Is there anything better than one of your favourite foods? Some days, knowing what you have to look forward to, it just makes your day fly by. I’ve got several different comfort foods I enjoy, and they are all best at certain times of the year. Soups and Stews are best in fall and winter. I’m an Irish girl, I love a good stew.

The other night, we had Biscuits & Gravy for dinner. It is one of my faves to make for breakfast, but we decided it would be a great dinner. All week, we looked forward to it, and when it came to the day for it, I opened the fridge to make sure I had the sausage in there to thaw, and realized I didn’t have any milk. I texted Squatch, letting him know I was calling an audible and throwing pizzas in the oven, and that I would run out the next morning to pick up milk from the local grocery store. The pizza was good, but it was just not quite hitting the spot, because we had been expecting the biscuits & gravy. I did make it Friday night, after running into town to get some fresh donuts I went to the next town to the grocery store for the milk (I always use Whole Milk; it just makes it creamier!). We sat down and enjoyed it; Little Man even tried the gravy, even though he did not like it; we will try again later this fall.

After the pizza, and the donuts (freshly made, so delicious!), and the biscuits and gravy, we were just feeling so heavy. We have been following Vinnie Tortorich and his NSNG (no sugar, no grain) lifestyle for a while, and we were NSNG-ish. We would have a few days where we were good with no sugar or grains, and then a day where we “put a little life into living,” and went pretty heavy on the grains and/or sugars. Well, we woke up Saturday morning, and were just feeling like eggs. Squatch fried up some eggs for himself, while I did some scrambles. I threw two slices of bread in the toaster, and had some scrambled egg sandwiches, while Squatch re-heated the gravy and poured that over his eggs. I felt better, even with the bread, after eating the eggs, as did Squatch. We looked at each other and said “Let’s do NSNG whole-hog.” So, we made our meal plan for the week, and attempted to buy out the meat department at WalMart.

We bought steaks, pork chops, pre-made burger patties, and chicken. We had some people comment on the contents of our cart “Looks like someone is having a party!” and we just nodded and smiled. No party here, just a new WOE (way of eating) for us. Squatch says he is now a “meat-atarian” as opposed to a carnivore. In the two days we have switched over, our heads are clear, we have more energy, and we’re not searching for something to eat in between meals. It does work.

For me, I have always been a meat and potatoes gal. However, potatoes have so much sugar in them, so I have been slowly cutting down on the amount I eat. (I could eat fries and roasties and mashed spuds all day, every day) Switching to this WOE is not that big of a deal for me, because my comfort foods are all based around meat, meat, and more meat. I mentioned stews; for me, there is nothing better on a crisp fall day than a good stew with chuck roast, carrots, spuds (not anymore!), onions, and celery. Squatch has an AMAZING chicken in white wine recipe that he made this past spring we both agreed would be best during the fall or winter. Soups are always best when it is cold out; what better way to warm yourself up?

Have you ever had spicy beef? Beef, beer, and pepperoncinis. I’ll post the recipe at a later date, but it is one of the easiest recipes there is. There is something about smelling the pepperoncinis cooking when you come inside, knowing you are going to have something delicious! I just have to figure out a replacement for the beer in this recipe, to make it NSNG-friendly. The same with Sloppy Joes (or Disorderly Josephs, as I call them). No ketchup allowed, too much sugar, so I’ve got to find a way to be able to eat them. Little Man does enjoy them, so I’m hoping to figure it out soon.

There is something about comfort food. It’s not just that it comforts you, it brings you back to a specific time and place. For me, with the pot roast, it’s being little and home with my Dad. He would let me stand on the step stool and peel the carrots and help cut the potatoes, before he would put them in the slow cooker. I would be so anxious to have some, but it would be several hours until it was ready. Smelling it cooking, waiting for it to be done, was the best form of torture. When I smell a ham baking in the oven, I’m brought back to Gramma’s house, helping her mix cake batter and frosting for that day’s dessert. Feeling sick, I want some chicken noodle soup. The list goes on and on.

I’ve got some comfort foods that are definitely not NSNG: chocolate chunk cookies, “Gramma” Cake (yellow with chocolate frosting), snowman cookies at Christmas, ice cream cake for my birthday (July baby here!), just chocolate in general. Will I miss them, yes, but I know that I can have some, just a small slice of cake, or one cookie, later into this journey. I’ll have to find some new comfort foods to turn to, aside from the meat.

Keep an eye out; I will update here how the NSNG journey is going, along with the recipes!