Comfort Food

I've always thought of comfort food as meat and potatoes or chicken and dumplings.  (Can you tell I'm a Southern girl)?  Today, however, as I was contemplating the intricacies of what comfort food means to me I decided that it is more than simply what tastes good.  There is an emotional connection that makes comfort food a psychological stimulant that makes us feel better about ourselves and things around us.

Comfort food can be both our best friend and our worst enemy.  If we rely upon it constantly to make our problems at least temporarily go away, that can come back to haunt us in our waistlines.  It should be more like a casual acquaintance to us rather than our best friend.

My challenge for you today is to examine the amount of comfort food in your diet and find ways to replace comfort foods with more healthy food choices if too many of them make up your daily household menu.

What's for dinner?

What's for dinner?  If I only had a nickel for every time I heard that question.  Fortunately a brand new website is designed to help you answer that question www.halfhourmeals.com.  The website sports a "meal of the day" feature, a host of recipes and even a community and blog links all designed to make cooking faster and more enjoyable for you. 

The potato problem

Have you ever noticed that bags of potatoes seem to be less expensive when you buy the larger bags?  In my area there is hardly a difference between the price of a small bag and a large one.  Sometimes the larger one is even less expensive.  I really don't need the larger bag.  Truth be told, I barely use the small one.  It feels so wasteful to throw away things I don't use.  Still, I just can't pass up a good bargain.  So, what is a girl to do?  Share.  My church has various ministries that can use the excess potatoes and other foods that I cannot eat before they spoil.  I also have neighbors that need to feed their families.

I have to admit that sharing is often hard for me.  The reason why it is hard is not because I dislike it but rather that I like it too much.  It's almost like an addition for me.  It's very hard to stop once I get started.  The warm fuzzy feeling I get when someone knows I cared enough to share with them makes me feel so great that I want to share more and more.  At the same time, however, I know that I have limits to what I can share.  I hate that feeling of limitation.  Whenever I feel that way, however, I try to remember that each little thing that a person does can combine with other little things that other people do to make a big difference.

My challenge for those of you reading this is to do one little thing today and encourage others around you to do the same.  Share your excess potatoes or take some of those canned goods your local grocery store has on sale to a local food pantry.  Together our little acts of kindness can make a big difference.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Plato's inspirational words "necessity is the mother of invention"* have made me reflect upon the upside of our down economy.  Having to do more with less sparks creativity in meal planning.

As I write this post I am fondly remembering my days of learning how to cook.  I recall all too clearly putting green food coloring into sugar cookies and dreaming about how wonderful they would look and taste.  They ended up looking like they were overgrown with algae and not tasting much better.

Although my cooking skills are not up there with famous chefs like Emeril Lagasse, I have come a very long way since the green algae cookies.  I have learned both though my own experimentation and lessons learned from other cooks who have paved the way before me that a few simple ingredients can be put together in the right combinations to make delicious and inexpensive meal solutions.  I have also become more brave about trying out new recipes as I broaden my horizons.

My challenge to you today is to try cooking a new recipe.  It might give you some money-saving inspiration for your own meal planning. Eat out less and cook more.  Let your cooking be a form of entertainment and an outlet for the creative potential that is hidden within you.
  
*Quotation Reference Source:  http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/33942.html

Party Food for Supper

I am always looking for easy, inexpensive and creative ways to cook meals for supper.  Then, I frequently use supper leftovers as lunch the next day. 

One of my favorite ideas is chicken salad.  It's a food that I typically associate with bridal showers or baby showers, but it works for a delicious and light meal at home as well.  All you need to create chicken salad is some leftover pre-cooked plain chicken, mayonnaise, some grapes and possibly other ingredients such as nuts.  Mix those together, slap them on some sandwich bread, and voila - your main course is done.  In a matter of minutes you can have a delicious family treat that won't break the bank but will fill your stomachs.

Why not try a party food supper for your next evening meal?

Homemade Food with a Bread Machine - Yum

My husband and I love our complex carbohydrates, maybe even a bit too much at times. I think they spoil us by making us feel full quickly. An evaluation of my bread budget made me think, however. Is there a more economical way to do this?

I am somewhat of a visual learner, so I went to my favorite video site, Youtube, and did some searching. The results really surprised me.  Did you know that you can make things like pizza dough and cinnamon buns with a few basic ingredients, a stove and a bread machine? I thought my bread machine could only be used for making loaves of bread from those expensive store-bought mixes. Boy, was I ever wrong!

Check out this link for a great pizza dough recipe and this one for a cinnamon bun recipe.

Couponing Forums and Groups

I know that I don't have all the ideas or answers when it comes to saving money on food.  That is why I am thankful that advice, tips and tricks from other people are all just a few clicks away.

Couponing forums and groups allow you to post questions and answers about saving money with sales and coupons.

Where do you find couponing groups?  One of my favorite sources is Yahoo.  Their Groups directory has (as of this writing) 937 couponing groups from which you can choose.  Their "groups about coupons page lists the name and a brief description of each group.  Click here for more information.  A good group will allow you to set your e-mail preferences so that you will either receive or not receive a new e-mail each time someone posts to the group.  Be warned, however, if you chose to receive e-mails rather than read all posts on the site you can be in for a bit of a shock when you see the number of e-mails you are receiving.  My advice is to read the posts on the group's site.

For forums, coupon mom is the best I've found (click here to visit).  Although you need to register before you post, you can read forum posts without registering. There is even a posting section dedicated to "newbies" who are not experienced in couponing.

There are many other couponing groups and forums out there, but I do want to caution you that there are scams out there as well.  Use common sense and discretion when evaluating forum posts.

Some websites are also unsafe or contain excessive pop-ups.  As an extra precaution I always Google the name of the company making the offer rather than clicking on a link in the forum in case someone has placed a link to a computer virus.  Another tool that helps me surf more safely on the web is the McAfee Site Advisor.  You can download it for free here.