Wikipedia defines the term “Comfort Food” as “food prepared traditionally that may have a nostalgic or sentimental appeal.”

Mmmm Mmmmm Mmmm. How many of you made a New Year’s Resolution to lose a few pounds?  Hate to admit that it just sort of flitted through the outskirts of my mind. Unfortunately for my waistband, outskirts meaning in the regions around Jupiter.

Somehow it seems totally contrary to nature to try to take off pounds in the winter. Animals tend to stock up for the winter months; tucking away nuts in secret places, putting on heavier winter coats, staying closer to the barn or nest, and  my favorite – heading south. For those of us who really really don’t like cold weather here in North America, comfort food tends to make the days shorter and happier!

Comfort food can mean different things to each of us. I know that our Australian friends are often amazed by the things we like over here in the states and vice-versa! I can’t wait to try a Vegemite sandwich – as long as it has mayonnaise and white bread – how bad can it be?

When I was knee high to a grasshopper and was getting over some malady or another, I knew that I was getting better when the scent of steak cooking on the grill by Dad, a baked potato stuffed with butter and chives, and sliced tomatoes with a dollop of mayonnaise, made me happy to be eating in bed. It remains my favorite meal to this day. So good that it makes me want to eat supper before we say grace!

For those of us that live in the USA, the Thanksgiving meal is the penultimate comfort food meal. It doesn’t get much better than turkey, white rice and gravy, sweet potato casserole, dressing/stuffing with pecans, rolls slathered in butter and pumpkin pie.

Christmas dinner follows along those same lines with the addition of eggnog and trifle – both endowed with generous helpings of spirits and whipped cream! And non-drinker that I am, several thin slices of my Dad’s Christmas bread, (baked with 1 cup of bourbon), smeared with unsalted butter makes me pretty gleeful!!

New Year’s in the south is another comfort food holiday. Black-eyed peas, cooked with a bit of fatback, bring the promise of money in the new year. Collards, also cooked with a little bacon or side-meat, are supposed to bring lots of good luck. That pot liquor left over from the collards is divine too on some cornbread! Add in sweet potato casserole and you’ll be grinning like a goat in a patch of poison ivy!

Soups are also on my list. A good friend sent me a wonderful recipe for one chock full of leeks and potatoes. Talk about warmth all the way down! And its fun to see my children making my Dad’s Vegetable soup for their own families. Both my parents were wonderful cooks, but Dad was well-known for his spicy concoctions! His Hot-A-Mighty was famous all over town!

Which leads me think about Easter foods. Easter lunch has developed into a picnic for us because so often it’s a lovely day for outside eating. Fried chicken, tomato aspic, potato salad, cucumber sandwiches, Bloody Mary’s with celery, deviled eggs and plenty of sweet tea with lemons.

Summer brings another level of comfort food. Frozen fruit salad, pimento cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches, more fried chicken, tomato sandwiches and slices of key lime pie with whipped cream. Some of my favorite memories of my childhood involve picnic’s with mom’s ham sandwiches and deviled eggs.

So if you ever get to feeling as low as a toad in a dry well, fix you up a mess of whatever comfort food will raise up your bucket! And as long as you’re either standing or sitting down, the calories won’t count – that’s a promise!

Here are a couple of recipe cards. For more, be sure and watch our FB page during our Cropathon this week and I’ll be posting more.

Fonts: Shapes>Love Ya Like A Sister, Chinacat, Black Boys on Mopeds, Stencil

Art Kit: Recipe Book Digital Kit

Rosemary Embellishment: Handmade using Shapes in SBC4.0