You Are What You Eat, Really, You Are

Our dear MadCap has a new food blog. Even when the first thing out of a person’s blog isn’t "I’ve never been much of a cabbage eater", I very often find myself asking the question, "What DO you eat?" Ok, ok, often it is more like, "What in the h*ll do you eat?" Contrariness you know.

Seriously, I’ve asked that same question of my (vegetarian) best friend Laura on more than one occasion. And bless her heart, she has patiently sent me back lists of recent or usual meals.

I thought I’d just do a little of the same.

Working backwards, last night we had baked potatoes from our garden, baked until dry and a bit hollow in the wood stove. I fried a little bacon (from our hog) crisp and chopped for stuffing the potatoes. There was grated mozzarella, butter, and sour cream, all products of our cow. Broccoli and cauliflower and a tomato all bought. Raw onions (with some freshly growing green tops) that we’d grown. I took the grease from the bacon and sautéed onions and frozen spinach (bought but we’re working on have this all year fresh). And had a side of (bought) of fried okra. Our nearing 14 year old bottomless pit adolescent son also added some leftover corn gems and several other things to round out his meal after only three large potatoes, eaten skin and all of course.

Before that we’d had a rice bake, which is a nice easy to prepare meal where you take your whole grain rice, some cream soup of some sort, and some sort of meat (chicken gizzards in this case – some ours and some bought – for 29 cents -- too), put it in a pan with water and spices, and bake for a couple of hours until done. Nothing to it. I think we had a sides of steamed broccoli and lima beans (both bought) with that, and leftover lentils.

Both the lentils and the corn gems were leftovers from a meal that made leftover mashed potatoes into potato cakes smothered with sour cream, with raw cut up veggies as sides.

The mashed potatoes were leftover from a meal of grilled pork tenderloin (from our hog), with mass quantities of mashed potatoes on the side, and milk gravy made on the pork leavings. Mmmmm, love gravy. That probably had some other veggie with it too but I’m getting so far back now it is hard to remember.

Breakfasts are usually one of: a) toast or corn cakes and eggs (our eggs) – but we haven’t been getting a great many eggs lately and thus haven’t had this as much as we like; b) oatmeal (steel cut oats); c) grits (with sausage and cheese usually, or ham and cheese); d) freshly ground whole grain pancakes or waffles.

I’m struck by how many staples didn’t show up in the past few days. Beans and corn bread, which we usually have at least once a week. Fried potatoes and onions. Cooked apples or pears. Shoot, we managed fresh pears into December. Soups of all sorts. Green beans. Gravy and biscuits (although those are a bit further between). Breakfast for supper (eggs, meat, hash browns, gravy, biscuits, fruit). We had chicken and dumplins not too long ago but that’s a few times a winter usually. Other things we have regularly but further between would include pastas, stuffed shells, lasagna, pizza. We can lay on a decent mezza. We probably do a stir fry a week on average. We keep tamales by the dozens frozen for a quick meal, just cook up the chili sauce fresh and cut up some toppings. Tacos are easy and always on the short list of possibilities, especially if we need a relatively quick supper which I suppose is more often in the summer. All these things we of course make ourselves.

And there is pretty much always food around – like the bread. And leftover cakes from breakfast. Lately I’ve brought home lots of free elderly bananas and made lots of whole wheat banana bread, good and wholesome for a desert or snack any time. Milk often serves as a snack, or cheese, and I’m sure late night ice cream counts nutritionally too. And all those jams we put up in the summer. And there are always veggies in the crisper and most usually fruit in the bowl that serve as snacks, sides, and sometimes main meals.

I’m not sure the bush cherry liquor is nutritional, but it sure is good for the soul.

And you?