I love books almost as much as I love food, so of course I immediately said yes last March when I was offered an advance copy of a new book called Comfort Food, "about a celebrity chef about to turn 50." The timing was interesting, too, since I'll be turning 40 (!!) next month and had just been contacted by a production company about developing a show for Food Network.*When my copy arrived, I was surprised to discover that Comfort Food is actually a novel, and not a memoir as I had for some reason thought. I was hooked from the first paragraph — which mentions five kinds of birthday cake — and stayed up way past my bedtime that night reading. This is the kind of book you want to both devour and savor, and after I finished the last page I was tempted to turn right back to the beginning and start all over so I could keep hanging out with the characters. When I saw the unabridged audio version at the library the other day (I'm addicted to audio books!) I immediately snapped it up - and was doubly delighted to discover that it's read by Barbara Rosenblat, one of my favorite recording artists. The book is just as delicious the second time around.
Kate Jacobs' first novel was the runaway bestseller The Friday Night Knitting Club, which I'm looking forward to reading. (Have you read it?) Kate says that Comfort Food is about "food, family, friendships, and overcoming frustrations," and that's all I'm going to tell you except that the book made me laugh, cry — and hungry. If you get annoyed when the characters in novels continually go out to eat but the author never lets you know what they order (or they never seem to eat at all!) then you're going to love this book. It revolves entirely around food. The characters don't just go to the farmers' market — they discuss what they could do with all the fresh bounty while they're there. Gus, the main character, "loved to talk about food. Late at night, if she couldn't sleep, she would read cookbooks out loud to herself until she relaxed."
Ready for more than a taste? I have two hardcover copies of Comfort Food to give away, and each of them comes with a special bonus - a handy dandy canvas totebag emblazoned with the gorgeous book cover art. It's the perfect size for packing your groceries, goodies from the farmers' market, or practically anything else. I use mine constantly.
Just leave a comment in this post between now and next Thursday, July 3rd, and tell us about your favorite comfort foods. I'll randomly pick two winners and announce them a day or two (or three or four) after that. Sorry, but the books can only be shipped to U.S. addresses.
I can't wait to see your comments. And if you're like me and love to read about what other people eat, check out my Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant book review post from last year, where dozens of readers revealed what they secretly eat when they're all alone in the kitchen. If you haven't contributed yet, please feel free to add to the wonderful list.
* I've decided this isn't something I'm going to pursue now, but I sure was thrilled to be asked!
© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where we never get tired of reading or eating - and prefer to do them simultaneously.
My favorite comfort food is meatloaf, with potatoes and carrots that were cooked around the meatloaf. Umm soo good I think I'll make some for dinner!
ReplyDeleteMac & Cheese, hands down. I mean, it's pasta with oodles of cheese all over, around and in it. What's better than that? Nothing, that's what.
ReplyDeleteHi - I did read Friday Night Knitting Club and it had all the same great character development and details on the subject matter. It was awesome! I now am thinking about starting to knit! =) Sounds like Kate Jacobs has nailed it again.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is probably chicken soup with big fat noodles (Or mac-n-cheese or pad thai...there is something cozy about noodles)
I wish you WOULD do a show! I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is turkey with stuffing and the whole nine yards if I'm feeling down, or, if I'm feeling sick, chinese hot and sour soup.
My favorite comfort food is tapioca pudding. Home-made, warm from the stove would be perfect, but these days I'll settle for the tubs from the dairy section.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is get this... Korean chinese-style noodles called Jjajang Myun with my mom's kimchi. I've traveled the world trying this dish at different Korean and Korean-chinese establishments. My mom just makes it the best, and I've heard it from others too!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am one of those girls that can never make up her mind. The same can be said about comfort food. There is always mashed potatoes, homemade vegetable soup, and fried chicken. However, my sister-in-law is the best cook in Tennessee. She makes the best fresh cut corn, fresh blackeyed peas, and cornbread. This reminds me of home, and love. She always cooks them for me when I visit.
ReplyDeleteMy most favorite comfort food revolves around breakfast because of the way my house smells after cooking. As I was growing up we would visit my grandparents who lived on a farm so they always had fresh eggs and home cured bacon. Breakfast was always fried bacon, fried eggs that were cooked in the bacon grease, toast and coffee boiled on the stove. Every time I make bacon and eggs at home, that aroma takes me back to a time to being a kid of no worries. Even my clothing would become enveloped in the smell of my grandparents house.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great memory that aroma will trigger.
My favorite comfort food? What a challenge to identify just one! Okay, okay...at this moment I'm going to say that it's a four-and-a-half-minute soft boiled egg, with the little bread soldiers and lots of butter.
ReplyDeleteTap, tap, tap goes the spoon, shattering the egg shell. Off comes the top half inch of the egg, a little pocket of tender egg white my first bite, and a promising hint of deep golden yellow in the rest of the shell. A pat of butter goes into the molten yolk, followed by a pinch of salt. It melts unctuously. The first bread soldier dips in, gently spilling the yolk. Ahhh! What could be more perfect than the bliss of a soft boiled egg? It all gets eaten and savored, until my spoon scrapes the inside of the shell, retrieving every morsel.
Bonus points if the soldiers are made from light rye, or a multigrain bread with garlic rubbed over the toast before buttering.
Good thing I've already eaten dinner.
Chocolate chip cookies - preferably warm from the oven! :)
ReplyDeletehmmmm.lets see. Honestly I think my favorite comfort foodis home made mac and cheese. I haven't had mine in a while due to my new baby having allergies to soy,so I can't eatany soy at all. My mac and cheese recipe is dairy free so full of soy *sigh*. Someday I'll have it again!LOL
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say my favorite comfort food is new potatoes and peas with a white sauce. It's an old recipe my mom got from her Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (which I have an updated copy of myself). Enjoying this dish was not just a mealtime event. Mom made sure we got to experience the food we ate, from planting, dragging the hose out to water, weeding and finally harvesting from the garden, we knew what was involved in bringing the food to the table. Not only that, but occasionally we had to run to the barn to skim some milk from the bulk tank for the cream sauce.
ReplyDeleteI often had to remind myself to not eat all the peas while I was shucking them because they tasted so good at dinner. We had lots of meals from the garden and I can't wait to recreate this dish from my own garden someday.
My all-time favorite comfort food would have to be chocolaty-fudgy brownies hot from the oven! Thank you for the chance to win!
ReplyDelete(p.s. you might want to check your post for your drawing date - it says May 16th).
You are amazing! Food Network? Wow. That is a great honor and I'm so happy for you - even if it isn't something you are going to do just yet.
ReplyDeleteRight now my comfort food is all types of Hummus. I'm in love with it.
I love lentil soup with some greek yogurt :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite comfort foods is a casserole made up. Hashbrowns, chicken, cream of chicken soup, whatever spices and herbs are on hand, then covered with cheese. Creamy and cheesy. What is better than that?
ReplyDeleteMy very favorite comfort food is a big dish of pasta shells tossed with broccoli, olive oil and butter, and lots of garlic and Parmesan cheese. And no one else likes it (except one of the cats), so I get it all! Not that I'm greedy or anything . . .
ReplyDeleteIn the tenth grade my girl friend taught me how to make a perfect egg salad sandwich: two tender hard-boiled eggs, cooled and cracked underwater, peeled and chopped at room temperature and mixed with the best mayonnaise and a little salt. Sliced fresh bread. Nothing more. For extra therapy, add a glass of chocolate milk. After more than fifty years, I wonder if Nancy also still makes these egg salad sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is my great grandmother's corned beef and cabbage. Deliciously tender and salty meat plus almost mushy carrots, potatoes, cabbage, and turnips. But the best part is my grandmother's homemade spicy mustard, which gets spread on every piece of corned beef and vegetable. She has made this dinner for my birthday every year since I was little, and nobody makes it like her! :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food -- hmmm, definately something baked. Either a thick, cheesy pasta dish or my monster cookies (which are quite similar to your recipe). Monster cookies have the added benefit of dough sampling while baking. In either case, there are delicious baking aromas to tide me over until the prize comes from the oven.
ReplyDeleteChicken Pot Pie! from scratch of course, so so good
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food at the moment is Peanut Butter Oreos, to hot to bake.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link about them http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/2005/07/07/
oreo-peanut-butter-creme/. I happen to be the Janet that suggested he do a review on them. Cool huh?
It would be hard to narrow it down to just one. The cooking of the comfort food is as comforting as the eating. But I'm going to go with oatmeal raisin cookies.
ReplyDeleteThat books sounds great!
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, my favorite comfort food is my grandmother's apple pie. Best with vanilla bean ice cream, of course...
A few come to mind depending on thetime of year.......basamati rice all the time, warm garden fresh tomatoes sliced in a sandwich,home mad pasta fagioli soup..........Fresh corn with lemon and chili(reminds me of my dad)......and my all time favorite growing up was...TaDah...Big Hunk candy bars. Fun to remember!!
ReplyDeleteIce cream! What can I say... it's my favorite food group!
ReplyDeleteOne of my comfort foods, which I never make for myself but which conjures up all the love I felt from my mother and maternal grandmother, is homemade custard. Any of its commercial forms will do at a restaurant - creme brulee, flan, etc. I do make my own chocolate pudding from scratch, and eat it warm for comfort sometimes....
ReplyDeleteMashed potatoes - home made ONLY!
ReplyDeleteA show on Food Network?! How cool, I wish you were going to do it. I watch Food Network all the time. What type of show were they interested in?
ReplyDeleteAs for comfort food, it is either cereal or ramen noodles. What can I say, I'm easy!
oh, most definitely the chinese egg custard, dan tat. it just makes me go back to a place where i just don't want to leave.
ReplyDeleteGround beef hash. A meal that I never liked and now can't get enough of. Potatoes cut into small pieces and pan fried with butter and onions. Add the ground beef with some garlic, salt, pepper and Lowry's seasoning. Even better with a fried egg from my hens on top.
ReplyDeleteButtered egg noodles!
ReplyDeleteLeather britches (heirloom shucky beans) cooked with onions and potatoes and served with corn bread. Mmmmm
ReplyDeleteHow about a bit of toad in the hole(sausages baked in yorkshire pudding) followed by some apple crumble. Mmmm.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is roast chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables. Kind of strange, I know. Oh, and chocolate cake, of course!
ReplyDeleteBy far, my favorite comfort food has to be hot Cream of Wheat with butter and honey swirled in. It reminds me of cold winter mornings as a kid and my mother.
ReplyDeleteStacie
Stuffing and mashed potatoes. I can do Thanksgiving without the turkey as long as there's plenty of stuffing!
ReplyDeleteRavioli or lasagna - but rewally, any kind of baked pasta with a really good tomato sauce and loads of cheese is comfort food for me. Find a way to add in some shrimp, and I've died and gone to heaven.
ReplyDeleteAs 70'sish as it is, my mom's tuna casserole. Oh and her meatloaf, no one makes it as good as hers! Ah, but pork chops in sauerkraut and tomato stew with mashed potatoes is also great. I could go on and on!
ReplyDeleteAs for Friday Night Knitting Club, read it even if you don't knit it sounds a lot like this book you described. You don't need to knit to love it but it sure helps :-)
Oooh. Mac and Cheese. Farm fresh blueberries. Homemade lasagna with homemade noodle. My apple sauce from the freezer in February when I'm sick. Oh boy. Now I'm hungry....
ReplyDeleteFrozen fruit salad. But not any frozen fruit will do. It has to be from my grandmother's basement freezer, which is filled with pints and quarts of peaches, sour cherries, strawberries, and blueberries that she picks and preserves in Southern Michigan.
ReplyDeleteyummmmm...comfort food! I think the ultimate is homemade chicken and dumplings. They way we make them is a little time consuming but worth it.
ReplyDelete(I use all organic ingredients)Fill a stock pot with chicken broth. Simmer chicken breasts in broth for 2-3 hours. Take out chicken and shred. Put chicken back in and add corn and peas, a dash of garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Make up a batch of scratch homemade buttermilk biscuts. (or cheat and use them from a can. I always go homemade) Bring chicken mixture to a rolling boil. Drop in spoonfuls of biscut batter. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are cooked through. Dish up big bowls of this stick to your ribs comfort food and top with cheese.
When I lived in Laramie I cooked this meal 3 times a week for 6-10 WyoTech boys. I started with one student at my doorstep and then the word spread about home cookin' Before I knew it I had table full of students. I never once asked for help with the grocery tab. But every week there would be some bit of ingrediants dropped off at my doorstep.
I was glad to be able to help ease the homesickness of a few students. Everyone of them said the meal reminded them of home.
mashed potatoes, gravy, french green beans, and some meatballs in a bowl mixed together.
ReplyDeleteOr ice cream with a cup of coffee!
I love my homemade Roast that is my comfort food!
ReplyDeletecpullum@yahoo.com
On cold, dark mornings growing up, my wonderful mother often made me a bowl of cream of wheat to face the day. Mom used to get out the Hershey's strawberry syrup and squirt beautiful designs into the perfectly piping hot cereal; my favorites were the butterfly and the daisy. She also used to serve me and my sisters nachos off a plastic plate promoting Disney's The Little Mermaid while we took a bath. So... yeah, my comfort food of choice is either cream of wheat with Hershey's strawberry syrup or nachos. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food would have to be fresh French bread from my oven. With just about anything on it from cream cheese to strawberry jelly, or even better just plain!
ReplyDeleteWhen it's winter, you cannot beat a hearty bowl of soup. During summer - anything with wild berries (forageing for berries in the forest/on the meadows is very comforting itself).
ReplyDeleteAnd chocolate, of course, all year round :)
This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, simply because there are so many answers!
ReplyDeleteRoasted chicken, soondobu (Korean spicy tofu stew), pho, mac and cheese, broccoli cheddar soup, hash browns, and honestly, any kind of baked pasta.. I love comfort foods!
Oh comfort food! I love all kinds of comfort food. But my favorite has to be a simple pot roast with yummy carrots and mushrooms and mashed potatoes!
ReplyDeletePotatoes. In any shape or form. Mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fried hash browns, oven-roasted red potatoes with fresh herbs, twice baked potatoes (my favorite), french fried potatoes, potato chips and of course every single member of my family requests my Grandmother's potato salad at every family get together. Only my cousin has come close to mastering it.
ReplyDeletecrispy fried chicken livers, with a side of homemade mac and cheese topped with canned tomatoes. doesn't get much better than that for me!
ReplyDeleteFave comfort food? Easy.
ReplyDeleteMac & cheese is good. But baked mac & cheese, with ham cubes, ricotta, parm and bread crumbs on the top.
There's a big difference between 8-minute mac & cheese and 45-minute mac & cheese. And it is totally worth those extra 37 minutes.
Farmgirl doing a show? That would be terrific! I'm not sure where you'd find the time.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food has to be mashed potatoes & gravy served with good ol' fried chicken. But since I'm trying to eat healthier these days, they're both something I haven't had in ages.
Thanks for the chance to win. Reading is my favorite thing when I have spare time.
Linda
My favorite comfort food is chili and cornbread.
ReplyDeleteI'm another mac & cheese comfort-food foodie. Mmmm. When I want to feel like a little kid again, I love the Kraft boxes (oh no!) which I have to mix up to the special method used by my brother and I when we were kids. The rest of the time, I love a super-cheesy homemade sauce that includes some sharp cheese and plenty of fresh herbs. :D
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food always reminds me of having dinner with my family while we were growing up. I LOVE tuna & noodles on a pile of homemade lumpy mashed potatoes. My mom always tried to sneak peas in to the tuna and noodles and I would always find everyone and pick them out.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I can't tell you about my favorite comfort food because I don't have a US address: I live in Puerto Rico. Of course, USPS delivers here, and it costs no more that shipping to Boston, but heck, it's not US.
ReplyDeleteOK, it's spaghetti and meatballs.
talk about a loaded question! i guess it depends on what sort of comfort i need.
ReplyDeletebreak-up comfort = a hearty helping (or three) of apple pie and vanilla ice cream
loss-of-loved-one comfort = mashed potatoes with plenty of butter
bad-day comfort = giant, bean-filled burrito or bowlful of hummus with fresh pita bread
fortunately for me, lots of foods give me comfort. yes, it would seem i'm comfortable most of the time. :)
Good Morning!!
ReplyDeleteI recently moved to eleven acre soon to be farm. My husband and I bought this land three years ago with dreams of a small farm. It has been adjustment. I do feel lonely at times and find comfort in baking. I LOVE SOUP,BREADS AND APPLE PIE. I also find comfort in making a recipe for jewish apple cake my precious grandmother left me. When I bake it I can almost feel my grandmother.
Thank you for your blog that brings me so much joy,laughter and comfort to my life. I check it almost everyday. SO funny I am almost done reading Friday Night Knitting Club.
Love Tracey Stavros
(Trace4J@aol.com)
P.s I have 13 guinea hens and 3 chickens. I am yearning for sheep and so enjoy your stories and pictures!!
When I want comfort food, nothing can beat macaroni and cheese--the more cheese the better.
ReplyDeleteIt's my first time to post, but I've been reading for quite a while. I always enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work!
Cake, hands down, would be my comfort food. With buttercream frosting. But it has to be homemade cake and frosting, nothing from a can. There's a really good cake book called 'The Cake Doctor' that uses a box mix and other additions to make scrumptious cakes. I don't usually have cake in my house because I'll sneak away to eat it when the kids aren't looking. Hard to set a good example of healthy eating when you've got frosting smeared around your mouth!
ReplyDeleteHomemade clam chowder with freshly baked bread smothered in REAL butter.
ReplyDeleteFirst I want to say - thank you Susan for NOT doing the food network thing - I'd actually have something I regretted about not having cable or satelliet tv if you were ON television!
ReplyDeleteComfort food - well since food is often my comfort it is hard to narrow my list or my hips.
Tex-Mex lover that I am - have to say - stacked up enchiladas - either shredded chicken or ground meat, chopped onions, shredded cheese plenty of green sauce - heated just until the cheese begins to bubble and eaten with saltine crackers - yeah baby- now that's comfort! For almost instant comfort - Blue Belle ice cream almost any flavor.
I love me a meatloaf with garlicky mashed potatoes and a baked mac and cheese. Yum. And I too would love to see you on the Food Network!
ReplyDeleteBacon egg and cheese sandwich is a definite comfort food, but then again there is mashed potatoes and gravy!
ReplyDeleteRebecca in GA
Oh, this question is easy! Cheddar and potato pierogies topped with caramelized onions and lots of sour cream. Mmmm, edible bliss.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest comfort food is one of the simplest things I know how to make - melted cheese in a tortilla. I'm sure it stems from my mom making them for me as an afternoon snack - but to this day, even with an upset stomach - that's all that sounds good when I'm really down and out!
ReplyDeleteClose runner up are the ginger molasses cookies that the farm I used to work at makes. SO good with a glass of cold milk on a HOT summer day!
This is my first post...although I enjoy every little part of your blog.
ReplyDeleteHey, I just turned 60 last week and fully embrace the idea of 60 being the "new" 40. My comfort food is soup....I have a bunch of recipes and it just depends on how comforted I need to be. Thank you bunches. Blessings, Lee
OK, the usual... mashed potatoes (swirl in some peas); chicken soup with homemade broth; mac and cheese. But the other evening, I toasted an English muffin, put some lightly salted butter on top, followed with peanut butter and poured some honey on top of it all. It just hit the spot!
ReplyDeleteAlice
My favorite comfort foods are a simple pot roast, potatoes, onions, and carrots. Thank you so much for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI am with Rachel....turkey and all the trimmings.Funny I was looking at this book in the store last night and added it to my wish list!
ReplyDeleteSounds wonderful for a summer read!
Comfort food for me is pumpkin pie. Pie of any kind, really--our family is so fond of pies that they often stand in for cakes at birthdays, so I always associate them with good memories. :)
ReplyDeleteComfort food-chocolate. Need I say more? I am currently reading and enjoying The Friday Night Knitting Club. I am glad to see she has written another book. I look forward to reading it also. Wow food network-that's exciting. Life is good isn't it? Please do a gardening segment with your show. Just small tidbits on growing vegetables, fresh herbs, etc. to use in your cooking.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought you should do a food show...as long as they shoot it on the farm, and we get to see little glimpses of all of the things we've come to love by immersing ourselves in your daily blog, which is really more like a daily novella, complete with rich characters, drama as compelling as any james heriot tale, and compassion enough to feed every soul in the world.
ReplyDeleteEveryday, I anticipate the next chapter from farmgirl, as much as i anticipated the comfort of my lebanese grandmother's kibbeh--every sunday after church--as a girl in indiana. Our family car would pull into her driveway, and the sweet smell of allspice would alight on the air as it escaped the breezeway right outside her kitchen. Though the taste of what my young, non-lebanese friends would later liken to "lebanese white castle" (GASP) is something so exotic and familiar, i can barely describe it, i've often wondered if it was the delicate balance of bulghar, onion, lamb and allspice that comforted me everytime i stuffed a handful into my pita, and ultimately into my mouth...or if it was the rhythmic and reliable sound of my grandmother's gold bangle bracelets, clanking against one another as she carefully mixed the ingredients in her gigantic prep bowl--dipping her hand into the small icewater bowl beside it, sprinkling a bit on the mixture to keep it from sticking, and help draw out extra fat, then kneading the mound until magically, every ingredient was perfectly balanced, perfectly seasoned, and lovingly baked or fried as my large, and loud family filled the kitchen, breezeway and dining room to share sunday lunch.
Here's to my grandmother amelia, and the pure rapture of simpler times.
My very favorite comfort food is a warm buttery biscuit with cold butter and grape jelly. It just melts in your mouth!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the Friday Night Knitting Club right now, and it is a wonderful book. I even picked up my knitting again. I'm looking forward to reading her newest book...maybe with a plate of hot biscuits!
Spaghetti Bolognese. Mom would make it every Sunday, and we would sit in the living room with our TV trays watching the Walt Disney movie.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe chopped apples and bananas mixed with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
I'd definitely have to go with chicken and dumplings. So good on a cold winter day, or any day... whenever.
ReplyDeleteComfort foods...mmm...mashed potatoes with cream cheese, homemade soup, those carrots that you cook around a brisket, and a decent brownie...ahh...well, separately of course, they're kind of weird as a meal all together...hope I'm picked!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteThose puppies are adorable!
On a cold winter's day, nothing is more comforting than a big pot of chicken soup with rice and a loaf of home baked bread.
Jennifer
Well, first, congratulations on being approached by the Food Network! It would be really, really weird for me to turn on my t.v. and see Farmgirl Susan making a Swiss chard recipe or something, especially since you've never even posted a photo of yourself and I have no idea what you look like. Assuming I have the Food Network, which I don't.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is always potatoes. In any form, but mashed seems particularly comforting. And even if I don't win, I'm going to have to seek this book out. The food descriptions are why "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder was one of my favorite books as a kid. Now there was a family that ate well!
Comfort foods... Exceedingly garlic mashed potatoes loaded up with freshly shredded parmaesan, romano and asaigo cheeses. Oh, and leave the skins on. Either red skin or yellow skins. Bonus is that any not scarfed down can be used for potato bread!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, the go to comfort food when there isn't time to cook is cheddar cheese. ;)
Wow! What an awesome post - The Food Network? What an honor for you! and how cool is that!!!
ReplyDeleteJust reading the comments made me think, "Yeah! That could be a favorite comfort food for me, too!", but I think my hands-down favorite comfort food would have to be a slice (only one???) of freshly-baked, homemade bread. Is there anything on earth better than that?
Thanks for a delightful contest and a wonderful blog - it is so much fun!
Comfort = soup, for me... Specifically, a tomato and black bean soup, laced with fresh pasta (usually ravioli stuffed with cheese and spinach). It is soooo easy to make, and cuddling up with a great, big bowlful always makes me feel better.
ReplyDeleteCount me in for your contest! I would love another good book to read... I just finished "The Gin and Tonic Gardener", and wondered if you had ever read it??
xo CGF
Favorite comfort food are the following:
ReplyDeleteany type of fruit crisps/cobbler hot from the oven with a scoop of vanilla icecream, piping hot brunswick stew with crusty bread and butter.
I think my MOST favorite comfort food (have many) would have to be roast leg of lamb with homemade mint jelly. My mom was raised on a large sheep ranch in WY and lamb was a staple for me growing up. Now I am raising my own sheep on the very ranch where she lived. - Marcia in Wyoming
ReplyDeleteOkay, I thought I knew what my favorite comfort food was until I started reading all the other posts...and then I kept thinking, "oh, that sounds good".
ReplyDeleteBut I'll stick with my original favorite - scalloped potatoes and ham. Closely followed by a grilled cheese on sourdough bread. I'm hungry already and I just finished breakfast!
Oh my. Reading about everyone else's favorite comfort foods has me really indecisive! I thought I knew, but now I'm going back and forth.
ReplyDeleteA good home-cooked comfort food in my house now is mashed potatoes with kale and sausage mixed in (*drool*), but cream of wheat or oatmeal with milk and honey is also comforting. When I was slightly younger, the most comforting thing for me to eat was instant mashed potatoes mixed with Stovetop stuffing. Also, anything my mother used to make me when I was a kid is a comfort now (tuna noodle casserole, mashed potatoes and green beans, baked spaghetti).
When there's stress with no time to cook, there's always chocolate!
Roast chicken with "real" mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots. Makes me feel at one with the world.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book. My favorite comfort food is homemade chicken noodle soup. Or most anything that come's from my mom's or friend Patty's kitchens. :) I've enjoyed your beer bread recipe! Delicious and so easy!
ReplyDeleteTomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich always makes my day a little better. I also like grits (Southern girl here!) with lots of pepper and a dab of butter. Tuna salad is my go to comfort food in the summer and mashed potatoes are the most perfect food in the world.
ReplyDeleteHome made Navy bean soup with ham and fry bread. Yum.
ReplyDeleteOh, to pick just one. Well, some of my favorites have already been mentioned (macaroni and cheese, my mother-in-law's tapioca pudding, chocolate chip cookies), but I think my absolute favorite comfort food is my own homemade white bread, warm with butter and honey.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wonderful blog. I love to read your interesting recipes, and hear about life on the farm!
Mashed potatoes. Closely followed by (forgive me) boxed macaroni and cheese. With ketchup.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is tator tot hotdish.
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to make hamburger gravy when I was a kid - and that would be my favorite now if I could figure out how she made it. (She's forgotten too)
Absolutely no one can stand my favorite comfort food, but me! I layer fried Spam (yeah, yeah ... I know) then mashed potatoes and put VanCamps Pork & Beans (drained with ketchup added) on top. Oh BLISS!!!
ReplyDeleteAny stew will do. But when I was growing up my requested birthday dinner was always Ham and Scalloped potatoes. It was work for my mother to make for the 8 of us (peeling and slices enough potatoes and the onions) but with leftover ham from Christmas Dinner there was always plenty to go around. YUM!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food to prepare for my family is Mac and Cheese. My three year old and I embarked on a "Mac and Cheese tasting" the last two years, where I made every conceivable type of Mac and Cheese recipe I could find. My husband's favorite comfort food is meatloaf and mashed potatoes. As for myself, if someone else is cooking, it's hands down my dad's chicken soup with homemade egg noodles. If I've got to make it myself- well many a sorrow has been drowned in a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ( :
ReplyDeleteMy most favorite comfort food is my husband's homemade meatloaf. He makes it using a mixture of meats, and he also embeds hardboiled eggs and green olives stuffed with pimentos. It is love on a plate.
ReplyDeleteMashed potatoes and corn DRIPPING with butter...mmm....
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how the vast majority of comfort food seems to be Southern?
Fun to see so many different ideas of comfort food! My first choice would be my Italian grandmom's manicotti, but if I have to cook it myself, a grilled cheese sandwich with a pickle and a glass of milk.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'ld love to have a copy of that book. I am always telling people I prefer peasant food to fancy cooking. My two favorite comfort foods are 1) braised short-ribs over egg noodles, especially the day after you braise them and 2) Arroz con Pollo, the Cuban comfort food. It is so warm and filling and flavorful. I' have a great recipe if anyone wants it.
ReplyDeleteI know your plate is full, but do give that Food Network proposal some consideration--I'd watch!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort foods are anything with lots of carbohydrates: pasta, noodles, rice, or best of all, hot buttered popcorn!
I'd love to read this! My favorite comfort foods are all homemade. Cookies, in particular, and muffins. I plan to back rhubarb muffins soon!
ReplyDeleteI love Iowa summer comfort food, grilled steaks, sliced garden tomatoes, corn on the cob!
ReplyDeleteFor me, nothing beats Swanson chicken pot pies baked in the oven and turned out over rice when I'm looking for comfort food. It takes me back to winter evenings when I was a kid, pulled up to the round kitchen table, my mother working around the kitchen....quick, easy and surrounded by the comfort of memories!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite would be all of it. Can't go wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteIt's granola for me, although that's a food I'm more dependent on than an optional comfort food. I make my own and eat it EVERYday for breakfast and sometimes for a snack before bed.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite comfort foods is one my mom makes. It's called hamburger gravy, and it's kinda like S.O.S. meets sausage gravy. Here's a description my mom (who group up not far from you in Springfield, MO) sent me on how to make it:
ReplyDelete*****
Growing up on the fifties with a stay at home mom and little income for eating out or gourmet meals,
my mother who was a very good cook, would come up with some creative meals that, to the way of
thinking at that time, were healthy, nutritious and filling.
My brother's and my favorite meal was hamburger gravy over a heap of mashed potatoes.
Not too many kids don't love mashed potatoes and hamburger anything, although, my lovely
daughter didn't eat mashed potatoes until she was a teenager.
I had forgotten about hamburger gravy, probably because of growing health issues as I was getting
older. My mother was visiting us and happened to be making a meal just for the kids. She
prepared the family famous hamburger gravy ( known in some circles as S.O.S).
Of course, my two darling children loved it and it became high on the list of things for their mom
to make them.
Here is the recipe, if there is such a thing, or at least directions:
I lb. ground meat (the less lean, the better gravy)
Brown meet in skillet until cooked. While juice, or grease is still very hot, add enough flour to soak
up juice or grease (at lease 1/4-1/2 cup)
As soon as flour is absorbed and while temperature is still high, add milk, at least 1/2 cup. After
that is blended, reduce the temperature to simmer. As flour thickens, add more milk to desired thickness. you add too much milk, turn the heat up and it will thicken again. Add salt and especially
pepper to tasted.
Mashed Potatoes-prepare your favorite way, but allow at least 4 lbs for a pound of ground meat.
Best served with canned peas or corn, so that you can push them into the potato-gravy mixture and
not have to chase them on the plate.
Oh gosh Susan...three come to mind, first homemade mac and cheese, gooey cheese sauce topped with cracker crumbs and piping hot out of the oven...never fails to satisfy. But two others come to mind, a soft cooked egg on toast, something my mom made me when I was young and to this day comforts me and brings back happy childhood memories, and lastly, chocolate chip cookies warm out of the oven!
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteMy favourite food is a Norwegian cookie called "Gjende kjeks" (Gjende is the brand name and kjeks actually means biscuit - but it is so sweet, it's more like a cookie). This, and a glass of Champagnebrus (pop, also Norwegian, nothing to do with champagne except maybe the colour and the bubbles), can brighten any gloomy day when the world is cruel :-) I am actually Danish but my Mum is from Norway so it's easy to see where I get my taste in comfort food...
My favorite comfort foods reflect where I've lived and what I love:
ReplyDelete- pickled ginger (gari) is one of my all time favorite snacks, even if there isn't sushi involved. I grew up in SoCal and there's a heavy asian influence there.
- Mom's Guacamole is actually a recipe in my family cook book. It's quick, easy, and a perfect "I don't feel like cooking I just want to sit here and cry" food.
- The Chocolate Chip cookies only my husband can get right. His job takes him away a lot but when he's home he makes these perfect chocolate chip cookies. Despite years of trying (even following his recipe) I've never gotten them right. Having those cookies means he's home and we're a family again. Perfect comfort.
I would have to say my mom's chicken and dumplings, the town she comes from roll out their dumpling to almost paper thin. I love it. Also I would have to agree with the Homegrown summer Tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteComfort food is the best... make mine crispy fried chicken with homemade gravy and rice... that's all... no veggies. ;0)
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite comfort food is mashed potatoes with lots of gravy. I grew up with a Swedish mother and they never met a potato they didn't like. I love potatoes in any form but mashed is the most comforting when I am feeling down, sad, whatever...
ReplyDeleteWhat an AWESOME contest!!!!
ReplyDeleteFavorite comfort food. I have several!! LOL!!
Dressing (as in Turkey and Dressing), not stuffed in a turkey but baked in a pan.
Made from scratch buttermilk bisquets with real butter melted on the inside.
Last but not least....Pound Cake...warm from the oven!! YUMMM!!
My favorite comfort food is poached eggs and soudough toast, my garndma taught me how to make it. I LOVED the Friday Night Knitting Club, make sure you have kleenex though for the end.
ReplyDeleteI Looove FRESH whipped cream! I could eat it with a spoon. Take out the hand mixer, pour the cream to be whipped and mix! Then when fluffy add a bit of sugar and natural vanilla, mix just a bit, and then devour with fresh strawberries and a spoon for extra whipped cream enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite is probably chicken soup with homemade noodles. When I make the noodles, I'm strongly reminded of making them with my mom, of my grandmother making them, and that the recipe was my great grandmother's.
ReplyDeleteI also like making & eating deviled eggs. The first time I made them was with my great grandmother. Plus they're good for all meals!
My favorite comfort food is pasta carbonara made with bacon rather than pancetta. I learned to make it in Italy from a friend's husband so in addition to being soul-satisfyingly tasty it also reminds me of my friends. When I visit them, far too infrequently, I always ask him to make it.
ReplyDeleteI love Ruffles potato chips with ketchup on them and a side of Diet coke. I take comfort in the fact that I don't have to cook it and it's instant gratification!
ReplyDeleteMashed potatoes and gravy and home made chocolate chip cookies, yum!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, love reading everyone's favorite comfort foods! My fave (if I had to pick just one) would be the cheesy hashbrowns made with frozen HBs, sour cream, cr. chicken soup, grated cheddar, onion, melted butter, and a little S&P. YUM! Second fave is definitely Belfonte's Moose Tracks ice cream--OMG!
ReplyDeleteHi-favorites would be lasagna, meatloaf, bread and rice puddings, rice krispies with blueberries, sushi (!), and Indian curries.
ReplyDeleteMy very favorite is a yummy beef pot roast, with carrots and onions roasted along side. Then served with creamy, buttery mashed potatoes and gravy made from the meat juices. And if you throw in a homemade dinner roll, I will have died and gone to heaven. And since I'm totally in dream world here, you can throw in some of my mom's amazing carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. YOWZA!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is actually a drink. I find nothing more refreshing and comforting than a tall glass of milk. After a hard day at work or a week hiking in the backcountry, the thing I crave most is milk.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Alone in the Kitchen with the Eggplant. It's always fun to read about people's feeling and adventures with food. Food has always been fuel to me until the last few years - now I found the farmers market and am in tasty heaven!
ReplyDeleteAnd it great to know I'm not alone...reading about others gives us confirmation or is it permission I seek?
Now if I could just find someone who eats mashed potatoes enlightened with creamy cheese and fresh chives - for dinner.
I check your site each week to watch the puppies grow and play and wonder how you keep away from them (and keep them clean).
I just purchased Friday Night Knitting Club but haven't had a chance to start it. I'm definitely going to add Comfort Food to my list of books to get/read.
ReplyDeleteFor me, comfort food is my homemade chili with biscuits or my mom's vegetable beef soup. Even in the heat of the summer, it just makes me feel good!
And I think you would be great for Food Network! Let us know if you change your mind and decide to do it. I'd watch for sure! :-)
Mac & Cheese. Mashed potatoes. Chocolate chip cookies. Basically anything involving an absurd amount of butter.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me in the contest to win this book.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food? Hmmm.... there are so many....
Being raised in Indiana is to believe in comfort food as a religion. I'll have to go with the first thing that popped into my head: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. But fried chicken was a close second (with A-1 sauce of course).
sorry about the double(now triple) post!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort foods are hands down 1) my mom's fabulous stuffing that she makes for Thanksgiving - we have had her double the recipe so there would be plenty for leftover eating! - with her fabulous gravy - great when you warm them up later Thanksgiving night and stand at the stove eating them and 2) fluffy mashed potatoes with homemade gravy. Gee, all carbs for me - guess that's why Atkins never worked in this house! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHmmm...favorite comfort foods? Well, for me, it's generally anything fried or chocolate *laughs*.
ReplyDeleteWhen I still lived down south, I would head to a local Black Eye Pea restaurant for Chicken Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes when I was down. I'd then follow it up with a hot fudge sundae with pecans at Dairy Queen.
Unfortunately, while I can still get Dairy Queen, there's no Black eye Pea restaurant in the Northwest. Needless to say, I'm rather bereft! Now I have to make my own comfort food, which often takes the form of grits and bacon for dinner.
Can a margarita be a comfort food? Man how I love the sweet and the salt! And it sure brings me comfort after a long day at home when the young-uns.
ReplyDeleteMmmm. It depends on what I need comfort for. (smile) for instance last night's comfort food was bacon, leek and tomato macaroni and cheese. That's a deep level comfort food for a bad day AND pms hitting at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOther days and levels of comfort a lovely latte is comfort food.
And then there is mashed potatos. Or scalloped potatos and onion baked with ham and cheese.
On a sweet level - any kind of shortbread with a really good cup of tea. LOL! I'd love to read the book. Birthday cake can be comfort food too. . . especially if there are that many different kinds. ;)
Lalycairn at gmail.com
My absolute crappy-day favorite comfort meal has to be grilled cheese & tomatoes on sourdough with homemade creamy tomato soup. Makes me wish for a rainy day already!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is spaghetti with meatballs, homemade, of course. OR, in honor of my southern parents: fried ckicken with mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese, ham hocks with pinto beans and cornbread, coconut cake for dessert...i could go on forever...
ReplyDeleteCan I just say all of the above? :) Mac & cheese from a box, homemade rice pudding, my grandmother's chicken and noodles, or the vegetables (especially onions!) that are cooked with pot roast--the pot roast isn't bad either. :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny the way we try to recreate tastes from our childhoods? I can't make my mom's meatloaf without making baked potatoes and green beans with it because that is what she always served it. Who knows? Her mom may have always served those together as well. :)
My comfort foods are from my childhood. My mom was an excellent cook and was constantly baking. I can still see her in my minds eye, wearing an apron, flour on the front. Every weekend, she'd bake a pie, then she'd give me the pieces of leftover pie crust. We'd roll it flat and she'd help me spread butter, brown sugar and cinnamon on it. Then we'd roll them up, slice them and bake them in the warm oven. She called them pinwheels. It brings back such a fond memory.
ReplyDeleteMy other favorite comfort food involves the same aroma, but it's oatmeal. Not the quick kind. Slow cooked oats, with milk, butter, cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and a handful of raisins. Anytime I smell cinnamon, I immediately think about my wonderful mother. She passed in October 1984, at the age of 41.
My favorite comfort food is seven bone roast beef, browned in the antique covered castiron roaster in which it will slowly become succulent, melting, fragrant deliciousness, baked slathered with caramelized sweet onions and sauteed mushrooms, tweaked with kosher salt, and that's all. Add water, slide into oven at 300 degrees for three hours or so, prepare sticky white rice for the pan gravy and steamed broccoli on the side. That's my family's absolute favorite comfort food.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is mac and cheese, no contest. I like it plain, or better yet with crispy bacon mixed in and lots of toasted bread crumbs on top, yummy! If I don't have the time to make it from scratch, a big bowl of air popped popcorn with lots of butter and black truffle salt can do the trick as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved Friday Night Knitting Club, and can't wait to read Comfort Food!
First of all, it turns out I'm older than you! I turned 40 in March--and ate my way through Morocco in celebration. 40's not that bad (so far), and I hear it's the new 30, which we've already managed, so there you go. Happy (early) birthday!
ReplyDeleteAs for comfort food, someone else wrote about soft-boiled eggs, describing a method of eating them that I'm not familiar with. Here's my way:
Cook the eggs just about 4 and a half minutes, until the whites are mostly set but the yolks are still runny. Plunge into cold water just until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, make some toast and get out the butter. Now it gets weird. Tear the hot toast into bite-sized pieces and put them in a small bowl or large mug. Toss in a pat of butter and the scraped out contents of the eggs. Salt, pepper, and mush the whole mixture up, then eat with a spoon. This is what my mom used to make me when I was sick as a kid. It still works.
Mashed potatoes is one of my big comfort foods, but honestly my biggest one is the only thing I inherited from my father.... Apple Sauce sandwiches. Just white bread, butter, then apple sauce. I'm weird I know, but I really love them!
ReplyDeletemy comfort foods are pretty much anything from my mom's kitchen at thanksgiving, mmm, all kinds of good!
ReplyDeleteMy mom's baked Mac and Cheese w/smoked gouda and topped with breadcrumbs broiled until crispy. I'm hungry now!
ReplyDeleteI could sure use a nice prize about now. Check my today's blog about the week I've had!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food would probably be pasta. Clam spaghetti like my husband makes it or pasta carbonara. With a nice rich ice cream for desert!
White food... no not 'white people's food' although it ptobably is somewhat since I was raised in white and snowy Minnesota. Potatoes, Turkey, Chicken, white gravy, cole slaw... the perfect meal is Thanksgiving yummy to my tummy!
ReplyDeleteRooth
A perfectly-roasted (free-range of course) chicken. The best part is that first piece of crispy skin eaten in the kitchen (chef's perks!).
ReplyDeleteOnce the chicken has been devoured the comfort lives on, since all the bones go into a stock pot with tons of vegetables, and it simmers for hours on the stove filling the house with the most wonderful aromas.
The stock then becomes delicious canellini bean soup with a smoked ham hock, onions, celery, garlic, carrots, potatoes, hot italian sausage, and a bushel full of tuscan kale, swiss chard and beet tops fresh from the garden. Grate some nice parmesan cheese on the top of the steaming bowl and you're in heaven!
Jeannine
I'd say eggs and toast--scrambled eggs and plain toast with butter. Yum! And also comforting!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food has to be fried eggs, bacon, toast, and white rice with butter!!! Nothing better!!!
ReplyDeleteStewed chicken with egg-drop dumplings, and if I'm particularly desperate for comforting, I've even been know to make mashed potatoes too! When you need a good dose of comfort, there's no way you can over do it on carbs!
ReplyDeleteSpecial Toast and Red Zinger tea. Special Toast is toast (usually sourdough) with butter and cinnamon and sugar cut into triangles. Whenever I didn't feel well my mom would make me Special Toast. The Red Zinger tea takes me back to one morning when I walked out to the bus stop, the school bus came, and I decided I wasn't going to school anymore (about 1st grade) and marched myself back into the house. My mom filled a little teapot with Red Zinger and we sat and had tea and talked about why I didn't want to go to school.
ReplyDeleteGreat recipes, posts about books, pictures of fluffy dogs and farm life...dare I call this a comfort blog!
-KJ
I would love to be entered for the book giveaway. I am a book lover too. I have various books laying around the house. Have a blessed day.
ReplyDeleteAvocados are both my comfort food and what I should not be left in the kitchen alone with (because I will eat an entire one and go looking for more)! Even better is a hot plate of huevos rancheros — avocados and eggs and cheese and beans and salsa ... *drool*
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a lovely book. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
My favorite comfort food is Shepherd's Pie, hamburger & vegies in gravy, topped with homemade mashed potatoes. Top that off with a nice flaky cherry turnover, and you've got a meal.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book - I'll check it out. T.
My dad's home-fried potatoes. He's tried to teach me many times, but even my husband agrees that my Dad does it best!
ReplyDeleteGrilled cheese made with Velveeta and tomato soup. A slice of homemade bread slathered with butter is also a big comfort. And for sweets, a big thick chewy rice krispie treat does it for me.
ReplyDeleteall the time all year round is ice cream. Current rotation comfort food is cinnamon raisin bread with a slice of cheese toasted on top (chedder or co-jack prefered)
ReplyDeleteQuesadillas con aguacate . . . mmmmmm
ReplyDeleteMmmmm, my fave comfort food is Shepherd's Pie. Ground beef with peas and carrots covered in a layer of buttery mashed potatoes! I like to add a bunch of curry to the beef mixture, delicious!!! Cheap and easy to make- anyone can do it.
ReplyDeleteSara in Baltimore
Okay- so mine sounds like a strange one, but it really is comforting and delicious. My mom was responsible for getting me hooked on this one when i was little. Saltines with butter and jelly. Singles or double deckers depending on just how much comfort you need. Yum!
ReplyDelete(ps. your recipe for mexican monkey cake comes in a very close second!)
My favorite comfort foods would be chicken and dumplings and brownies!
ReplyDeleteRecently, I made one of my childhood favourites for my boyfriend and myself -- (veggie)mince with condensed cream of mushroom soup over egg noodles. My mom used to make it when I was growing up, and we always called it 'Glop.'
ReplyDeleteWe felt sort of embarrassed as we were shoveling it down, but the next day my boyfriend went out to buy more cream of mushroom soup and made it again for himself! Crazy.
My grandma's chicken and noodles laddled over mashed potatoes, with corn on the cob, green beans and southern cornbread.
ReplyDeleteSometimes comfort food for me is the simple stuff. Bread and butter, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, that kind of stuff. Food of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteAdd me to those who wish you'd do a show.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is something my family calls egg noodles. My parents are immigrants from Austria. They both came here in the 50's. My mom came with her parents and they were obviously very poor at the time. One meal they'd have is wide noodles, potatoes and onion with a couple eggs cracked into it while cooking.
I have to say that I love comfort food and have a couple of favorites. One I just made last week. Green beans cooked with bacon. My grandma used to make these with fresh garden green beans cooked in a pressure cooker and they were SO good. I cook them on the stove with just a little bacon added to the water. Also, my moms baked macaroni and cheese is the best!
ReplyDeleteComfort food for me is Mexican food. I'm from Texas and when I'm feeling stressed or tired or just need comfort, then I want cheesy beans and rice, guacamole and a margarita.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, Comfort came from a crater of real mashed potatoes, slightly lumpy, and infused with melted butter and wholemilk. Filled with dark, rich, hamburger gravy (in the days when lean ground beef was $.35 a pound) it was a mainstay that my mom made for my brothers and me. Even today at $4 a pound, I prefer it and the memories over anything else.
ReplyDeleteI love reading books about food, how it's described. This looks like a good read. My favorite comfort foods are: mashed potatoes, cheese cake, or anything with creamy sauces and lots of veggies.
ReplyDeleteSoft warm carbs. So oatmeal, rice pudding, pasta, mashed potatoes, PB&J on toast. You get the idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough question, but I think my favorite comfort food is vegan mac and cheese, otherwise known as mac and yeast or nutch pasta. I'm not a vegan, and I love normal mac and cheese too. But, I learned how to cook in cooperatives while I was in college, and now in graduate school, and I really love the hippie version of mac and cheese. It reminds me of comfy community dinners. You make it using nutritional yeast among other things, and it really doesn't taste like mac and cheese at all. But, I love it. And, my boyfriend hates it, so I can only make it when he's not around.
ReplyDeleteLordy, the list is endless! Homemade butterscotch pudding or banana pudding (with Nilla wafers, mais oui!). Green beans cooked the Grandma way (down to nothing, with pieces of bacon in there). Twice-baked potatoes with Velveeta cheese on top. Mmmmm...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food meal is my mom's Swedish meatballs, carrots, and mashed potatoes. It has always been what I choose if I am asked what I would like for my "Last Supper" (meaning the last meal before I left for college, got married, on the last night of a trip home to visit with all the kids, etc.) Now I make it for my 6 kids and they love it, too! :)
ReplyDeleteDeviled eggs - the right amount of salty, sweet, and sour. A required tradition at any family gathering or holiday. Chock full of childhood memories.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, my uncle and I used to compete to see who could eat the most. We'd each sneak one from the platter throughout the day, and then pile them onto our plate at meal times, keeping tally about how many we had consumed. One year at Easter, when the family did not gather, my uncle sent me a photo of a tray of deviled eggs the Easter Bunny had left for him. I was seething.
Comfort me with mac & cheese, mashed potatoes and loco moco; pretty much anything carby!
ReplyDeletemmm, i'm going to have to agree with a lot of other people and go with macaroni and cheese. if i can't have that then...sweets :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is watermelon. Serve me a chunk of cold, crisp, sweet, seedy watermelon and I'm an Arkansas kid again, barefoot, carefree, and sticky. (And Barbara Rosenblat is stellar in her narration of Sense and Sensibility.)
ReplyDeleteHomemade chicken noodle soup and popovers. Or, chocolate chip cookies. Or, steel cut oat porridge with butter and maple syrup. Or, spaghetti with homemade sauce and killer garlic bread. Or, Mexican Monkey Cake, which I tried this week (delicious!) Or, maybe I just love food. I would love to see a Food Network show--are you sure it wasn't a Throwdown in disguise? I think Bobby Flay would be hard pressed to win on fresh, seasonal food!
ReplyDeleteReal comfort food is nice warm rice pudding and if I am especially needy I soak raisins in rum and add them to the pudding.
ReplyDeleteSandy in NJ
Pecsan114@optonline.net
My mom's chicken pot pie. No contest.
ReplyDeleteAlltime favourite comfort food is chicken noodle soup and you can throw in some dill.
ReplyDeleteFavorite comfort food is tender roast beef and mashed potatoes with pan gravy. Nothing says Sunday afternoon like that combo.
ReplyDeleteScrambled eggs with tomatoes and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll take mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese.
ReplyDeleteI taught a cooking class called Comfort Foods a coupla months after 9/11 happened. The class was extremely well-attended and EVERYONE wanted a new Meatloaf recipe! Bruce Aidelle's recipe from his beer cookbook is the best around if you want to fuss a little--it's got beer of course in but the thing that makes it really really good is the french bread sop (bread soaked in milk) that binds it and keeps it super moist.
ReplyDeleteSO I know it's not original, but Meatloaf, Garlic Mashed Potatoes with cream, and pie for dessert. Doesn't matter what kind!
Wow, Food Network! I sure wish you would do a show for them, but I totally understand.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm sad I make chocolate chip cookies and eat them with milk. When I'm sick or tired, it's pasta (in pretty much any form), grits & eggs (for this Southern girl), or my new found comfort food of risotto. Creamy, carb goodness...
My favorite comfort food is roasted chicken and couscous. I can't get enough of either!
ReplyDeleteO and Brownies of course.
my favorite comfort food is spaghetti. any kind made by anybody.
ReplyDeleteI have many comfort foods but one that never fails to bring a smile to my smacking lips is cranberry bread hot from the oven slathered with butter. I think I'll go make some right now.
ReplyDeleteI am a sugar girl, myself, so comfort food for me is chocolate. My grandmother, my mom and now I love to make 'Wacky Cake'. The wonderful make-in-the-pan-you-bake-it-in cake. This cake is made without butter and eggs. I always have the ingredients on hand. It's best with an inch of chocolate frosting. But the absolute clincher in this cake is the wonderful gooey stuff left in the bottom of the pan that only the maker of the cake gets to scrape up and eat! It's a secret passed on to children once they've LEFT the home! ;0)
ReplyDeleteI may as well throw my hand in! Nothing to lose.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort foods are hot buttered toast with chicken and chard soup, or pad se lew (thai pasta).
My favorite comfort foods at the moment are mashed potatoes and bread pudding. I wonder why comfort foods usually tend to be white?
ReplyDeleteSheesh - look at all your readers lurking out there!
ReplyDeleteThe other day I re-read your post about the comfort food one eats in secret; oh there is no better guilty pleasure!! Anyway, whilst I don't qualify for the prize, I feel the need to say pie, pie & more pie! With pretty much any filling - I guess it's really just about pastry!
Anyhoo, I'm gonna look out for the book over here - thanks for bringing it to our attention. (Oh and by the way, I realised what kind of growing you meant, duh! I am so thick at times!) XX
When I think of comfort food, I think of fall and fresh season big juicy apples baked to perfection between flakey layers of my Mother’s Apple pie crust. Still warm from the oven the pie crust towers over the now softened sweet cinnamon apples. Cutting through each slice reveals the height the apples once were. The reining tower of flakey perfection is topped with sweet sparkling sugar over a drizzle of milk before baking to help hold its height and make the pie even more inviting. The smell is one to carry with you always, but the taste is beyond words.
ReplyDeleteCurling up with a wonderful book as the temperatures cool and enjoying a nice slice of Mom’s Apple pie is comfort for everyone.
Five kinds of birthday cake? Wow - now I'M hooked! And you've left us in the lurch, wondering passionately about this"Food Network" show! Do tell, dear farmgirl!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food is definately mashed potatoes (from a box) with hamburger gravy and corn. Better if all mixed together with a couple pats of butter melting on top of the pile with little butter streams running down to form a butter river around the edge of the bowl. Mmmmmm . . . .
ReplyDeleteHmmm...so hard to choose just one! I think I'll go with rich, creamy homemade mac & cheese with a crispy breadcrumb topping, still bubbly from the oven. Just thinking about it makes me smile!
ReplyDeleteHomemade baked macaroni and cheese, with buttered panko or breadcrumbs on top.
ReplyDeleteBut in a pinch, a cup of black tea with too much cream and a little sugar, and a slice of butter laden cinnamon sugar toast.
I love your blog. Everything I have cooked from your recipes has been fantastic. I have a garden and use your recipes to cook the vegetables I grow.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite comfort food would be mac and cheese, but my grandmother's chicken pot pie would be a tie. She never used a recipe. She used a donut-cutter for the biscuit topping. Yummm!
A freshly baked scone (without a lot of extras, maybe some currants...or not) and a cup of Earl Grey.
ReplyDeleteOooo! I hope I win!
ReplyDeleteHomemade chicken soup with homemade noodles simmering all day long and homemade bread...both warm your house and your spirit, don't they?
Thanks for the effort you put into your site. I am a devoted reader.
Keep up the great work!
Mary Ann
www.bearcreekacres.com