I am a comfort food girl. Since my husband, Kramer, passed away I am huge into comfort food. When he was around it was a steak and potato kind of life that I lived. Nowadays, not so much.
When the boys were on Monday, I knew I wouldn’t be having them here for a couple of days so I made a huge batch of Chow Mein. I love making something and then eating it for the next few days. Chow Mein and spaghetti are two of my favorite foods that I do that with. YUM!!
I don’t really have a Chow Mein recipe. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kind of cook so my recipe went something like this…
Chicken breasts cut into small pieces
1 onion
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 small head of cabbage chopped
Fry that in a pan with some sesame oil until it’s soft and cooked through.
Add:
chicken flavored Better than Bullion
salt
pepper
celery salt
ginger
minced garlic
soy sauce
1 can cream of celery (or chicken)
1 can of bean sprouts-water too
1 can of water chestnuts-water too
1 can of bamboo shoots-water too
1 cup of water
After this is all mixed and heated I mix a little water and cornstarch to thicken it all up.
I eat this with rice and chow mein noodles.
As I was making this, Karl stopped by in the middle of his workday. He had forgotten a set of keys that he needed for work so drove home got the keys and grabbed a sandwich for lunch.
Karl said, “Oh Mom…it’s a comfort food day!” He could see I was making Chow Mein and knows how much I love it.
Karl jokingly laughed and said, “Are you going to eat it in your comfort food bowl?” YES…yes I was. These are my comfort food bowls. They are the Pioneer Woman’s Pasta Bowls. I purchased mine at Walmart.
Honestly, I think I eat about 95% of my food in these. I make myself salads in these all the time too. I rarely use a plate anymore. That’s a big change I’ve made since Kramer passed away.
It’s rare that we have steak and potatoes or anything that is eaten on a plate…
So if you want to know what I’ve been eating much of the week, the answer is Chow Mein! I also made a batch of Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. You can find that recipe HERE….and yes, I ate that in a pasta bowl too!!
I have some comfort foods too. As soon as I can, I’ll send the recipe to you. There is always so much in the pan, way more than a meal for 2 people. Sure tastes good though.
I’m Chinese, so cream of something soup would be a no go, but before our daughter left for college, my mom taught her how to make faux chow mein with boiled and drained ramen noodles, carrots, celery, cabbage, bean sprouts, onions, tofu, chicken, or Chinese sausage, chicken broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, garnished with sesame seeds.
My mom sometimes made fried rice. When she asked our daughter which one Grandma should make, she said, they are both delicious and it is too hard to choose so whatever you cook would be fine.
So Mom made her both! I told her that when I grew up as the oldest of four, we always got two choices for dinner: take it or leave it. ;-)
Your food looks good – and sure it was! It is fun to have special food to boost our comfort levels. Hope you keep enjoying eating from those pretty bowls.
I love anything Chinese and with leftovers for the next few days, this is going on my list. Thanks for sharing it with us all. Looks really good and super easy.
Your chow mein recipe sounds good. I have made your recipe for meaty mac and cheese several times. My grandkids always ask for it! I have the same Pioneer Women bowls and love to use them for pasta, soup or salad. They are just the right size. I just got the salad plates. They are such cheerful patterns. I live alone and like to make soup or casseroles and freeze the leftovers for when I don’t feel like cooking. Thank you again for sharing your recipes and your quilting life with us :)
Your recipe sounds yummy – I’ll bet you have left overs – then again, maybe not with Karl around! :-D Will have to try this soon!
Love and prayers
My comfort food is soup, stews, cereal and milk, cheese potato soup! …… good to have
I think of you often Jo. It is a different life now I know. My go to comfort food is beef stew and chicken vegetable soup. I could live on these or if no stove is working, I’m good with non stop salads as well. What I need to keep me happy is music to spend my day with.
My Mom used to make Chow Mein, but I never have, but am sure going to give it a try now. I too would eat all my meals from a bowl. I have Corelle dishes, plain cream. But they have the nicest bowl just made for eating everything in! My husband must have a plate, but I like the sides on my bowl-it enables me to get stuff on my fork/spoon without touching it! Thanks for the recipe. Hugs,
That sounds so good! Love those bowls!
I love your pretty bowls. We are retired empty nesters. Most evenings, we eat dinner out of large, shallow soup bowls in front of the tv. It seems most everything we cook works with the bowls.
I am going to try your Chow Mein recipe. Thanks for posting; I love your blog.