As I sit in the comfort of my warm house, I see winter in full force outside of my window. A weekend blizzard has moved in, bringing inches and most likely even feet of snow with it. Although as I watch the snow gently fall, I believe the weather forecasters were a little over zealous. That said, when you are planning for a long winter weekend indoors you can't help but think about the food you are going too cook, as long as the power stays on. Everyone around me was stocking up, the grocery stores were empty of food as if people were going to have to live a month indoors without leaving the house. Now that you have all the food, what are you going to cook. Warm and comforting dishes are the obvious choices. This isn't a time to worry about healthy eating and exercise. Embrace being snowed in, cook your favorite comfort food and enjoy. I've rounded up some of my favorite winter, comfort recipes below. If you forget to get a specific ingredient for a recipe, it's time to make something up. That can always be fun too!
Chicken and Dumplings It's hard not to start with a classic like chicken and dumplings. You let the chicken and vegetable stew on a low temperature until all of the flavors come together and the wonderful smells fill your home. Then you drop in the dumplings and let them boil for about 20 minutes. Moist dumplings and flavor filled broth will warm your soul. Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Coconut Casserole Yes this dish has vegetables in it, but there isn't much about it that would be considered healthy. Butter, coconut, brown sugar and pecans make this sweet side dish a delight. Sure the ingredients may seem healthy on the outside, but once you take a bite you feel all of the indulgences that this dish brings with it. Turkey and Smoked Gouda Pie Kind of a cross between a pot pie and Shepard's pie, the only vegetables this dish is going to provide you is mushrooms. A rich tomato based gravy, smokey Gouda and a butter pie crust complete this comfort dish. You can make cute individual servings or one large one. The ground turkey makes this dish very affordable as well.
Beef Stroganoff Moving on to another classic that you let slowly come together, beef stroganoff. You can also choose to make this in a crockpot instead. That way you can use a cheaper cut of beef and let it slowly cook until tender. Then load it up with sour cream and serve on top of noodles. You will forget about all the snow.
Sweet Mac n Cheese Then of course there is the ultimate comfort food, Mac n Cheese. Everyone has their own recipe on how to make this classic dish. I like this one because it adds a hint of sweetness with evaporated milk. As if you need another reason to be addicted to this heavenly meal.