Why is the header image for this post not some sort of food? I don't know. I wanted to pick a good top five themed header to use for all of my future top five posts, but I couldn't find one in my 15 minutes of looking, so I'll put in this filler one for now and come back and retroactively change it out once I find the image I'm going to use going forward. Future readers will never know the difference. Except for the existence of this paragraph.... maybe I'll delete it too.
So I need to preface this top tfive post, and probably all future ones, with a simpler disclaimer. People change, tastes change. In 5 years these may not be my top five favourite foods, I have no way of knowing this. I know these weren't my favourites 5 years ago. Also they aren't in any particular order, Also, I won't have any pictures, because the point of these posts are to be off the cuff and spontaneous. If I had time to prepare five different foods and photograph them for the blog, I would have had time to write a more interesting post. I'm a wordsmith, let me smith you some words. Ignore that previous sentence, I'm usually quite good at describing things.
Without further ado, my top five favourite foods (right now).
1) Lasagna
Remember when I said that some things on the list weren't there 5 years ago, and wouldn't be there 5 years from now? This is not one of those things. Lasagna has been a favourite of mine for ages. I love the delicious, creamy cheesiness of it. The soft noodles and the seasoned meat. Lasagna has been a staple of my favourite foods since I was a kid. I can think of at least 3 birthdays where I have requested lasagna to be my dish of choice. Plus, it sounds funny if you say it how it's spelt. Lah-zag-nah. Heh.
2) Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken is amazing. It's so delicious, nutritious, and delicious. Yes I said delicious twice intentionally. Chicken Cordon Bleu is like the top dog of the chicken world. The creamy inside to go with the perfectly browned outside is simply amazing. I would also put in this category broccoli stuffed chicken, because I think it's similar enough to not deserve its own spot on the list, but it's different enough to be distinguished from cordon bleu. Pretty much if you stuff anything inside a chicken breast, I'll probably eat it. Such an appetizing and filling bird. I never feel hungry after a nice helping of chicken.
3) Spinach
Alright, I'll concede that this may seem like a weird one. Spinach makes the list though for pretty much one major reason: it's super versatile. I've completely stopped using lettuce on salads in favour of spinach. It's packed with nutrients and it tastes amazing, plus you can cook it up, steam it or sauté it, and it adds some great filler to most dishes. I usually throw it in the stir fry or, my personal favourite, in with the scrambled eggs in the morning. It's a great way to add some colour to your breakfast. Love me some spinach. I should get a Popeye tattoo...
4) Asparagus
Ok, I know it makes your pee smell funky, but come on, that's worth it. Asparagus is super expensive, but what a treat. My favourite way to cook it is to throw it in a hot frying pan with a bit of olive oil and butter, get it nice and hot, throw some chili pepper flakes on top of it, finish with salt and pepper, and take it off the heat before it's soggy and bendy. The best bit of asparagus is the one that gives you a little bit of crunch with it. The chili flakes really bring out some amazing flavours, and it goes great with steak or rice, or even underneath some poached eggs in the morning. Speaking of poached eggs...
5) Chicken Babies
Eggs are so ridiculously good. And since I've learned to just love the yolk (I hated the yolk as a kid. I would always ask for them hard poached or hard fried so I could cut the yolk out of the center) it's become so much easier to make delicious egg recipes. I've recently gotten into poaching them in just a pot of water. Add a bit of vinegar to the water so the whites want to stay together, swirl it like a whirlpool and drop the egg in all at once. I've had a lot of success following that method, and it's made for some really amazing breakfasts.
I need to give an honourable mention here to avocados. Had I been making this list at a different time they might have made it on. I was a little hungry tonight, and I just went shopping today and bought asparagus so I've been looking forward to cooking those puppies up. Avocados though are definitely one of my favourite foods. So much so that I even have plans to get an avocado tattoo in the future. This is exactly what I meant by saying this is a dynamic list, it's bound to change in the future.
My favourite meal as of late is a piece of toast with butter, avocado spread on it mixed up with salt, pepper, and lime juice, some ham or bacon on top of that, followed by two poached eggs, some feta cheese, and hollandaise sauce. Every time I make hollandaise from scratch I get better and better, soon enough I'll have it down pat. Seriously though, if you like avocados and eggs, you've got to try this for breakfast. Toast the bread, spread on the avocado and put on the ham or bacon, then throw it under the broiler right before you drop your eggs in to poach. Once they are done poaching your bread spread will be nice and toasty and won't cool the eggs down so fast, giving you more time to enjoy a nice hot breakfast. Pair it with some dark roast coffee and you've got the makings of a great day going.
So that's it for my first top five. Hopefully I'll have a more substantial post up tomorrow. Once of these days I'll get that backpack review up I keep promising. Let me know below what some of your favourite meals are. Also, I would really appreciate any recipes or ideas for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I only have a limited repertoire of cooking ideas right now, I seriously need to expand. Thanks for reading.