Comfort Food

My post from yesterday (Bringing Back the 70's) and getting ready for another Paleo challenge has me thinking about comfort food.  Good thing the challenge is starting after the holidays because all but one of my comfort foods is a no no when eating a Paleo Diet.  Mac and cheese, potato soup, oatmeal, and mashed potatoes are going to be off limits for the next 8 weeks. 

So what am I eating tonight...Potato soup!  I learned this recipe from my mom who learned from her mom.  It's very simple and takes so little time to whip up.   I have been known to call my mom when I'm sick and ask her to come over and make me some.  Any time I was sick as a kid my mom or Mimi (my grandma) would make me some and it may not have taken away my fever or cured me but it filled my belly and made me feel all warm and fuzzy.   It may not be much to look at but it tastes so good and reminds me of my childhood. 

Simple Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes
Milk - just enough to almost cover the potatoes
1 to 2 Tbs Butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Cut potatoes into 1/2" pieces.  Put in a pot of water and boil until soft.  Drain the potatoes then put back into the pan and add butter, milk, and salt and pepper.  Heat on low to medium heat, just until the milk warms and the butter melts.  Makes 2-3 servings.

What food makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Bringing Back the 70's

Recently saw the question 'If you could bring back something what would it be?' and it got me thinking.  What would I bring back?  Now don't laugh but I would bring back the 70's.  The music, the carefree days of my childhood and yes even the fashion.

I was a child in the 70's but remember it to be a fun carefree time.  My days were spent running around the neighborhood with the boys.  Yes I said the boys, you see there were no girls my age only boys, DR, Randy W., Randy G., Gary, Scott, and Lenny.  There were more but these were the core crew.  I have known most of them since I was three and we ran the roads of Carriage Hills together.  We played football, baseball, and went on adventures from sun up til sun down.  We would stay outside and play all day only stopping to grab sandwiches at someones house.  I wonder if our mom's got together with a schedule of who was providing lunch on what day...I'll have to ask. Once we ate lunch we were back out to play picking up right where we left off.  Then the dreaded street lights would start buzzing letting us all know it was time to get home because it was going to be dark soon.  The next day would be more of the same and again we picked up right where we left off.

Now the kids sit in the house playing video games or on the computer.  When they do venture out with the neighborhood kids they will play for a few hours then there always seems to be an argument of some sort and they all go back in and back to the video games.  If we had an argument we had to figure it out or fight it out because no one was willing to go home and go in, we would have been bored in the house.  Maybe this is why kids  today get into some of the messes that they do, they haven't been forced to learn to compromise or work things out with others and they have stuff to do inside.

It's been fun reminising but at the end of the day I think I will come back to 2012 where my children and husband are.  Maybe I'll go outside with my son and gather up the neighborhood kids and show them how to play red light green light or mother may I.

What would you bring back if you could?

The Fast Children At Play Indoors pic is from Conrad Abraham

Catching Up and Eating Homemade Mac & Cheese

It's been a while since I posted last, life has just gotten in the way.   I had to take time away from everything I had been doing to care for my mother after she was released from the hospital.  That was an experience.  It's hard to go back home when you have lived away for a while but quite different to have a parent come and live with you.  The first bit of time was as if having a guest but then a week turned into a few and it was different. 

Now that my mom is better and back in her own home things have gotten back to normal around here.  Well that is if you consider chaos normal, which I do.  Two teenage boys still at home tends to be quite chaotic but a little less than when all three were still here.  I love my kiddos but I'm looking forward to the empty nest.   Now that's not too say that if I could move them all into houses next door to me I would so jump on that opportunity!

Even with all the out of ordinary chaos happening around here I continued on my journey for better health.  Cooking healthy even through the holidays was better than expected.  Things made from scratch taste oh so much better.   For instance if you haven't tried homemade Mac & Cheese you don't know what you're missing.  I don't think I will ever make the stuff from the little blue box again.

 Alton Brown's Stove Top Mac and Cheese
  Adapted from: Alton Brown - Food Network

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (great with gluten free pasta too)
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 oz. evaporated milk (fat free is fine and I used a 5 oz. can)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for boiling
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground dry mustard
• 10 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil.   Add a sprinkling of salt, then boil your noodles according to package directions.  Once al dente, drain the pasta and return it to the pot.  Add the butter and stir until butter has melted.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, evaporated milk, cayenne, 1 tsp. salt, pepper and mustard.  Once the noodles are cooked, drained and the butter has melted, stir the milk mixture into the noodles until incorporated.  Add in the cheese and stir over low heat until cheese has melted, approximately 3 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Makes 4-6 servings as a side dish (I doubled this recipe because my kids la.la.love mac & cheese)
This recipe takes about 30-35 minutes to make.  It may take a bit longer than the little blue box but the taste is so worth it.

What do you like to eat that is from scratch instead of a box?