Monday, January 14, 2013

Ccomfort foods for mental and physical health

Sooooo, what are your comfort foods? Have some summer ones and winter ones, and then I have "please mom fix this" foods I don't have to cook myself. Mine are simple. If it is complicated, I don't get to lie down, drink my juice, read a chapter and take a nap.

I love tomato soup. maybe made with milk. And grilled cheese sandwiches. Hot tea with sugar and milk and fresh chocolate chip and pecan cookies still warm from the oven. (and someone else has to make them.)

So. Hot weather comfort food, cold weather comfort food, comfort food we make ourselves and something someone else has to make for it to be a comfort.

I love pinto beans, but navy beans cooked in chicken broth with garlic and strips of ham are comfort food. Pintos are, well, more hearty. Cornbread healthy or sick is comfort food.

I've learned any idiot can make a wonderful homemade soup so I make lots of them. Someone else can make them. I don't care. They are comfort. they soothe my scratchy throat and warm my belly.

I love a Mexican soup using fideo, and I've never made it as good as some friends, so can you please make it and bring me oh, say, at least a quart? With fresh corn tortillas?

The one time I caught an A-flu virus, I begged my then husband to make me a poached egg on milktoast. With canned pears. I ate about half of it. And I was comforted.

His eyebrows are not the only ones that go up at this confession.

I hate chicken noodle soup. I am comforted by chicken-rice, with maybe some chopped green chile and ontion flakes with cumin?

I don't like mac and cheese, but I love potato soup with ham and cheese, or just plain mashed potatoes, no gravy.

I try to ignore the bread, but oh, sometimes hot tea and a slice of warm parmesan garlic bread slathered with butter makes me happy even when my nose runs.

Jello. red jello in cubes. with a sugar cookie. Cuties. I love those tangerines.A fullgrain bread with hot tea and a slather of favorite jam or jelly.

This is ;my list, and I know it doesn't fit most folks, but I bet it sends you scurrying in your mind for your comfort foods. Stock up. It's going to be a long winter.

Comfort food is one of life's most important happy survival products.

4 comments:

clairz said...

This was a great list, Charlotte. When I am sick, I am always comforted by Campbell's Green Pea Soup, which is increasingly hard to find. It can't be the kind with ham in it, either. Just plain [too salty] canned green soup. Weird. I can make a much better and healthier green pea soup, but for some reason the ultimate comfort is derived from the canniness of the commercial one.

I think we all got the flu over here in NM. It just won't go away, either. Time to go digging in the pantry.

charlotte g said...

Persistent couph? Kinda goes away and comes back? No energy? It's been around here, too, and those who got it have taken literally a month to recover. Take care, and hope you find your soup!

This week, I opened a can of Progresso Tomato Basil and microwaved for 3 minutes. Ate it slowly, savoring. An easy Be Kind to Myself. Yum.

J.R.Shirley said...

I had food poisoning last week. Jello was one of the things I wanted, though it turns out sugar-free jello is just not very good.

I made pumpkin doughnuts last night. With sesame seeds and pecans. :-D

charlotte g said...

sounds delicious! Hot tea with milk to go with.