Well, that is not such a strange combo to me. This summer Cracker Barrel restaurants offered as a special Barbecue Chicken Breast with corn on the cob, then you could choose another vegetable.
As for the cantaloupe, when my grand-daddy was still alive and we grew our big gardens, every meal had a plate of sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and usually sliced cantaloupe. It is my favorite way to eat.

I actually found it quite rude to suggest that your combinations were unusual - it's food! It's all delicious. But you're certainly a good sport about it and that's all that matters. :)

I do not think your menus are weird. You are a great cook with fresh, balanced meals! I believe that we all need to get back to basics and eating the produce in season! Keep up the great work!

Ruth, PA

Unless we are having company, I do make what I am hungrey for. I do watch startches and stuff, but I do have some werid carvings sometimes for no reason. As long as I have at least one veggie and a meat, who cares.

Teresa

We eat a lot of weird food combinations too. I think that happens with leftovers. I just don't usually take pictures of them. I will be honest here though. The post you did on using scrambled eggs for egg salad sounded terrible to me. I just couldn't do that. The texture would be all wrong as far as I am concerned. But if it works for you that is great. Each family and person has different tastes and that is fine. It keeps it all interesting.

That plate of food looks dandy to me. What I find unusual is the stuff you combine with pizza. When we have pizza that's all we have unless I get the impression that the kids are really hungry then we have a salad with it or just some veggies for dipping.

Now if we're having a YO-YO (you're on your own) night then anything goes. Whatever is in the fridge is warmed up and ate. :) I think everybody eats things that are unusual to others.

Tammy,
Just look at the plate of food! It is so pleasing to the eye. I imagine that the foods were delicious, too. My family likes many of the foods you feature and I so appreciate your photographing them for us.

I could definitely use some help in picking out melons. When I pluck them from the garden, they are not ready, eeek!

If what you eat is weird, well, keep on doing it.

Thanks for the Kitchen Tip Tuesdays as well.
Peace,
Lynne in NC

I have found your meal/menu ideas challenging. How? They've challenged me to add MORE veggies to my meals. I usually think of just doing one veggie. But they're so good for you, why not have 2-3 different kinds?! Thanks! =)

Tammy--you go not eat weird!! I think it is important to have well balanced meals.

I think in America it is looked at as strange to not see meat take "center-stage", what I mean is, that it looks like your meat is just another side like everything else, and that's okay!!! (the american diabetes association says that we should eat 1/4 starch, 1/4 protein, and 1/2 fruits/veggies: http://tinyurl.com/3up74 )

One thing that we do in our house, is eat cottage cheese as a side--and I have never seen your family do this-- so *I* must be strange!! Sometimes we have mandarin oranges, or pineapple on the cottage cheese..or other times we will eat yogurt with cut-up fruit...so I don't find anything you put together as strange...except like pp said, I guess we usually don't add a side veggie with pizza, unless it's a salad.

Jamie, PA

Tammy--you go not eat weird!! I think it is important to have well balanced meals.

One thing that we do in our house, is eat cottage cheese as a side--and I have never seen your family do this-- so *I* must be strange!! Sometimes we have mandarin oranges, or pineapple on the cottage cheese..or other times we will eat yogurt with cut-up fruit...so I don't find anything you put together as strange...except like pp said, I guess we usually don't add a side veggie with pizza, unless it's a salad.

Jamie, PA

Your eating combinations are a reflection of the idea that you eat what is on hand and don't waste. When I grew up we did eat a lot of leftovers, but we weren't as disciplined about not wasting the bounty the Lord provided. Now that I have my own family and am a stay at home mom, making the most of what we have is always the goal!!! Congrats on using the Lords blessings to the fullest and reminding others to do the same no matter how strange the combination. It's all going the same place anyway!!!

I haven't seen any 'weird' combos.
I HAVE seen them at my own house though! LOL

Your plate looks just like some of ours and many MANY that I've seen in 'old-timers' houses. They ate what they had from the garden all summer.

My kids used to go to their great-grandmothers and ask for 'corn and green beans'. She would even play a game with them sometime and ask them what they wanted to eat....it was the same every time,lol.

When she had them on hand, she'd slice tomatoes and cantaloupe and put on the table too. (She also had a grape vine that I made jelly from one year, fun fun!)She had horse apples that she'd fry too.

I'm with Joshua...pass the veggies. I'm weird that way too. I just like to know the kiddies are gettin' all the vitamins that I can stuff in them!:-) But I do serve it beside the pizza more often than on it ;-)
-Donna-
p.s.
I'm lookin' at your plate, wondering if I can duplicate it for lunch...hmmmmm

Tammy, I think this meal photos is fantastic! The more color on the plate, the healthier it is!
We would totally eat something like this, and often do (minus the chicken, of course, but maybe tofu or legumes as a sub)!
Besides, who cares what we think of your food. You are feeding your family the best you know how with what you have available. Obviously we keep coming back to look at more...right? *grin*

Dana

There were only a couple of times that I noted the combinations being unusual-but not unappealing. Just that I wouldn't have thought to put those specific things together. But really, since I've been reading your blog, I've noticed that I've begun to put together some unusual combinations too. I guess I figured that if Tammy can do it, so can I. ;-)

I think today's combination looks very normal! I think some of your combos have looked a bit odd (not in a bad way, just not what I would choose or serve) to me simply because we eat far less starches. We usually have peas OR potatoes OR corn OR bread along with a veggie and protein. Occasionally, we might have two of those items, but rarely at the same meal. Also, we don't eat anything else with pizza regularly, and when we do, it's simply salad.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way you eat if it suits your family! I daresay it's much healthier than most of the population eats.

well I do the same thing. Just heat up and try to use up and if the leftovers aren't enough I end up serving fruit with it etc.
Not so strange:)
Tereza

You're meals look good, but I guess one thing I noticed is that you eat fruit with your main meal. We never have fruit at lunch, but always at breakfast and supper. And pizza always has veggies on it, I doubt pizza would be pizza without lots of veggies on it! But each family has different traditions of how they eat. And green beans stay green and crunchy and just boiled for no more than five minutes. :)

You asked about weird food combos from others...we often have naan (an indian flat bread) with Vietnamese stew that I make. Both my husband and I (and our son who when he was first eating solid food wouldn't touch chicken without curry powder) love Indian and Asian cuisine - we do whatever we can to make it affordable, including having a Thai holy basil plant in the house. The combinations we come up with to make complete meals are often mismatched - but with the same intent as you to not let the food go to waste. Other people might think we are weird, but at least my family always has healthy meals that I made.

Kate