Header PromotionYou can tell when summer is officially over here in Montana. The tennis nets come down and I start cooking comfort food. It doesn't even have to snow for me to pull out the dutch oven and throw a pork roast into it.
I have this great cornbread recipe that calls for both regular corn and creamed corn along with a large tub of sour cream, butter and jalepenos. I've got to find my recipe because it is time to make it!
It isn't just me. My husband is going to want meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans soaked in butter and sprinkled with brown sugar. Even our desserts change. I'm thinking about pineapple upside down cake, bread pudding, warm fruit pies.
What is it about the change in weather? It gets cold, I get the fireplace going and starting cooking food I haven't had since last winter.
I just read a study about how my part of the country doesn't get enough Vitamin D because of our lack of sunshine. This time of the year the sun stays fairly low in the sky. I wonder if sunlight has anything to do with cravings?
Do you have a favorite food this time of year? Something you crave when it gets cold?
BJ
It cold enough for the oven to go on
so the stewpot goes into it. Also we get back to oven roasted root veggies with almost any type of meat you can cook on a rack above them.
February 2009 Member of the Month
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Umm
I don't do soups, Chili, or stew in the summer because it is to hot.. So at the very first sign of Fall I made Chili!! Ummm I am think I may have to make Beef Stew tomorrow. Sounds good to me.
Jessiecue
January 2010 Member of the Month
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foods
this is the time of year for soups, stews. chillis, speghetti and lasagna. Time for baked goods that require the use of the oven. Just a couple of weeks ago the grocery store I usually go to had carrots on sale so I made 6 carrot/nut/raisin loaves.
Can you post the recipe for the cornbread? Last night after reading this I went looking through my recipes for cornbread and I couldn't find one.
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008-2009 Challenge Blog
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Comfort
Last night it was spicy chicken stew and over the weekend it was clam chowder. I am in the high desert foothills in NM and we have already had snow! It actually stuck around long enough to cause lots of accidents. I ahppily sat inside revamping the dinner menus for fall/winter. Love it
Bonsal
May's Member of the Month
You guys are making me SO
You guys are making me SO hungry!
This time of year is definitely the baking time. Love making breads and lasagna. Soups are a biggie for me too. Corn chowder is one of my favorites, and this is just the perfect time of year for it.
Delores
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Autumn makes me want
Autumn makes me want home-made soups and breads. My ham & potato soup and crusty sourdough bread are a perfect cold weather meal for me. And cinnamon rolls and pumpkin pie.
I love the way the house smells when I'm baking them.
I also love the clothes I wear in the autumn. I don't have to bundle up in my winter coat/snow boots/scarves/hats/gloves yet, but I can wear comfy sweatshirts and sweaters. Well, maybe gloves when I walk the dog early in the a.m. I don't like to sweat or get too hot, and I don't like to bundle up against winter. I'm like Goldilocks in The 3 Bears--for me, Autumn is just right.
Julie Miller
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My kind of people!
Loved reading your comments. You are definitely my kind of fall people!
Kaelee, oven roasted vegetables! I LOVE mixing a bunch of them with lots of onions in the oven. Yum. And Jessicue, chili is always good at our house. Of course I make mine with antelope. :) Christa, I had THE best lasagna recently. A friend brought it up. I have to get the recipe! And I will be happy to post the cornbread recipe this stuff is to die for. Snow, Bonsal? Wow, we had one week with snow now it is beautiful again. Cold with frost, but no snow yet. Your spicy chicken stew sounds good. I'd love that recipe. I agree with Delores, all of you have made me hungry! Julie, did you have to say cinnamon rolls and pumpkin pie? Oh man.
I'm at my office but my daughter is emailing me the cornbread recipe. You're going to love it. I will put it up as soon as I get it. In the meantime, here is my mom's fried pie recipe, which is another fall favorite.
Mom’s Fried Pies
1 cup flour
½ teas salt
¼ cup shortening
3 to 4 T water
¾ cup drained cooked fruit
(we like dried apricots cooked with a little sugar)
Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in shortening and add water. Roll and cut in 5-inch circles. Place 1 ½ T of fruit in each. Press edges with fork. Place 2 to 3 in 375 degree oil and fry for 5 to 6 min. Drain on paper. Cover with icing made of powdered sugar and a little water.
*These can also be baked in the oven.
My favorite cornbread recipe as ultimate comfort food
Cheesy Corn Spoon Bread
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
2 cups (16 oz) sour cream
1 can (15-1/4 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15-1/4 oz) cream-style corn
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pkg (8-1/2 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 medium jalapeno pepper, minced
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
In a skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Set aside. In a
bowl, beat the eggs, add sour cream, both cans of corn, salt and
pepper. Fold in dry cornbread mix, onion, jalapeno and cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve.
B.J.
Thanks for the recipes. I will have 2 try them sometime.
Jessiecue
January 2010 Member of the Month
http://community.eharlequin.com/category/tags/wayrn-2010-0
Yum recipies!
Hey BJ!
These recipies look great, thanks! I'm going to try them.
Winter is when I make my favorite food - meat wrapped in dough. Its been my fav since I was a kid. My mom used to make it. I brown hamburger with chopped onion and seasoning, meanwhile, I make a bisquick dough, roll it out, and put the cooled meat in the middle then wrap the dough around the meat, and pinch the dough closed. It looks like a loaf of bread, sort of. I bake it at 350 for about 18 mins.It is served with thick hot mushroom soup (not thinned with water) poured over the top. My husband loves it as much as I do. It's the ultimate cold day meal.
I read somewhere that we crave heavier foods in winter because the change of temp changes our body's needs. I guess its a good example of how we are connected to the natural world, even with all our new technology. Sometimes when I'm out doing my paper routes in winter, and the wind chill is minus 30 F, I wish I wasn't so connected, but then I get back in doors to the buck stove that heats the whole big house and I'm all better.
Food & Books
Food & books, my two favorite subjects. One of my favorites is potato soup. I can actually eat it any time but when it get cool outside, bring on the soup. I like vegetable soup too. A big pot of brown beans sounds good right now too. I'm making myself hungry. And you mentioned bread pudding. Next to cheese cake bread pudding is one of my favorites. I haven't had any in a long time. Sure sounds good right now. So bring on the hot comfort foods and a good book and I'm good to go.
Linda Henderson
Books and food, you are so right
Jessiecue, Hope you like the recipes. I just got another one that was in this morning's newspaper that my husband says is a keeper. I'll put it up on my next blog. It's a pumpkin dump cake. Too easy and really good.It could replace pumpkin pie. Maybe.
Cheryl, where do you live again? It sounds like our winters. I'm not familiar with a buck stove. But it sounds warm. :) And your meat in dough sounds wonderful!!
Linda, I'm with you. Good book and good food. Doesn't get any better than that. Soups are always a hit. Does anyone have a good bread pudding recipe??
BJ
www.bjdaniels.com
Comfort Food
I'm repeating myself on the blogs, but I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder-- lack of sunlight, vitamin D. Makes me depressed, like a slug.
And boy do I cook. I turn on the overhead fluorescent light in the kitchen & bake & cook & eat. Bread. Standing rib roast. Banana cake with burnt caramel icing. Cincinnatti Chili. Sourcream ham biscuits. Pralines. It's one of the reasons I hate winter, hate the holidays... because at the end of the day, I have so much stocked in the freezer and the neighbors don't want to see me coming because their cholesterol levels are up.
I take a fistful of vitamins now, every day. And I make a point to get out in the sunshine as often as I can, but if there isn't any, I turn on my 'Happy Light' from Sharper Image.
I want a happy light
All that food sounds wonderful Tappitytaptap. But I know what you mean. I always bake too much and end up giving it away just because I love to bake this time of year.
I'll have to check out a happy light and I'm going to make sure I get my vitamin D. Between the comfort food and the lack of sunshine, no wonder we get sluggish!
Fortunately where I live we get a lot of sunshine in the winter -- even when it is really cold and snowy!
BJ
Comfort food
My favorite is scalloped potatoes and ham. Now that I'm back in the north ( I was in Florida for 4 years ), I can start using the oven again. Loved your cornbread recipe, B.J., I'll have to try it on my family when we all get together!
Minniem
A benefit of moving north
Minnie, hope you like the cornbread! It was fun hearing what everyone likes to eat!
BJ
www.bjdaniels.com
I know
what you mean about a lack of vitamin D. I am now taking calcium with D plus extra D because of the lack of the sun in my life. Not only do we have short days but I work in a room with no windows so I seldom get sun during the school year!
I love soups in the fall and winter. And usually eat soup most evenings.
Cee Jay
Vitamin sunshine
I'm taking vitamins for the D. I think it helps even tho I've only been taking them for a few days.
Anyone want to share a great soup recipe?
BJ
www.bjdaniels.com
Soup!
1/2 pound ground beef (or any other ground meat, turkey,venison)
1/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chooped carrots
3/4 cupchopped celery
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp.dried parsley
4 Tablespoons margarine divided
1/3 cup flour
4 cups diced potatoes
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced American cheese
3 cups milk
2/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
In a 3 quart saucepan brown beef,drain,and set aside. In same pan saute' the onion, carrots, celery, basil, and parsley in 1 tablespoon of margarine. Add broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender. While simmering, in a different pan, melt reamaining margarine, add flour and cook until bubbly. Gradually milk and stir until thickened. Add to soup. Add cheese, salt and pepper and stir over low heat until cheese melt
My family loves this soup and it is good reheated.
Cee Jay