Comfort Foods

If you follow KOAB on Facebook, you know that I woke up this morning with a stomach bug. I seem to be a real target, as this is my second time in two months. Fortunately my husband is off work today, so he is fixing our dinner!

Instead of sharing my recipe (beef stew and mashed potatoes), I am going to ask you guys to help me out until my stomach situation is a bit more stabilized.

Won’t you please share your favorite “comfort foods”? Recipes, too! And I’ll be back later today or over the weekend to share our oh so easy & delicious crockpot beef stew recipe.

Comments

  1. Mara-Refuah Shelama. The stomach thing seems to be going around. My little one had it yesterday and I dont know if you know our oldest daughter, but she had something the day before. I know it was rough.
    I am trying to think of a recipe. I may be back!!

  2. Garlic Mashed Potatoes

    Peel sweet potatoes but leave skin on red potatoes or yukon. I like mixing in the sweet potatoes because it changes the texture and makes it a bit healthier, too. Chop up potatoes. Put in pot of boiling water along with two garlic cloves. Boil for half an hour. Drain potatoes (and garlic). Mash potatoes/garlic, adding soy milk until you have reached your preferred level of creaminess.

    This is my favorite comfort food.

  3. Refuah Shlema. I was up with a six-year-old and her tummy at 3am. Last week she had bronchitis. And I’m sick too. ‘Tis the season, I guess.

    We’re doing soup and challah tonight. Because we’re vegetarian, we don’t do chicken soup, but here’s a nice parave soup to take away the chill.

    PARSNIP SOUP WITH GINGER AND PARSNIP “CROUTONS”

    3 large parsnips, about 2 pounds, peeled
    6 cups vegetable stock, or water
    1/2 cup chopped cilantro stems plus sprigs for garnish (optional)
    4 thin slices ginger, unpeeled
    3 tablespoons butter or canola oil
    1 large onion, roughly chopped
    3/4 pound carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
    1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
    1 tablespoon white rice
    Salt and freshly milled pepper
    1 cup milk, cream, or almond milk, to thin the soup, as needed (optional)

    Cut two of the parsnips crosswise in half, then quarter each half lengthwise. Cut away most of the cores. Reserve the other parsnip. (If you’re making stock, include the parsnip trimmings, cilantro stems, and one slice of the ginger. Brown the vegetables before adding the water to bring out their flavors.)

    Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a soup pot over medium heat, letting it brown a little. Add the vegetables, remaining ginger, and the coriander. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion and carrots have begun to brown here and there. Add the rice and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and cook a few minutes more. Add the strained stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are very soft, about 35 minutes. Remove the ginger, then puree the soup, leaving a little texture or not, as you wish. For a very smooth soup, pass it through a food mill or sieve. Thin if necessary with the milk.

    Dice the third parsnip into little cubes and cook in the remaining butter in a skillet, stirring frequently, until golden and tender, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the soup with a spoonful of the parsnips added to each bowl. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

  4. Oh no Mara! I’m so sorry to hear this although I am happy you’re being taken care of & cooked for! As for my comfort food? Smitten kitchen’s brisket. All the way! 🙂

  5. Refuah sheleimah

    Soup is our main comfort food too. Here is one I discovered recently:

    Ingredients
    1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    1 onion, chopped
    1 bay leaf
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    2 cups dried split peas
    1/2 cup barley
    1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    7 1/2 cups water
    1 can tomato paste
    3 carrots, chopped
    3 stalks celery, chopped
    3 potatoes, diced
    1/2 cup chopped parsley
    1/2 teaspoon dried basil
    1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
    1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
    Directions
    1.In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
    2.Add the tomato paste, carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another hour, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

  6. My new comfort food–good for gluten-free (and gluten-loving) friends:

    Peanut Butter Cookies

    1 cup peanut butter
    1 cup sugar
    1 egg

    350 for 10 minutes. they won’t look done, but take them out anyway and let them cool a few minutes.

    VERY HARD NOT TO EAT THE ENTIRE BATCH AT ONCE!!!

    • I love those cookies. I started making them when I was eight years old, and I found the recipe in the Benny Malone Cookbook. Since then, they have been my go-to cookie recipe when I need a quick sweet fix.

  7. I don’t know if this is Kosher or not…..But it is the best Mac n Cheese:

    3 cups dry macaroni noodles
    Water to cook them in
    2 TBS butter or margarine
    2 Tbs Flour
    2 cups Milk (% of fat doesn’t matter and reconstituted dry milk works as well as fresh)
    1 cup grated Med. Cheddar Cheese
    1 tsp Salt.
    a Sprinkle of Parmasean

    Boil the noodles, drain and place into a 2 qt. oven safe cassarole dish (pre sprayed with non-stick spray). Pre-heat oven to 350. Set aside. In a med sauce pan, melt butter over med heat. Mix in flour, stir until it makes a paste. Cook 1 min. more. Add milk, whisk, stirring contantly until the milk starts to boil and thickens. This makes a basic white sauce or betchumel sauce. Remove from heat and stir in cheese & salt. Stir until melted. Really at this point you could add any cheese you like – I’ve done this with fontina cheese and used penne pasta and it was fantastic. Whole wheat pasta works great for this as well.
    Stir the sauce in with the macaroni in the cassarole until all the macaroni is coated with sauce. Then sprinkle with parmesean and bake for 20-30 min.

    This recipe freezes well (put it in the freezer before you bake it), it makes great left overs and is very fugal.

    • I was about to submit this recipe. (I guess I have to be quicker to post recipes.) When my kids were younger, I used to add a can of diced tomatoes to the macaroni and cheese. Then they got older and learned that most people don’t put tomatoes in macaroni and cheese. Alas.

    • Danna – I know I still owe you a FAQs… it’s on my to-do list… but here’s the shorthand on what makes something kosher – no meat and milk mixed together (meat includes beef and chicken). No pork or shellfish, whatsoever. Other than that, you’re probably good for sharing a recipe!

      My kids love mac-and-cheese, so I’m definitely adding this one to my rotation!

  8. Definitely miso soup. Saute an onion along with a couple of carrots and celery stalks diced really fine. Add 4 cups water and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Ladle out some of the soup into a bowl and combine with 2-3 tablespoons of white miso paste. Mix well and then add the diluted miso back into the pot. Mix in some fresh or frozen peas and some sliced scallion. Serve hot and wait for the healing to begin.

  9. As a house we have had a few of us sick over the past week-week and a half. We are actually having it make the rounds twice on one poor kiddo. So with everyone feeling a bit under the weather I asked what they wanted for dinner and got a resounding and unanimous request for poached eggs on toast.

    You don’t really need a recipe for this, but this is how our family does it. Find the Challah – hopefully there is a bit left. Toss 2 fat slices/person on tray and toast it in the oven on both sides (we do not have a toaster). Butter immediately and rip bread into big chucks and put in the bottom of a cereal bowl.

    Fill our deep sautee pan with water and a splash of white vinegar (that holds the whites together)- and I also do not have a specially egg poaching pot). Bring to boil. Drop two-three eggs into the boiling water. Any more than 3 eggs and the water temperature drops too much. Let cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove eggs from water with a slotted spoon – being careful to let all the water drip off. Nothing ruins hot buttery toast faster than water.

    Top with a little kosher salt and black pepper. Kids are in heaven and dinner took 5-10 minutes.

  10. Thank you all – for sharing the yummy recipes and for your kind wishes. I can’t wait to try these out 🙂

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