Nerd in Another City

Comfort Foods

As Thanksgiving approaches, BEFORE Christmas (ahem, ahem retailers), our minds start to turn to scrumptious, homemade, comforting foods. Turkey and stuffing and pie and potatoes. In  honor of the approaching holiday The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick‘s 5 Fandom Friday topic today is favorite comfort foods. So here are mine…

1. Homemade Cookie Dough

Why wait for the cookies to bake when you can put that dough in the freezer and eat it systematically over the course of the season. My Aunt Dot’s recipe was always my go-to for the best cookies and the bestest cookie dough around. But if you need some in a pinch and don’t have time for all the baking that comes along with getting homemade cookie dough, then Tollhouse or Pillsbury will do in a pinch. There are even websites that will send you tubs of flavored cookie dough. Check out David’s Cookies.

2. Macaroni and Cheese

Photo Credit: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

This one is a given. And as a child I used to love good old Kraft mac and cheese from a box. Then I graduated to the Velveeta shells and cheese. But these days, when I have a craving for macaroni and cheese, I turn to Annie’s Homegrown for their White Cheddar mac and cheese. They have many different flavors of delicious mac and cheese. And you can feel a little better about eating it because the ingredients are organic. Though I don’t recommend eating a whole box (but who are we kidding… I could definitely eat the whole box!!)

3. Popcorn

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do with my family was pile on the couch and watch a movie together (back when people still did that.) We’d pick out the movie, get our bowls of popcorn ready and then proceed to have family night. So nowadays when I eat popcorn, even if just for a snack, it always reminds me of times watching Star Wars or Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones with my mom, dad and brother.

4. Spaghetti

I don’t wanna brag, but my mom’s spaghetti is amazing!!! She used to cook all kinds of things for us when we were younger, but it’s her spaghetti that stays in my childhood memories. It was that sauce… it’s always about the sauce. And hers was magical. Family dinners, also sadly a thing of the past these days, would often be spaghetti at our house. It’s delicious and easy… nuff said!

5. Bread Dough

Photo Credit: Blue Sage

My mom may be good at the spaghetti, but my dad is the bread man in the family. He even has his own homemade bread oven that he built in the backyard out of brick and clay. Living far away is not an easy thing, especially since I do not have a bread oven in my New York apartment to recreate his delicious breads. So when I’m home for the holidays, it’s the bread that I make sure to save room for… no matter what!! I will mow people down to get to that bread. (Ok not really. But it’s THAT good!)

What foods are comforting to you? I’d love to hear about it and Happy Friday!!!