Favorite Cold Weather Meal

[Pinusresinosa]

New England Boiled Dinner!! I love the way the turnips add to the meal, along with the sweet potatoes, and cabbage. Of course the meat is the main ingredient.

Then, there is Cajun Red Beans and Steamed Rice.

Or chili, with a pan of cornbread...baked up hot in a cast iron skillet.

I had never heard of boiled dinner till I moved to Minnesota! I learned from my mother in law to make it, and I make it a little differently but I suspect the principle is about the same. You get out your biggest giantest deepest pan, brown an entire beef and pork roast in the bottom in butter, garlic, and onions, season the heck out of the roasts, then add an entire chopped head of cabbage, a bunch of potatoes, carrots, celery, and rutabagas, and whatever else- fill with beef stock or whatever, stick the lid on, and let it simmer for a few hours.

I make home made chicken noodle soup with home made noodles which my girls love to help with. Make an egg noodle dough with of course, fresh eggs from the coop, cut them nice and thick and let them dry on the table as your kids and husband sneak raw noodles to snack on and I spend the afternoon smacking sneaky hands. Fresh herbs and veggies from the windowsill and dried stuff, whatever I have. We raised our own cornish x's this year so I've been using stock and meat from them and boy it's out of this world soup!

I grew up on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and chowder was popular. My parents made a clam "chowder" which was more like a soup and it was my very most favorite soup back then. Whole fresh steamed clams, bottles of clam juice, cream, veggies... in bread bowls. YUM!

I sometimes troll Facebook for people who grow Japanese persimmons and I beg them to let me buy a big box of them and have them shipped here because I can't buy them around here. I made puddings and cakes with them and they're one of our favorites. So sweet and delicious and wonderful to eat with hot tea as you watch the snow fly. I haven't been lucky yet this year on finding anyone willing to let me pay them for their fruit. But I'll keep trying.

Chop a winter squash in half (my favorite are the acorns, I grew some this year in the garden thank goodness), spoon out the middles (feed middles to chickens) and throw in butter and brown sugar. Bake those puppies and BAM, a self contained bowl of delicious sweet squash. Better than pie I think.

 

[digitS']

Now where can I get chestnuts. ..?

We don't have those nut trees here.

The cook ordered them from Amazon.

digitS'
with persimmons on the kitchen table

 

[so lucky]

Gosh, I'm getting hungry.
I have a chuck roast in the crock pot for supper, with potatoes, carrots and onions.
While at a little café in Nashville last week, I tried celery and blue cheese soup. It was really yummy.

 

[Nyboy]

Steve this time of year your supermarkets don't have chestnuts?

 

[Smart Red]

Chop a winter squash in half (my favorite are the acorns, I grew some this year in the garden thank goodness), spoon out the middles (feed middles to chickens) and throw in butter and brown sugar. Bake those puppies and BAM, a self contained bowl of delicious sweet squash. Better than pie I think.

Oh, @digitS', I am so with you on the squash! At my first house, the acorn squash were so sweet we didn't even need the brown sugar. For some reason, they aren't quite as sweet growing here. Still delicious, but requiring some brown sugar, or even better with maple or agave syrup.

At this time of year, soup is THE favorite weather meal, although a hearty stew, shepherd's pie, or boiled dinner calls my name for Sunday's special fare.

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, do you have a Whole Foods nearby? You might find some there.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I can't think of ever seeing chestnuts. There are so many horse chestnuts I may have trained myself to ignore them. I've only eaten the real deal in Vancouver, BC. Neither hickory, pecan nor even walnut country ... altho walnut pie is sometimes called Washington nut pie, that wetside WA climate is seriously different.

Ah well, this isn't far from important fruit country! Pear soup ... with hazelnuts???

Steve

 

[baymule]

Favorite cold weather meal.......shrimp gumbo! I make an awesome shrimp gumbo! Spooned over rice, piping hot and liberally splashed with Tabasco sauce.

Potato soup. Topped with chopped green onions, grated sharp cheddar cheese, crumbled crispy bacon and garlic French bread.

Chicken mole. Whole, deboned, boiled chicken in broth and a glass jar of Mole to make a thick sauce, served over rice and sliced Jalepenos on top.

Chili made with home grown tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, spices and Tabasco.

 

[Smart Red]

I'm putting on weight just reading through this thread.

Did I mention my corn chowder? A real crowd pleaser around here and simple to make.

 

[thistlebloom]

I still say soup is hot.
and if it's not...
it's a smoothie.