You know a sure sign that spring is on the way is the arrival of seed catalogs. I notice that the catalogs offer a 50% savings if you order before March 11.  This would be a great savings if you start your own plants and now is the time to select a few new items for your garden.

Speaking of gardens now is the time to clean out your freezer and make room for the new crops that will be coming on Do not forget to use up the Swiss chard that we par boiled and put in the freezer last fall. A new recipe you might try includes sautéing 2 cloves of chopped garlic and a chopped tomato in olive oil and adding 2 tablespoons of chopped onion and cook for two minutes.  After thawing the Swiss chard add about two cups of the chard to the tomato mixture and 1/4 cup of sliced fresh basil.  Heat the mixture through, season with salt and drizzle olive oil on top and grated parmesan. Serve with your favorite meat.

Swiss chard is also great for making frittatas.  This is a great dish for Lent when looking for a meatless meal.

A new recipe for fixing stuffed peppers is to use spaghetti instead of a meat stuffing.  Prepare the peppers as you would for any stuffing and I suggest that you try roasting them first on top of the stove and peeling the black skin off before stuffing.   Use angel hair pasta that has been boiled el dente.  Swirl pasta with olive oil and season with garlic, some chopped onion and parmesan cheese.  Stuff each pepper with the pasta.  Preheat oven to 350, Stuff each pepper with the pasta mixture and bake for about 25 minutes.  This can also be used for your meatless meals or accompany your favorite meat.

What a lovely lunch I had this past week with Rosalie Jordan and Pete Iquinta. I prepared Italian and Spanish sausage, along with a rigatoni casserole, a nice salad served with hot bread and all those wonderful mushrooms and Italian olives. Desert was my pita m'piliata.  Lunch was served at 12:30 and we were still talking and eating a five o'clock. What a wonderful time we had talking about East View and sharing our memories. There were not too many residents that we did not have memories of.  Some of our favorites were East View Grade School and the lunch program, "Pappy Lowe" Mildred Oliverio and her wonderful mushrooms, walking the railroad tracks to and from Broadway Junior High School and the operettas put on by Mrs. Chenoweth and the programs of marching teams and Tumbling teams by Mr. Kishbaugh.

I want to offer my condolences to the Harris Family on the passing of Smokey and to the Laban While family on his passing.

I forgot how much I enjoyed reading about the Kings and Queens of England until I recently purchased the book The White Princess by Philippa Gregory. If you like English History, I recommend this book.  I am only half way through it but hope to finish it this week.

For those of you who enjoy the purse bingo's mark your calendars for March 15 the PWA will be having bingo with 21 beautiful Vera Bradley purses up for grabs.  The PWA really needs your support so call 304-624-6881 to get your tickets. Follow the paper for more details.  Hogs and Heros are also helping the PWA by sponsoring a spaghetti dinner with proceeds going to us.  For date and time call the PWA.

A Happy Valentine’s Day to all you valentines out there and keep in touch.  Until next week "Now You Have Heard It through The Grapevine."