As Thanksgiving approaches, life seems so heavy right now. Post election drama everywhere, hurricane aftermath, and so many friends having medical issues and surgeries. So, to lighten the mood, or at least my mood, a bit, I'm bringing the tone of this post way down compared to the other posts I've written so far. Nothing deep or overly insightful, just a light, fun topic to think about! Especially now that winter is upon us.
A few weeks back, I cleaning out a stack of magazines and came across a Cooking Light in which the editor's article was talking about comfort food, and he listed his ten favorite comfort foods are. (Sorry, I don't have the month or year of publication, I recycled it already.) Naturally, that got me wondering what my favorite comfort foods are. To me, comfort foods are the ones I seek out without much thought, foods I crave, ones that are familiar and I know how they'll taste. I consider them "safe". Not necessarily my favorites, but my safety nets. I have to note that I'm not a foodie. I don't try a lot of new foods, and if I don't know what it is, I won't eat it. Many of my friends are "foodies", and my husband is, too. But not me, I find something I like and stick with it. As an example, at Subway, I always get a turkey or turkey bacon sandwich. I tried a meatball sub for the first time ever THIS YEAR! I know I'm weird, but I'm ok with it!
In trying to come up with my list, I spent way too much time thinking about this (overthinking!). After much self-deliberation, I condensed my list to only ten. I kept it to non-restaurant specific foods, as that would be a whole other list. So here is my list, in NO particular order:
1) Mashed potatoes. I can never get enough, and I have a ritual as to how I eat them. I mash them down with my fork, then create a dividing line down the middle. One side gets slathered in butter, the other side is gravied. I started doing that when I was really little because I couldn't decide between the two. This way, I got both. For the win!
2) Green olive and mushroom pizza. It doesn't matter where it comes from or who makes it, this is always my first choice.
3) Goldenrod. This is a family tradition that I grew up with from my grandma, my dad's mom. It's essentially creamed eggs. The sauce is nothing more than flour, butter and hard boiled egg whites, served over toast, with grated egg yolks on top. It probably sounds gross to most people, but I crave the stuff. We usually only have it on Easter or Christmas for breakfast, but my husband and I have incorporated it into our meal repertoire more frequently. I think we have had it twice in the last month, and usually for dinner!
4) Hashbrowns and sausage. I will eat this combo anywhere, at anytime. (And this, or a McDonald's sausage and cheese McMuffin is my hangover cure!)
5) Coke. Seriously, Coca-Cola. Coke is food!! If I feel hungry and can't decide what I want, I have a Coke and I'm fine!
6) Cereal. There are only five kinds that I eat, and to most everyone, they are BOR-ING. They are: Bran Flakes, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios, and if I'm feeling like shaking it up, Apple Jacks.
7) Any combination of cheese and bread. Cheese and crackers, cheesebread, cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheesesticks, ... you get the idea.
8) Tuna Salad. How we make it is by taking small shell shaped pasta and mixing it with tuna fish, Miracle Whip, thawed frozen peas, and sprinkled with paprika. It's not complete without a bunch of potato chips on the side!
9) Chocolate milkshakes. Plain and simple and nummy chocolate shakes. Not malts!
10) Mush. My mush is rice, grilled chicken, mushrooms and zucchini, all mixed together and tossed in a teriyaki sauce.
There you have it, my boring list of comfort foods. What's funny about this list is that I am not and never have been a breakfast eater. Yet there are 3 foods on there that are first and foremost breakfast foods. That's kinda funny to me.
Anyhoo, what is YOUR definition of comfort food? And what is on your list? Any good recipes to share? It's something fun to think about!
Until next time...
I had to post because you seriously have me thinking about this. Comfort food is not anything special to anyone but you, there is some memory attached to it that makes you crave it. And my list is as follows, number one is number one.
ReplyDelete1. Pizza, almost any kind will do
2. Nachos, needs to have sour cream and guacamole
3. Spagetti and meatball with marinara sauce
4. Brats, hey I'm from Wisconsin
5. Cheese, again I'm from Wisconsin
6. Biscuts and suasage gravy, can't get enough
7. SOS - as my dad called the first time - it is mashed potatoes covered in chunky's beef stew
8. Irish stew
9. Dr. Pepper
10. New York vanilla ice cream drenched in chocolate syrup