There are some foods that are just needed. Comfort foods. Foods from your childhood. These are foods that rarely get mentioned in trendy food magazines, but never go away from the shelves in your local store. And they never will.
They are the “processed” foods of convenience. In this case, “processed” means (I think) chopped, formed and canned. Regardless, this food will stay fresh on you pantry shelf for a long time, until that cold and dreary day, when you need a bite of childhood memories.
When I was growing up, we ate Spam. Not all the time, but often enough. Sometimes it was sliced and fried at breakfast, sometimes sliced and made into a cold sandwich. But my favorite way of eating it is to slice it, lay in on a hamburger bun, top with a slice of onion, and then add a second bit of yellow processed comfort food, Velveeta.
It must be Velveeta, not real cheese. Nothing else melts and browns the same.
This will last for a long time in your pantry!
Processed food marriage of perfection.
Broil for about 5 minutes, or until it gets soft and browned.
I sort of don’t want to do this part, but I need to keep the pattern.
Nutritional data for 1 portion (as above with 2 ounces of Spam and 1 ounce Velveeta):
Calories: 348
Fat: 22g
Sat fat: 10g
Chol: 65mg
Sodium: 1401mg
Carb: 21.9g
Fiber: 4.3g
Protein: 16.2g
Another unique food is Vegemite. Those of us of a certain age will immediately start thinking about a certain “Men at Work” song from the mid-80’s. Vegemite is an Australian food, a by-product of the brewing industry. It is essentially a yeast paste, with some malt extract for flavor. And salt. A lot of salt.
Never confuse this with Nutella!
I find it to be a food that you will either love or hate. I fall into the “love” category. I prefer to toast an English muffin, butter it, and then spread a bit (1/2 teaspoon) of the paste on each half.
Incredibly savory, this really is delicious. For some people.
Sometimes I add a fried egg on top.
I’m just going to give nutritional data for the Vegemite, since it is more of an ingredient than a stand-alone food.
Nutritional data (per 1 teaspoon)
Calories: 10
Fat: 0g
Sat fat 0g:
Chol: 0g
Sodium: 160mg
Carbs: 0.8g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 2g
On the upside, beside a TON of flavor, it also provides a LOT of B vitamins. If you are curious, the only place I’ve found Vegemite is on Amazon.
These were some of the foods that my most recent podcast guest, Brian Dunning, talked about. You can hear the entire show here (
in iTunes) or here (
in Stitcher) or directly from
my website.
Make Your Someday Today is a twice-weekly podcast, where we talk to successful people in all walks of life and around the world on Monday, and then on Thursday, I take a specific message from the previous guest and give my “Trevitorial”, where I help you apply that message to your life. The entire purpose of the show is to help all of us overcome our challenges and fears and become the person we want to be, the person we deserve to be.
