Comfort Food

Every Thanksgiving Bern gives people who come to dinner little presents. This year she got most of it at the Consignment Shop, I think. Mine was great--the Velveeta Cookbook!

I'm not sure Bern has ever tasted Velveeta, having grown up in an ethnic family. But in my childhood, Velveeta qualified as a food group....

I read through the book thinking it must be from the 1950's but when I checked, it was published in 2001! People must still eat Velveeta somewhere.

Each and every recipe began with "Cut a pound of Velveeta into cubes...." A pound of it! Amazing!

My favorite recipe used, you guessed it, a pound of Velveeta. But it began with a pound of chicken breasts cut into strips ("cut the chicken while partially frozen and then return to the refrigerator to completely thawed....) This recipe also includes broccoli--frozen Broccoli but broccoli none the less. Sounds like a promisingly healthy recipe, right? But get this, you saute the chicken in a cup of Miracle Whip! Really, I wouldn't make this up.

Sauteed in Miracle Whip you add the frozen broccoli and cover to cook the broccoli. Then you add the cubes of Velveeta and stir until it melts. Serve the whole thing over egg noodles.

And that is the most healthy recipe in the whole book.

I'm trying to invent a recipe that combines Velveeta and sausage gravy over biscuits with home fries or grits on the side. That's comfort food with a capital COMFORT.