The Silver Screen Oasis

Since many of us seem to be housebound (or wish we were), I was wondering if any of you have a special food that brings a little comfort to your days and nights?

When the weather turns cold and snowy, I pull out the pots and pans, dust them off, , and make a batch of chili, or navy beans and ham, and cornbread muffins. When the kids were little, we made a lot of chocolate chip cookies,and it always seemed more dough got eaten raw than baked.

This Christmas, my eldest son introduced me to "Armadillo Eggs" ZOWIE are they good!

What about you?

Nancy, I just love food and it all brings comfort to me . I guess my biggest comfort is a bowl of porridge made with milk in the morning and homemade soups, anything to warm me up.

Oh wow, comfort foods.. you are speaking my language.. ha.

Earlier this week I made Beef Stew and biscuits. And I've also made some homemade potato soup.. YUM. Tonight... chicken and noodle casserole. EXTRA creamy and plenty of noodles. I may have to make some sort of PIE to go w/ it for dessert. ha. (You can't have TOO much comfort w/ all the SNOW and WINDCHILLS we've been getting lately.)

What?? You say extra "comfort = extra pounds???? Picture me w/ my fingers in my ears and my eyes squeezed shut tight singing lalalalalala at the bathroom scales.. HA!

Kidney beans, cooked way too long, half a day, re-heated many times. With spicy relish, chopped onions and grated cheddar on them. Dark red beans, bright green & yellow relish, purple onion flecks, and shredded cheddar. Colorful. This was always "a cold day's comfort" to me as I grew up. When I was about 20, I'd returned from overseas and asked Mum to make some, and she said, "We're not that poor anymore... have something better."

Poor? Huh? It was comfort food to me! She marketed it as such! She didn't tell me "We're too poor for meat for a few days..." She marketed it as comfort food. Dad realized it was the rural American poor man's meal, but I never did.

To me, it remains comfort food. Wifey has shed whatever limey-roots I might heap on her London soul and enjoyed the benefits of making relishes herself, usually with some kind of pepper that makes me LONG for cold cold temperatures - especially in my mouth, down my throat...

I don't cook at all, but one of my favorite comfort foods is macaroni and cheese. A neighborhood diner serves it every Friday.

I am more partial to sweets than I should be, so a couple of my comforts are cheesecake and carrot cake. And chocolate pudding!

oh, boy, Mac and cheese.....AND chocolate pudding.....I think I just gained a pound or 3 but that's just more insulation against the cold, right??? right????

Ollie, that sounds like meatless chili to me. There's a famous chili place in KC called Dixon's Chili, President Truman was a frequent customer. They serve chili with or without meat, with "soup" (juice) or not, and you have to BUY **ketchup, onions and cheese. Tabasco and water are free. Wish I was over there right now!

**Ketchup was banned for years, my brother used to sneak a bottle in when he went there. The owners (children of original owner) finally relented, but you have to buy it in little paper cups.

I also made potato soup (Cheesy) and chicken and noodles. Also, when it's cold out, I crave lots of fruits and vegetables and jalapenos. And when I feel lonely, I always eat ice cream, no matter the weather. I'm out right now and was talking to my sister and all her kids were eating ice cream; 3 different flavors to choose from and I was so jealous.
B

I still cling to the foods of my childhood when housebound, which is I suppose what comfort food is all about, isn't it? For me it would be tuna salad sandwiches on toast and a cup of soup, preferably Lipton Chicken noodle.

I do like to bake when the apartment is cold, so I'd probably make either sugar cookies, spice cake or chocolate cupcakes. The week before last I bought an old cookbook ("The Women's American Cookbook") at a second-hand bookstore, and the recipes are fabulous. Best chocolate cupcakes I ever made.

How about a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of Campbell's Tomato soup for chasing away the cold?

knitwit45 wrote:How about a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of Campbell's Tomato soup for chasing away the cold?

That would work. And for supper we can have the A&P bologna on white with a smear of B&G mustard relish, some carrot sticks on the side, and a cup of hot milk and Bosco (or Nestle's Quick, or even Ovaltine). Oreos for desserts of course. Where are my feetie pyjamas?

I love to bake, I much prefer the cake mix to the baked cakes, I always leave a few spoonfuls in the bowl to finish off. I bake quite a lot for the school cake sale, better for my waistline.

I make all the meals from scratch. Soups, casseroles, bolognese, shepherds pie, bread, quiches, curries, stir fries, chilli. Before I had kids I couldn't cook anything at all, I just made a big effort to gain some culinary skills. Most things taste better home made.

I'd be interested in your recipe for vegetarian chilli, Ollie, I'm not over keen on meat.

Alison, what would traditional British comfort food be?

Custard and apple crumble, treacle sponge and custard, jam sponge and custard, rice puddings. There's a theme puddings.
For savoury, stews with plenty of roast potatoes and vegetables, corned beef hash, shepherds pie, cheese on toast, in fact anything stodgy and filling.

They are the traditional ones but as usual I'm not your traditional type, I don't like hot drinks, so no tea, coffee and hot chocolate which would be drunk in large quantities. My comfort food is porridge with plenty milk, some brown sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg over the top and home made soups. I made roasted pepper, red onion and tomato soup the other day, at weekend I made stilton and watercress soup, very little stilton. I always make loads of soup and eat it for days.

what time is dinner????? It all sounds wonderful.

I just had a panic attack.....I'm out of CHOCOLATE......gasp, where are the car keys???

The ultimate comfort food for me will always be chocolate.