I’m making a pot of minestrone in the middle of August. Why? Minestrone means comfort food to me. Besides, it’s a healthy meal that I can fix in a few minutes, that allows me to walk away and do something else while it finishes cooking.
Everyone has their own definition of “comfort food.” Usually it’s a food that we remember from our childhood, or a food that is usually excluded from today’s healthy diet. Minestrone doesn’t seem to fit into that definition, but while I was recuperating from childhood illnesses, my mother gave me tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and ginger ale. I think that the idea of soup as a comfort meal began then. New England Clam Chowder, Golden Cheddar Chowder, Shrimp or Lobster Bisque, all speak of comfort to me. Luckily I like Manhattan Clam Chowder, Chili, Tortilla Soup, Bean Soup, Gumbo, and Cioppino, too, and some of those soups are lighter in calories than the cream-based soups.
I was talking with Elegante Mother’s caregiver at lunch, and described a family sandwich that my entire family ate as kids: peanut butter with sweet relish, grilled. We called it: peanut butter and piccalilli. I LOVE that sandwich. I try to keep it down to one a year, but it’s incredibly satisfying…finger-licking, even!
EM, given the chance to eat out, will ALWAYS go for Lobster. But, when it comes to home cooking, homemade macaroni and cheese does it for her. She doesn’t pig out, or overeat in the slightest, but she loves her macaroni and cheese. I can see it showing up on the menu next week.
What food comforts you? Is it a gallon of Rocky Road Ice Cream? A casserole with a rich sauce? (I could go for that….) Is it a complex meal, or one of those dinners Mom used to make with four ingredients?
All I can say, is, “Thank you, God, for comfort food!”
Arrrgh!!!
It's just my state of mind!
Anyone who roasts and peels her own peppers will not be amused to hear that one of my comfort foods is Campbell’s chicken and noodle soup–the only flavor that I knew they made when I was a kid (I loved the munching noise that my aunt made in eating it!) The only soup that I recall being home-made by anyone in our family was cream of potato, which I recall being fed when our whole family had the mumps.
Other comfort foods: maccaroni and cheese (with much black-pepper shrouded longhorn-style, cheddar shredded over the top, baked to a crunchy goodness), Mrs Hart’s cocoa cake, Mom’s meatloaf, Dad’s twin-mountain muffins, and pancakes that are thin, crunchy, and dark brown from having been cooked in much bacon fat or Crisco shortening! I still enjoy a good pot of beans–made with ham hocks, in my childhood (when we could afford the hocks or had butchered a hog). Beans were not soupy at our house, but they were served on the plate several times each week. Beans and mashed potatoes were our “staples”. Vegetables were pretty much home-canned peas, corn, or beets (pickled). The only canned foods that I now enjoy are the home-pickled beets; but, I’ll take corn-on-the-cob, anytime!
As for ice cream, we had hand-cranked in the summer and snow ice cream in the winter. I don’t recall eating peanut butter, as a kid; but, I do enjoy peanut butter sandwiches with sweet-pickle relish and Kraft’s Miracle Whip salad dressing, now.
CC, I’m fond of Mrs. Grass’ noodle soup. I don’t think there’s any chicken chunks in the soup, but I love the chicken broth and short vermicelli noodles. Campbell’s doesn’t do much for me, but my step-son wants it when he doesn’t feel well.
I have no doubt that Mrs. Hart’s cocoa cake is one of your ultimate comfort foods. That has to be an incredible cake. The pancakes sound a bit odd, but to each his own.
I think I might pander to EM’s love of lobster tonight. Another of her comfort foods is the Cheddar Bay biscuits at Red Lobster. I could make this a TWOFER!!! I hope I get double points for this! *G*
I’m aware more each year that passes just what a fortunate childhood I had. I learned (in my twenties) that my father was making double house payments all the time they were sending me to college. I never thought of us as being poor, or underprivileged. We always had interesting meals on the table with plenty of variety. I could have passed on eating broccoli back then, but we never went hungry, and I had plenty of clothes, even during the years when I grew like a weed.
Having said all that, I was never introduced to beans as a meal until I was a college graduate, and married to a man from Kansas. We visited the Kansas branch of the family shortly after we were married, and our last night in Kansas, were offered beans over cornbread. I wondered where the meat was. Since then I have come to appreciate what a great meal that is…and I’d include it in my comfort food list now.
Absolutely, on the cake. Everyone in our family grooves on that cake. It’s the most-requested birthday cake in the family (well, Bogie usually wanted cherry cake, which nearly always was a disaster if I made it from scratch).
Oh, the Cheddar Bay biscuits, while not qualifying as a comfort food for me, are certainly a favored food on the rare occasion when we go out. I made some, once, from an on-line recipe; but, HH just doesn’t want cheese in his biscuits, so it isn’t worth the effort.
If your dad could afford to make double house payments while sending you to college, you were anything BUT poor. You qualify as having come from a very rich family, in MY book!
We had a LOT of beans (almost always pinto) BECAUSE they were cheap. Now, I fix them (several months ago I bought a small pressure cooker, just so I can cook beans more quickly!) because I like them. If HH is eating them, they had better be laced with a goodly portion of diced ham; but, I like them plain or with ham. HH doesn’t want the cornbread; but, beans just should not be served without it (or buttered, home-made bread!) And, diced onions (which, again, HH won’t touch) sprinkled across the top certainly adds to the flavor.
P.S. I failed to award you TRIPLE points for the lobster and biscuit combination for your Elegante Mother. Way to go!
Cop Car, I earned those Triple points! Not only did EM have lobster (She ate EVERY BITE), AND Cheddar Bay biscuits, but she finished off the meal with the Chocolate wave cake! You’d have thought I hadn’t feed her in years! *G*
Yesterday, my oldest sister’s clan was celebrating two of her grandson’s birthdays, and I took EM to that, so I gained a few more points. I believe in stocking up, because I’m sure to be in the dog house sooner or later. *G*
As for our financial status when I was a kid….things were tight. I’m sure it was tough on Dad to make those double payments, but he managed it, somehow. I never felt poor, but I knew there wasn’t a lot of money to spare. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as being rich, but even when we were first starting out after college, we managed to pay the rent (later, the mortgage), and have food on the table. I don’t think you can consider yourself RICH until you don’t have to worry about ANY of the necessities. When you are at the point where the big decision for the month is whether to buy a BMW or a Mercedes, then, maybe you are RICH! lol
I have to side with HH on the bean issue. I want ham with mine, and onions, too! I’ve adapted a German lentil soup recipe to use dried Great Northern beans, and I like that soup with cornbread. If you let the soup cool, it thickens, and when it’s reheated, it doesn’t waterlog the cornbread. I don’t want to think about beans without onions and seasonings!
My oldest sis would commend you on the fiber in your diet! *G*
Buffy: You and I are enough different in ages to observe different definitions of success and financial stature. In addition, “rich” is a relative term. Even during our leanest years, we didn’t feel really poor because we still knew families who were worse off. Of course, the fact that there was no effective form of birth control in those days determined many destinies. Our outgrown shoes and well-worn (often, patched) clothes went to a family of seven kids. Education was the path that we three kids took out of the dirt.