Comfort Food

A "comfort food" is a food that brings about a sentimental feeling to the person eating it. The food is rich and flavorful. It's generally soft and easy to digest as well as make. It can be a family tradition or a regional treat. Recipes can be handed down through generations. Comfort food is family food. I generally think of comfort food as warm and gooey like homemade macaroni and cheese or shepherd's pie, but comfort food can also be ice cream. How many of us girls have consoled ourselves with a vat of ice cream, 2 spoons and a friend?

Comfort foods can be seen differently by different people. Studies on college students have placed them into 4 comfort food groups: nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods and physical comfort foods. Men tend to see comfort foods in meals such as steak, casseroles and soups. Women look at comfort foods more as snackables like chocolate and ice cream.

Comfort foods also have a dark side. Originally coined by Webster in 1977 as "food that is satisfying because it is prepared in a simple or traditional way and reminds you of home, family or friends", comfort foods can be consumed to heighten positive emotions or to quell the negative. Comfort foods, whether they be from the home hearth or 7-11 down the street, can be consumed to relieve stress and this may be a key factor contributing to the obesity rate in the U.S. Oddly enough, comfort food triggers positive emotions in men whereas in women emotions were negative. There is a correlation between comfort food and guilt feelings.

Comfort foods have been around for a long time. What started as family bonding meals have slowly contorted into individual emotional refuge. Processed foods have made comfort foods unhealthy and fattening. What's a good goal for the winter of 2014? Grab that crock pot and slow cook some old fashion comfort food. It's easy. It's cheap. It's good for you!

What's your favorite comfort food and why?

Winter Cuisine

When the weather outside is frightening, the food inside better be warm and satisfying! Winter fare is traditionally hot and sustaining to pack in calories and fat to keep us warm through the lean months. Left to simmer on a low heat throughout the day, chilis and stews are available after shoveling snow or stacking fire wood. Many of the winter comfort foods are made with less expensive cuts of meat that can not only withstand the all day cooking, but gets better with time and cold weather root vegetables that weather nicely in the winter. In the next couple weeks I'll be examining some winter cuisines and finding out what makes them HOT!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!! I'm hoping this is going to be a terrific year and I'm also hoping to post more!! For Christmas I got a set of 3 cast iron skillets and a dutch oven so I get to see what kind of recipes I can find to utilize those wonderful gifts. Keep visiting and get in that kitchen!!

Too cute!!

How adorable is this!!! Perfect for the holidays!

America The Beautiful

Fun! Fun! Fun! Great for Independence Day!! 🎉🎉

Ice Cream Truck of MY Dreams!!

Why can't they have that kind of "ice cream" truck cruz the hood!! Yum!!

Cupcake Fever!!

First, I love cupcakes. They're cute, people are doing cool things with them and they remind me of my daughter. She's a TOTAL cupcake lover!! I especially love this pic because of her use of mason jars. She is only using the rings and they're all filled up with pretty decor. I'm guessing she can just put on the lids and store when she's done. This is a GREAT idea for holiday cookies!!

BBQ Sauce

I'll have to do a post on barbarque sauces. They really are truly interesting since every U.S. region has it's own flavor. It's like Italians and spaghetti sauce. Here in Maryland, we're seafood people so everyone has their preference of how to cook seafood, especially crabs. 

Ice Cream Mixers

Alright, some of these sound rather gross, but ya can't judge until you've tasted them. When I was in Catholic school, there was a priest who every year gave up peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I thought he was only joking, but I had to try it. Believe it or not it was pretty good! The grossest combos may turn out to be your favorite!

Firework Cookies Explode!

This is so very cool! Make sugar cookies as usual and when they are still warm from the oven, cut a whole in the center of every third one. Take one whole cookie and use as the base. Ice the top and bottom of the "hole" cookie and set it on the base. Fill up the hole with candies and candy decorations. Put another whole cookie on top. Ice and decorate!

Sushi!

I DID IT!!!!! I love sushi and it was a personal goal to learn how to roll these things. It's not easy, but once you get the hang of it then it's doable. I've tried using the saran wrap on the bamboo mat and it doesn't work for me so I take it off. A good tip for folks trying this...the knife you are cutting them with has to be super sharp!

Cherries!!!

It's cherry season!! Short but oh so sweet cherry season!! Cherries are fantastic for you and they are a part of the whole "eat the rainbow" campaign. 

Cherries have been linked to help with cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammation and Alzheimer's Disease. Folks suffering with gout are encouraged to eat cherries. Cherries are full of vitamin C, anthocyanin antioxidants and melotonin and are great for insomnia and jet lag. They also taste great and fun outside food when you can spit pits at people.

Did you know that cherries were brought over here to America by ship in the 1600's? A bit later after that some French colonists brought over some pits (they probably ate them on their way over) and planted them along the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes. During the 1800's more and more people were growing cherry trees. In 1852, a Presbyterian minister, Peter Dougherty, started planting cherry trees on Old Mission Peninsula which is near Traverse City, Michigan (the cherry capital of the world!). The trees really took off! Earlier in 1847, Henderson Lewelling was planting his cherry trees and in Western Oregon and named a variety after one of his Chinese workers, Bing. 

Cherries do have a short growing period and it's for only a couple weeks that you can find them at decent prices in the local stores. I generally gorge myself since it will be over before it seems to have begun. Generally, cherries are one of those few fruits that consistently look good in my grocery store which always seems to have questionable produce. What you want to look for though is nice, plump cherries. No wrinkly skin. They should be firm to the touch and have fresh green stems. I can never seem to find ones with "fresh green stems" so I look for healthy, bendy stems. It's probably not too good to bend a stem and have it snap. 

Cherries can be used for a lot of great recipes from cherry pie to brandied cherries to cherries jubilee. I prefer to eat them on their own especially on the beach where I can spit the pits out preferably at my kids. One cherry side note, George Washington didn't really cut down a cherry tree that anyone really knows. Parson Mason Weems, the dude who wrote a biography on George Washington shortly after his death, kinda made that up. Not much is really known about George's childhood so Weems made a few stories up that attested to some really admirable qualities our great leader possessed. I'm kinda fond of the story myself.

Traverse City, Michigan is the "cherry capital of the world". Of course with a title like that you HAVE to have a cherry festival! You know they do!

Check out their website for their annual Cherry Festival that runs from July 5 through July 12 2014.

Asparagus

With springtime comes asparagus! The stinky pee veggie! Asparagus was once classified with onions and garlic, but has since moved to the Asparagaceae family. Asparagus is native to western Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. This odd looking veggie can grow to 39-59 inches tall and produces a small red berry that's poisonous to humans. Asparagus has been cultivated for not only eating, but medicinal properties that include a diurectic. The Greeks and Romans ate it fresh and dried it for the winter. An ancient Greek physician mentioned asparagus as a "beneficial herb" in the 2nd century A.D. After the Roman Empire fell and the world was enjoying medieval times, asparagus lost it's luster. Asparagus doesn't come on the scene again until 1538 in England, 1542 in Germany and 1850 in the United States.

Only the young, tender shoots are eaten. As the plants age, they become thick and woody. If you get a few of these, you can trim off the woody part. Asparagus is a good source of vitamin B6 and dietary fiber. It's also a good source of calcium, magnesium, zinc, protein, vitamins A, C, E and K, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, selenium, chromium and the amino acid asparagine. 

Asparagus can be served many ways and generally as an appetizer or side dish. It can be stir fried, wrapped in bacon, grilled and used in soups an stews. It can be pickled and eaten raw. White asparagus is popular in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Poland, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland and must be peeled before eaten. Both varieties have relatively short growing season so snatch them up when you can!