What's your favorite comfort food?

[centerstage01]

Cheese grits
The Potato in all its glorious forms
tortilla chips
Ben & Jerry's strawberry cheesecake ice cream

[Jenny]

Love grits! So hard to come by in these parts. Love oatmeal too, and have never been able to replicate by beloved grandmother's version, sigh.

[Sarah]

Together??

For me it depends on what I need comforting from. If it's general feeling blah / tired / ennui, then definitely mac & cheese. Hands down. If I need more instant gratification, then cheese-on-toast.

But for comfort from a cold/flu, nothing beats soup. Creamy squash or tomato, or tomato rice, or miso, or broccoli & corn, or yam & coconut, or hot and sour ... or just about any other kind of vegetarian soup will do.

I don't consider chocolate a comfort food. It's a basic food group.

Nope not together. But ginger ale is a comfort food as is coffee ice cream. I agree with the soups. Especially tomato soup.

[leesaleesa]

Skyline chili. Oh, and I lived one year in Iowa and they have this franchise called Maid-Rite. Not that I get them often, but I am meeting a friend in Iowa next week and I plan to eat three Maid Rites with yellow mustard, onion, and pickle. Then I just may get me a breaded pork tenderloin. Iowa has some good comfort food. Oh man, they also have the Canadian bacon/sauerkraut pizza there!

[Japanfan]

Everyone who says homemade Mac and Cheese is #1, do you have a recipe?

I only ever tried it once, the recipe was basically: make a white sauce on the stove, cover over macaroni, add bread crumbs, and bake in the oven. I found it dry.

I'm not a fan of Kraft Dinner, but I do like home made pasta. Usually I just make a white sauce and add parmesan reggianio, then toss over pasta.

But I'd love a good recipe for home made mac and cheese.

[paskatefan]

Pizza, mint chocolate chip/cookies & cream ice cream, cannoli, Key Lime pie

[allezfred]

Another vote for potatoes so long as cheese isn't involved.

[Lanie]

Pot roast. Roast chicken. That kind of thing. Looks like the weather will finally cool down for winter soon, so I can make some pot roast!

[michiruwater]

The basic baked mac and cheese recipe is:

Cook 1 lb of elbow macaroni until al dente

Make a white sauce with 2 cups of milk (whole is, of course, best tasting), 2-4 TBS flour (I always put more than called for), a small onion, and butter (cook the onion in butter until soft, add the flour, cook 1-2 minutes, take off heat, add milk, put back on heat). Once the white sauce is made, add 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or cheeses of your choice, and I normally add 2.5-3 cups cause if you're gonna do it... ). The basic recipe I first used called for whole grain mustard mixed in (1 tbs, I think?), and another common ingredient is nutmeg.

Throw the elbow macaroni in the cheese sauce and mix thoroughly. Spread in a baking dish. Top with breadcrumbs, bake at 350.

So, yeah, that's basically it. It never seems dry to me. There are about a thousand variations on the simple recipe, of course, using all sorts of cheeses, adding broccoli, adding bacon... there was this amazing looking one in a magazine once with bacon, bell peppers, hot peppers... 1300 calories per serving. Bet you it tasted amazing. I couldn't justify actually making it You could always experiment with different pasta shapes and cheeses, and adding various vegetables, to see if it makes it less dry for you.

[SpiralGirl]

Love grits! So hard to come by in these parts. Love oatmeal too, and have never been able to replicate by beloved grandmother's version, sigh.

What do grits taste like in comparison to oatmeal?

I'm another one for home-made mac and cheese, especially when the cheese goes all brown and crispy on the top

[Jenny]

Everyone who says homemade Mac and Cheese is #1, do you have a recipe?

I think many make it without a recipe, just from having done it many times. I will vary the cheese for example, based on what I have, maybe use cream instead of milk if that's what I have, different pasta shapes, possible add bacon or onions or tomatoes, and vary the topping from cheese and/or bread crumbs to nothing at all.

I suggest checking a site like Martha Stewart, where you know the recipe has been tested and perfected. Taste of Home is another good one - real recipes from real home cooks (often likely to have pre-processed ingredients, but this is comfort food after all!).

For a gourmet mac and cheese, this one is really good - Double Dutch Mac and Cheese with Chard from Bon Appetit

What do grits taste like in comparison to oatmeal?

I'm another one for home-made mac and cheese, especially when the cheese goes all brown and crispy on the top

I'm not a grits expert, just tend to like porridgy foods like oatmeal, cream of wheat, grits and congee. Much as I'm a cheese fan, I don't find it works with grits (don't shoot me southerners!), and I prefer congee plain as well (instead of with meat or shrimp). I guess you could say that oatmeal has lots of flavour on its own, but grits are a lot plainer to me.

[allezfred]

What do grits taste like in comparison to oatmeal?

Grits (what a horrible name for a food ) are quite similar to polenta.

[SpiralGirl]

I don't think I've never had congee, grits or polenta. I've travelled a fair bit for my age, so even if we don't eat them in England, I probably could have somwehere. Now I feel so un-cultured

[Jenny]

I don't think I've never had congee, grits or polenta. I've travelled a fair bit for my age, so even if we don't eat them in England, I probably could have somwehere. Now I feel so un-cultured

Polenta is pretty common in Italian restaurants and I've seen it on menus in non-Italian restaurants as well. Grits are pretty much a southern US speciality, and I never had congee until I went to Hong Kong

(Happy memories of breakfasts of dumplings, fried rice with condiments, congee and tea - yum yum yum!)

[Rex]

A better question for me would be what ISN'T my comfort food.

[SpiralGirl]

Polenta is pretty common in Italian restaurants and I've seen it on menus in non-Italian restaurants as well. Grits are pretty much a southern US speciality, and I never had congee until I went to Hong Kong

(Happy memories of breakfasts of dumplings, fried rice with condiments, congee and tea - yum yum yum!)

I must have had polenta at some point and just not realised then! Also, I spent 4 weeks in China so I probably had congee and didn't realise either. Thanks for the clarification

[Lanie]

long recipe post!

So have I told you lately that I love you? Dinner tonight!

[PDilemma]

My #1 comfort food is the traditional homemade baked macaroni and cheese.

This ^

And homemade brownies.

For my husband it is soup. Any kind of soup. I make it all winter.

[allezfred]

I don't think I've never had congee, grits or polenta. I've travelled a fair bit for my age, so even if we don't eat them in England, I probably could have somwehere. Now I feel so un-cultured

They probably have polenta in Waitrose.

[Rob]

Macaroni & Cheese - any variety, gourmet, Kraft, Giant prepared meals, Trader Joes, who cares.

Grilled cheese with bacon and tomato soup.

If I am sick:

Thai Tom Yum Koong soup (spicy shrimp chili soup)
Spicy Chicken soup