Recipes

Sick Food: Real Chicken Soup

Comfort Food: Grandma Dolly's Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Comfort Food is something that you want when you're dejected, frustrated or in a crisis. The cravings are triggered by "I feel sorry for me and I need attention" thoughts. And when you feel like that, you do need attention. Since it's difficult to get any attention from people when you're depressed, of course you turn to food. I am an expert in this subject. Attention from food is reliable and never lets you down. It's never working, out of town, too busy or also in need of attention. Food never tries to top your level of discomfort with its own story.

The best comfort foods for me have a considerable amount of chocolate in them: chocolate cake with mocha frosting on top and white butter cream frosting in the middle, chocolate chip cookies, Grandma Dolly's chocolate oatmeal cookies, brownies and Hershey bars. Foods that don't contain chocolate but still qualify are: caramel apples, anything with homemade gravy on it and real mashed potatoes. Standard recipes all except for Grandma Dolly's cookies (never before published recipe below).

You must understand, too, that comfort food is an extremely personal experience. My husband, raised in "Balamore," Maryland, thinks shrimp and crab cakes served with beer do the trick. When my friend Joanne calls me wanting "mommy food," it's mashed potatoes and anything with gravy on it, pork roast and roasted chicken she is craving. Whenever my own mother had a crisis, she charged to the kitchen to make fudge. I never really understood it because once made, she never ate more than one piece. When I asked her why she always made fudge when she was upset, she said, "When you put everything in the pan, it's all grainy liquid. When it cooks and you stir it, it slowly turns into this lovely glossy smooth chocolate thickness. Smelling it and watching it turn just peacefuls me."

Sick Food

Sick Food is something totally different from Comfort Food in my dictionary. Sick food is whatever your mother (or caregiver) gave you when you were ill. My mom gave me homemade chicken soup and Jell-O. The Jell-O had to be red. I still want this stuff when I'm sick but I also want the chocolate cake too. Illness is in the mind as well as the stomach--I also still want the new paper dolls she used to bring me.

Recipe: Real Chicken Soup

This chicken soup is used to cure all illnesses and is fondly known as "Jewish penicillin." Martha Stewart would surely cringe at my directions, but too much Martha triggers my insecurity and makes me crave Comfort Foods immediately.

1. The night before you or someone else gets sick, roast a big chicken. It's hard to find a good roasting chicken anymore, but the Buddy chickens are good. Roast it with celery, onion, parsley, a little lemon juice and baste with real butter. If you make rice with the chicken, you've solved two problems. Have a nice dinner.

2. The next day put whatever is left into a big pot with lots of water. Break the bones apart only if it sticks up above the water in the pot. Add salt and a little pepper, but that's all. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for a couple hours.

(If you weren't clever enough to roast the chicken the night before, you can start with a whole raw chicken or chicken pieces. The more bones the better and you need the skin. You'd need to add a piece of onion, the leafy tops from a couple pieces of celery and some parsley. You could also buy one of those rotisserie chickens from the deli and save the meat for later. I don't know why, but the soup is better from the roasted chicken.)

3. When the meat drops from the bone, remove from heat and cool. Strain the broth from the chicken parts and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. When it gets cold, the fat rises to the top and you can scrape it off easily. Pick the meat from the bones, discarding skin and bone and any other yucky stuff. About an hour before you want to eat it, put the broth back on the stove and reheat it. Add onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. I also throw in a little parsley. Add the chicken pieces and egg noodles (or rice if you read Maurice Sendak). DO NOT add carrots or other veggies. They change the taste of the broth and destroy the purity of the soup, which is required for healing. If you want chicken vegetable soup, make that instead. Enjoy and I'm sure you'll be feeling better by tomorrow.

Recipe: Grandma Dolly's Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1c shortening (or butter)
1c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2t vanilla
2c oats
2c flour minus 3tbs
3tbs powdered cocoa
2t baking powder
1t baking soda
1t salt

Cream the shortening; add sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, vanilla, oats and mix thoroughly. Bake at 350 degrees and check at 8 minutes. Cook longer if crispier cookies are desired.