You can definitely grow hibiscus there. If you like red zinger, you’d probably like straight hibiscus tea.
Do you have a big lots? Lots of tea in discount there, Tazo and celestial seasonings. Also at grocery outlet.
Tazo has an orange you’d probably like a lot.
Walmart has some decent door brand teas now.
Tazo passion. It is purple. And also tasty.
Good ideas! We do have an international market and, apparently, a Big Lots but they’re in the suburbs so I’ll save that for my next trip up that way.
Recipes that use dried sweetened pineapple?
I bought some trail mix that has huge chunks of it. I don’t like it so I was thinking, pick it out and cook it in something. But I am not sure what, and any recipes I google don’t really sound good.
Has anyone cooked with it successfully?
I imagine you could do a Moroccan apricot rice style dish but with dried pineapple swapped in? Otherwise, a fruitcake?
Yeah I was thinking a lot of Persian food includes dried fruits and nuts. Not pineapple usually but could sub it in and it might be nice.
There’s a Colombian dish that’s rice with coconut milk and golden raisins. Would probably be great with pineapple. Disclaimer, have not used this specific recipe, but it’s very simple: Coconut Rice With Raisins (Arroz con Coco) Recipe
I would put it in muffins or cake!
I made this vegan shepherd’s pie last night and it was fantastic and also made a bunch of leftovers, is there a better combo? I don’t have gravy granules (never heard of them before) so I made a quick roux and threw that in instead.
I need to batch cook/prep food to restock my freezer. Besides baked ziti, what should I make?
coconut curry butternut squash soup
white beans with parm rinds
I love having chili in my freezer because you can eat it: as a burrito, as nachos, as soup with chips, as soup plain, over rice, with cornbread, with avocado, sour cream, etc. Enchiladas are good too if you have the room for them. I tend to go for soups since my freezer is small and I can stack those in freezer bags.
Oh, another thing I used to do a lot when I was working full-time is freeze cooked ingredients. So like, cook up a bunch of shredded pork or chicken and freeze it in bags that are the right portion size for my family. That way I could whip up something really quickly because my meat just needed to be warmed up.
Carnitas!
I love having frozen egg cups! There’s a sweet potato and carnitas one I’ve done before and really like. Just be sure they’re fully cooled before putting the bag to freeze.
Carnitas, chili, spag sauce, applesauce with cranberry or rhubarb.
I thought this was everything you were putting into an egg cup and was like wow…. that is a LOT of flavors but maybe they all work together? 
I get creative some days but never quite that far.
We have 7 days. One of them is Christmas, so not responsible.
3 chopped raw bell peppers, 5 small tomatoes, half cup roasted bell peppers, 2 avocado, 5 small yellow onions, 3 green onions, half cup pickled red onion. Half a finger chili.
6(?) slices of bacon, 3 cups of pulled pork with jus, feta, cheddar, 7 hard boiled eggs, 14 raw eggs
Coconut milk, lime juice, sesame oil, fish sauce, black bean sauce, yellow curry, sweet chili sauce, peanut butter, olive oil, butter. Garlic, ginger, taco seasoning. Flour, sugar, salt, corn starch are available.
2 loaves of bread, 3 2 glass noodle nests.
Current ideas:
Yellow coconut curry with tomato, ginger, garlic, hard boiled egg, on glass noodles
Glass noodles with peanut sauce, bell pepper, pickled onion, egg crepes
Grilled cheese, avocado, feta, roast pepper salad or sweet chili dip simmered with roasted peppers
Tomato feta bruschetta
Stewed tomato and pepper with poached eggs, toast
Deconstructed taco salad with pork, fried onions, tomato, avocado, pickled onion, cheddar
Other ideas?
Crustless quiche or egg cups?
Is there anything special I need to do to make stock from scratch? I have the remains of a rotisserie chicken and odds and ends of vegetables in the freezer, I have a stock pot with the insert so I can get all the whole bits out. I thought I’d do a quick google and then suddenly there was way too much information about blanching or boiling bones or something?
Halp. Do I just throw my stuff in a pot with water and boil for a long time? That’s what I thought it was and now I’m questioning everything.
Throw in and simmer. You don’t even need a full boil. That’s it. If you want a rich bone broth, add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to help leach the calcium from the bones. If you want spices, add those too, through you can wait until late in the process and do it by taste.
I do mine in a big slow cooker or in the instant pot if I’m impatient, but stovetop works just fine.