My Nominations for the PHC Top 3 Monthly Contest - Comfort Food

in #phctop35 years ago

My Nominations for the PHC Top 3 Monthly Contest - Comfort Food

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• This is my entry into this month’s PHC Top 3 contest.

• This months topic is: Comfort Foods

My Nominations are:

Nomination #1

Chicken Casserole

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My Reasons:

DISCLAIMER: Anyone who has read any of my previous ‘PHC Top 3’ entries will know I tend to write fairly personally. That said, this month my first entry is EXTREMELY personal. I’m only revealing this as its required to explain the nomination.

I am the oldest of three kids. My brother is 4-1/4 years younger than me & my sister is 4-1/2 years younger than my brother (9 younger than me). Growing up it seemed my father worked all the time. My mother would work part-time on & off my entire childhood. Not because she had to but because she wanted to. Around age 11 my siblings were placed in daycare/after-school care, & I became a “Latchkey Kid”. After demonstrating responsibility for several years and when my sister entered kindergarten I became a de facto guardian tho my siblings until one parent (usually mom) arrived home. At which time we would eat dinner, get bathed, & get ready for bed, sometimes. See, my mother was a terrible alcoholic. I don’t mean a few drinks a night alcoholic. She usually drinking whiskey at 06:00 am. Most of the time she drank just enough to keep a decent buzz & where the casual observer wouldn’t notice but every few days she would go on a all out binge & barely make it home in a coherent state. Upon which time she would pass out & leave us to fend for ourselves. At this age I knew how to cook a few things. We ate a lot of scrambled eggs & toast, grilled cheese, & fried Spam®, but the thing we enjoyed the most was a very simple Chicken Casserole we came up with one evening scrounging for something to eat. It consists of only three/four main ingredients & is relatively easy to make. It became our favorite. Today we’re all grown but we all loved it so much that I had to write down the recipe. We are still slightly puzzled at how we are all so fond of something so simple & linked to not all that great memories.

*For anyone interested I will post links to a pdf of the recipe below my nominations

Nomination #2

Pizza

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My Reasons:

Admittedly, this one is gonna seem a little voguish or even slightly passé but it can’t be helped. Pizza is one of those foods that brings people together, or at least it has been for me. It has always been a food that I associate with happy gatherings. The paradox in this follows. When I was a kid like most children I loved pizza. Funny enough, my first real (taxpaying) job was at the local pizza/Italian joint. It wasn’t a high end place but it was a step up from fast-food pizza. The hours & pay were lousy & the owners were horrible to us but the one perk was that they allowed us to take home anything on the menu every night. We just had to remember to prepare it before breaking down the kitchen. Whilst we would occasionally fix a Calzone, Shrimp Alfredo, Wings, or even a Sandwich, it was a simple pepperoni pizza that made its way home most often. After a few months of this I grew to despise all Italian food. Even after leaving for a better paying job and for several years after, I still would not eat pizza. Eventually this wore off & Pizza once again became that same ol’ nostalgic gathering food it had been earlier in life.

Nomination #3

Smoked Turkey

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My Reasons:

Once again this harkens back from childhood onward. Our household was what you might call “Traditional” or “Old-School”. My father rarely cooked anything in the kitchen. It was unspoken but he looked at that as my mothers work. Yet, when it came to grilling or smoking outside it was his job & not moms. Unfortunately, he has always extremely overcooked everything. If dad grilled, it was difficult to distinguish between chicken, beef, or pork as they were all extraordinarily dry, flavorless, & tough. The singular exception to this was on Thanksgiving. Once a year, only on this occasion, using my grandpa’s recipe he would smoke the most succulent, moist, tender, & flavorful bird one has ever tasted. Everyone, from our immediate to extended family, friends & neighbors raved about his turkey. So much so that for several years, people would pay him to do their turkey. Even though he had to start several days before thanksgiving & was running smokers around the clock, it was a decent side hustle. The only reason he stopped was he was getting more requests than he could or wanted to fill. It really was astounding though. Someone so inept at cooking meat is able to make such a mouthwatering turkey. The best part is the smoked turkey sandwiches continually for day afterwards. Though the recipe has been passed on to my brother & I and we’ve both got fairly decent at the preparation, he still does one every year & it is still in a completely different league than ours. I’ve never tasted a turkey as delicious & probably won’t until one of us masters it.

Links to my Chicken Casserole recipe:
Google Drive
DocDroid
pdfhost

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Pizza seems to be a popular one.

One can't go wrong with Chicken.

Good luck in the contest.

Thank you for once again sharing a little piece of yourself with each of these choices. Food really does hit you in the soul in so many ways. My mom's father was an alcoholic and passed away when she was 17 years old, so she has occasionally shared some of the memories of growing up and dealing with his disease the best way she could as a child. Then her brother grew up to also struggle with alcoholism, so I saw some of that impact firsthand, as well. It is really traumatic for all parties involved, so kudos to you to shouldering some of that burden and doing what you could to support your siblings! I can see why that casserole hits so close to home. Ahh, pizza, I think that one may just top the list for the dpoll, though you never can tell. My sister worked in my uncle's pizza place for a while as a teenager, too, though that adventure for him was short-lived enough that I don't think it gave her a chance to get tired of the food, haha! That is so ironic about the turkey, too. I suppose that was just his muse vs the everyday meat. My dad was also the grill man, though I have to say he definitely knew how to make some delicious food on there! I still also leave that duty to my boyfriend. Perhaps some day I'll give it a go, but I enjoy my time in the kitchen however traditional that role may be. Awesome entry this month! Good luck in the contest!

Epic rendition of memories with food. My dad cooked everything except pies and Christmas pudding which mom had under control, both made exceptional food in their particular categories mentioned.

Coming from a family of 4 children, being the oldest daughter I learned to cook from a young age with mom and pop working, each of us had chores to do, I think I learned to enjoy my chore more than the other siblings LOL...

I'm hesitant to say that your story about chicken casserole is heartwarming, but it is, in it's own way. It's more than admirable that you and your siblings were able to bond and (I hope) are still a cohesive unit, and I can definitely appreciate that it was done with a particular meal. Thank you for sharing! That was a very heart-felt story.

Meals do bring people together through thick and thin. It's what we have to keep us going.

That chicken casserole looks amazing! Food for the soul

Ah man, your story around the casserole was powerful but there's something positive to come out of it was a dish that you will always enjoy. Pizza, absolutely can't go wrong with that, very popular choice this month and for a good reason, it's damn tasty even if you do need a few years to get over being exposed to it every day!

The smoked turkey sounds divine as well, I hope you get to master it ;)

Good luck with the contest!

Thanks for these awesome suggestions for our contest this month! We've given you an upvote and logged your nominations, ready for the dpoll - keep an eye on our blog for the dpoll post!

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Happy to see your entry this moth! Cheers to an exciting dpoll with all of these excellent choices!

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Great choices @erixink

Pizza is a no brainer for me. One a week, at least! The casserole looks gorgeous. I don't have turkey very often but I do enjoy it.

Good luck with the contest.

Gaz

What a bittersweet story and thank you for sharing. I can completely understand why that chicken casserole has become a family favourite. A real winner.

Awesome! Thanks for sending over your entry fee, just letting you know that I've added you in with your nominations now!

Good luck and keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming dpoll between 16th - 18th where we put it to the public vote and let the Steem community decide their top 3 :)

G

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