Blessings in Disguise

There are many blessings you get and give when buying form Angel Food Ministries. Most are evident, you save money, you save time, you get good food and most importantly by buying from them you make it possible for Angel Food to have the bulk buying power to offer people who need a little assistance the chance to buy quality food at discounted prices. All that is great, but this week I discovered a blessing in disguise. One of the things we received in our box was a package of pork chops. I don't like pork chops. I'm kind of a picky eater. [Those who really know me well are snickering under their breath, "kind of?! HA!"] Aaaaaanyway, I also don't like to waste anything, especially food and money. So I went on a search for a recipe to make pork chops that I could stand eating. I found three that I thought I might be able to force down. I showed them to Jay and he picked two he thought looked good. I ended up making Caramel Apple Pork Chops. [for those taking notes I took some suggestions from the comments and quadrupled the sauce and baked at 350* for 40 minutes] It was DELICIOUS! It made me actually want to go out and buy pork chops on my own to make it again. The strangest part is I don't like cooked apples(or any warm fruit for that matter). I thought I would just take them off and eat the chops with the sauce; but I tried a piece with the apples, partly to ease my guilt of making the kids try it, and I liked it. For scientific purposes I then tried the warm apple alone- I still don't like warm fruit. Weird, huh? So if you are looking for a good pork chop recipe or just a good new dish to try I highly recommend Caramel Apple Pork Chops.
I had a similar experience when we did a CSA(community supported agriculture) program where we didn't get to pick our food. [Orange Glazed Asparagus]These programs have forced me to get out of my food routines and try new things that I've ended up liking a lot. I think we all have our own food routines. Even people who like to try new things have often have their routines- pick one new fruit every time I go to the grocery store, try one new recipe a month, etc. We are creatures of habit. I think it's good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while and try new things. You never know what you might discover.