Soul Food for #marketfriday & #caturday

Chicken is a perfect bridge between #marketfriday and #caturday!

While searching my local market recently for convenient frozen items to keep on-hand for simple meals (since I live alone), I was looking through the selection of chicken. Most of the packages there were in the $6–$10 range for a bag of chicken pieces, most of them breaded. Suddenly, I spied a price tag that had $4 stamped on it. I looked closer, thinking my eyes had deceived me, but they had not! So, I happily added a couple bags of this item to my shopping cart.

The brand name on the package was rather amusing to my twisted little mind — John Soules Foods. Let me explain. Apparently, a man named John Soules founded the company in 1975, and the company's website says the business is still operated by the Soules family today.

However... In my part of the world, there is an old term called "Soul Food," and "John Soules Foods" sounds close to that term, even though "Soules" is a valid surname. If one researches a "clinical definition" of the term "Soul Food," one will find many references to the cooking practices of African-Americans^[source] whose ancestors were forcibly brought to the New World as slave labor on plantations, a very evil and horrendous practice. But, to anyone who was born-and-raised in The South, as I was, the term "Soul Food" includes that legacy of African-American influence and so much more. It is cooking things the way "grandma used to do" it. It includes simple-but-hearty fare, often with an element of "Comfort Food" to it. "Soul Food" is what satiates on an emotional level as well as a physical level, such as: a warm serving of Mac-and-Cheese (made with real cheese and cream sauce)... real potatoes that have been cooked and mashed with butter, sour cream and then topped with a rich gravy... fresh greens from the garden cooked with a ham hock or fatback. That is "Soul Food" at its best!

Besides the great price, I was also impressed with the fact that the chicken I bought was fully cooked and only requires a short period of heating in an oven to be ready to eat. It's also quite tasty, seasoned well, and features all-natural ingredients. The website states that this item was originally offered as an ingredient for fajitas, but it is quite good as is, on a plate with sides of rice or potatoes or a vegetable medley.

As a side benefit, I can also cut a piece of two of it into little nibbles for Mr. Cat to enjoy. In fact, he enjoys this chicken a little too much, I think... it's almost like "kitty crack" for him! He can't get enough of it, eats it very quickly with much gusto, and then meows for more! 😂

His color-change is still ongoing and amazing to me. Sometimes he looks jet-black all over, like the Night. Then, in different light, or at a different time of year, his coat will show more of the bronze-chocolate coloring of the fur that is normally more of an "under tone" deep within. And then at other times as shown, he exhibits different colors all over his body. He is an amazing critter, there is no doubt!

I still have not pinpointed an exact reason for the change-of-color of his coat. It could be his age (he is probably 17+ by estimates), the environment in which he lives, the seasons, his food, or perhaps a foible of his Turkish Angora breed. I have no clue, but it is fascinating to watch.

So, yeah... John Soules Foods is good fare, in my humble opinion! Oh, and another thing about it, too — after purchasing it at one market for USD $4 per bag, I did a price-check at another market in the area and was shocked to see their everyday price on the same exact item is $7.82 per bag! 😱 So, I hustled back to the other market a week or so later and bought the last three bags they had for $4 each! And between the cat and me, they are almost gone. In fact, that might be what I fix for dinner tonight, s handful of John Soules' grilled chicken strips with some rice or veggies. What a lovely way to spend a #caturday with my #marketfriday fare! 😋