Heather says:
We haven’t done a Friday Free for All in a few months and it’s January 20th, winter is in full swing -in most of the country, we’ve been pretty lucky here. When the weather is miserable it’s time to break out your favorite comfort food recipes.
Yesterday I picked up all of the ingredients to make a double batch of my lasagna recipe, which we’ll have tonight along with caprese. Hush about the season, a friend of mine runs a hydroponic farm. I just need to swing by and pick them up. If I have any sauce leftover I’ll freeze it, as it’s pretty close to my spaghetti sauce recipe and works quite well.
So on the comfort food track, later this week I plan on making stewed chicken, leek and potato soup, and maybe creamy chicken and wild rice soup. Of course there’s the chance I’ll decide it’s finally time to get around to sharing a recipe for tortilla soup or I’ll maybe I’ll bring back one of our favorites taco soup.
Currently my inbox is loaded with legume recipes from frequent commenter deneicer1 and I’ll be adding those to the site as time and energy permit.
This year I also hope to add a few more recipes for winter vegetables and I will happily take on requests as a cooking challenge. (Sometimes I need a kick in the pants, too.)
Since it’s a free for all Friday, I’d love to hear what’s on your mind, just keep it family friendly. Can’t think of anything specific? How about follow my lead and share a link to your favorite winter comfort food.
Happy Friday.
I need to get my soup cooking!! I haven’t made baked potato soup yet this winter, or beef barely. Two of my standbys. Love the barely, because like chicken soup it freezes well. So besides soup, need to do some bread and more baking. I made chocolate chip muffins last night for my sons pine wood derby, so the boys were thrilled to have them this morning for breakfast. My 8 year old said your finally back to baking, Mom?? Guess I know what we need to do more of on the weekends. My little sous chefs are missing it!
@CarolShiveMirek I go in spurts, too. This has been an off couple of weeks because of the travel. Before that though I was on a roll and I’m hoping to pick that back up.
@HeatherSolos I have been missing out on baking, didn’t even do much for the holidays, but the kids never asked, so I figured they didn’t care. But now I know they do love me :).
Company coming tonight. I have peanut butter chicken in the crockpot as I type, and will cook rice and collards when I get home. Dessert still tbd but I have an abundance of pecans and some apples. Ideas? I’d like to keep it kind of light…
@suemaynard why not do a sort of apple crisp, but roughly chop the pecans instead of using oats?
@suemaynard Also, tell me about peanut butter chicken… is it sort of Thai flavored?
@HeatherSolos I followed Stephanie O’Dea’s recipe here http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2011/02/easy-peanut-butter-chicken-slow-cooker.html
I’m being a bit reckless here and am making a new recipe (crockpot at that!) for a company dinner. Advantage: I already had all the ingredients, and the reviews seem good enough that I’m willing. Also my husband is working from home so he can turn it off if it seems to be cooking fast. I’ll let you know how it comes out!
@suemaynard how did your dinner & dessert turn out?
@HeatherSolos It was good! The peanut butter chicken went over well, although my husband and I agreed it could use a little more kick next time. Easy enough. And for dessert, I went with what I called “stuffed apples: deconstructed” (deconstructed sounds way classier than lazy, right?). I sliced up some apples, and tossed them in a baking dish with some brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and pecans, and baked it while we ate dinner. Served with coffee creamer in a nice little pitcher (we were out of ice cream). Totally worked!
Thanks! I have a healthier variation on pizza (one of the fave comfort foods at my house). http://typeaparent.com/healthy-pita-pizza-recipe.html
Here’s one of my favorite comfort foods….I’m guessing that it’s mostly because it’s so easy and quick to make. 🙂
http://betterinbulk.net/2011/10/homemade-chicken-nuggets-and-buffalo-fries.html
Scalloped Potatoes (with Ham)…a definite comfort food from my childhood! Just made it last week, too! 🙂
http://www.2makeendsmeet.blogspot.com/2012/01/scalloped-potatoes-with-ham.html
That lasagna looks delicious.
My favorite comfort food is soup. It’s my go to, especially on cool nights. http://www.tonyastaab.com/2010/10/chicken-potato-soup.html
That lasagna looks amazing! My favorite winter comfort food so far is Kielbasa Stew. Mmm! 🙂 http://chocolateandcarrots.com/2012/01/kielbasa-stew
@caroline I should make that for my mother, she is a kielbasa fiend, shhh. She even puts kielbasa in -I don’t know if I can say it- spaghetti.
Love you Mom, I’m just not as big a kielbasa fan.
Yum! You would have been so proud of me – I made lasagna for my family over the holidays. Needed something good and warm while sister and such were in town. Did it all myself and sauce from scratch. It was so good that I need to do it again soon. http://www.postcardsfrommyself.com/2012/01/08/made-a-fantastic-lasagna-last-night-yes-i-made-it-from-scratch/
@carnellm I am proud of you. What did your kids think?
@HeatherSolos Everyone loved it. It was kinda hard to believe.
@carnellm what recipe did you use?
@HeatherSolos Recipe? Recipe?! We don’t need no stinking recipes!
Talking about soups, how about other comfort foods like brownies ? I’d love to hear if anyone has a good brownie recipe out there that is as low in sugar as possible. I’ve tried using artificial sweeteners but I’m now crazy about the taste. Thanks : D
@BevE I am a from scratch baker for the most part. 90 % of what I do is like that, but I think I made brownies from scratch once. People love my boxed brownies, ask for the recipe all the time, so why bother. LOL
@CarolShiveMirek@BevE I know what you mean : D
I have a huge sweet tooth but am also prediabetic so I need to watch the carbs. I’ve tried a few artificial sweeteners but haven’t found one I like so thought I could just cut the sugar some other way. I LUV brownies.
@BevE I defer to @CarolShiveMirek as I typically only bake when someone twists my arm. I just don’t have much of a sweet tooth,
@BevE My sister swears by Hershey’s Best Brownies. you can find it on their website. Sometimes she adds chocolate chips & nuts. Her workmates devour them.
@Brenda Lee I found the recipe. Going to try it with half the sugar and no frosting. Thanks : D
@HeatherSolos #homechat is back?? Squee!!!!
@TheBellWitch yes ma’am it sure is.
@HeatherSolos awesome!!! Now to remember that on Tuesday.. Lol
@TheBellWitch do you use Google Calendar? Set a reminder
@HeatherSolos what time is #homechat?
@TheBellWitch 8:30 Eastern
@HeatherSolos thanks, setting alarm on phone calendar now. 🙂
Yum…I’m in that winter mood too…considering there is 6 inches of snow on the ground outside my window right now! I’ve been making confits…confit garlic, onions, onions and fennel, turkey legs….a low, slow oil poaching process that gives you beautiful results and confits that have a long, long shelf life in the fridge…looks like I’ll be housebound and cooking this weekend…thanks for the recipes!
@Rachel@FoodFix I have had confits in restuarants, but I have never tried my hand at them. Thank you for bringing them up, it seems like a wonderful cooking challenge. I hope your weekend was pleasant.
It’s hard to think of ‘winter foods’ when it’s 81 degrees outside.