Greetings G.O. Readers!
Thanks for checking out another edition of my Girl October blog. In today’s post, I’ll lighten things up a bit. No heavy, philosophical stuff. No self help tips. Just a good old fashioned post about food. Because I collect cookbooks, I plan to be doing some other foodie posts featuring some of the recipes I’d like to try or have tried.
Sidebar: Even though I have quite a few cookbooks, there are tons of recipes I haven’t tried yet. Sometimes they’re not beginner friendly, having too many ingredients and or/steps. Sometimes some of the recipes just don’t sound appealing; and of course, sometimes I’m just too darned lazy. It’s weird, but sometimes I’m more prone to try recipes off websites or cooking shows rather out of my own cookbooks. Maybe I just like looking at food pics and reading recipes, more than I like cooking them. Gotta change that.
Anyhoo…as you can see, I’m in a mood to talk about food–my favorites to be exact.
So here we go. Listed foods are in no particular order. All you need to know is that they’re yum-delicious!
1. Macaroni and Cheese. I don’t like the boxed kind. No sirree. I want it home made, and preferably, baked. I’m not a big fan of the cheese sauce kind with the flour base, either. I’ve made those kind before, and don’t enjoy the process of constantly whisking the cheese sauce, nor do I care for the taste as much as I do for the ones without it. I like Patti LaBelle’s recipe. That’s usually the one I make for the holidays; but what I find with any mac recipe, it’s all in how you season it. You have to make sure it tastes just the way you want it to. No matter what seasoning amounts the recipe calls for, add the amount that makes it taste the best to you. And you need to do this, before you add the egg, (for those of you who do add egg–which acts as a binder). When mac is done right, it’s pure, scrumptious, cozy heaven; and Velveeta is a must.
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| Awesome Cookbook. |
2. Mashed potatoes. Creamy, dreamy, and paired with some kind of savory meat. A tongue-gasm waiting to happen. I don’t make mine home made. I typically eat the boxed variety; but I am open to mashing some potatoes myself–one day.
3. Meatloaf, country fried steak, or any other such savory meats. I am a true carnivore. This probably isn’t the best thing to do on the regular, plus the part of me that loves animals, always feels a bit torn in this regard.
4. Klondikes–but only the regular kind. Well, sometimes I’ll eat the ones with the toffee bits in the chocolate. For the most part though, just the creamy, vanilla ice cream covered in hard, milk chocolate. None of the extra stuff like mint, or reese’s peanut butter cups in my ice cream. A six pack of the regular kind could easily be gone in a weekend!
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| The original, creamy goodness |
5. Sausage. Sausage patties with grits, (Rudy’s Farm makes the best to me), or Hillshire Farm, (or sausage that goes on pizza–Italian or the regular other kind). Most sausage contains enough sodium to down a horse, but ever so good.
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| The bomb for breakfast |
6. Blackberries. The best fruit God ever made. Sprinkled sugar enhances their flavor, but believe me, none is needed. Pure, basic, simple, delicious. God’s most perfect fruit.
7. Dressing. Filling. Warm. Flavorful. Dressing is one of the staples of Thanksgiving for me. As a kid, I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t like cornbread. I didn’t like celery. I didn’t like bell peppers. Dressing wasn’t happening for me back then. Then one magical Thanksgiving while at my then boyfriend’s house, he asked if I wanted to try his mom’s dressing. I, of course, said no. He kept insisting it was really good, and that I should just try a “tap” of it. Needless to say, I tried “the tap”, and the tap turned into a full plate. I’ve never looked back. I still eat his mom’s, (who’s now my mother-in-law), dressing every year, but now I make my own too. And yes, I came to enjoy bell peppers and celery. Cornbread’s still just okay, alone. But as dressing–absolutely delish.
8. Chicken Pasta Alfredo. Not all Pasta Alfredos are created equal. They have to get that garlic/parmesan ratio just right. Also, the chicken has to not be bland. I hate Chicken Alfredo, when the chicken has no flavor. Zatarain’s is a store bought brand that works for me. Their Blackened Chicken Alfredo is great and has just a tiny bit of kick. As far as restaurants go, I like Red Lobster’s, Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo. It’s good, (and no, it’s not really spicy, or else I wouldn’t eat it–don’t like the spicy stuff); but the absolute best pasta dishes, hands down, go to Macaroni Grill! I love them. I love their Pasta Milano, (which I’m not seeing on their online menu right now, and I’m going to cry if they’ve discontinued it), and their Penne Rustica. Garlic overload…in a good way!
9. Cheesecake. Once again, not all cheesecakes are the same. But when you get one done right, it’ll lay you out. I’m not checking for the no-bake kind; and I don’t like cheesecakes that aren’t sweet. They don’t have to be “diabetic-coma-sweet”, but they have to give me something. I need to go back to another Cheesecake Factory, ASAP…
10. Patti LaBelle’s Carrot Cake. Moist. There are nuts to bite into, and fruit, (pineapples and raisins), and it has cream cheese icing! The cream cheese icing alone, makes all the calories worth it! And as I’ve mentioned in a past post, there’s no grating of carrots! You use carrot baby food instead. Sheer genius. Sheer yum.
Honorable mentions: Alphabits, Tom’s Barbeque Potato Chips, Red Bull, and Coke.
There’s no other potato chip like Tom’s Barbeque, (NOT the mesquite Barbeque kind–just the regular ones). As far as Red Bulls and Cokes, I give no “F’s” that they have caffeine. They could take that out for all I care, if the taste could be maintained–and of course they must stay carbonated. I love the fizzy goodness as the bubbles dance on my tongue and I feel that slight burn going down my throat. Yeah. Good times. Alphabits were my favorite cereal from childhood. They still are. They’re still good. The only cereal I could eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
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| A yummy classic |
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| The best cereal ever! |
Notice, only one of the things on my list is healthy. That’s okay. I didn’t say this was my favorite healthy foods list. These are just things that make my tongue sing. At a later time, I’ll try to compose a list of foods that I like that are more healthy. That’ll be more of a challenge because I’m not a big vegetable eater, (and fruit either, for that matter), although I have incorporated a few that I never thought I’d ever eat. I’ll iron out my healthy top 10 food list in an upcoming post. I think I just may already have ten in mind…
By the way…What are your favorite food or snacks? Hit me up in the comments.
Until next time,
Bless your October Souls…