What foods do you eat just so that you can eat the foods that comes with them?

I went to the grocery store yesterday only because I discovered we had whipped cream in the house and I wanted something to eat with it.

As I was shopping for one dessert item and somehow ended up with more than $100 of other groceries (how did that happen?) I started thinking about how much I love whipped cream. I honestly don’t like pumpkin pie very much, for example, but if I can put whipped cream on it, I will have three pieces.

I was also thinking about other foods that I really only eat because they come with another food. I am going to share a few here, and we’ll see if you agree with any of these or have any others to add to my list.

Sweet potatoes and brown sugar – I only eat sweet potatoes as an excuse to eat brown sugar. If it were socially acceptable to have just warm butter and brown sugar as a side dish for dinner, I would do that. It is not, though, so I will put pieces of sweet potato with my brown sugar and butter.

Apples and caramel – I like some apples, but love all apples with caramel. If you give me caramel dipping sauce, I will eat apples all day long just as an excuse to eat more caramel. I’m not sure how to pronounce the word caramel, but I love eating it.

Potatoes and gravy – I don’t see many reasons to eat potatoes without gravy. If there is gravy, though, I want to fill my plate with potatoes. I love gravy! I should add that gravy also makes beef, chicken, cooked carrots, broccoli, corn and several other foods taste much better.

Cake and ice cream – If someone offers it to me, I will take it so that I can have the ice cream. Cake is good and filling, but I love ice cream.

Marshmallows and lots of other foods – I will only drink hot chocolate for the marshmallows. I will only eat graham crackers if you put a melted marshmallow with them. I will only eat certain dry cereals because they have marshmallows included. Honestly, I believe that most foods are improved with marshmallows.

While eating several pieces of pie and whipped cream, I also thought about a few other items that are also somewhat related to the discussion.

Cake and frosting – I don’t really care that much about the main part of the cake; the frosting is the only really good part.

Movies and popcorn – I have gone to the movies before purely because I wanted to eat lots of buttery popcorn.

Oreos and their cream filling – I only tolerate the chocolate cookie part so that I can have the cream filing.

Cold weather and winter clothes – I love sweaters, suit jackets and hoodies. I like cold weather simply because I can wear clothes like that again.

A big work meeting and doughnuts – We have a staff meeting? Oh no, that sounds like it might be long and take up precious time that I wanted to use for other projects! Wait! Did you say there will be doughnuts? I can’t wait to get to that meeting! I love doughnuts!

Finally, I should tell you that I ended up purchasing key lime pie at the grocery store and it was fabulous with whipped cream.

Life is funny that way. Little additions or treats can make an ordinary meal or an ordinary day amazing.

It’s the simple things in life that make life beautiful.