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Sunday, April 18, 2010

He says we need a list of super foods.

"We need to start keeping a list of super foods," Ethan says. "What is a super food?" I asked. "You know, something that tastes good no matter what you do to it." So over the last few weeks, we have taken the task seriously.

Amid a pile of potato pancakes, we decided that potatoes are a super food. Roast them and the outside is crisp and the inside is creamy. Fry them in hot oil and they become an even better version of crisp and creamy. Then you dip them ketchup and it's a whole new experience. But what about boiled and mashed? Boiled, mashed and gently mingled with butter and heavy cream? Overwhelmed yet? We have just gotten started! Potato chips! Thinly sliced, fried, salted and sat next to a sandwich. Then you can have entire meal with a baked potato. Chewy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and then you embellish it in butter, salt and pepper and suffocate it in chili and cheddar cheese. All this and you can get a 5 lb bag of these beauties for under $2.

Potatoes are a super food, are they not?

After muddling over our first super food, we came upon another one a few days later. Bacon, glorious bacon. It makes anything taste richer, better and well, better. It never ceases to satisfy. Breakfast, next to eggs or even in them. Lunch, while getting cozy with bread, mayo, lettuce and tomatoes. Dinner, swirled into a tomato sauce. Then bacon shocks us all and shows off by tasting good with sweet. With chocolate in a candy bar! Who would have thought? Rubbed with brown sugar and then baked, yielding a surprising clique of sweet and salty. All in one bite, bacon is chewy, smoky, greasy and salty.

Bacon, a super food if I ever saw one.

We have now hit a dead end. Chocolate doesn't work because it's a combination of lots of different ingredients. Butter doesn't work because a super food entails being able to eat it plain. You can eat a potato or bacon plainly cooked, but not butter. So have we hit a dead end?

19 comments:

Sue said...

Pasta?

brandi said...

What about Cheese?!

keely said...

Bread?

Kellie said...

I'm going to say carrots. You can roast them, sautee them, turn them into cake. You can glaze them, grill them (so unbelieveably good) or just eat them raw. Yeah, I'm going to go with carrots.

Celeste said...

Peanut butter.

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Mango

Sarah said...

eggs? Does that count?
Or sweet potatoes?

Are you going to post a final list? I am very interested.

Staci said...

I was totally thinking eggs . . . but maybe that's only because we eat so many of them at my house. And they're so, so versatile. Sweet, salty, scrambled, fried poached, and full of nutrients too.

By the way, I'm thrilled with your first super food choice and totally agree.

rabidrunner said...

Tomatoes. Apples. Cucumbers. NUTELLA!

whitneyingram said...

All of this is making me think. I am going to have to consult Ethan with these foods and see what he thinks. I will return and report later.

cat+tadd=sam said...

Diet Coke. DUH

ChromePlatedGirl said...

I second the sweet potato vote. Way nutritious and can easily go from soup to dessert!

Nancy said...

Avocados
Apples
Bananas
Asparagus
Broccoli
Zucchini
Sweet Potatoes

Of course, it's all about personal preference but of the foods listed above, I'd eat them any way they were served.

jenniferhoiyin said...

avocados! i could eat those all day. every day.

p.s. have you seen jim gaffigan's bit on bacon? funny stuff.

Natalie said...

Strawberries.

Milk?

Also I second your sister on the Diet Coke.

Oh, and marshmallows.

Carmen said...

I'm fairly new to your blog but I will agree, potatoes are my favorite vegetable. They're not even good for you but they are amazing no matter how you cook them.

I'm a big fan of beef myself so I'll nominate beef. (even though we don't eat it all the time for health and cost reasons)

Unknown said...

My vote is for broccoli or spinach. From salads to stir-fries you can never go wrong with the greens. Zucchini is another, from veggies pancakes (like potato but with zucchini) to cake or bread, chop and drop in soup, salad or even to dip in a bit of ranch. My vote is for the greens!

Anonymous said...

I second the vote for cheese. I love cheese plain, and I love cheese melted in/on anything. It seriously makes everything better. I couldn't survive in a world without cheese!

moshell's lilbit of space said...

I totally agree with the potatoes!!!

I do think cheese too...hopefully that will make the list :)




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