Comfort Cooking

17 years ago

Hello all - I've been cooking up a storm of comfort food lately with the cold weather. Anyone else?

I could relate to the quote: Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again.

-Leslie Newman-

CI's Winter 2008 issue was a soup and stew issue. In the last week, I've made:

Ultimate Vegetable Soup

Southern Italian Chickpea Soup

Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup (twice, the second time I doubled the recipe)

Also, I some homemade chicken noodle soup, chicken stir fry, chana dal, pancakes, egg salad, shrimp/feta pasta, and breakfast puffs.

DH helped me (a first in 20 years) make a recipe he saw on TV - Rachel Ray's Chicken Riggies with escarole. I never ate cooked escarole before and LOVED it mixed with sauteed capicola.

Ann T's tuna caserole is looking good . . .

Kari

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (13)

woodie
17 years ago
Hi Kari, nice to hear from you!

In the last week I've made split pea soup with some leftover ham from Christmas, a delicious beer, bratwurst, potato and cheese soup from Roselin and then we pulled out some bolognese sauce for pasta one night and some Swedish meatballs from the freezer and had them with mashed potatoes another night. Then Ken took a break from painting the kitchen and grilled some chicken legs outside using Grendeddy Dave's bbq sauce which we got in NC last month - that is comfort food for me but not for Ken who had to stand outside in the snow and cook them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Grendeddy Dave
teresa_nc7
17 years ago
It's been really cold here in NC this past week and I have been under the weather again so recently I made Barley Vegetable Soup, Beef Vegetable Soup, Brunswick Stew, homemade bread and tapioca pudding - which I hadn't made in a long time and tasted really good. I've been sipping on hot cranberry tea - 3-4 cups cranberry juice cocktail sweetened to taste with brown sugar and simmered with whole cloves (4) and 2 broken sticks of cinnamon.

Last night Mom made tuna casserole which I enjoyed very much with her and dad.
Related Discussions
Any solutions to a fear of entertaining/cooking for guests?
Q
Comments (35)
Maggi, I'm not sure what kinds of food you or your guests are comfortable eating but here are some of my easy favorites. My guests generally enjoy meals that aren't your typical steak and potato items. And as I mentioned, I like to serve dishes that can be prepared ahead of time that I can keep warm. 1.BBQ shrimp; white rice;steamed broccoli; crusty bread and a tossed salad. 2.Eye of Round cooked Spanish boliche style; white rice; frozen baby artichokes; Caprici salad with tomato, mozzarella cheese and avocado 3. Roasted chicken with store bought mojo sauce; roasted potato cubes; fresh spinach w/mushrooms and garlic..drizzled with olive oil 4. Scallop and shrimp with a garlic basil sauce over linguini; string beans; salad 5. Chicken cutlets breaded Italian style; farfalle pasta tossed with fresh garlic; basil and grated parmesan cheese, zuccini with garlic marininara sauce; salad 6. Seafood gumbo; white rice; crusty bread and salad 7. Crab filled crepes drizzled with a white wine cream sauce; fresh asparagus; rolls and salad 8. Lasagna; roasted Italian sausage, string beans, salad 9. Linguini with clam sauce; fresh green vegetable, salad and crusty bread For dessert I often make a ricotta cake or a flan and offer a fresh fruit compote for those who aren't into desserts. Do any of these appeal to you? Mona
...See More
LOOKING for: Looking for menu ideas
Q
Comments (8)
This would not be a heart healthy meal (sorry) but it is something that our extended family enjoys when we get together (the children like it too) and its done ahead of time, just needs reheating while the fresh vegetable is steaming. Brisket, potato casserole, fresh broccoli, salad. BEEF BRISKET FROM SARA MOULTON 1 Beef Brisket, any size Salt & Pepper 2 onions, thinly sliced Minced garlic Mix together: 1/2 cup ketchup 1/2 cup chili sauce 3 TBL brown sugar 1 bottle beer Lay meat in oven going baking dish. Salt & pepper it, spread garlic over top, spread onions over the garlic. Pour sauce over the meat. Cover tightly with foil and roast at 300* for 3 hours if small 1/2 brisket or 4 hours if large, whole brisket. Uncover, let meat rest, and pour gravy into a saucepan. Puree with handheld blender, or pour carefully into blender and puree. Slice meat across grain and serve with gravy. If doing ahead, cover with foil, refrigerate and reheat in slow oven. CHRISTMAS POTATOES 2 pound package hash brown potato cubes, thaw, drain and pat dry 1 can cream of chicken soup 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (10-12 ounce package) 1/2 cup melted butter 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 pint (16 ounces) sour cream Combine all ingredients in large bowl and put into greased casserole dish 9 x 13 inches (approximately). 1/4 cup melted butter 2 cups crushed cornflakes Combine and sprinkle on top of potatoes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. (Prepare casserole in advance and keep in the fridge, but don't bake it til serving time.) Here's a chicken menu that we like - chicken, orzo/roasted veggies, green salad. You can get the chicken ready and store in the fridge until baking. And the orzo/vegetable salad is served at room temp, so you can prepare it in advance and then take it out to warm up. Easy Baked Chicken 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves Salt Ground pepper Garlic powder 4 T. mayonnaise 4 T. fresh shredded Parmesan cheese 1 c. fresh coarse bread crumbs (or packaged, or panko) Chopped parsley 1. Season chicken lightly with salt, pepper. 2. Combine mayonnaise, garlic powder and cheese. 3. Put chicken in baking dish and cover with the mixture. 5. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and top with parsley. Bake at 400 until juices run clear (about 15-20 minutes) ORZO WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES 1 small eggplant, peeled, 3/4" dice 1 red pepper, 1" dice 1 yellow pepper, 1" dice 1 red onion, peeled, 1" dice 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 lb Orzo, cooked 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 3 scallions, minced 1/4 cup toasted Pignoli nuts 3/4 lb Feta cheese, 1/2" dice 15 basil leaves, chiffonade Mix first 7 ingredients together and place in one layer in large roasting pan. Roast @ 425 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once. Mix warm orzo with warm cooked vegetables and all of their juices. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and toss together and let cool to room temperature. Add scallions, nuts, Feta and basil and serve. Serves 6 Roasted pork tenderloin is an easy meal - put however many you need in a roasting pan or two, seasoned nicely with chopped garlic, salt and pepper and maybe some rosemary, and roast at 400 for about 25-30 minutes, let rest for 10 minutes and slice on the diagonal. Serve with anything you like - a potato casserole and some veggies and salad. These are just a start - if you need some choices that aren't so basic and homey, but more "polished" - just ask! There are lots of tried and true recipes out there and lots of cooks posting here :)
...See More
Blue Apron, Plated, Hello Fresh or other meal service?
Q
Comments (3)
We just started Blue Apron. We have done a few weeks now. What I find is that it plans the meal for me, a big plus. Does the grocery shopping and sends fresh ready to cook ingredients (like ripe avocado, we don't find those in the store), very nice. The recipes haven't always been home runs for my tastes, the only down side. I love to cook, but finding the time to plan out an entire meal, shop for it, prep and live our busy lives hasn't been happening. I view this as an easy way to get 3 home cooked meals on the table a week without having to do too much other work. It has also exposed us to new foods which I like. For instance Lingonberry jam was part of a recipe the other week. I'd never heard of it, but it was yummy and worked perfectly with the dish it was paired with. A side note, we have been ordering 2 meals for 2 adults and 2 kids, if I throw in a bag of veggies it feeds us all without leftovers. We are going to try 4 meals in an upcoming week. You can only order in increments of 2, so I'm not sure if your daughter wants leftovers of everything once she is back to school.
...See More
Need Help With Cooktop Hood--Picture
Q
Comments (8)
There are two operational requirements for ventilation hoods from which the detailed requirements derive. o Removal of combustion products from cooktops (usually from gas combustion, as wood and coal fired cooktops are rare on this forum) o Removal of grease vapor and odors The first requirement, if applicable, is mandatory. The second requirement is somewhat optional as determined by the homeowner's preferences, but most don't want to depend on a window fan to remove grease vapor. Lack of immediate capture and removal will cause the kitchen to slowly gain a coating of grease. In order to meet either requirement, the hood must accomplish two functions: capture and containment. Capture relates to having the uprising plume of effluent flow into the hood without missing it; containment relates to keeping it there and exhausting it without any leaking back out. Effective capture depends on the hood being large enough to extend beyond the rising and expanding plume unless the airflow is very high; hence, higher mounted hoods need to also be wider and longer hoods. Containment depends on internal depth of the hood, air flow rate, and other details of the hood design. As a rough approximation, assume that rising effluent expands from a pan boundary at a 7-degree half angle. This means that if the hood extends from the back wall significantly less than the cooktop does, one may wish to fry only on the rear burners and use the front burners for boiling water. Otherwise, odor and grease may excape the hood. In that case odor will be cleared from the house slowly as the fan exhaust replaces the household air volume a few times. This may require hours to accomplish. My choice is having the hood above my head, both to minimize bumps and improve sight lines. As a consequence I have to make it larger with higher flow rate. There is a potential hidden cost, though, of high flow rates. Depending on how much air one needs, undesirability of opening windows at any time of the year, and local political demands, one may have to install a makeup air system. All the above assumes that significant cooking activity is intended. If the kitchen is mainly for show, then the hood becomes less important. I have seen photographs of elegant houses with island mounted gas cooktops for which no vent hood was apparent. Catered delivery would seem to be the cooking method of choice in such cases. kas
...See More
lindac
17 years ago
I made chicken ( actually turkey) pot pie and mushroom beef soup and corned beef and cabbage....and hash with the leftovers!
Still looking at the turkey carcass....
shellm
17 years ago
I am also making split pea soup w/the leftover christmas ham.Everyones food sounds wonderful.

Shelley
Karigraphy
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, Ann T's tuna caserole is in the oven . . . I'm watching PBS's special on David Foster with fabulous music, the girls are playing with their friends in the family room . . .

DH is off to the Steeler game. I feel sorry for him, being out in the cold while I'll be under a polarfleece blanket sipping hot tea.

Woody, BBQ chicken would be great comfort food except for the going outside part!

Lindac, I have chicken pot pie on the menu for Wednesday. I've never made it but my girls saw a photo with a recipe in a magazine are and asking if we can make it.

Shellm, I stood in front of the split peas at the grocery store pondering whether to get them. This is the first year in a long time we didn't have ham for Christmas or I definitely would have. That would be another yummy dinner.

Coming up later this week: Shrimp with Feta pasta, Turkey Cutlets and lima beans, pasta and meatballs.

I better keep my dates for exercising!

Kari

By the way, Teresa N7, the cranberry tea sounds awsome. I'm definitely going to try that. We still have your Barley Vegetable Soup on a regular schedule because DH loves it and, well, we all do.
vacuumfreak
17 years ago
I did chicken soup with carrots, celery, corn, peas, and egg noodles a couple nights ago. It was a very busy/colorful soup! I used chicken drum sticks this time because I didn't have a whole chicken on hand. They worked fine. I also used 4 cloves of garlic... it smells REALLY strong when I take the lid off, but tastes fine.

I want to try a beef and vegetable stew with tomato sauce soon.

I think I still have some split pea soup in the freezer from November. I should take it out and throw it away... I never seem to eat soups after I freeze them and they just take up room in my small freezer.
Karigraphy
Original Author
17 years ago
Vacuum - I'd take out the split pea soup and let it thaw in the refrigerator for a day or so - see what it's like!

Tonight, I cooked turkey cutlets similar to how I would cook wiener schnitzel - lemon butter made from the pan drippings . . . My daughter who is the tiny eater had three pieces and kept asking for more! She ended up eating half of what I cooked because her sister wasn't feeling well and there was enough for leftovers until she ate it all. (I was thrilled to see her have a big appetite for anything.)

My mother used to make wiener schnitzel for special occassions and it was our family's favorite meal. I served the turkey schnitzel with fresh brocolli and butternut squash.

Kari

Kari
ghoghunter
17 years ago
Oh the joys of comfort food! Last night I made a really good vegetable beef soup and over the Holidays I made a loaded baked potato soup. My DH made bean soup with the leftover ham bone last week and we have lots of containers now in the freezer with the leftovers of the bean and veggie soup.
Joann
User
17 years ago
Nothing better than "Comfort food". Chicken or Beef Stew with dumplings, braised lamb shanks, spaghetti and meatballs, soups, traditional roast chicken or turkey dinner, Hot chicken/turkey sandwiches with homemade fries, pot pie, shepherds pie, Pot Roast, Roast Pork or a Ham with scalloped potatoes. Darn, now I'm hungry.

Ann
lpinkmountain
17 years ago
I made something for a dinner party last weekend that I almost never eat and have decided to make a lot more of--I find it very comforting and healthy. It was baked squash (an orange turban kind) that was then scooped out of the shell and mashed with a tiny bit of butter and seasoned salt. I had to put it in my wok for a couple of minutes to further evaporate away some of the water. I have been eating the leftovers all week. Next I am going to try a recipe for mashed sweet potatoes mixed with rutabaga. I have lots of recipes for mashed veggie mixes that I want to try. I almost always eat my veggies stir fried or roasted in chunks, almost never mashed. But I am finding the mashed stuff comforting, especially when I evaporate out the water so it is not runny. It makes a great side with pasta with a bitter sauce of spinach, broccoli or something tomatoey. Is tomatoey a word? :)
kframe19
17 years ago
Split pea and ham soup is one of my favorites. I made a big pot the other day.

I also love mac and cheese this time of year.
bunnyman
17 years ago
I did the split pea soup thing with my ham bone. Not only does work give me a nice ham but grandma likes to give hams as christmas presents. I vowed to eat all the ham and freeze none!... oh dear. The soup pot has not quit simmering for three weeks now. Simple soups with what I have on the shelf... and some leftovers. Lentil this week with nothing but ham, lentil, and carrots... very good soup. Last week was a big surprise when I boiled ham, cabbage, and onions. There was some leftover spagetti sauce in the fridge so I went brave and dumped it in. Turned out to be a very excellent soup! I've eaten soup at least twice a day from before christmas! Can a person get fiber poisoning?

I should mention my sweet baked beans and hamburger. Fast and simple a can of beans and some crumbled cooked hamburger. Normally I fry the burger, drain the grease, and dump in the beans with some sweetener.... makes a one pot dish. We potluck at work and the beans are now what I'm expected to bring. I'm happy as it is cheap and easy. When I want to treat them I fry up thick bacon chunks, nuke them after frying to get all the fat crisp, and add that along with the burger. Most of the time I use brown sugar for a sweetener with a shot of maple syrup. A spoon of molasses makes them extra special. The meat lets them go main course or side dish. For potlucks I always make a huge pot so if people don't like the other stuff they will always eat the beans and nobody has to leave hungry.

I love comfort foods! Nothing fancy just stuff cooking and working with what I have available.

: )
lyra
Karigraphy
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, Ann T's tuna casserole was decadent. My kids never had tuna casserole before and they were a little weird about the breadcrumbs on top.

When we were kids growing up in my house, we fought for the toasted buttery crumbs! However, I think our casserole was made with a creamy soup from a can and often had crumbled potato chips on top.

The chicken pot pie was pretty good, too. It was from a magazine and was supposed to be a light version of pot pie. I'm not sure how light it was but it was made with a white sauce and lots of veggies and shredded chicken. The kids and DH were fighting over the leftovers.

lpink -- I recently mashed some leftover butternut squash and added it to some homemade tomato soup (made with canned whole tomatoes and pureed). It added a different dimension. The puree reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld's wife's cookbook for families where she makes lots of purees one day a week and adds them to various meals to up the nutritional value. I don't want to hide veggies from my kids but I wouldn't mind getting more into them when they don't even know they are there.

Split peas continues to be a big favorite - but I don't think of baked beans at this time of year. So many comfort foods, so little time.

Tonight, I made a horrible meal! It was supposed to be shrimp with feta over pasta. We forgot to buy shrimp. I substituted turkey bacon. I like turkey bacon by itself but it didn't taste very good as the base of a pasta dish. Then I added misc. veggies from the fridge - zucchini, grape tomatoes halved, lima beans, red peppers. Don't try it. It was not a pleasant combination! It wasn't like a soup that is very forgiving.

Comfort food is Tried & True. The experimental was just too weird this time around.

Kari

Comfort Cooking

Comments (13)

woodie

teresa_nc7

Related Discussions

lindac

shellm

Karigraphy
Original Author

vacuumfreak

Karigraphy
Original Author

ghoghunter

User

lpinkmountain

kframe19

bunnyman

Karigraphy
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Comfort Cooking

Comments (13)

Related Discussions

KarigraphyOriginal Author

KarigraphyOriginal Author

KarigraphyOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Karigraphy
Original Author

Karigraphy
Original Author

Karigraphy
Original Author