Some Winter Comfort Foods

Right now I'm sitting by daughter Sarah in her hospital room, writing as she sleeps.  Thank you to all of you who have offered prayers and kind thoughts for her surgery yesterday, which was complicated and dangerous, yet went well.  Aside from the expected pain, Sarah's recovery so far has gone smoothly, too.

Lately I've been reading lots of blogs in which writers are sharing a variety of favorite Christmas recipes, decorations, and crafts.  I'm not quite ready to dive completely into Christmas mode yet, so I thought that today I'd simply share with you a tiny sampling of some of the recent comfort foods our family has enjoyed.

First is a simple make-it-up-as-you-go recipe for Bar-B-Q muffins.

I bought ready made pie crusts and cut them into circles with a biscuit cutter.  Press them down into the muffin holes, then fill them with whatever mixture you put together.

I browned some ground beef with onions and a few green peppers, and added some bar-b-q sauce.  After spooning some of the mix into each muffin hole, I topped each with grated sharp cheese.

Served with a salad, this was a delicious and very simple meal.

I suppose you could do a similar thing with leftover chicken or turkey, or even make little chili muffins. Next time I make this I will combine cooked turkey, onions, green beans and cream of chicken soup.  I will sprinkle fried onion rings on top.  Probably cheese too.  Always cheese for me.  Yup.

Another day I had twin granddaughters Tori and Brianna over, and we decided to make an easy one dish meal together for the family.

This casserole is put together in layers, making it a simple recipe for young kids to put together allbytheirownselves.  I prepared the bottom layer of cooked ground beef with onions before they arrived.

Here are the layers from bottom to top.

cooked ground beef with onions
frozen mixed vegetables
cream of mushroom soup
frozen Tater Tots
grated cheese

And finally, I need to throw a dessert into the blog.  I will warn you ahead that this recipe is not exactly healthy, and once you eat a piece of this Monkey Bread you will throw all restraint right out the window.

Buy several tubes of canned refrigerator biscuits and cut each biscuit into fourths.  Dip them into melted butter then shake them in a ziploc bag containing a mix of sugar and cinnamon.  Drop them all into a greased bundt pan and bake.

 The incredible gooey goodness of these sweet treats is amazing!  This recipe is truly a family favorite, and as I write this I am planning to write these ingredients onto my next grocery list.

I could see even throwing a few nuts or raisins into the pan here and there too for a change.

Well folks, perhaps if you have been in a bit of a "menu slump," I've given you a few ideas.

Bon appetit!