I wrote yesterday about how the fall has a shadow over it for me. Today, I was feeling a bit down, and I wanted a specific type of food for dinner. Unfortunately for me, the restaurant I wanted to go to was closed for renovations. I didn’t get the dinner I wanted, so the psychological release I would have associated with it was gone.
Now I will admit that I could lose a few pounds. I’m not extremely overweight, but I know losing around 15 lbs. would be good for me in the long run. I also realize I have to watch what I eat due for other reasons. But I was good today, so I knew I could have my comfort food tonight. Then I realized almost all of my comfort foods are not what would be considered a healthy diet.
So anyway here are my top 25 comfort foods in no particular order:
1- McDonalds McDouble cheeseburger (I didn’t really notice the missing slice of cheese that makes this not the Double Cheeseburger). Or the Wendys Junior Bacon Cheeseburger… Neck and neck on these. Both hit the same spot.
2- Pancakes, Waffles or French Toast. At home is good, but for personal reasons I really like I-HOP.
3- Sausage Gravy and Biscuits with Scrambled eggs.
4- Oreo Cookies and milk. Usually the Double Stuff
5- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
6- Meatloaf
7- Gingersnaps
8- Good Coffee and Cheesecake
9- Pumpkin Pie
10- Yellow Cake with Chocolate frosting
11- German Chocolate Cake — I like the frosting with nuts, but the coconut is good too
12- Good Chocolate (Usually this would be imported and expensive)
13- Lemon Meringue Pie
14- Key Lime Pie (not with a meringue)
15- Red and Black Raspberries (in anything or fresh)
16- Chili
17- ‘Lil Smokies
18- Sloppy Joes
19- Kielbasa
20- Bill Knapp’s Chocolate Cake (If you know where to find this let me know)
21- Chocolate Frosted Donuts (Fresh made are best)
22- My Mom’s BBQ sauce on just about anything
23- Dried Apricots, Fresh Apricots and even Canned Apricots
24- Fried Onions and Potatoes with Sausage
25- Fried Baloney, Onion and Ketchup sandwich (Thanks Dad..)
Now with all of these there is a time and place. I won’t usually want Chocolate Donuts at the same time I want Mom’s BBQ sauce. Believe it or not, each of these foods brings back certain memories for me. Mom’s BBQ are those weekends when family would all stop to visit. Same with the Sloppy Joes. Chocolate Frosted Donuts and Bill Knapps’ Chocolate cake will invoke memories of spending time with my aunt D. She never served the Bill Knapps’ cake, but the one she did serve was very similar, but I never knew where she got it. CheeseBurgers — Backseat of the family car for a ‘special’ night out.
I just noticed a lot of this food are childhood memories, some others are memories from my life as a father and husband. Some are just plain good.
I do have to be careful of these, because I do know that most of the extra weight I’m carrying came from the years after my wife died. I can’t tell you how many Oreos, gallons of milk, cheesecakes and coffee or Sausage Gravy and Biscuit meals I had, but it was way too many.
Ok, I shared. What are your favorite comfort foods. Do I need to add something to the list?
Aunt D’s city chicken legs & the chocolate covered donuts they’d have along with the angel wings.
Mom’s cinnamon rolls and all of her berry desserts. Mom’s apple pie!!!
Aunt J’s coffee cake!!!!
Dad’s fudge and do you remember the time he made donuts? They didn’t taste like donuts but they were still good. Dad’s popcorn balls.
Yum, yum, yum!
Of course I always like chocolate & caramel
I vaguely remember Bill Knapps – wasn’t it a restaurant? Wow, haven’t heard that name in ages.
I don’t consider your #15 a comfort food, since it’s fresh fruit and these days, they say it’s good for you. I’m sorry you didn’t get your meal yesterday – that would have upset me as well. I can be kind of picky when it comes to food, and after a bad day, losing the food I was looking forward to all day would have (and has!) sent me over the edge. I think I would add saganaki to your list, but that’s just me… I can probably think of at least a few more, but probably everything I eat and like is comfort food since I don’t really watch my diet like I should… Oh well.
“Skillet potatoes”, Daddy! When you fry up the potatoes and onions together. Or bagel sandwiches. Poppy’s macaroni and cheese. Tapioca pudding.
And REAL Italian beef sandwiches…
Link didn’t work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_beef
taylhis — Ahh, the comfort of fresh fruit. The fruit I mentioned (raspberries on #15 and apricots on #23) are special cases for me. The raspberries remind me of warm summer days spent searching and picking wild berries. While I tried to make sure I would bring most of them home for pie, jams or cobblers, I would sit down somewhere in the shade or sun (depending on the day) and eat just a few berries. Or maybe finding the first 3 or 4 berries of the season and sharing them with my wife. To me that is comfort. The Apricots are just because I love them. Usually expensive, apricots are a treat for me.
Hey relative… 😉 Yeah, I would consider Mom’s deserts comfort food, but I have yet to duplicate any of those in my kitchen. Same with Dad’s fudge or popcorn balls. Some of the comfort in those was helping in the kitchen. I remember stirring the fudge or caramel until it made just he right drop in the cold water.
I have duplicated Mom’s BBQ sauce many times. But that took many trials to get it. Mom’s cooking always seemed to be a little bit of an art. A little of this, a pinch of that and if you didn’t have this, use this instead… Until I was able to do it, I was always curious as to how she could get the same flavor in the BBQ sauce using so many different ingredients.
Recipe she gave me for BBQ Sauce
Some sort of tomato Base (Soup, juice, paste, fresh tomatoes, ect.)
Some brown sugar (or white if you don’t have brown)
Some good BBQ spice (She made her own for a while, but then found a couple she liked)
Some salt or soy sauce (whatever she picked up first)
Some apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar, or wine vinegar)
Some pepper (black, white or cayenne)
No measurements, no set ingredients. You add stuff until it looks, smells and tastes right.
After I got that recipe, she did write something up when she made a batch. Did you get that recipe? Mom said I didn’t need it because I could make the other one. 🙂
I don’t really have a comfort food. I eat too much junk to separate one from the next. Gee JustJ, I wish I only needed to lose 15lbs!
Geez, guys…
And I thought women were supposed to be weight-obsessed!
taylhis, not weight obsessed, I just know the weight I feel the best. I’d have more energy, less joint pain and less prone to allergy symptoms if I lose 15 1lbs. I’m not sure what the weight has to do with my allergies, but I’ve noticed a difference when I do lose some weight.
My mom’s caramel corn… THAT is comfort! or her pumpkin cookies… always a great fall treat… I have often tried to imitate but have never duplicated.
And I know that I could stand to lose a few pounds, as well. HEHE
taylhis — I still have to try saganaki.
whatever — Your comfort food has to be Eggs Benedict. I don’t know anyone else that keeps a list of restaurants with good Eggs Benedict in his head. 😉
My version of French Toast. Lots of cinammon and sugar. And, of course, plain old chocolate! A bowl of 3 or 4 day old chili also is one of my comfort foods. And the list goes on……..
As some may know, Awrey Bakeries (http://www.awrey.com/) bid and won the licensing for the recipe and box with logo, of the famous Bill Knapps chocolate cake. This was back when Bill Knapps was being liquidated. I actually bid on the recipe myself for $5,000, but Awrey b…eat me out with a $15,000 bid. This is my all-time favorite cake and I even got a job at the Bill Knapps in Plymouth (off of 5 Mile Rd.) just to have access to the cake refrigerator when I was a kid! All was good until Awrey decided to stop shipping product. Now I am jonesing for my traditional holiday shipment of cakes, and no way to get my hands on them! Perhaps we can launch a pleasant campaign to coax Awrey to ship the cakes again. Their contact is: 1-800-950-2253 Martha Bowers. I believe that if enough of us are willing to pay the cost of a dry ice pack and additional labor with our cakes, then Awrey should be happy to fulfill the request if enough interest is shown. Let me know what you’re thinking!
Jeff, not exactly what I need to do. I found other things to fill the spot vacated by the Bill Knapps cakes. It has been a few years since I actually had one. I wonder if it would still taste as good.