BeeZee

after finishing the container of salted caramel gelato, I'll give it thumbs up. Not really "true" gelato since it has egg yolks, but it kept quite well in the freezer for 2 weeks as I worked my way through it. Unlike other TJ's products, I agree with the stated 8 servings per container.

I make turkey (only) meatloaf and keep it moist by adding cooked, finely chopped mushrooms and onions to the meat.

well, after buyer's remorse for picking up 2 pies (apple and blueberry crumb) for what is now going to be dinner for 6...tradition for my family seems to be an excess of desserts.

Taco salad sans tortilla bowl (so it actually retains some healthy qualities) - chopped romaine, top with a drizzle of buttermilk ranch type dressing, cooked black beans, chopped up fajita seasoned chicken, pico de gallo (phooey on winter tomatoes), corn salsa, and a big spoonful of guac or diced avocadoes. Squirt lime all over the top.

I found something similar to what Crepes mentions...I had slightly elevated trigylcerides and cholesterol (my diet is generally low fat, primarily vegetarian, but I used to eat a lot of simple carbs) and by focusing on adding fiber and watching the refined sugars/simple carbs I lowered my total cholesterol by 25 points.

I don't think my parents forced us to finish everything on our plate, at a certain point where you are sitting there with congealed bits that you obviously are not going to eat...they would just release us from the table. My sister went through a stretch where she didn't like a lot of vegetables (ironically, she was vegetarian for much of her young adult life...) so my parents allowed her to eat pickled beets as an alternate. Nobody else ate them, just kept a glass jar in the fridge. I always liked veggies, except maybe lima beans. Mom made one meal for the family (meat, veg, starch). That's probably one thing that got drilled into me, meat/veg/starch. When I make a meal that is just meat/veg, I feel like I did something "wrong" or that the meal is incomplete. Although I'm perfectly fine just eating veg/starch as I do most of the time now. Unrelated to food, but related to the table...when I was mad at my sister and it was my turn to set the table, I'd lick her plate before setting it down when nobody was looking!

Co-worker gave me some green tomatoes and little eggplants he picked before they got killed by frost...so I made eggplant and chickpea curry. Also has some chard which I needed to use up. Color not too attractive, but tasty.

"Best" is subjective. I live in NJ and in fact could walk to the named "best" pizza joint, DeLorenzo's. It is excellent thin crust pizza. But if you like a thicker/chewier crust, you wouldn't agree. So how can they say that a specific style/type is superior?

Huiray, those red carrots are just lovely...do they fade in color when cooked? I'd imagine them to be on the sweeter side when raw?

Have a cold, so reheated leftover turkey chili retrieved from freezer depths...didn't look like enough so also cooked some lentils to add to it, threw in a small can of fire roasted tomatoes, and made farro to serve with instead of brown rice. Couldn't taste much, but the burn at the back of the throat felt good

Well, if you set aside the usual suspects (turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy) the one non-negotiable for my husband is jellied cranberry sauce straight out of the can. He pouts if I suggest skipping it in favor of homemade. So we usually have both.

they sell precooked rice cups that you just microwave to heat up, don't remember if it was Minute brand or Uncle Ben's, I have used them at work for lunch, quite acceptable. A little pricey, of course, you pay for the convenience, I only buy them if on sale.

I had some of those Thomcords this summer, don't know if it was the bunch I had but they were kind of unpleasantly soft textured. Very sweet, though.

stuffed cabbage (or other veg if he's adverse to cabbage)...cabbage rolls in sauce freeze great, built in portioning, and easy to reheat. You mentioned freezing twice baked potatoes and they actually do reheat OK, I've done it.

Paula, are these typically eaten as a snack or breakfast item? They sound like a delicious type of coconut crepe (but thicker)!

Anna, I like how the design of the plate looks like a sunburst "featuring" the tomato toast!

I made poached pears and saffron was part of the poaching liquid, that was a pretty tasty one and gave the pears a nice golden hue. Looked good with vanilla ice cream.

Shelby, they are fridge pickles, 24 hour marinade. Other good uses for them are chopped up and mixed into tuna (or other) salad, dipper for hummous.

I made pickled celery. Farmers Market celery had thin, stringy/tough stalks and I realized I wasn't going to eat it, it was starting to go limp after a week. Makes nice pickles, good for a Bloody Mary garnish. Basic recipe found online with white vinegar/water mix simmered with salt/sugar/mustard seed/whole cloves/bay leaves/black pepper.

favorite mid-morning meal this time of year...toasted multigrain bagel (perfect for this application, it's hole had closed during baking) with a very thin layer of cream cheese and thick slices of locally grown tomato. Eaten open-faced, so as to make sure I maximized tomato consumption.

To the "hoarders"...did you do anything similar as a kid? I have some vanilla beans stashed away from a couple of years ago (double wrapped in saran, ziploc bag, in a glass jar) because they are "special". A jar with several whole nutmegs brought back by my parents from some island vacation several years ago, just cracked one to grate recently. Remembered that as a kid, I "saved" my favorite color Crayola crayon so it would last longer, wouldn't use it except sparingly...and it was my FAVORITE color!

I agree its a fun theme, I can tell you there is a sandwich shop in NJ called sub contractors, so I don't know if it is going to be a trademark issue, it may depend where you are geographically...

there's been re-posting on various sites recently (as it is in season) of a "polenta" made with fresh corn which sounds delicious http://www.bonappetempt.com/2012/06/sweet-corn-polenta.html

when I was a kid, my Mom made a macaroni salad with tuna (canned, of course, this was the 70's after all) where you put French dressing on the noodles while still warm (then after it cooled, some sour cream and other stuff was added) as the first step of dressing it. Makes perfect sense.

not growing them, but bought some ugly ones at the Farmer's market last night. Farmer at this stall usually has a few of those huge, scarred, blobby ones (heirloom varieties) in a box separate from the cartons of round slicing varieties and egg-shaped romas...he seemed pleased that I bought the misfits. Ate one last night chopped and mixed with some leftover grilled zucchini and celery. Held true to my theory that uglier tomatoes are tastier. I want to make sure he continues to bring whatever heirloom varieties he can grow, since most of the farmers give up on them due to low yield. I'm still kicking myself for not buying the Purple Cherokee that he had last week.