"Christine Dabney" wrote

>>>Got a list of sorts of what you have handy? I can post back ideas on
>>>what
>>to make of it. My staples may not match yours (probably wont) but you do
>>the Asian shopping thing too so we might work some matches in there.
>
> Well...I am not as big on Asian food as you are...I think my tastes
> run more to the Mediterranean style foods.

Ok, well I don't do italian much but some of my cookery is very greek (grin,
just read that, I mean from Greece).

> But sure..give me any suggestions..
>
> I do have a cabbage in the fridge, but I think it is going to a
> Moravian slaw that I saw made on FoodTV a few years back, by Sara
> Moulton. I am thinking of taking that to the Christmas potluck at
> work..it is a nice festive side dish. I have made it before and it is
> very good. I have all the ingredients for it already.

Sounds good! I do a slaw with daikon radish and a bit of chopped raw white
part of bok choy for the crunch of both. If that will match flavors, try
adding a little and see what you think. You can always pull out just a
small section and add it to that then taste test first.

> I do have an extensive cookbook library (somewhere in the range of
> 1000,give or take a hundred or so) so I can usually find

1,000 books or 1,000 recipes? I have many computerized recipes but no where
near that many cookbooks! I might have 150 cookbooks. Maybe. Some are
real small like a charmer from Manila on 101+ uses for bannanas <g>. I saw
it at this little store there and couldnt resist it.

> for whatever I have. Those cookbooks cover a wide range of cuisines,
> from French, Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Malaysian, Spanish,
> American, vegetarian, to I don't know what else...LOL. I have books
> on baking, desserts, etc as well..so if I am craving something for a
> dessert or something sweet, I can usually find something in those
> books to cover that desire.

I love to peruse my books too as well as the mealmaster database. Overall,
I find the mealmaster better for finding something but gotta have my books
too!

Ok on cabbage, hundreds of fixes for that. I like to make it into kimchee
for one of the simpler fixes.

Shred 3 cups cabbage then put in heavily salted water in a plastic container
for the day just setting in the sink. Drain next day and rinse then add as
much chile powder as you are comfortable with and a bit of oil (I use
olive). I also add black olives and crumble a little hard cheese into it at
serving time.

Keeping with the theme here, that would be about 25cents worth of cabbage
(if that), 10cents of oil, and 10 cents of spices, plus 50 cents of olives.
95cents and makes 6 servings. 16 cents a 1/2 cup serving. Add a little if
you add cheese, maybe 10 cents a serving even for fancy feta. It keeps for
2 months or more in a fridge.