Mentally Healthy Foods

124

Replies

  • kathryn1391
    kathryn1391 Posts: 100 Member
    Man and cheese for me, but my homemade version. It was the first dish i learned how to cook from scratch and it reminds me of achieving in the face of chaos.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I have nostalgic feelings over grilled cheese as well. And pancakes, small ones with lots of syrup. My dad always overcooked both lol so there is nostalgia in burnt things. We also had grandpa's bbq sauce which has been passed down from my great grandpa.
  • smoofinator
    smoofinator Posts: 635 Member
    Redneck lasagna. My mom made/makes this all the time. It's lasagna, but with ground turkey, onions, green peppers, and slices of American cheese (like, Kraft singles) instead of red sauce in each layer. Loved this so much growing up, and still love it, despite the name :blush:
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    Crafty_camper123 wrote: »
    We have a carrot cake recipe with a similar story. My grandma used to make it, and then died. My mom tried re-creating it to no avail. It resurfaced a few years later and disappeared before she was able to make a copy. It wasn't until many years later when my grandpa died, we found it again going through his things. We call it "lost carrot cake", lol.

    Quoting myself here- because right around Easter, my mom wanted to make this cake. SHE LOST THE RECIPIE AGAIN! :lol: Luckily, I haven't lost my copy (yet), so she was still able to make her cake.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    I missed this last year, too: But this is the most wonderful "zombie revival" I've seen, I think!

    For me, my mom's banana chocolate chip cookie recipe is still a heart-warming nostalgic treat (though the original recipe used lard, and I swap that out as a veg ;) ). I try only to make them before potluck type events, so I don't eat waaaay too many (has fruit, must be healthy, eh? ;) ).

    Also, home-made split pea soup. I loved it all through my childhood, and have all kinds of memories around it. I remember eating it for dinner with the parents; I remember eating it with a cousin while we were having a "say gross things to make each other unable to eat" contest, and I won by telling him the soup looked just like squashed tomato worms ;) ; it was one of the things my super-kind, super-indulgent parents made when I was coming home to visit after I'd unreasonably turned vegetarian suddenly; and after my mom died, my dad still made it and put his own spin on it (he liked to put cooked carrots, onions, and celery in the blender, then combine them with the basic cooked peas, to give it a more complex flavor and more veggie goodness).

    I wish I had the recipe for my paternal grandmother's drop cookies, which were (improbably) called "rocks". No one else knew exactly how she made them (she came from the "no recipes" era of farm-family cooking, born in late 1800s, died about 1965).

    I could rattle on about things like morels, asparagus, and more . . . but I won't. ;)
    raymax4 wrote: »
    Birder165 wrote: »
    My mom made the most amazing bread pudding with raisins and always served it with warm, homemade cherry sauce. I would eat it now as a mentally healthy food but the recipe is long gone from her memory and it was never written down. She also made delicious, thin homemade pancakes that were just this side of crepes and she would add thinly sliced apples and cook them in butter in her well-seasoned skillet. We'd only need to add a sprinkle of sugar or a smear of jam before eating. That recipe is also gone, along with that pan. :(
    These would be my mentally healthy foods but I won't be able to experience them anymore. Only in daydreams.

    It's so sad when recipes from the past are lost.

    I lost one sort of intentionally.

    My mom made really wonderful deviled eggs, with quite nonstandard ingredients. It included seasoned salt, finely minced pimento-stuffed green olives, and finely minced onions, in very precise proportions (mom was a precise woman, which I am not ;) ). She also used the barest minimum of mayo in the yolk preparation, carefully mashing but fluffing up the cooked yolk with a fork, to make a very light, fluffy filling (in contrast to common ones that are more liquid-y/goopy - one of my friends like to squeeze-pipe the filling out of a plastic bag with the corner cut off!).

    At some point, I made a conscious decision not to learn to make the deviled eggs mom's way, to make it just a memory unique to her. :heart: I still prefer that yolk-fluffed, minimal-added-moisture technique when I make mine, though. :)
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Terytha wrote: »
    Every Christmas my mom and I would make Nanaimo Bars, it was our family tradition. She died 7 years ago, but I still make them every Christmas because it's still my tradition if she isn't there, and its Husband's tradition now too, with me. :)

    I have no idea how to fit them into my diet. They are literally 4 cups of icing sugar, 16 ounces of chocolate and a box of cookie crumbs. Probably the most calorically dense food I know of.

    But I'm still making them. I love them.

    I don't try to lose weight for the few days surrounding Christmas I just try to maintain so I can have things and not feel deprived. I will expect one of these Nanaimo bars to be sent to me in December!

    Ideally we would always make everything fit but I have learned that life isn't that scripted and coloring outside the lines is fine in some cases as long as it is occasional.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
    I'll post the recipe lol. It takes half a day to do it right but it's fun. 17cr8772r44j.jpg
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    Those are like, chocolate peanut butter bars on crack, lol.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    @carvedtones I imagine many of us have holiday type food memories. Cinnamon rolls are one of mine.

    @kam26001 If costo polish dogs float your boat then great.

    @raymax4 PB and pickle is an interesting pairing. Was that something your mom or dad did or just a personal preference?

    I don't really have any mentally healthy foods that remind me of good times but I *have* tried a pb & pickle sandwich! I read a series of books by Sue Grafton and that's something the main character would eat. It's pretty darned good.

    Oh, I tried one of Stephanie Plum's combos...PB and potato chips maybe? I think she also had PB and olives.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    I'm not big on Pizza Hut, but the little snack bar area of my local Target sells these Pizza Hut personal pan pepperoni & cheese pizzas that take me straight back to the 80s and the "Book It!" reading program, where you turned in book reports and eventually got a coupon for a free personal pan pizza. I swear they look and taste identical. Such a good memory.

    Yes but unless they have the tabletop arcade game, it just doesn't cut it...

    Related note - I also am of the same generation and remember my mom having to get after me to put my book away at the table at Pizza Hut since that's pretty much all I wanted to do was keep reading. It helped that our Pizza Hut was right across the street from the library so we would often go cash in on the summer reading program perks at the library, get new books, go to pizza hut, cash in my book it certificates, and enjoy my personal pan pizza and kick my brother's butt at Ms Pacman and Galaga.

    BEST DAYS EVER.

    My mom was always trying to get me to put my books down...and one time she actually took a LOTR book away! But we had another set! Heeheehee.

    OMG LOTR was the Bible of my teenage years. Our family had a tradition that each of us got our own set on our 10th birthday. I read Hobbit, Fellowship, Two Towers and Return of the King every. Single. Summer.
  • Hilogirl2018
    Hilogirl2018 Posts: 687 Member
    Terytha wrote: »
    I'll post the recipe lol. It takes half a day to do it right but it's fun. 17cr8772r44j.jpg

    Please do! I collect such recipes for holidays, and yours looks amazing!
  • gracegettingittogether
    gracegettingittogether Posts: 176 Member
    My mother always made homemade bread, which we toasted for breakfast. I still must have toast in the mornings, even though I don’t often bake bread, along with hot black tea with milk and sugar. My mom drank so much tea, we would make her cups of it throughout the day, “sugar milk tea”. So I make a point of drinking it too and have taught my kids to, as well. My husband has tried to make me vary my breakfast, but I don’t want to, since I feel vaguely disloyal if I do.
  • Hilogirl2018
    Hilogirl2018 Posts: 687 Member
    @Terytha Thank you! I copied it and will be making this with the kids at Christmas.
  • erekstrusinski1989
    erekstrusinski1989 Posts: 42 Member
    edited May 2019
    Polish food, specifically golabki (meat stuffed cabbage rolls) with beet soup and makoweic (sweetened poppyseed pastry). My paternal grandmother made it on family holidays when we would all gather, and now my sister makes it occasionally. I'm not skilled enough in the kitchen to pull it off sadly so I have to hope for it when I visit!

    Edit: just read thru some more previous replies and was amazed to see how many people like polish food as a comfort dish! It fills the whole house with the best smell in the world while cooking.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
    erekstrusinski1989 wrote: »
    Edit: just read thru some more previous replies and was amazed to see how many people like polish food as a comfort dish! It fills the whole house with the best smell in the world while cooking.

    Yep. I didn't want to be redundant but pierogies with sour cream has been my comfort food since I was a little kid. It was the thing dad made for dinner whenever mom was away. I still make it when I'm down, or missing her.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    Bacon, beef, chicken with the skin....
    Fat in the food is good for mental health. The brain needs fat to function properly.
    Also lowers triglycerides and LDL.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    When I was in high school my friends and I would almost daily go to the nearby burger king to hang out. Most often we just got soda but sometimes we ate there too.

    There is not much at burger king I like these days but I will still occasionally get a whopper and remember all the fun times that I had there.

    Unfortunately most of my fond food memories come with a caloric cost but in moderation I am able to occasionally enjoy.

    Those Nanaimo bars are interesting. I think I would have to find a way to cut the richness some for me. I wonder how it would work to add some instant coffee to the filling and drop the sugar to half. I am not a baker so I don't really know how to change the measurements. I have never even seen custard powder that I am aware of.

    I really only cook savory and all my dessert concoctions are fruit based with very little sweetener.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited May 2019
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Keto_Vampire wrote: »
    Pierogies & potatoes in general; staple in Polish cooking. Comfort food is a good way of remembering my Grandfather who as a WW2 chef & restaurateur. Potatoes aren't necessarily unhealthy in themselves (more so problematic when people get carried away with all the "fixin's"...copious butter, oil, cheese, sour cream, etc.)

    It was just pierogi day at the Polish Home (hall) here! Huge line to get pierogis. I'm not Polish, but yum regardless. (There might have been just a little sour cream . . . and sauteed onions. ;) ) :yum:


    One of these days I am going to need to try some freshly prepared pierogies. I have only had them out of the freezer section and I have always found them underwhelming.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Keto_Vampire wrote: »
    Pierogies & potatoes in general; staple in Polish cooking. Comfort food is a good way of remembering my Grandfather who as a WW2 chef & restaurateur. Potatoes aren't necessarily unhealthy in themselves (more so problematic when people get carried away with all the "fixin's"...copious butter, oil, cheese, sour cream, etc.)

    It was just pierogi day at the Polish Home (hall) here! Huge line to get pierogis. I'm not Polish, but yum regardless. (There might have been just a little sour cream . . . and sauteed onions. ;) ) :yum:


    One of these days I am going to need to try some freshly prepared pierogies    . I have only had them out of the freezer section and I have always found them underwhelming.

    You won't regret it. :)

    Love my nostalgic comfort foods.

    PB and fluff sandwich, at least an inch thick.
    Grilled cheese with tomato soup.
    Oreos - The. Whole. Package. With milk of course.
    Capt'n Crunch cereal with crunch berries


    I need to stop thinking about this right now lol.

    Yeah, good memories associated with that lot.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I also forgot that, as a family, Friday and Saturday were taco night and pizza night, respectively. They started out as simple convenience meals, but then slowly morphed until we were getting pretty snazzy with homemade shells and pizza dough along with our favorite ingredients and experimenting with sauces and whatnot. It's become a very enjoyable thing, although I only do pizza night with my parents now that I've moved out.
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
    edited May 2019
    seafood-gumbo.jpg
    Seafood Gumbo

    south-louisiana-white-beans-and-rice-720x400.jpg
    Navy beans and rice

    These dishes bring back such strange and wonderful memories for/to me. My mother was the primary cook in the house and a very good one. Every once and a while, my father would get in the kitchen to cook and it was days filled with angst and woe for me BIGTIME...because he would prepare these dishes above and more like them and I was super picky and skinny as a rail/toothpick in those days and REFUSED on pains of death to eat these dishes, because even though the smelled okay (actually STRANGE but kinda delicious), they looked horrid! Again, I absolutely REFUSED to eat MANY/MOST dishes my beloved daddy would cook. What's so strange and funny/wonderful to me is these dishes are the absolute BOMBdotCOM to/for me now. What wonderful dishes I missed out on in my youth because they looked GROSS and I was picky.
    When I now eat these dishes, it brings back such wonderful memories of my daddy--these dishes, much like the "crazy ole coot" stories and sayings he was ALWAYS trying to teach me, I see now as filled with wisdom and super mega ultra goodness!
  • erekstrusinski1989
    erekstrusinski1989 Posts: 42 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Keto_Vampire wrote: »
    Pierogies & potatoes in general; staple in Polish cooking. Comfort food is a good way of remembering my Grandfather who as a WW2 chef & restaurateur. Potatoes aren't necessarily unhealthy in themselves (more so problematic when people get carried away with all the "fixin's"...copious butter, oil, cheese, sour cream, etc.)

    It was just pierogi day at the Polish Home (hall) here! Huge line to get pierogis. I'm not Polish, but yum regardless. (There might have been just a little sour cream . . . and sauteed onions. ;) ) :yum:


    One of these days I am going to need to try some freshly prepared pierogies. I have only had them out of the freezer section and I have always found them underwhelming.

    You wont regret it
This discussion has been closed.

Categories