Wicked Wednesday

Welcome to the first (and perhaps only, I haven't made up my mind yet) Wildcard Wednesday.

You know, this seemed like a really good idea at the time, but I think I was drawn more to the name than anything else. I have a thing for alliteration, in case you hadn't noticed. When you think about it, this is pretty much just my Random Rambling moved from Friday to Wednesday. And I was already struggling coming up with topics for Fridays. So I really didn't think this through fully.

Anyway. I was in the kitchen last night, bagging up chili for the freezer and trying to think of something to write about for today, and it suddenly came to me. Chili is one of my comfort foods. I could write about comfort food.

Chili isn't so much a comfort food as a food-to-eat-on-a-cold-and-snowy-day. That's not my chili picture above, but it's close enough. My chili takes about three days to make. I start with dried kidney beans and soak them overnight. Then I cook them for a day before I start adding the rest of the ingredients and it simmers for another few hours until it's done. But you can't eat it right away. Everyone knows you have to have to let it sit for at least 24 hours (in the fridge) before it's any good.

Normally I have my chili with some grated cheddar cheese, the sharper the better. My sister likes to serve it with rice and Tostitos, and while I've been known add some rice to my chili to stretch it out or tone down the heat, Tostitos just seems like over kill to me. :-)

Tomato Chowder is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. It's hot and soothing and cheesy . . . yum! The link is to the recipe from the picture, which is actually the original recipe I have from my aunt who made the best Tomato Chowder ever. I, of course, have tweeked the recipe slightly (because that's what I do), but there's nothing like a nice bowl of this creamy, cheesy soup to warm you up on a cold winter's day or to perk you up when you're feeling down.

But my all time favourite comfort food is Cream Tuna On Toast. The recipe is simple: take a can of flaked tuna and drain the juice into a bowl. Set the bowl on the floor for the cat. Empty the tuna into a pot. Then pour a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup into the same pot and stir it up. Don't get cheap on the soup - none of that generic crap, it has to be Campbell's. You can add a little milk to thin it out if you want, just don't add too much. Now at this point some people might be tempted to add peas to it, and I have just one word for them - DON'T! Just . . . don't. It is so wrong on so many levels.

Now, while your soup and tuna is heating up you can make your toast. My mother used to push fresh bread into a muffin tin and toast them in the oven to make little toast cups, but that's because she was awesome. Purists will ladle hot cream tuna over their piece of toast and use a knife and fork to eat it in a civilized fashion. I, on the other hand, cut up my toast into bite sized pieces and pour the cream tuna over it in a bowl. But I still eat it with a fork. ;-)

Getting hungry yet? What's your comfort food?