MAKING MAGIC

      Someone donated a box of mostly expired foods last week, but nothing we couldn't use. The scalloped-potatoes mix provided dried potatoes for my soup, and powdered cheese sauce for the mashed potatoes that Doug was making for dinner. You'd be surprised how things can be used, outside of their intended purposes.

       So today I want to share the soup recipe with you. Don't even think about replicating it—you'd fail. But thanks to that little mid-week donation, I was able to begin with the contents of the mystery box. I started with the remaining can of Progresso Recipe Starters Cooking Sauce (3-cheese flavor). Then I added a can of beets. This is where Doug peered into the pot with raised eyebrows and a grimace. Yes, it was ugly.

       The fuchsia beet juice continued to dominate the pot, even after I added a jar of beef gravy, small cans of carrots, corn, green beans, great northerns, mixed vegetables, chicken, beef stew, a #10 can of black eye peas, a jar of Ragu, fresh celery, and a lot of water. After about an hour, the beet juice gave up. I added a fistful of rice and three or four handfuls of curly egg noodles. We made some taste tests and declared it to be good.

       Our diners also declared it good—they cleaned out the pot! We served chicken nuggets, fries and fruit on the side. There were even enough bitty packs of gum to put one on every plate, and I found some chocolate-covered-caramel candies to fill in, should the gum run out. When the tall dark sweet one came to get his drink, I told him that I had looked for the peanut butter cups he'd wanted last week, but I'd found only "these."

       "Oh, I like those too!" he said. Then his buddy said, "Can I have some too?"

       Sweet One grinned and said, "Tell him no."

       They were charming and appreciative, as was most everyone who came to lunch. One new pre-release claims to be a vegetarian, but he ate a full meal and didn't complain. Two others were doubtful about the soup, but when I promised them it contained no pork, they took it.

       Angry Mom and her boys do not live there anymore!

       The little girl and the baby are still there, and I enjoyed pampering them. Doug says the only meal they come for is Sunday lunch, so the kids will have goodies. We agree that those little ones are very happy children, which says all we need to know about their mothers.

       Our Oriental fellow is still there, and his English improves. He was among more than 40 who came to lunch.

       Two high school senior fellows came to do some community service as part of their senior project. Doug let them clean out the walk-in refrigerator and freezer. Then he put them to work making 30 sack lunches. One was tall and very thin, while the other was short and quite plump—Mutt & Jeff. And all three of the guys bonded over the topic of pick-up trucks. I had no idea that Toyota actually made a better chassis during one period than another, or that Ford had so many upsides.

       If the mystery box remains untouched, there will be no soup next week. Even I cannot make soup from beets, evaporated milk, and saurkraut.