Macaroni and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate - Which One is Your Comfort Food?

The taste or smell of a certain food is often a trip down Memory Lane into a childhood, bringing back feelings of security, protection and unconditional love.

Many times, there is one food in particular a person reaches for when not feeling at their best, like chicken soup for a bad cold, potato soup for an upset stomach or warm milk for a sleepless night. Feelings of sadness or loneliness often bring on the craving for spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and especially chocolate. Something warm, sweet or crunchy can hit just the right spot, bringing emotional comfort when a person is feeling down and out or angry. That's how the phrase "comfort food" was coined.

Meat Loaf

Frequently, comfort foods are those treats a mom or dad made for a sick, troubled or even happy child, like hot cocoa to warm hands on a cold night or hamburgers and hot dogs grilled by dad at birthday or holiday celebrations. A warm fire, a toasty piece of bread and a hot bowl of a favorite soup can be just the thing to cheer anyone up!

The only drawback to comfort foods is that they are almost always high in fat and caloric content. This may be because these foods with emotional attachments come from early memories, when parents are on shoestring budgets (beans and taters are less expensive than turkey breast and quiche). So unfortunately, these special, tasty foods are not always as great for the body as for the soul.

Some of the top Southern Comfort Foods are:

* Macaroni and Cheese

* Mashed Potatoes

* Fried Chicken

* Meat Loaf

* Home Baked Bread or Biscuits

What are YOUR top 5 favorite comfort foods?

Macaroni and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate - Which One is Your Comfort Food?

Linda Talbott Brewer is the Nashville Comfort Food Examiner for Examiner.com, Nashville. With years of experience as a mom and cook as well as years in the health and fitness industry, she is not only the right person for the job but also the person who can take those high calorie comfort foods and make them a healthier choice, while still keeping those comforting flavors.

Linda will be writing many more recipes for ezine as well as for examiner Nashville. Check back often for food adventures, food oddities, comfort foods, healthy comfort food makeovers and food histories.

Visit Linda's Examiner page at http://www.examiner.com/x-26032-Nashville-Comfort-Food-Examiner

Thanks To : t fal 10 piece cookware

Meatloaf With Mashed Potatoes and Glazed Carrots

2 lbs ground chuck
2 eggs
16 Premium saltine crackers, crumbled
2 t Lawry's Seasoned Salt
3/8 t black pepper
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 can Rotel Tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs slightly; add Rotel tomatoes, 1/2 of small can of tomato sauce, seasoned salt, pepper, chopped onion, and crumbled crackers. Let stand 10 minutes until cracker crumbs are softened. Mix well, then add ground chuck, 1/2 pound at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Form meat mixture into a loaf in a large baking dish or use a loaf pan. Pour rest of tomato sauce evenly over top. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees.

Mashed Potatoes

6 medium potatoes
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 c milk
1/2 c butter or margarine
3 T potato water

Fill a 3 quart saucepan half way full with water. Add 1 t salt and heat to boiling. Meanwhile, peel 6 medium potatoes and quarter. Add to boiling water, bring to a boil again, turn down heat and cover. Cook until tender - about 20 minutes. When done, drain, saving some of the liquid in a bowl. Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and butter. Beat with an electric mixer until butter is melted. Add milk and beat until smooth. Add potato water, a tablespoon at a time, and beat well. Add more potato water until potatoes are creamy and smooth.

Glazed Carrots

1 pkg whole carrots
1 stick butter or margarine
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t maple extract

Fill 2 quart saucepan 1/2 full with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, cut off ends and peel carrots with a vegetable peeler. Cut in thirds, then cut each third in half. Place carrots in boiling water, bring to a boil again, turn down to low heat, cover and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain carrots and pour into a medium size bowl.

In saucepan, melt stick of butter on low heat, stirring constantly. Be careful not to let butter brown. Add sugar and maple extract, stir and cook until sugar is dissolved. Add carrots, cover, and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

My mother taught me to cook when I was only 5 years old. I remember standing on a chair to reach the cabinet and spooning flour into a mixing bowl. Cooking brings back happy memories and cheers me up when I'm bored or feeling low. I especially love baking Christmas cookies with the grandkids. I've made it a tradition.

When I'm not cooking, I enjoy working out, shopping and writing travel articles and romance novels.

For more great recipes that I've tried and tested on my family, go to: http://favritrecipes.blogspot.com.

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