Darienne

OK. I'll bite. Why?

It's a good thing we eat almost no prepared foods...in fact, I can't think of one, although we do use canned beans (shame on me) and canned tomatoes and paste. This way we pretty much avoid possible food poisoning and suchlike. However, food poisoning in romaine would certainly catch us off guard.

Just came across this online this online chef on Facebook and am much impressed. Adam Ragusea, Internet Cook. For me he harkens back to the days when you could actually learn something watching a television cooking show. Alton Brown comes to mind immediately. This predates when the cooking shows seemed to decline into contests where the participants had to carry a 50 lb cake up 5 stairs and down again blindfolded. Yes, I do exaggerate slightly. I could add that the cooking periodicals seem for the most part to have followed this style also. But that may be just me crabbing. Here's Ragusea's presentation on butter. Fascinating. https://www.facebook.com/aragusea/videos/316074521085805

I have been growing green onions for some time now and one bunch actually gave me 6 harvests. I couldn't believe it when the little Dickens just kept on putting forth and putting forth. I finally laid them to read after harvest #6 and started a new bunch.

Saw a video online which I found really useful. The narrator looked at the kitchen vegetables which are being touted online videos as being fun to plant and worth growing and explained fully why in fact a good number of these plants are not going to give the grower any usable vegetable in return.

Thanks for all the information. I can certainly go more than the $30...I just am currently uneducated about grow lights and what is useful and what is not...and I would have to be able to justify in my own mind whatever money I end up spending. Now your information has been very useful as is that of @chromedomeand @Senior Sea Kayaker

Half applesauce in which line of ingredients, please.

@KennethT When you say inexpensive, are you saying that this light available at Canadian Tire "NOMA T5 Grow Full Spectrum LED Light Strip, 800 Lumens, 7.5W" for $29.99 might actually be worth the buying. Alas, I have to think about that aspect of it. The garden is going to cost me probably far more than the worth of what I get from it, as did my summer dirt bag garden. So I have to put a limit on what I spend. If someething this inexpensive is really not worth the buying, as say is an inexpensive Teflon coated pan, do let me know. Thanks.

Thanks. I really hadn't thought about it in those terms. Of course, they are large. Won't try it again probably. I'm really not a gardener and for me it's too late to do large projects. For a few years we had a large vegetable garden and then for two years we tried to grow hard-shelled gourds...the first year was a success...the second wasn't...but that was 20 years ago. What is the thinking if I grow one large pot of potatoes...just for fun basically. Actually that is probably what's behind this whole idea...the joy of growing something.

Thanks @MaryIsobel. These are the next things I am going to make. ❤️

Oh would I love this recipe. Please. Or where to find it.

I'd grow Poblanos if I could. I use a lot of them over the year. They are not only very expensive, but they simply don't show up regularly in the ONE and only grocery store which carries them in Peterborough. The produce man told Ed they are shorted for peppers quite regularly. I tried growing them this summer in my dirt bag garden...was surprised to find seedlings at a local grocery store where I got my wonderful Beefsteak tomatoes ...but they simply didn't thrive or produce. I could try them in the window if you think there's an off chance I'd get two peppers for my effort. I'd have to buy seeds from Richter's I would imagine.

I need some advice about what to plant in my window garden. I have already grown green onions, and I can grow cherry tomatoes. I have a pot of basil to divide and I'll get Ed to buy me a pot of parsley if this is available. I know that Senior Sea Kayaker (hither-forth to be called SSK...sorry for the impertinence on my part) grows peppers, two kinds of basil and cilantro, etc. I'll go for the Italian parsley...not the cilantro...and I don't know about the peppers. What others things are recommended, please? And when should this or that be started? Don't go to any trouble please, just a few ideas...

Importance? Very. In this case, it's Granola bars that you can pick up and eat. That's the problem.

My problem is that I just don't really know enough about cooking to answer that one...which is why I am asking in this 'absurdly stupid' topic. I am older than dirt, but I only started 'cooking' just over a decade ago and still don't know enough so that I could answer my own question in this case.

I do use an unsweetened peanut butter and I could try that solution...but... OK. If nothing else turns up, I'll just do that.

Salt usually intensifies the sugar content I have read. I want to substitute something for the amount of sugar which is needed as a liquid binder.

I've just made a granola recipe and find the result far too sweet for my taste. (Ed likes it...but then...Ed likes Butter Tarts and I can't stand them.) However, the sugar ingredient in this recipe is maple syrup...1/2 cup..and it is part of the non-dry components which hold the recipe together. Peanut or other nut butter is the other non-dry ingredient. If I cut down on the syrup, the recipe won't hold together. Suggestions please.

Here's the website for the Mediterranean Dish recipe for the tomato soup recipe. https://www.themediterraneandish.com/vegan-roasted-tomato-basil-soup/#wprm-recipe-container-31232

Yes, I'll PM it to you.

Two more significant firsts today...well, no doubt no big deal for others... but important firsts for me. Corn Chowder and Tomato Basil Soups. The Corn Chowder is good, but the Tomato soup is out of this world.

Showed Ed your winter set-up and he has agreed to help me move my second desk which is currently parallel to my computer desk to under the window, just like that of Senior Sea Kayaker. I already have the wide window sill and now I'll have a second and slightly higher level to work with. And I'll scrounge for containers in the garage and up at the Drive Shed and if necessary at the local Restore (where they just adore Ed and fawn all over Miss Mandy.)

Thanks, but I would say that heat as a problem is now over in the far frozen north.

Thanks. Will do. I love basil. Pesto. Yummm. Oh, I do have the potting soil already from my outside dirt bag garden which gave me such wonderful tomatoes. I need to do some rearranging in my den. It had a wonderful big window with a south east view. I've grown many bits and pieces in this window but currently it's a bit obscured by furniture. I have a Spider plant in it which I bought from the local library about 3 years ago and it's taking over my life. I've already given the library 2 huge sets of babies and the plant is currently producing another set. It just won't quit. Maybe I'll move it back some to discourage it a bit and have other things grow. I do grown green onions year round already and I've grown grape tomatoes from tiny slices. I would love to grow more stuff but I don't have the energy or physical flexibility any more. (Short crab.)

A question from the ignorant: Ed bought me a basil plant from a grocery store and yesterday I used ALL the leaves on the plant making tomato soup ...my first time and I was blown away with the deliciousness of the result...but now my plant is denuded and all I have left is the stalks and the small leaves which I know will grow and be usable in some time. What do I do next about the plant? Or do I simply wait for the next leaves?