First mulberries of 2011! Here in CA just got our first berries today! I went to the neighbors who are novices and they taught ME something. After growing up every year collecting berries on old sheets, they showed me an easier way! They had some sheet plastic that comes in a roll. Like the kind painters use, that unfolds to be about 10 feet wide. Just roll out several sheets of plastic on the ground below your tree (cutting the roll to size as you lay it out.) Then use rakes or other long handled tools to shake the branches. If you have an 8 year old handy, you can get them to climb up and shake the branches too! So lucky to have white mulberries today as I have not had them since I was a kid. I agree, they are very sweet, and do not have the flavor of the purple ones, but then they don't stain your skin or ruin your clothes either! I was so excited to see all these recipes here! My neighbor and I collected about 10 gallons of berries tonight, we didn't even get all the way around either tree, and the harvest has just started! Guess what we will be doing all week! Just glad there is freezer space! Can't wait to try all these recipes! Thanks again!

My experience doesn't match msazadi's. I know vegetarians who are foodies. One is in my kitchen at the moment making cornbread. Two nights ago he made ravioli with a citrus sauce. For Thanksgiving, the meat eaters amongst us went to my DIL's sisters house for turkey lunch. In the evening we hosted a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal. My DS invited an fellow grad student and her room mate (both Indian and vegetarian). We wanted to make something they would like without doing Indian food. This Tunisian Chickpea Soup from Olive Trees and Honey went over well. Spicy enough to be familiar to them without attempting to be Indian. 1/4 c olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 3 carrots, chopped 1 small (~10 oz) celery root, peeled and chopped or 2 stalks celery chopped 2-4 cloves garlic minced ~ 10 c water 1 lb (2 1/3 c) dried soaked chick peas 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp cumin seeds or 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 to 2 tbsp harissa or 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp salt or 2 tsp kosher salt ground black pepper 1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro, mint or parsley 2 to 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice or 1 c plain yogurt 3 to 4 c french bread cubes or pita bread (optional) (I didn't) 3 to 4 c French bread cubes or pita bread In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and saute until softened, ~ 10 min Add water, chick peas and bay leaves. Boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer until tender, ~ 1 1/2 hours Toast cumin seeds (if using) in a dry skillet until lightly browned - shake or stir - don't burn them. Grind. Add cumin, harissa or cayenne, salt and pepper to soup. Cover and simmer 15 min. Discard bay leaves. Coarsely mash the chick pease a bit with a wood spoon, potato masher or stick blender. Can be stored in fridge and reheated for serving. Add the cilantro and lemon juice and heat through before serving. If desired, add 1/2 cup bread pieces to each bowl and ladle soup over. Drizzle with olive oil. (We were having falafal and pita bread after plus I made cranberry walnut whole wheat bread so we didn't do bread in the soup bowls. I didn't drizzle the oil and it was fine.) Moroccan variation in case you have non-spicy types - omit cumin and harissa. After mashing the chick peas, add 2 lb stemmed chopped spinach or chard or frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry and the lemon juice, cover and simmer 2 to 4 min. Home made pita and falafel were great but not low effort. About half the falafel recipes used soaked and ground chick peas. The other half used soaked, cooked and mashed chick peas. I did a half batch each way - the ones using soaked and ground but not pre-cooked chick peas came out much better - very good flavor and texture. Sephardic Leek and Cheese Casserole also from Olive Trees and Honey - a very good book if you want to expand your vegetarian repertoire - is good and pretty easy. It reheats well so you could make it ahead. Too late for Jessy I'm afraid. 1/4 c olive oil 3 lb leeks ( 1 1/2 lb if you do the zucchini varient), white and light green parts only cut into thin lengthwise slices and washed 1 large onion chopped (optional - I've always used it) 1 c water 2 cups (~1 lb) grated zucchini 2 tsp salt or 4 tsp kosher salt 1 cup (5 oz) crumbled feta or 1 c (8 oz) farmer or pot or 1 c grated kefalotyri or Parmesan cheese or a combination (I've always done the feta) 1 c shreded kashkaval, Goueda, Muenster or Cheddar (did this the first time and thought it didn't add much - other times I've done just the feta) 5 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 tbsp olive oil ground black pepper to taste or 1/2 tsp cayenne 1/4 c chopped fresh dill or 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil a 9 " square or 8 by 11 inch baking dish or two 9-inch pie plates. In a large sauce pan (she must have really large sauce pans - I use a small soup pot), heat oil over medium heat. Saute leeks and onion until softened. Add water, zucchini if using, 1 1/2 tsp salt or 3 tsp kosher salt, cover and simmer until leeks are tender (about 15 min). Drain Combine cheeses, eggs, remaining salt, pepper and dill or nutmeg. Add leek mixture. Put in baking dish. Bake until set and golden brown, about 50 minutes. Variant - you can leave out the cheese msazadi and cook 2 lb peeled, diced russet potatoes with the leeks. Kind of mash it after the draining step. I usually still put in the feta or you can put in 1/2 c Parmesan cheese. Really fancy and a good side dish for the meat eaters would be a nice Biryani. I have made one with cashews and pistachios in the top layer of rice but it was more work. There are some simpler ones on line.

san, this would also be good for Dad, who is diabetic. I wonder how the lemon pancakes would reheat? Annie

Well, it worked GREAT. I made a simple clam chowder with turnip, daikon radish, and rutabaga, all cubed about 1/2", in place of potato. Everything else was as usual for a simple clam chowder. Onion, celery, a little garlic, bacon, clams (some canned, some whole), plenty of butter and heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, a little flour to thicken (which turned out to be unnecessary, in fact I had to thin it out with more milk), Italian parsley garnish. Served in a boule bread bowl for DD, in plain bowls for SWMBO and me. We all preferred the low carb chowder to the traditional potato based chowder, which I'd made last week. SWMBO liked the way these root vegetables held together in their cubes instead of disintegrating as potatoes are wont to do. She liked the daikon radish best. She did complain about the actual clams with shells. DD pointed out that the shells slow you down and prevent gobbling. I felt the root veg-based clam chowder was a little lighter than a potato chowder, in the sense that it doesn't sit quite as heavy in the belly. But that may have been psychosomatic. (Numbers. Grams of carbohydrate per 100 grams of food: Potato 17, rutabaga 9, turnip 6, daikon radish 4. So next time I'll use more daikon radish. It's low(er) carb than the traditional recipe, but has plenty of fat from the dairy. I'm trying to eat less carb and more fat and protein, so this is perfect for me.) Anyway, this is going on the Christmas eve menu. We are doing a big crab feed. We always do a big crab feed. This year we broke tradition and went away for Thanksgiving, to a friend's house in Port Townsend WA. It was a wonderful trip - ferries, food that I didn't have to cook, a cute coastal town with interesting shops, our favorite cafe and a good bookstore, lots of lounging and napping, and one day I set up my laptop, put my head down, worked for 10 hours and pushed through a task that had me "blocked" for months. But . . . This has made us more determined to spend Christmas and New Years at home, with the kids and a fire, cooking and knitting, working and reading, getting the last college applications submitted (DS), and napping, hopefully a good deal of napping.