Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[Bianca and Bernard]

Question of the day: 5/2: What's a comfort meal?

What is something you cook, buy or make when you want comfort? Reminds you of home or positive time in your life?

I like to bake biscuits when I want comfort to remind me of my Granny. If I'm missing my mom I made some kind cream crap casserole. My mom wasn't around much nor did she cook the best but if it could be made with cream soup and cheese she was there. I make a "healthier" version of dorito casserole when I want to feel her close.

My mom's spaghetti sauce. Takes 8+ hours, and makes enough to feed 10+ hungry teenagers or firemen. DH would say grilled cheese and tomato soup; it's his go to when he is sick or needs a boost in mood.

Tonight, I made fried breaded tilapia, oven fries and veggies (green beans for DS and myself, and the usual broc/cauli/carrot mix for DH). I did a delivery order from BJs today, and got their bakery chocolate chunk cookies, so those are for dessert.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Firstly, hugs to all Vertigo sufferers. I was sorry to read a few of you deal with that.

Tina, nice to "see" you, thanks for sharing the picture. Good for Matt for helping, that was nice of him

My poor hair lol! I have super fine medium length hair that dries out lickety split and will tangle quicker than it being brushed. I have tried so many products and nothing seems to last. At the end of last year I did get from a Great Clips, a leave in conditioner spray that helped some...but it is long gone now. I'd appreciate any suggestions!

Lynxstch, home made mashed potatoes sound delightful to me! Creamier the better That would definitely be part of a bigger comfort meal for me! Most comfort dessert will always be toll house cookies with milk chocolate chips--good memories of Grandma who made such tasty cookies.

I am not a wind fan at all. However it was a Blessing earlier as it helped circulate some cooler air in the apartment.

Grateful also to have been able to ask a close friend for some extra prayers along with church prayer group.

Grateful for a note from a friend in the mail along with my first birthday card of the year (I am saving to open that until my actual birthday )

 

[Meriweather]

Comfort food is chocolate.......especially cake with chocolate frosting.
But for "real food" ......love my pasta sauce, but can't eat noodles. Tried zucchini noodles, but not a fan. Tried edamame noodles and they will do or I just eat the sauce by itself.
And I do like tomato soup or chicken noodle soup.....but again high in carbs, so can't do them.............so chocolate, dark.

100 degrees today. Family came over to go swimming. So nice to see them. Planned next weekend.

I dye my own hair all the time, but do need a trim.

Nice to see you, Tina.
Here is me, Nancy with another Nancy

 

[NYCgrrl]

Took an already prepared casserole and soup out of the freezer today. Stuffed shells with sausage ragu on top, a green salad, and a cup of escarole soup. Dessert is a pear, spice cake, and whipped cream trifle which ends the poach pears and spice cake loaf. Still have enough spice cake batter left to make a few cupcakes which I might send to frmr Dil's house when we figure out DGD's schedule.

Didn't make it outside today since DGD overslept (she stayed in bed until 1:00 PM as she went to bed around 5:00 AM ). Spent the day planning and prepping dinners for the upcoming week and cleaning fridge shelves. Julienned all the peppers and a few carrots. Made a celery soup base which will ultimately have cheese and bacon croutons. Decided the potatoes needed using before they sprouted so became potato salad. Cooked some rice and froze for another day. Searching for the right recipe to marinate feta cheese and still haven't found it .
Comfort food.........hmm I take more comfort from cooking food than actually eating it, LOL. Making smothered chicken makes me think of my Nana and how I wish I had written her recipe down. Same for her potato yeast rolls.

DGD likes fried chicken a lot w/ mashed potatoes and broccoli. The man would probably say meatloaf, potatoes, and roasted veggies.

 

[disykat]

My comfort food is tuna casserole. It wasn't something associated with anyone since I was the person who made it, but the first time I made it was with a recipe from a girl scout cookbook in 5th grade. Mom wasn't much of a cook. Hmmm... maybe it brings feelings of self reliance along with comfort? Many of my favorite comfort foods are from that era.

Man, I just had a total light bulb moment. My mom started teaching a full schedule of piano lessons every day after school when I was in 5th grade. My older siblings did their own thing and I, as the youngest, became the chief cook, etc. Brings an interesting perspective to the way my siblings and I deal with caregiving for our elderly parents.

I need to go back and catch up. I've missed a bunch. I'm usually all over vertigo discussions!

 

[leebee]

Comfort food? Macaroni and cheese, no question. It's also my favorite food, and while I enjoy the kinds from the box or frozen, my homemade baked macaroni and cheese is the BEST. I always make extra sauce, too, because nothing beats cheese sauce when I really need comfort.

Another big comfort favorite is garbage soup. It's basically homemade chicken stock/soup, but DD dubbed it this when she was a little girl. I freeze all my carrot and celery scraps and chicken carcasses/bones so that when I want soup, I can throw them in a pot with water, bouillon (or dollar tree broth) and boil them down for stock. She saw me putting all this in the pot one day and asked, "Why are we eating garbage?" Of course I strain all the "garbage" out once it's boiled down to a nice stock, then cook fresh carrots, celery, and onion in the stock. As a little girl DD wouldn't eat cooked veggies, so I got in the habit of blending the cooked veg into the stock. It makes a slightly thickened broth, and she'd eat it up. A favorite thing is to make dumplings from boxed stuffing mix and cook them in the stock. Oh, yum... wish I had some right now!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Nice to see Tina and Nancy. Tina, nice job with the hair.

Those of you with vertigo. Anyone try physical therapy? When I was a PT, we treated vertigo with some head maneuvers to move the crystals through the canals in the ears. Had to be a certain kind of vertigo.

Today was beautiful out. We started the day mowing the grass. I do the riding and DH does the pushing and the hill. I went to a local produce stand and bought lots of fruits and vegetables. So glad to have some fresh produce again. Then DD, DSIL, and DGD came over. DSIL went to a truck sale for frozen chicken straight from the source. We split 40 pounds of boneless, skinless breasts at $1 a pound. I was reading to DGD and asked how she was and she said "I'm happy" Made my day. Dinner was cookout on the grill. Hamburger for DH, hot dog for me, deviled eggs, asparagus, and sliced tomato. Then we had a fire in the fire pit to burn sticks from the trees and were forced to make s'mores.

Question of the day: 5/2: What's a comfort meal?

I like rice and gravy. Don't have it often but it is good. Also homemade mac and cheese. Basically anything with cheese.

Gratitudes
Seeing DD, DSIL, and DGD
Beautiful day and being outside. Able to use the screened porch
DH installed my Metal bird on the porch

 

[disykat]

PT for vertigo worked wonders for me. The positioning maneuvers did not work for me. But what did work eventually was vestibular desensitization. Basically it was finding and rehearsing triggers.

 

[gwynne]

Nice to see Tina and Nancy. Tina, nice job with the hair.

Those of you with vertigo. Anyone try physical therapy? When I was a PT, we treated vertigo with some head maneuvers to move the crystals through the canals in the ears. Had to be a certain kind of vertigo.

Today was beautiful out. We started the day mowing the grass. I do the riding and DH does the pushing and the hill. I went to a local produce stand and bought lots of fruits and vegetables. So glad to have some fresh produce again. Then DD, DSIL, and DGD came over. DSIL went to a truck sale for frozen chicken straight from the source. We split 40 pounds of boneless, skinless breasts at $1 a pound. I was reading to DGD and asked how she was and she said "I'm happy" Made my day. Dinner was cookout on the grill. Hamburger for DH, hot dog for me, deviled eggs, asparagus, and sliced tomato. Then we had a fire in the fire pit to burn sticks from the trees and were forced to make s'mores.

I like rice and gravy. Don't have it often but it is good. Also homemade mac and cheese. Basically anything with cheese.

Gratitudes
Seeing DD, DSIL, and DGD
Beautiful day and being outside. Able to use the screened porch
DH installed my Metal bird on the porch

Such a fun day! I loved seeing your new bird. What a nice addition to your porch.

 

[Kittyblue]

Comfort food for me is cream of mushroom soup It's one of the few things I can tolerate when I'm not feeling well.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Comfort foods for me are a soft boiled egg over toast when I’m not feeling well, or, like a pp mentioned, meatloaf, mashed and string beans, a homemade sauce and meatballs, or a chili or chowder, etc.

We grill a lot. I think I mentioned the other day we bought a new grill. What I didn’t notice was that it is not a typical grill it is more like a large pan cooking surface than fire with a grilling rack. DH explained it in the store but I didn’t understand. Now it’s home and all set up. He said he’s seen these advertised and wanted to try it as we often grill vegetables and such. I just wonder if we’ll miss the char part (which I know can be unhealthy). Do any of you have this type of grill and do you like it? I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’s going to have to be cleaned differently too. Seems like more work (which defeats the purpose of grilling).

 

[chickapin parterre]

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[/QUOTE]

Comfort foods for me are a soft boiled egg over toast when I’m not feeling well, or, like a pp mentioned, meatloaf, mashed and string beans, a homemade sauce and meatballs, or a chili or chowder, etc.

We grill a lot. I think I mentioned the other day we bought a new grill. What I didn’t notice was that it is not a typical grill it is more like a large pan cooking surface than fire with a grilling rack. DH explained it in the store but I didn’t understand. Now it’s home and all set up. He said he’s seen these advertised and wanted to try it as we often grill vegetables and such. I just wonder if we’ll miss the char part (which I know can be unhealthy). Do any of you have this type of grill and do you like it? I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’s going to have to be cleaned differently too. Seems like more work (which defeats the purpose of grilling).

struggled with this thread and then read this post.....so my comfort food....anything cooked in an air fryer....no mess and so easy.....and very good food!!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

@lovemygoofy and @Meriweather you are both beautiful! And the hair looks great, too!

@Breezy_Carol I don’t recall anyone suggesting PT as an option at that time, or I would’ve tried it! Good to know it’s available! It makes total sense now that that could help. I’ve had my doctor for many years and that was one of only two times that I was pretty upset with her because I didn’t feel she was appreciative of the distress I was in from the whole vertigo thing. She was short with me the day she diagnosed my double ear infections and I remember just sitting in the exam room after she abruptly left and crying, out of frustration.

I almost switched doctors after that but there was no one better available at that time, so I stuck it out. I’m glad I did because she’s been quite good since then, not just with me but with other family members. The funeral home hadn’t even come to take my mother’s body away the day she died at home and she called me (having been notified electronically by the hospice nurse that she’d passed). That call was so comforting to me; the things she said about me and my mother both were exactly the things I needed to hear at that moment. It couldn’t have come from anyone else. And I think she was sincere. She told me Mom was one of her favorite patients and that she would miss her a lot, and that I and my family had done an amazing job caring for her at home, how fortunate she was that we had the ability to do that for her, etc. She also sent a beautiful handwritten card. I had a Tele Health call with her last week and she spent a lot of time with me talking about caring for myself with all the stress I’ve been under and whatnot, which was appreciated. So she has redeemed herself from that long ago day.

As a caregiver myself I understand we all have bad moments, and bad days. I can also look at my own part in a bad communication so it’s all good. Having a good rapport with our doctors and caregivers is super important in my world! (And I don’t mean as a nurse, but as a patient - and daughter, wife, mother, etc.) Hospice and I didn’t always see eye to eye on everything but our doctor had promised me she’d have my back so that helped give me confidence knowing our experience could truly be the way we wanted it to be without pressure from others, so that in itself was a big gift to me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

struggled with this thread and then read this post.....so my comfort food....anything cooked in an air fryer....no mess and so easy.....and very good food!!!!

Ik, it’s a lot of girl talk. But it’s doing a great job of serving its purpose which is a little distraction on the boards from all the Covid hullabaloo!

I have never used an air fryer. What does it do?

 

[lynxstch]

Ik, it’s a lot of girl talk. But it’s doing a great job of serving its purpose which is a little distraction on the boards from all the Covid hullabaloo!

I have never used an air fryer. What does it do?

It basically fries food without using much oil. So far the only things I've made in ours are home made french fries, sweet potato fries, chicken wings (these came out delicious!) and I used it to cook some frozen breaded butterfly shrimp. Haven't been adventurous enough to try it with anything else. Anyone have any foods they love to cook it in that are worth my trying? TIA!~

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think an open face grilled cheese sandwich is my go to comfort food. I have been making them for myself since I was a teenager. It seemed bread and cheese were always in the house. It used to be American cheese or Velveeta when I was young, and now it’s likely to be Swiss,

 

[PollyannaMom]

Hugs to all those dealing with vertigo! It sounds very rough.

What is something you cook, buy or make when you want comfort? Reminds you of home or positive time in your life?

My ultimate comfort food is those glaringly pink snowball cakes - you know the chocolate and marshmallow things covered in coconut? I think it comes from having them as a childhood treat when I didn’t feel well. But they still work!

 

[easyas123]

Then we had a fire in the fire pit to burn sticks from the trees and were forced to make s'mores.

Horrible way to be treated!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

My ultimate comfort food is those glaringly pink snowball cakes -

I love them!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Hugs to all those dealing with vertigo! It sounds very rough.



My ultimate comfort food is those glaringly pink snowball cakes - you know the chocolate and marshmallow things covered in coconut? I think it comes from having them as a childhood treat when I didn’t feel well. But they still work!

Hostess Sno Balls? Serious blast from the past!