Maryanne, I was listening to someone else talking on the same subject as Kessler, and her premise was that if you're cooking from scratch it's much more likely to be much healthier for you, whatever it is. The slow food movement and all of that.

I picked a big eggplant today, and have a couple more in the garden I could have picked but will leave for another day. A friend is going to make caponeta one of these days and can it. Last batch of eggplant I gave him he didn't have time to can so he breaded and cooked slices and froze them to use for eggplant Parmesan. Even though there is oil and bread crumbs, the home grown vegetable and the sauce and cheese that will go with it are healthier than one you buy in the store, and probably healthier than one you but at the Olive Garden, etc.

My kitchen is cleaned up, and there are avocados on the counter waiting to be made into guacamole. There are bananas and peaches waiting to be eaten. Veggies from the garden waiting to be sliced and frozen. And I'm making tea by the liter this time of year and trying to drink more of that than pop. It's healthier and cheaper. And I feel more virtuous brewing my own tea than buying cans for a dollar when the bag costs a nickel. :)

I've almost cleaned off my computer desk, but the "need to file" pile has grown on top of my file cabinet. I walked past a faux-Chippendale desk the other day and realized that if I moved the file cabinet from beside it the beauty of the feet would really look great on that tile floor. Same with the dining table. I need to try to emphasize the beauty of the pieces that are here by thinning out the amount of stuff in the room.

SRS