Countrywoman, Wellbeing Keren Mackay Countrywoman, Wellbeing Keren Mackay

Comfort Food

“It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so entwined that we cannot thing of one without the other.” M F K Fisher.  

“Soul food is our personal passport to the past.”   Sarah ban Breaknacht

Mmmm….comfort food!  It took me a while to find the right image for this post as I really wanted to put up an image of meat loaf with mashed potatoes and peas.  However, it turned out to be very hard to find one that looked glamorous enough to headline a blog and catch the eye (in a good way) so you’re getting this delicious image of a piece of lemon meringue pie that I had made a week or two ago instead.

How to cook comfort food in winter.

Delicious home made lemon meringue pie

Comfort food can be a tricky area for those who are preoccupied with health or weight – particularly if you have developed disordered thinking around food. While food is not to be seen primarily as providing comfort when we feel bad – there is no reason not to enjoy comfort food from time to time.  The danger comes when we make it our go-to coping mechanism for dealing with uncomfortable feelings -even when we know the practice is futile. The trouble with using food to change our state from feeling sad, mad or bad, is that a lot of us spend a lot of time feeling sad, mad or bad, so we naturally end up living with the consequences of that behaviour including extra weight to carry. We add more pain to our state which then feeds back into that low mood state. It becomes an endless feedback loop.  Food in that context may be a comfort, but it’s a counterfeit comfort and a fleeting one at that.

The Tortoise Diet Method is about breaking that cycle by gently asking you to take the time to step back and take a look at why you are feeling the way you do.  Addressing and resolving the reasons behind your feelings and developing the behavioural skills to manage them is a key part of getting back to a life of wellbeing.

Once you do that, you can might even be able to get back to enjoying the pleasure of true comfort food!   The one that connects you to memories of childhood and the feeling of being surrounded by family, warm and safe. The sort of food you don’t really get at restaurants but more likely when you go home to visit mum or Grandma. It usually involves carbohydrate of some kind with a rich savoury sauce that doesn’t require much in the way of chewing even. Mince and mashed potatoes? Smoked Fish Pie? Meat Loaf? Lasagne? Can I get an amen? What’s your comfort food?

I learned a lesson many years ago my husband of the time brought home a big corporate client to visit at the end of the day. He was visiting from the US with his attorney and they had come out to our country house for a visit. I also had been out all day at work and when I saw how the visit was going, I could see that they would end up staying for dinner and I wasn’t really prepared for that. However I managed to rustle up something a bit flash and we all sat down to enjoy a meal together.  They had been travelling for some time and we were talking about food. About halfway through the meal, he put down his knife and fork and said “Do you know what I would really like to eat?” I waited for the answer.  “Meatloaf” he said.  Turns out he was tired of the endless hotel and restaurant dinners and wanted some good home cooked simple meatloaf. That was such a lesson to me but it did make sense.

There’s nothing nicer after a hard day’s work, especially if its cold outside, than to sit down to a plate of slow cooked goodness, rooted in good childhood memories, and lick that plate clean.  So don’t ever think that in order to be slim that you have to forgo all your favourite foods and replace them with lettuce. Enjoy those experiences and make sure you share them with your family. How much better to pass on good food memories to our kids rather than memories of associating food with fear and restriction. Balancing good nutritious food with the enjoyment of treat foods at times of celebration, family favourites and yes – comfort foods when required. Creating a healthy culture around food is one of the biggest gifts you can give to your children (along with a plate of savoury mince, mashed potatoes and peas)

Bonus Recipe!

Pauline Mackay’s Meatloaf

You will need a lightly greased loaf tin plus a nice ovenproof casserole dish to bake this in. Its a two step cooking process and involves a surprise ingredient in the sauce – but a very popular family favourite.

  • 500g Beef Mince

  • 500g sausage meat

  • 1 cup fresh bread crumbs

  • 1 onion chopped

  • 1 dsp curry powder

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley

  • ½ cup milk

  • ½ cup water

  • 1 tsp salt.

Get in with your hands and mix all the ingredients together.  Press into prepared loaf tin and bake in a moderate oven for 30 mins

Sauce

  • ¾ cup water

  • ½ cup tomato sauce

  • ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 Tbsp malt vinegar

  • ½ cup soft brown sugar

  • 1 Tsp instant coffee

  • 2 tbsp lemon juice.

Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil stirring on the stove top. Simmer while the loaf is cooking.  Pauline often adds a bit more water to make sure there is plenty of sauce!

After 30 mins, remove the loaf from the oven and carefully tip into another casserole style oven proof dish – one you can serve it in if you wish. It should hold its loaf shape by now.   Then pour over the sauce and pop back into the oven to cook another 20-30 minutes.  Baste every 10 mins or so.

Serve with plenty of creamy mashed potatoes and maybe peas to complete the comfort food factor. And as a bonus, if there is any left over the next day it makes a great sandwich filling.

Note: I got this off my MIL and have since heard its written up in the CWI recipe book as well.

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