Nana Cooks

Waiting  at the airport  for the plane to Seattle [and yes, I always get there way too early and yes , I do know that is in the old category]~ anyway, while waiting I did the usual visit to the news stand and picked up a magazine. It is a great magazine. I like it. Every model was at least 20 to 30 years younger than I. Sigh.. the ideas for fixing the house, fixing the hair, fixing the kids~ all for the younger set.

 Had a great time visiting grand children. And spending lots of time at play grounds. Obvious age disparity there. The older nannies  stayed put–the younger ones actually slid down the slides.  sigh..

After returning to North Carolina, I sorted mail–and looked through catalogs–same skirts, dresses, tops–all on young models. I’m getting depressed!
I looked around the house, and yes, it looks old. Not the house itself, but the way it looks. This is an old person’s house. Remember how your grandmother’s house smelled-looked? Yea, me too.
The thing is ~I don’t think anyone ~ past a certain age~ feels as old as they are! Some how we trick our brain into believing that we’re stopped time. We pick a period of our life and somehow, we think we stay there! Right now I swear I am in my late 40’s.

oh good grief.

I’m in my late 60’s.

The mirror and the calendar do not lie, nor do they deceive. So you do what you can. Try to eat “right,” do those exercises, colour your hair, but do NOT were those short skirts!

We are all chasing young. Everywhere youth reigns supreme.
Except—when the new day turned sour, when the new friend isn’t real, when the new job goes badly, or new weather is too cold–then we seek the old. Old slippers, old love songs,  and ha! old timey food–Comfort Food–Old people food. Yes!!  The world may turn to the young, but when in need of solace, it returns to things well known and tried and true.

 It needs a  Blue Plate Special.  If you are of a certain age, you’ll remember these from the dime stores. As a nod to the “new” times and young things, I’ve changed it slightly to reduce the source of fat content, but added butter~ ’cause when you are looking for comfort–fat content may not be the things to go.
Here’s the menu:
Turkey burgers with sauteed onions, and gravy;

 Mashed potatoes,

 Greens.

Note: I do use lean turkey–but I  mix it with Worcestershire  sauce and steak sauce in a small bowl. Then I  put a small pat of , yea gods, butter in the center of each patty.  The butter is key.
One pound of meat will make about 4 to 5 patties. So, have the patties made up and ready to go; saute the two onions, and removed from pan; place  meat in fry pan and cook. When done, place with onions.  Now this is where you decide what you want for the gravy. If you can make gravy–do so, if not , the bottled gravies are not bad, so feel free to use them.   Heinz  is great. One jar should work for 4 patties, but if you really like gravy, go for more.

Warm gravy, return onions and patties to pan and put on low.

Fix your  potatoes and cook as the meat dish cooks. They should be ready as you return the meat and onions to the pan. Mash potatoes and add seasonings, butter and milk.  It really helps to have the milk hot [use the microwave for this] And if you have never tried canned milk in mashed potatoes, you might be pleasantly surprised. I like the fuller flavour. You can even use the fat free style.
For greens, you can use any vegetable that is green. [I hope to have a blog on cooking southern greens later.] If you have good tomatoes they can be put on a side plate, if not~ try picked beets. A Blue Plate Special needs colour!

There you have it– a great old  meal that is kind to your old stomach.  If you need a dessert–go for ice cream!

Re-cap;
Prepare the burgers, mixing the meat and Worcestershire sauce and steak sauce in a bowl. Put a pat of butter in side of each burger.
Potatoes–use the type you like, peeled or unpeeled. Mashed works with gravy.
Depending on your greens, get them ready before hand, and cook while potatoes and burgers are on stove.
All items will come be ready about the same time with a little work. The burgers can wait, if on low, and surrounded by gravy[This isn't a meal that calls for anything rare.]

 This is also a meal that two people can easily do together. See? Isn’t that young?

Hope you’ll try my Blue Plate Special.
It may be an old menu, but it makes a warm dinner and comfortable feelings at any age.

Capricornian as I am, I usually do not consider luck part of my natural state. Ah–but when it comes to friends, there is no other way to explain it. I am 68 years old and I have friends. That is a huge, wonderful statement.  And yes,  I believe that I am lucky in friendships.

In my youth[you know, when you are 40 or so] I lived in several states. Those moves introduced me to great and new foods, and to great and new friends. I have kept recipes and friends from these moves.

I have now lived in the same area for 20 years! For a gypsy at heart, I find that a staggering number. But under the weight of that number is the ‘lightness of friendships maintained’.  It is here that I have a solid friendship with 4 people. It is with this group of people that I eat at a local restaurant once a month. We’ve done this for 18 years.

And, as luck would have it, many of us share the same birth month. So, in January we get together~ with other friends and spouses~ to have a pot luck. Zeke and Mary host this event. It’s wonderful.

At the get-together we greet each other, find a spot for our dish, help finish dishes that still need a little work,  chatter and gossip, laugh–and good grief–learn how to use an exercise ball! Go figure. We catch up on lives. We maintain bonds. We build for the next event. And we eat. And the food is good. And life is good.

I hope you are this lucky.

Here is a recipe we enjoyed at the last gathering. Jayne brought this. She got it from her mother, but the sweet potatoes are her idea. Jayne is an artist–so altering a recipe is natural. Her idea works really well in this dish.

This is a great way to add colour and healthy food to a table.

Jayne’s Onion, Apple and Sweet Potato Dish-Alter as You Wish

2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup apple juice
2 tsp orange marmalade[she used raspberry jelly, and it worked really well]
1/4tsp nutmeg
1 large apple, not peeled but chopped-use what you have on hand
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
2 onions-chopped

Melt butter and add all sauce ingredients in a skillet. Add the apples, onions,and potatoes

Cook about 20 minutes- until potatoes are soft. If you think it needs more sauce , feel free to add things.

Actually I think the real fun in cooking is to start with a good recipe and make it to your taste. And this is a good recipe.
I hope you enjoy it and I hope you enjoy it with friends.

Nana

I received this blog as a birthday gift from my wonderful daughter and son-in-law in NY. I’ve had it since the 1st of January, but due to my  ineptness with computers, it has taken this long to get going. Unfortunately, that sets the tone for my skills at blogging. But–I am SO excited about trying to write about one of my favourite things–FOOD–and all its glory. Certainly not just recipes [though I hope to post some ], but I love thinking and talking about things related to food. Even aprons.

Food is a common element in our lives. We serve it at weddings, funerals, ball games and birthdays.  We mourn with food and we celebrate with food. We comfort ourselves with food and we give food to others for their comfort. Last night many celebrated a football win~or loss~ along side a bowl of chili. Today people in Haiti are lining up for the gift of life.

So, With the next blog, I’ll be writing about my take on food~and the things that go with it!  I hope you enjoy reading.

thanks db and ek!