Feel Good Recipes
Call them comfort foods or treats, some things we eat make us feel good— inside and out. Try a few of these noodler recipes to put a snap in your step: Mock Waldorf Salad, Chocolate Fondue, Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, and Orange Cranberry Scones.If you’re in the mood for a quick and tasty lunch, try RITA Award-winning Historical romance author Diane Gaston’s Mock Waldorf Salad.
Diane’s Mock Waldorf Salad
One apple cut into chunks
1/8 cup chopped walnuts
4 oz. lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped celery
1-2 tsp splenda
Mix everything together and enjoy.
302 calories, but it tastes like a treat!
Diane Gaston http://dianegaston.com Scandalizing the Ton, Oct 2008. Still available online"...sensitive, compassionate and sensual romance ..." Romantic Times BOOKreviews
What would an offering of Feel Good Recipes be without chocolate? Here’s a recipe from noodler and 2008 Golden Heart finalist Priscilla Kissinger. “My girls, Brian and I looooove easy chocolate fondue. It's an easy, fast treat for special occasions, or to just brighten a regular day with a delicious treat.”
Diane’s Mock Waldorf SaladOne apple cut into chunks
1/8 cup chopped walnuts
4 oz. lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped celery
1-2 tsp splenda
Mix everything together and enjoy.
302 calories, but it tastes like a treat!
Diane Gaston http://dianegaston.com Scandalizing the Ton, Oct 2008. Still available online"...sensitive, compassionate and sensual romance ..." Romantic Times BOOKreviews
What would an offering of Feel Good Recipes be without chocolate? Here’s a recipe from noodler and 2008 Golden Heart finalist Priscilla Kissinger. “My girls, Brian and I looooove easy chocolate fondue. It's an easy, fast treat for special occasions, or to just brighten a regular day with a delicious treat.”
Priscilla Kissinger’s Chocolate Fondue
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
Dipping items: (almost any fruit, but here are our preferences)
pineapple chunks
banana slices
fresh strawberries
cherries
marshmallows (mini mallows or slice large mallows in halves)
chunks of angel food cake
peanut butter (drop a spoonful onto your plate and drizzle chocolate on top)
Heat fondue pot/small crock pot at low heat. Pour whipping cream and chocolate chips into pot.Stir until melted.Keep on low.
Technique: Using fondue forks, pierce dipping item with fork, dip into chocolate and enjoy.For less mess, we usually place dipping items onto a small plate, drizzle fondue over the pieces then sit back and enjoy.
Harlequin American author Lee McKenzie’s favorite feel good recipe is homemade mac-n-cheese. Try this and win raves from your family.
Lee’s Macaroni and Cheese8 ounces macaroni
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon flour
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the package. While it cooks, melt the butter in a small saucepan, whisk in the flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper, milk and eggs, and simmer till it thickens, stirring constantly. Stir in the cheese.Drain the macaroni and put it in an oven-proof skillet or shallow baking dish. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and mix well.Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the top is bubbly and golden.
Lee McKenzie www.leemckenzie.com
For me, baked goods equal comfort. The following is a recipe for Cranberry Orange scones that is similar to the one I cannot find, so I can’t call it my own. Don’t you hate it when you lose a favorite recipe?!
Cranberry Orange Scones
courtesy of Bon Apetit November 1998 on Epicurious.com
3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chilled buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Mix in orange peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature. (Warm is better!)
How about you? What are your comfort foods? Do you have a recipe you’d like to share?
Lee McKenzie www.leemckenzie.com
For me, baked goods equal comfort. The following is a recipe for Cranberry Orange scones that is similar to the one I cannot find, so I can’t call it my own. Don’t you hate it when you lose a favorite recipe?!
Cranberry Orange Scones
courtesy of Bon Apetit November 1998 on Epicurious.com
3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chilled buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Mix in orange peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature. (Warm is better!)
How about you? What are your comfort foods? Do you have a recipe you’d like to share?
Labels: Diane Gaston, feel good recipes, Lee McKenzie, Priscilla Kissinger
posted by Mo H @ 6:00 AM
13 Comments:
Oh, yum. I've got some family favorite recipes on my website -- too lazy to type them into a comment here. (And if you dig through my blog, I posted my daughter's recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cake, which I tried last week. It's definitely a KEEPER!)
You'll have to dig for it, though. I don't remember exactly what day I posted it. But my blog is here.
Wow, ladies, those recipes are all scrumptious sounding.
I love something with pasta or rice for comfort food. My husband makes me green curry chicken as one of our comfort food staples.
Okay, Terry - you have to post the Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe or please send it to my email - diannaATauthordiannalove.com
My husband is a big Guinness fan so I've got to try that out for him.
The best part of the cake (although hubby loved it) was that the other 5 bottles of Guinness weren't part of the recipe, so he drank it. Just search my blog -- type Guinness Chocolate Cake into the search bar, and you should go right to it. It's the Dec 22 entry. (Beware -- it creates a lot of dirty dishes).
Fabulous recipes! Definitely copying these to put in my notebook and more important, sending them to Mom - the queen of all cooks!
A quick and easy comfort food that my late DH came up with and loved to make is Dr. Rog's World Famous Hamburger Garbage
1 pound ground beef
1 can Van Camp's Pork n Beans
1 can instant biscuits
Cheddar cheese (as much as you like)
Ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce
Brown the ground beef, drain the grease. Add the beans and mix over low heat. Add the condiments to taste. It is absolutely up to you. Keep tasting til you love it.
Pour mixture into casserole dish. Top with the biscuits. Grate the cheese over the biscuits.
Cook according to the instructions on the biscuits. Essentially you're just cooking the biscuits and melting the cheese.
Voila ! A casserole that is guaranteed to stick to your ribs and take you down for a nice comforting nap!
Yummm :-). All these recipes look great!
Lee, my #1 comfort food is mac & cheese. We usually doctor a box mix with extra white sauce ingredients and lots of extra grated cheddar. One of our favorite dinners is mac & cheese with cubed ham and freshly cooked broccoli mixed in.
Terry, I'll be looking for that Guinness cake recipe :-)!
This all sounds yummy, especially the mac and cheese. I LOVE mac and cheese. But then, I'm a bit of a carbo loader.
Obviously you all are not on a New Year's Diet! My lo-cal Waldorf Salad just can't compete with Chocolate fondue, Guiness Chocolate Cake, Mac and Cheese and that Biscuit and Hamburger and Bean casserole.
This post gives me no comfort!!!!! I'm experiencing intense cravings that apples and cottage cheese just won't satisfy!!!!
Diane, I hear you! Yummy and not fair!!!
I want to try them all. You're all making me crave mac and cheese, that's for sure!
And Louisa, I have to try that crazy hamburger dish...I love that kind of stuff.
Omigosh, you all make me want to go back to cooking regularly! But then my cook would think I'd remembered how, and he'd step aside. Can't have that!
Still, that Waldorf would give room for the chocolate fondue, and I could call the macaroni and cheese an investment in my daily calcium intake...
Louisa, we've done that ground beef thing using Nalley's chili. It's fabulous!
Now I'm starving. I'm going to have to make mac and cheese for an afternoon snack!
Thanks for the great ideas!
Rachel
Terry O, thanks for sharing your Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe! Yum. A writer friend and I sometimes get together at an Irish-style pub, and Guinness brownies are one of their desserts. I've never tried one, but next time I'll be tempted!
Glad to share -- spreading the calories! Speaking of comfort food, I made our favorite white chili yesterday.
Post a Comment
<< Home
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]