What do they do with the weird stuff?

We asked a few survey respondents to tell us how they use the oddest items in their pantry.

• Rita Heikenfeld uses healthy edamame (green soy beans) in pasta sauce and soup and as a side dish. She buys edamame frozen at groceries and health food stores, and boils the beans in salted water about 10 minutes.

• Maggie Green buys and keeps more ground bison than hamburger these days because it's leaner than beef and grown nearby in New Richmond by Vista Grand Ranch.

"I thought it was more healthy all along," Green says, "and the mad cow thing just confirmed that."

Green uses ground bison to make chili, lasagna and spaghetti sauce.

• David Cook admits he loves to drink bloody marys on Sundays after a long, hard week - which is why he keeps Bloody Bold Bloody Mary Mix in his pantry. But he also uses the mix to make vinaigrette (2 ounces of bloody mary mix, 1 tablespoon mustard and 11/2 tablespoons olive oil) to drizzle on grilled chicken and seafood. He sometimes simmers and reduces the mix for saucing sea scallops.

• A Kentucky native, Meg Galvin swears she keeps bourbon in her pantry for flavoring cheesecake and making steak and chicken marinades. Marmite (a brown and salty British yeast extract) spread is another favorite.

"I grew up eating it on toast," says Galvin, whose mother was British, "and I still love it."

• Gail Billings and Julie Francis list green tea among their top 15 pantry staples. They don't cook with the green leaves, though. They just drink the tea.