Getting creative in the kitchen

Last month we decided to order some of our groceries with Angel Food Ministries, to see if it would stretch our grocery budget some. It was an interesting experiment. First, if you're family is really into eating meat, you may like their monthly menus. But don't expect extremely high quality meat, at least with the beef-related items. Second, get ready to use food you probably wouldn't normally buy. This isn't a bad thing, as you will see, you just have to get creative in the kitchen.

We bought 2 "regular" boxes, which has SEVERAL meat entrees as well as a few other items, like noodles and spaghetti sauce and corn tortillas and hot dogs, etc. We also bought 2 produce boxes. Each produce box for October had a big bag of lemons, a fresh pineapple, a head of cabbage, a big bag of onions, as well as potatoes and apples. I wish I could just order the produce boxes, but you have to order at least one "regular" box before you order anything else.

Anyway, the produce boxes gave me an interesting challenge. Have you ever cut and cored a fresh pineapple? You have to make sure you cut ALL of the brown spots off from the peel, and who knew pineapple was so slippery in your hands? Dan sprinkled the pineapple chunks with sugar, like you do with strawberries. Then the kids gobbled it up. (Actually, the day we got the food, I was at Time Out for Women the whole day. When I got home, one whole pineapple was already gone!)

I finally decided to make lemonade from all the lemons (When life hands you lemons...you know) Oooh, it was yummy! But ouch! The lemon press thing I found at the store gets tough to squeeze after the 3rd or 4th lemon. I found a VERY simple recipe for homemade fries with the red russet potatoes, and now Dan wants them all the time.

The most difficult challenge, however, was the cabbage. If it was just up to me, I would make tons of coleslaw. But no one else in this house likes it. Hmm, what to do.... I didn't want to make "Corned Beef & Cabbage" because -- no offense, Mom -- I never liked it growing up. Plain cooked cabbage stinks so bad, and it doesn't taste much better. And if you've never had corned beef before, GOOD!

Well, I looked up some recipes online, and after reviewing a few, eventually made up my own recipe for goulash. I must say, I liked it a lot! Yes, it's still cabbage, and it has an Eastern European ring to it (think borscht and turnips.) But if you go for that kind of thing (I'm always willing to try new stuff), then let me know and I'll give you my recipe. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how good cabbage CAN be. Even Dan liked it, and the kids...well, they're still kids (although April was brave :)

All in all, this little grocery experiment was fun, and we'll probably do it again, once we successfully deplete our excessive stock of meat in the freezer.

PS--- No, my recipe does not have turnips in it!