{"id":4344,"date":"2021-03-08T17:19:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T23:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4344"},"modified":"2021-03-08T17:19:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T23:19:47","slug":"comfort-comes-in-different-flavors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/comfort-comes-in-different-flavors\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort Comes in Different Flavors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Comfort comes in different flavors. One of my neighbors was\ntaken away by ambulance this morning. Once I knew he was stable and in good\nhands, I immediately thought about rounding up food for his wife. It\u2019s not just\nthat he\u2019s the primary cook or that we often share recipes and dishes, but food\nis a basic need and I understand how overwhelming it can feel to meet that need\nwhen we\u2019re stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our grandmothers, great aunts, mothers, and cousins understood this too. That\u2019s why there\u2019s a tradition of delivering food to sick friends or those who have lost someone. It\u2019s a simple gesture that meets a need and brings great comfort. But comfort does not have to arrive wrapped in a specific flavor profile. Individual preferences for comfort food vary, but as long as you consider known allergies, intolerances, and dislikes, whatever you offer should be well-received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most of us have a favorite go-to. When I was young, my\nmother made Chicken Spaghetti for such occasions. I took a big gluten-free pot\nof it to the luncheon before her funeral. She probably wouldn\u2019t have approved\nof me bringing a dish or the fact that the family didn\u2019t parade into the\nsanctuary behind the casket. She was a stickler for the rules of tradition and\nconvention. I sometimes find them a bit too confining. Nonetheless, I often wander\nback to the comforting foods I remember from family gatherings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My grandmother served canned pears topped with a dollop of\nmayonnaise and grated American cheese. This was called a Pear-Cheese Salad in\nthe Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. I haven\u2019t eaten that combination in\nyears, but I can still taste it in my head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my exchange sister visited from the Netherlands a few years ago, she wanted Mom to cook Goulash because that\u2019s the comfort food she remembered from the time she lived with my parents and sister. I\u2019m pretty sure that recipe also came from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook<\/a>. It contains cubes of beef chuck roast, onion, flour, salt, paprika, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, garlic, some kind of oil, and a spice bag filled with bay leaf, celery, parsley, and thyme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sister and I wildly preferred my grandmother\u2019s beef and\nnoodles to everything else. It was always our favorite and our most frequent request.\nLast year, I braised some beef and accidentally mimicked the flavor so closely I\nwas shocked. My sister now wants this as her standing birthday meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other common dishes were Green Rice, Swedish Meatballs, Poke\nSalat, and Hot Spots. Hot Spots go by other names. They\u2019re crunchy crackers\nmade using cheese, flour, crispy rice cereal, butter, salt, and red pepper\nflakes. My ex-husband loved my grandmother\u2019s so much he adopted the recipe and\nstill takes the crackers to parties as one of his signature dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your family may prefer Mac-n-Cheese, Lasagna, Clam Chowder, Crab Cakes, Buffalo Chicken Wings, Tamales, Enchiladas, Green Bean Casserole, or Sushi because comfort comes in different flavors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five Rainy Day Comfort Foods<\/a><\/blockquote>