PORCH PONDERINGS

Pot Luck

11. National Noodle Ring Day
This is not just some random food holiday about pasta forming a ring. It is about a special dish everyone can cook who has a bundt pan and noodles. The noodles have to be cooked and then filled into the bundt pan. Anything can be added now: from eggs, tomatoes, cheese, carrots, or bacon, and of course the sauce. The dish now has to bake and can later be turned upside down.
Thought and opinions? Something you might try?

Hmm. I am gluten intolerant. Gluten free noodles can be a pasty mess. So no - have at it y’all. Ick, ooh. Sounds like a bad hot dish for a church pot luck.

So I got to thinking of church pot lucks. How many churches, before this stupid virus came and put the brakes on anything fun, still have potlucks after church? Our church does, did, will. Most of the folks at our church are vegetarian, some are vegan, some don’t eat sugar, I don’t eat dairy or gluten. So potlucks at our church can be quite interesting!

There is a lady who makes homemade salsa. She’s a Latina, so it’s just a little spicy she says. Oh, right. Like being a little pregnant. Spicy is an understatement.

Then we have these homemade mashed potatoes my friend makes every time with that cashew gravy. She is a vegan and makes the best vegan food. To die for, except that gravy. I can’t do the gravy. I used to eat this and wondered why I was sick every night after eating it. Seems I cannot eat cashews, darn.

And we also have a woman who insists on making cakes or cupcakes for whoever has a birthday or anniversary. Except they are from cake mixes and canned frosting, with funky names in gel icing misspelled and emblazoned all over the bakes. But bless her heart for doing that kindness. People love it. I just smile and walk away from it all.

There are always some dishes made with the plant protein meat-wannabes. I remember eating those once-upon-a-time. When I lived with my first husband in Collegedale, TN when he was attending college there, we were introduced to the wonderful world of vegetarian meat products. Loma Linda, Morningstar Farms and others were served and I tried to serve those at meals as well. I had a term for these products - ‘Linger Longer’. They sat in the pit of my stomach for days. They were, and I think still are, made from wheat gluten. Even 40 years ago I had trouble digesting those lumps of wheat. But my daughter loves the weiners in a can. Sometimes I’ll find them in a store and mail her some.

I go for plain food like vegetables, and hope that guy brought some of his jello with mandarin oranges. Perhaps that other person brought some of the little mandarins that you have to peel.

If nothing is edible for me, I’ll just go home and have a PB&J on gluten free bread.