In Donata's Kitchen

Entry #4

I have cravings. so many cravings. Lately i’ve been craving potluck standards from the late 80s and early 90s. I imagine things like hot dogs and macaroni and cheese along with the standards like that delicious broccoli salad with the red onions, sunflower seeds, and bacon. Meatballs in grape jelly. Funeral Potatoes; bagged frozen hashbrowns cooked with onions and cream of something soup with a topping of butter and cornflakes on top. Those hawaian roll sandwich bakes. the old tri-colored spiral noodle pasta salad with italian vinaigrette. Seven Layer bean dip served with tortilla chips, or doritos, perhaps. Fruit Cocktail with coolwhip. jello salads, or any kind. taco salad with crunched up dorritos. baked beans with pineapple and sausage. lasgana. baked spaghetti. mini quiches. pigs in blanket. cashew chicken salad croissant sandwiches, cream cheese brownies, macaroni salad with mayonnaise, classic potato salad, deviled eggs, swedish meatballs, tuna noodle casserole, coleslaw, stuffed shells, twice baked potatoes, jello cake, little somkies in sweet bbq sauce, no bake jello cheesecakes, shrimp and cocktail sauce, shrimp in cocktail sauce over cream cheese with ritz crackers. overnight cinnamon rolls. I suppose the list goes on, there were oh so many excuses for potlucks back in the day, and oh so many home cooks to deliver the goods.

Cravings, they say, can be driven by physiological or psychological responses. Things like changing hormones, lack of nutrients, or memory can ignite the desire for certain foods. I think that the desire for me stems from the notion that I was so very light and lithe, young and flexible, agile, and thin, but voluptous when we dined each weekend on these potluck foods. I just can’t help to wonder if these indulgent food weekends, spent with family and friends, were the key to a stellar metabolism. And even, perhaps, youth.

But what I am craving the most at present and consistently is a good old seven layer salad, heres an example: https://www.wellplated.com/7-layer-salad/ and this is the very bowl my mother would serve it in:

I am wondering, though, how I could clean it up just a tad, and I think the answer is to replace the mayo/dairy dressing with a green goddess dressing, like the one here: https://www.loveandlemons.com/green-goddess-dressing/

I can assure you that I’ll leave the rest. The crunch of romaine, check. the squish and protein of peas, check. The dairy and fat and sharpness of the cream cheddar cheese, check. The crips salty savoriness of bacon, double check. The pungency of red onion, check. The delightful acidity and soft spurt of cherry tomatoes, check.

I think I’ll serve sweet potato fries baked in olive oil, made with berber spice and salt right along with it.