It’s all about Comfort Foods

So let’s face it, whether you’re a chick or dude we all at one point or another in our lives have turned to our favorite comfort foods to find well, comfort.  Whether you were mending a broken heart, had a epicly sucky day at work, didn’t make the team or squad or were missing ‘home’ we’ve all found solace in something yummy.  We’re human and there are those times when you want to shut off the world, grab a container of ice cream and put in a chick flick that you’ve probably seen 472 times.

Okay fine, maybe that’s a ‘me’ thing. Today I’m going to share with you some of my favorite comfort foods based on category: Appetizer, Breakfast, Soups, Entree, Carb Heaven and Dear God Desserts.  Yeah today we’re going full on innerfat kid with me.

Appetizers are one of my favorite types of things to eat.  I like small plates of various types of appetizers for an entire meal.  A “pre-dinner” meal as what Mr. Fantabulous calls them.  For me, though, a platter of various appetizers can be a full blown meal for me.

For me, I tend to love this type of food either when we get home from a night out (we’re talking a night at the bar after a few adult libations).  I find that type of greasy, fried (or baked cause I still try to eat healthy) sits well with me and just tastes the best. So for me it’s all about Baked Mozzarella Sticks and Bacon Wrapped Sriracha Glazed Onion Rings. Admit it, you just went ‘Mmm… get in my belly’, huh?

Okay so let’s dish a minute about breakfast foods as a comfort food.  When I think about breakfast foods I think back to Sunday mornings when I was little.  Mom always got up super early on Sundays to start making the dough for her white bread and throw a few chuck roasts in the pot for Sunday dinner.  I’d wander out to the kitchen in my white and blue flowered night gown carrying my teddy bear and scuffling my feet along the way.  I’d climb up on the chair and watch her knead the dough with ease.  To me it was soothing and comforting just watching her. I can remember her taking my hands and placing hers over mine showing me how to knead the dough.

During that first rise she’d make breakfast just for she and I.  That was our time.  So now when I make breakfast on Sunday mornings for Mr. Fantabulous and I it’s comforting. So when I make these Blueberry Pie Ebelskivers or my Overnight French Toast bake it’s comforting as it reminds me of Sundays with Mom.

Soup… seriously, does it get anymore comforting than that? Soup to me is food’s equivalent of a hug to around your tummy. It’s a hug for the soul. Soup soothes me to the very core.  It’s that warm feeling you get when you snuggle up under a blanket next to your beloved.  It’s that extra pair of fuzzy socks on a wicked bitter cold winter day (or a Tuesday if you live in Pittsburgh). It’s that one universal dish that people equate food to making you feel better.  Soup was an every Sunday meal for us.  Mom would make those chuck roasts and Dad would take part of the meat and make his amazing Red Beef Soup out of it.

Growing up I swear there was really only 2, maybe 3 types of soup – chicken noodle, tomato and vegetable.  And me being that ridiculously picky, I only ate one type – chicken noodle but with that I would never EVER eat the carrots or celery. God no!  Those were vegetables and vegetables were icky.  LOL  However now I’m all over almost all types of vegetables.  So when I’m sick I find total comfort in these two delicious soups – Ultimate Potato Gnocchi and Power Greens.

Okay seriously when we’re talking about comfort foods there is nothing more comforting than Grandma’s Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Cheesy Chicken Meatballs.   This is full on belly-rubbin, face-stuffin, dear God I wanna just inhale this entire dish comfort food. It’s real, honest and homestyle cooking at its finest. It’s that food that speaks volumes without being pretentious.  It’s a showstopper without all the glitz and glam.  It’s Hollywood with a Mayberry feel.

Now if we had to talk about probably my all time favorite comfort food it’s carbs. Trust me on this, just ask my thighs. They LOVE carbs.  My Ultimate Creamy Mac ‘n Cheese and Simple Cheese Pizza are my second love. Mr. Fantabulous is first and foremost buttt dear lord I love me some pizza and crazy good mac ‘n cheese.  Growing up Mom always made me mac ‘n cheese.  I was such a ridiculously picky eater that I’m surprised my face didn’t actually stay in a permanent squinched up look.

We couldn’t afford the boxed mac ‘n cheese (thankfully) so Mom made it from scratch. However we couldn’t often afford real block cheese so we used government cheese.  You know the stuff that low income families got for free?  Yeah that stuff and you know what, I don’t know if it was real cheese or not but that stuff made the best cheese sauce.

Now Mom didn’t have a pizza dough recipe, she always used her white bread dough recipe.  Sure it was good, I mean pizza is pizza after all. It wasn’t until we had a pizza shop when I was older did I truly fall in love with pizza.  To me, pizza is the best food ever.  It’s a blank canvas for whatever your heart desires. For as long as Mr. Fantabulous and I have been together Friday night has been pizza night.  He’s a simple dude with just a great sauce, cheese and a few pieces of basil on his.  Mine, dude you need to go outside the conventional and really be creative.  Oh don’t get me wrong, I love a simple plain cheese pizza but I love to play when it comes to pizza.  My favorite right now?  I am LOVING my roasted grape prosciutto pizza parma!

Oh hello pretty!  You sexy beasts that make my yoga pants cry every time they see you. This is probably the most sinful of all comfort foods – thick, rich fudgy turtle brownies with ooey gooey caramel just oozing all over the place.  And that banana split!  I mean c’mon, you know you just stared a bit longer at that thing than anything else. These sinful comfort foods are those things that leave you with the most amount of guilt but what’s my motto?  ‘Everything in moderation’ right?  But hey, we all have those moments where we may eat more than we should – perhaps the last time we got our heart broken?  Oh yeah, I don’t know one girlfriend of mine that, whenever she got her heart broken didn’t turn to one of these sinful heart huggers.

So as you can see, even I, the chick that would move into her gym if she could, has her own comfort food that aren’t deemed the healthiest of things.  While I love salads, quinoa and protein shakes when I’m so down or my heart hurts, I’m sick as a dog or just need a hug from the inside, I turn to these comfort foods.

What about you?  What foods comfort you?

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