13 and don till you try Recipes

eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, shredded fresh beets, chopped walnuts

grated zucchini, frozen, ripe bananas, peeled and frozen, cocoa powder, chopped peanuts, sugar, half and half

christmas with louise, as a joke , my brother, jay, used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before christmas. he said all he wanted was for santa to fill them., what they say about santa reviewing behavior and checking the list twice must be true because every christmas morning, although jay s kids stockings overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty., year i decided to make his dream come true. i put on sunglasses and with a hat pulled down and went in search of an inflatable love doll. they don tsp sell those things at walmart., i had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. if you ve never been in an x-rated store, don tsp go. you ll only confuse yourself. i was there an hour saying things like, what does this do you re kidding me! who would buy that finally, i made it to the inflatable doll section. i wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my car so i could use the car pool lane, during rush hour. finding what i wanted was difficult. love dolls come in many different models. the top of the line , according to the side of the box, could do things i d only seen in a book on animal husbandry. i settled for lovable louise. she was at the bottom of the price scale. to call louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination., on christmas eve , with the help of an old bicycle pump, louise came to life., my sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours, long after santa had come and gone, i filled the dangling pantyhose with louise s pliant legs and bottom. i also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. i went home, and giggled for a couple of hours., next morning my brother called to say that santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him very happy but had left the dog confused. she would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more. we all agreed that louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional christmas dinner., my grandmother noticed louise the moment she walked in the door. what the hell is that she asked. my brother quickly explained , it s a doll. . who would play with something like that granny snapped. i had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. where are her clothes granny continued., boy , that turkey sure smells nice, gran, jay said, trying to steer her into the dining room. but granny was relentless. why doesn tsp she have any teeth again, i could have answered, but why would i it was christmas and no 1 wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, hang on granny! hang on! ., my grandfather , a delightful old man with very poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, hey, who s the naked gallon by the fireplace i told him she was jay s friend. a few minutes later i noticed grandpa by the mantel, talking to louise. not just talking, but actually flirting. it was then that we realized this might be grandpa s last christmas at home., dinner went well. we made the usual small talk about who had died , who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly louise made a noise that sounded a lot like my father in the bathroom in the morning. then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa. the cat screamed. i passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth to mouth resuscitation. my brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants laughing and granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car., it was indeed a christmas to treasure and remember. later in my brother s garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of louise s collapse. we discovered that louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape , we restored her to perfect health., louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. i think grandpa still asks about her whenever he can get out of the house

head cabbage , depending on size (savoy is great, but use any you like), caraway seed (if you don tsp like caraway, try dill seed), cooking oil (any type , but don tsp use olive oil as it could burn), water, salt, pepper

old fashioned oats, vanilla soymilk (if you don tsp have any on hand, try sweet ), honey dates, chopped, apple, diced (i use granny smith), ripe banana, fresh blueberries, nuts (see below ) (optional) or 1 -2 tbsp seeds (see below) (optional)

all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, softened, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, chocolate chips

baby spinach leaves, raw, frozen sliced peaches, fresh pear, diced, water

smoked beef sausage, diced or 1 lb bacon, crumbled (try homemade fresh bacon bits for easy bacon bits) or 1 lb breakfast sausage, browned, eggs, scrambled, potatoes, peeled and diced, onion, diced, bell pepper, diced, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, flour tortillas, green chili sauce (canned green enchilada sauce works well if you don tsp wish to make green chili), shredded cheese

soy sauce, plum sauce (if you don tsp have on the shelf, try , asian), tomato paste, hoisin sauce, dry sherry, ginger, finely minced, garlic, minced, sesame oil, salt, pork back ribs, sugar (white or brown )

sweet potato, red potatoes, red onion, yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, head garlic (several cloves), olive oil (i try to use slightly less , but if you don tsp use enough, the veggies can be too dry.), black pepper, feta cheese, crumbled (or other salty cheese such as jarlsberg, halloumi)

yellow cornmeal, self-rising flour (if you don tsp have self rising flour, try ), salt, sugar, cayenne, vidalia onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 small onion, may use other sweet onion), jalapeno, finely chopped (or 2-3 tbsp. canned diced green chilies for less heat), green onions, sliced thin (or 4 larger ones), egg, beaten, grated sharp cheddar cheese, buttermilk, dijon mustard (or whole grain mustard), honey, orange marmalade