Comfort food means different things to different people, but its food that makes you feel safe and secure. Usually comfort food is food that Mom made when you were sick or sad. I also think of comfort food as food that reminds you of good times. We often ate Chili and Corn Pudding while watching football games during football season- fall and winter, so I think of it as “feel warm food”, which brings back great memories of being safe and warm and together on Sundays as a family.
I once heard someone explain the difference between baking and cooking this way: In baking you have to follow the recipe exactly, in cooking you don’t. Although that is not totally true, cooking is much more flexible, as you will see in the recipes below.
These are 2 very easy recipes for quick and easy comfort food- and perfect for football- like the Superbowl.
Corn Pudding
10 min prep | 45 min bake | servings 12
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- 1 ( 8 1/2 oz ) box Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
- 1 ( 15-16 oz ) can Whole Kernel Corn with juice
- 1 ( 15-16 oz ) can of Cream Corn
- 1 stick of melted butter or margarine
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs (I have seen recipes with 0, 1 or 2 eggs so see what you like best, or use ‘em if you have ‘em.)
How to make:
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until blended. Pour into a 9” x 13” (or 2 quart flat glass) baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean.
LifeSkill Secret: Prepping ground beef for multiple uses
I like to buy 3 pound packs (less cost per pound for the larger amount) of ground beef on sale. This way I do the work only once for 3 meals. This way you have the ground beef all ready for this or other dishes and you have saved on the cost of the ground beef.
- Brown the beef by crumbling into a 12” skillet (9 or 10” if just one pound) over medium heat and brown it. Be sure its thoroughly cooked through.
- Cool it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
- Split it into 3 quart freezer bags, seal tightly (get the air out), label (date and contents) and freeze (or use 1 pound and freeze 2).
You can also brown it with 1 diced onion per pound, then the onion part is done too. You can also cook the garlic cloves here too.
Chili
If beef, onions, garlic from frozen: 10 min prep | 1 hour cook | servings 4
If cooking beef, onions, garlic from raw: 30 min prep | 1 hour cook | servings 4
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 Medium onion chopped
- 1-3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 can kidney beans (I use dark red)
- 1 can tomatoes- I use diced without additional spices, but use what you like)
- 2t- 1T (more if you like) Chili powder
Optional toppings:
- Shredded cheese (cheddar, cheddar jack, jalapeno)
- Sour cream
- Chopped onion or scallions
How to make:
- Chop the onion
- Mince the cloves of garlic
- Brown the ground beef and onion in a skillet ((9 or 10” if just one pound, 12” if 2-3 pounds) over medium heat until cooked through (don’t cook higher or you will toughen the protein in the meat. Be sure it’s completely cooked).
- Part way through the cooking, add the garlic.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan (2 liter or 2 quart) put the contents of the cans and the chili powder.
- When the beef mixture is cooked and drained, add to the saucepan.If using a frozen bag of ground beef , defrost in the microwave (defrost or 30% for 5 minutes) or add frozen and cook longer. If you didn’t add onions and garlic to the ground beef when you cooked it to freeze, you can either brown them in a little olive oil and add below, or put them in raw.
- Heat over a medium-low heat uncovered. If it spits, lower the heat a bit. Simmer for about an hour so the flavors mix.
- Serve with grated cheddar cheese on top, and sour cream if you like. If you add lots of chili powder to the chili, you may want to add diced onions on top. I like Corn Pudding underneath my chili.
Watch for another post or two with more recipes for easy, throw-it-together comfort foods that use frozen (or freshly browned) ground beef.
Enjoy the game!
