Um... okay.

I forgot what recipes I sent in, but here's a couple for tomatoes, peppers and one for a zucchini yeast bread. Panzanella This is an Italian bread salad. The Italians make it to use up stale bread. I make it to use up cherry tomatoes (I use halved cherry tomatoes). Ingredients Salad 1 1⁄2 pounds ripe tomatoes (about 3) 1 shallot, minced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 cup fresh basil leaves Panzanella croutons Freshly ground black pepper Panzanella Croutons ¼ cup unsalted butter 1 tablespoon minced garlic 6 cups cubed day-old bread (½-inch cubes) Salt and ground black pepper to taste 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan Core the tomatoes and, if large, cut them into chunks; if small, halve or quarter them (I slice the cherry tomatoes in half). Toss them gently with the shallot, garlic, oil, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and pepper. Set aside until the tomatoes are very juicy, about 10 minutes. Add croutons and give a give toss. Tear the basil over the salad and toss gently. (The bread salad can be served now or set aside at room temperature for a couple of hours.) For the croutons, preheat oven to 375 degrees F and preheat a cookie sheet in it. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook until it foams. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the bread cubes and toss to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the bread to a baking sheet. Immediately sprinkle with the cheese and toss again while warm to melt the cheese. Bake, stirring once or twice, until the croutons are crisp and lightly colored on the outside but still soft within, about 8 or 9 minutes. Let cool. Store in an airtight container. Tortellini Salad with Pine nuts This recipe is from Picnic! By Edith Stovel. This serves 8. Ingredients Salad 2 lbs fresh tortellini pasta (spinach, cheese or mushroom fillings work well) 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped 1 cup green onion, chopped ½ cup pine nuts ½ cup chopped fresh basil ¼ cup chopped fresh dill ¼ cup chopped grated parmesan cheese Dressing ¼ cup balsamic vinegar 1 garlic clove, minced ¼ teaspoon salt Ground black pepper ¾ cup olive oil Follow directions for cooking tortellini. Drain and place in a large bowl. Mix in remaining salad ingredients. For dressing, combine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in oil until well combined. Pour dressing over tortellini and chill. Zucchini Bread This is a little more work than the quick version. In the heart of zucchini season, youll enjoy this bread fro a change. This recipe is adapted from a Taste of Home flyer. Makes 1 loaf. 1 tablespoon dry active yeast ½ cup warm water ⅓ cup warm milk ⅓ cup sugar 3 tablespoons butter, softened 2 tablespoons grated orange peel ½ teaspoon salt 1 ½ cups shredded zucchini ⅓ cup raisins ¾ cup whole wheat flour ¾ cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or a blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and mace) 1 ⅔ to 2 ⅓ cups bread flour In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the milk, sugar, butter, and orange peel. Mix well. Add the zucchini, raisins whole wheat floor, all-purpose flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Add enough bread flour to form a soft dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface (5-10 minutes) until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 ½ hours). Punch down dough and shape into a loaf. Place into a greased 9x5x3 inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes.

I received my bubble envelope filled with many of my seed wishes yesterday too! Lots of great bonuses also!! Thanks to everyone for contributing their seeds and making my gardening wishes come true! However, the BIGGEST THANKS goes to Patty, our Round Robin Coordinator, who worked long hours sorting through hundreds of seed packets, matching up wishes with actual packets of seeds, distributing, adding "extras", and then mailing off lot of envelopes to participants!!! A BIG round of applause for Patty!!! This wouldn't have been possible without YOU!!!

This is a really tough one. It sounds like your brother has done everything possible to try to mend fences, but it's not possible because your sister simply won't let it happen. It seems like she's transferred her difficult relationship with your parents onto your brother and isn't willing to let go. Here's what I'd do: 1) Make sure your brother knows that you support him, that you know that this isn't his fault, and that you love him. He's had to bear the brunt of her animosity, and I'm sure it's been very difficult for him. (You've probably done this already, but it wouldn't hurt to do it again!) 2) Everyone (including your brother) needs to make a joint decision to refuse to discuss this with your sister ever again. I'd say to her one time, "Sister, we're all tired of hearing about this grievance that should have been forgotten years ago. We will not discuss it with you again, and we will not listen to you badmouth Brother." And I wouldn't discuss this decision with her, I'd simply tell her that this is how it is now, and then implement it immediately. 3) Whenever she tries to bring it up, I'd say "I'm not discussing this with you" and turn away. Or simply say nothing and turn away. Do not ever specifically address anything she says related to this grievance and don't ever get drawn into a conversation about it - just shut down immediately. If she's willing to talk normally about other things, I'd be interested and talk to her normally. But as soon as she starts to bring up this grievance, ignore her and turn away. If she starts badmouthing your brother, I'd say "I'm not listening to that" and hang up the phone, walk away, stop responding in any way. This will be hard to do because she won't want to give up her dramatic audience, so everyone will need to be very consistent. She'll probably even escalate her behavior for awhile to try to get everyone to respond like they used to, and it's important that you don't give in. The last thing you want to do is reinforce the idea that all she has to do is behave really really badly in order to get the response she wants. Whenever she's willing to talk about other things, I'd be interested and engaged to try to encourage the behavior you want from her. But I'd shut down immediately whenever she brings up the past or trash talks your brother. The hope is that over time, she'll give up on badmouthing and attacking your brother because it never gets the dramatic response she wants anymore - it just gets her frozen out. And even if she never quite gives it up, at least you'll be spending less time and energy on it by refusing to give it any more of your attention.