread with a thin layer of melted butter, sprinkled with garlic powder or rub w/fresh garlic- toast lightly; then top with tomato slices, sprinkled with basil, some parmesan cheese if you like, and toast again in the broiler. (you can add slice zuchinni and extra grated cheese. Great with Spaghetti or just with a salad. 11. Chicken-Broccoli Alfredo w/Noodles Make Pesto with your BASIL. (cooked chicken added to noodles in a pesto sauce) - Use the pesto ('pounded' or processed fresh basil mixed in a food processor with olive oil, toasted walnuts, and Parmesan cheese). Cook noodles in salted water until 'al dente' (just tender). Drain. Mixed together it becomes Chicken Broccoli Alfredo 12, Ortega Apple-Jalapeno-Walnut salad Take 4-6 sweet juicy apples, coarsely chopped. (I use my Galas). Add to that a 1/2 cup chopped fresh garden jalapeno peppers, (or mix with some green cayennes or chilis for more heat). Set aside. Lightly toast 1 cup of broken walnut pieces or chopped Pinon nuts on a cookie sheet. Coarsely chop cooled nuts. Add nuts to apple and pepper mixture. Toss. To this add a 1/4 cp (dollup) of Mayo and combine. Serve right away. Absolutely DELICIOUS! Great with chicken, Bar-B-Ques or just about anything, even hot dogs. Family favorite. (Ortega family recipe). Keep your 'Potager' dishes simple at first. As they get used to the strong taste of vegetables, you can expand your recipes to include other things. I can probably come up with more if you want. ~ SweetAnnie4u

Annie, i wasn't attempting to "pile on" or "pick a fight". I feel that lpink and the others who suggested eating plenty of fruit offered well meaning advice about general good eating habits. However, in this case, they were potentially, er, lethal ideas. In Dody's second sentence of her first post she states that her husband has high potassium. I also agree that Dody is smart enough not to take our advice. With the range of problems that her husband is facing, his diet, unfortunately, needs to be very limited and directed by his MD and RD who have full information and who can continue to monitor his potassium level. I was reading quite a bit more into what Dody said than lpink saw based on my training and the recognition of an entirely too familiar pattern. Lpink and the other fruitophiles couldn't really be expected to understand the downside to their advice, because it's not something that they would know about. I don't normally provide medical advice because I don't have enough information and because it would be improper anyway, but in this case "splurging" on fresh fruit made me cringe and reflexively say "no!" Believe it or not, I've actually seen loving, well meaning family members attempt to cure kidney problems with "juicing". Everybody knows that fruit is "healthy", right? For those of us with reasonably healthy kidneys and normal blood sugar it is! The "DASH" diet is a diet that is deliberately high in potassium. For most people it's a great diet, but not for Dody's DH, unfortunately. A lot of non-medical people may not realize that too much potassium in the blood can be life threatening. On the gardening forums someone may recommend a favorite plant and someone else may recommend against it and no hard feelings, but diet beliefs are often very personal. Here is a link that might be useful: Hyperkalemia -- The Mayo Clinic

We had soup weather Tuesday and Wednesday. Isn't it funny how when the weather turns cold you just have to have soup? I made a big pot of beef vegetable and made corn bread to go with it. So warm and good! I love homemade soup.

Here's a couple for you - the broccoli and rice casserole can be frozen prior to baking. Not sure how the soup would do freezing with the potatoes. * Exported from MasterCook * Broccoli Rice Casserole Recipe By :Taste of Home Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 small onion -- chopped 1/2 cup celery -- chopped 10 ounces frozen broccoli -- chopped 1 tablespoon butter 8 ounces processed American cheese 10 3/4 ounces cream of mushroom soup, condensed 5 ounces evaporated milk 3 cups cooked rice In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onion, celery and broccoli in butter for 3-5 minutes. Stir in cheese, soup and milk until smooth. Place rice in a greased 8 inch square baking dish. Pour cheese mixture over; do not stir. Bake, uncovered, at 325F for 25-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Serving Ideas : Add chopped cooked ham for a one-dish meal. NOTES : Can use steamed fresh broccoli and regular milk instead. To freeze: Prepare completely but do not bake. When ready to serve, thaw and bake as usual. * Exported from MasterCook * Cheeseburger Soup Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Soups Tested and Approved Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 pound ground beef 1 small onion -- chopped 2 carrots -- shredded 1 rib celery -- diced 1 teaspoon basil 4 Tablespoons butter -- divided 3 cups chicken broth 3 cups frozen hash brown potatoes 1/4 cup flour 8 ounces process American cheese (Velveeta) -- cubed 1 1/2 cups milk Salt and pepper to taste 1/4 cup sour cream In a 3-quart saucepan brown beef. Drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, in a small skillet melt remaining butter. Add flour and cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup. Cook and stir soup for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper and cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from the heat; blend in sour cream. Yield: 6 servings...