Sometimes you need comfort food

OK, so awhile ago I told you that I was afraid of tornadoes.......still am.

But I've realized what it is that I'm afraid of. Case in point - we were "camping" at the lake with friends last weekend. A wicked storm blew in Saturday evening (same one that killed that poor woman at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose), but I was not scared at all. In fact, I stood on the deck and watched the wind, hail, lightning and we all wondered....tornado or not? But it was light out - I could see everything.

The next night though another brutal storm blew in, but we were already in bed and it was well after midnight. There were no pauses between lightning flashes, constant howling wind and thunder and sideways rain and hail. But it was pitch black out and I was terrified. I got up and got dressed - no way in hell would I be blown across the campground naked.

So I've figured it out - if I can see the tornado coming, I'm not scared. If it's nighttime and I cannot see the funnel cloud anywhere, I panic.

This same storm on the Sunday caused lots of damage - a friend had all the windows in his trailer blown out while camping by the hail. His company vehicle is also a write off with over $12,000 in hail damage (he's missing the sunroof.....).

As for us, remember this beautiful perennial flower bed I planted 6 weeks ago?

It now looks like this.

Everything is shredded, demolished and pulverized. I have 2 plants that survived (out of 14) and a few sticks. The rest of the leaves were plastered up against the window. No point now in trying again - we get frost in 3 weeks.....not nearly enough time for the roots to take hold. Better luck next year.

So when I have something happen like this, comfort food is the way to go. Besides, it was cold and raining still. And for me, the only comfort food that will do is stroganoff. And not that fancy, strips of sirloin steak one either. While that version is good, I go straight for the canned soup aisle with a package of ground beef tucked under my arm. This is the version mom made us when we were kids every Christmas Eve. I love it....actually I think mom and I were the only ones who really did - R and dad would prefer other meals.

What you need:

1 package of ground beef
1 package of sliced mushrooms
an onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of sour cream

Cook beef and chopped onions until brown. Add mushrooms towards the end to soften. Stir in both cans of soup and simmer for 20 minutes. Add sour cream, cook for 5 more minutes and serve over rice.