How to Eat Well with No Food

I have learned, through necessity to "create" food dishes for myself. There have been two basic reasons for this. One was poverty as a child; we never had any food in the house, and, my mother would worry about where my father was rather than cook. The second reason occurs when my wife isn't able to cook, and, I am left to survive with my own dismal cooking skills. I can grill a burger or steak, but, that isn't very practical in January. It is to those of you who have to live with constant hunger pangs that I dedicate this piece.

Do you have peanut butter? Do you have syrup, or, better yet honey? You have a gourmet opportunity. Simply take two tablespoons of peanut butter and mix in syrup or honey, and, you have a wonderful dip, topping or sandwich filler. The beauty of this concoction is the ease with which it is made. Just stir in the, let us say syrup, a little at a time until the mixture is the texture and taste that you're looking for. Once you're done, you have a dip to go with saltine crackers, (another food that seems to surface when nothing else is in the house), or, a mixture that can be spread on bread, either on a single slice, or, between two slices for a sandwich. If you're lucky enough to have ice cream on hand it makes a great topping, and, if the peanut butter and syrup is all that is in the house, it tastes pretty good right out of the bowl.

You look in the cupboard and all you see is some reasonably stale bread. When you look in the refrigerator, all you see are condiments; just condiments. Don't get down; you're sitting on a gold mine! The first rule of "poverty cooking" is that "toasting" freshens everything. You won't know if that bread is one day old or two months old if you toast it. I have found that mustard does not make a particularly good sandwich, however, mayonnaise has long been touted as a wonderful sandwich spread; and it is. Ketchup too has its fans, but, I'm going to give you a tip that only few of us know, and, that is that mixing mayonnaise and ketchup together is "over the top" good (buy a "Whopper" and see if you don't spot that combo!) By the way, a touch of pepper will really increase the tastiness of that mayo sandwich.