The Thursday Three

I'm writing this on a wet and windy afternoon, listening to the rain pounding on my roof. Our entire area is under a flood watch that seems justified, since when I went to pick the kids up from school a while ago I had to maneuver around huge puddles of standing water. The heater is cranked up, none of the dogs want to set foot outside to do their business and, all in all, it's a great day to be inside. And make some



Really Good Icky Weather Food


What is it with me? All roads seemingly lead to food lately.


















#1. Chili. Coincidentally, this is what is simmering on my stove at this exact moment. When I asked the kids this morning if anything in particular sounded good for dinner, this was the first thing I heard. Later, I braved the downpour to make a grocery run to pick up a few things I needed.

As I was standing in front of the canned tomatoes, a complete stranger (with his arms full of canned beans) said to me Is this chili weather or what? I said Funny you should mention that. In the checkout aisle the woman ringing me up said Chili, huh? That's what I'm making, too. Clearly, something is in the air. And it's spicy.






#2. Fresh baked bread. Along with the chili we're going to have my trusty standby cuban bread that the whole family loves. For those of you not familiar with cuban bread, this is a really interesting recipe. It's a yeast bread, but it's finished in about an hour and fifteen minutes start to finish. Only about five minutes of that is actually hands on time. It rises just once and then gets put into a cold oven to keep rising while it bakes.This picture is wrong, as the loaves are round and have poppy seeds on them, but you get the idea.

I've never had a bread machine, although I know lots of people who adore theirs. Back in the day, I used to make a fair amount of bread from scratch, because nothing gets out aggression better than beating the hell out of bread dough. And my whole family loves bread. But as all the other time consuming recipes went away, this one stayed. Very easy, very good, gone in no time.



#3. Lasagna. Because nothing says comfort on a blustery night like pasta. Nothing says comfort like pasta period, but it's especially soothing when the elements are raging. I load mine with veggies, which my children are too brainwashed to even complain about, so it's pretty healthy, too.

Stringy cheese. Ummm. Creamy cheese. Ummm. Cheese. I like cheese. Of course, I mess with the comfort value by loading it with red pepper flakes, but what can I say? It keeps the chill away.


I'm having somewhat of a stress eating week. For all the gory details, click here, but I warn you, it isn't pretty and I'd avoid it if it were me. So food is on my mind as I sit in my warm, dry house not wanting to go pick Gumby up from Theater class. But when I walk in the door to the smell of chili and fresh bread it'll all be okay.


What foods keep the wolf at bay in your house?