Minnesota Prairie Roots

A favorite American comfort food and easy meal, a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

FEW COMFORT FOODS rival simple grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

Grab two pieces of white bread, add slices of Velveeta cheese, slap the bread together, butter one exterior side, flip, then butter the other side, and toast in a frying pan over low heat until the bread browns and the cheese begins to melt.

Even my teenage son can prepare a grilled cheese sandwich.

Add a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup, and you have the perfect comfort food that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and like a kid again. At least that’s my description of a comfort food.

What would you add to this list? Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spaghetti, Tator Tot hotdish, chili, chocolate cake? I expect answers will vary depending on where you grew up, maybe even your economic status.

When my oldest daughter was in college a few years ago, she helped organize Grilled Cheese Night in her Winona State University dorm. I found this a bit humorous. But the event was popular and, probably, because the grilled cheese reminded students of home.

Which leads me to wonder…with so many families eating out or grabbing ready-made foods on the go, what will today’s youngsters consider comfort foods? Chicken nuggets, Hot Pockets, frozen pizza, a Big Mac?

Share your thoughts. What are your favorite comfort foods? And, more importantly, why?

A grilled cheese sandwich oozes with Velveeta.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling