Comfort Food

Monday night I was craving a simple home-cooked meal. After spending the evening in the office I wanted something quick and comforting, and that didn’t involve take-out. I’ve been working a lot, and I’m afraid to say that I have been eating more than my fair share of burritos, nachos, and all things fast food… It’s a little gross…

I came home, went to the pantry and pulled out a small black-binder filled with pages written on a type-writer. A really great, old fashioned, Seventh-Day-Adventist Church cookbook from god only knows how long ago. In it are the usual suspects. Vegetarian casseroles, meat substitute entrees, jell-o salads… Most recipes in it, I will probably never try, but there is something about it that appeals to my nostalgic side. Here is a book of recipes put together by a group of women in a community, sharing ideas, and success stories, and overall meals that have sustained them and their families. (Most of the recipes that I use, are of course my grandmother’s)  I opened up the book to the vegetable section, and read off the ingredients for “Snappy tomatoes.”

I love this dish, because it is inanely comforting and SO easy to make. Canned tomatoes, diced onion, crumbled saltines, an egg, cheese, salt, paprika, and voila you have this amazing casserole of tomato-soup style goodness. I added in a sprinkle of dill, extra paprika, and some freshly ground pepper. No, it’s not a dish I would make for company, it’s not something that should ever be brought out if you are being judged on presentation, and in fact, I wouldn’t even put a picture of this dish on a blog. (it is not pretty) This is not a dish you can judge by its cover… and yet it met all of my qualifications for a Monday night meal. It was whipped together in 5 minutes, and baked to perfection. Simple, and yet I had the satisfaction of taking a hot casserole dish out of the oven.  It’s my go-to “cooking for yourself without really cooking” meal… Perfect for long days at the office and evenings when you need a little comfort food.