Subj : Commodity cheese wase: Spaghetti Squash Casserole
To : Dave Drum
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Wed Nov 22 2023 10:41:22
Hi Dave,
BC> garden planted by the previous renter. They happened to plant several
BC> spaghetti squash plants. That fall i ate a lot of spaghetti squash.
BC> I think my favorite way to eat it was with butter, parmesan, salt, and
BC> pepper. Basic.
DD> A nice garlic/basil pesto works very well with spaghetti squash just
DD> like it does with traditional pasta.
SH> It's the one squash Andrea and I don't like. However if I "inherited"
SH> a garden full of them I would learn to like them as I'm too cheap to
SH> not eat free food. ;)
I understand; I think we would have tried fixing it several different
ways, had I known. This was well before the internet so I was quite
limited in resources (none of my cook books had anything about spaghetti
squash).
RH> Depends on what's being offered. Years ago we were on Food Stamps (even
RH> tho Steve was working full time, just not at sufficient pay to support
RH> a wife and 2 kids). It was while the government was doing commodities
RH> (eggs, cheese, milk) give aways so we were informed we were entitled to
RH> get cheese one month. I went for it--turned out to be 15 pounds of an
RH> imitation Velveeta. Couldn't freeze it so we used it up as fast as we
RH> could. We'd bought Velveeta a couple times when we were first married
RH> but hadn't bought it in years and haven't bought any since the give
RH> away stuff was used up. I don't think it was too long after that that
RH> Steve enlisted in the Army.
DD> Back when they were doing the commodities I was partners on a small
DD> town weakly called "Rochester & Lake Springfield Herald". It was a
DD> deputy Mayor, who was running the give-away, talked Earl and I into
DD> taking a 4X batch. Each. That was 60# of really good mild Cheddar
DD> (American)
DD> cheese. As well as 4 big boxes of dried powdered milk and 4 bags of
DD> long grain white rice.
The powdered milk would have been quite useful, as well as the American
cheese. At that point we were using brown rice so I may/may not have
taken the white rice, tho I could have always used as a fill for some of
my sewing projects. (G)
DD> Other areas of the country got the Velveeta-like cheezoid stuff.
Ours, DD> according to the USDA establishment number was made by
Meister Cheese DD> in Wisconsin.
I'd read about the give away being real cheddar cheese so was
anticipating that was what we would be given. Shock and surprise to get
the substitute. That was the one and only time we got anything from the
give away; Steve joined the Army not long afterwards. A PFC
pay/allowances was a good bit more than what he was making at his
civilian job tho we still qualified for the food stamps. I just
tightened the budget again and we did without them. What helped in the
first few months was that his language school was in Monterey, CA. We
lived in Pacific Grove; there were some reasonably priced produce
markets in town. I could fill a grocery sack full of assorted vegetables
and carry a 5# bag of potatoes on the side for well under $10.--enought
to feed us for a couple of weeks or more, depending on how I used them.
The girls were 5 and 3 at the time and enjoyed the fresh produce.
RH> Due to no fault of mine, I've been off the air for almost a week.
Tried RH> fetching mail every day but it didn't "click" until today.
We're done RH> travelling for the year with the possible exception of a
Thanksgiving RH> time trip (weather permitting) to visit Steve's mom.
DD> I've been in the body & fender (now rehab) for two weeks. I'm ready to
DD> go home and back to work.
Doesn't sound like fun but at least you're still on this side of the
dirt. (G) We are away from home but will be back in a few days. Later
I've got to get a few things for our contribution to the feast.
---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28
... Our necessities are few but our wants are endless...
--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)
