Comfort Food Essentials E-Book

Kim Wilcox

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 188

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Nothing beats a warm, cozy meal, and Comfort Food Essentials is here to provide you with endless ideas for everyone's favorite kind of food! From breakfast, lunch, and dinner to sides, breads, desserts, and even toppings and condiments, this comfort food cookbook features over 100 hearty recipes the whole family is sure to love. Featuring recipes for chicken noodle soup, pizza, mac and cheese, meatloaf, chili, and so much more, each all-time favorite, down-home recipe is sure to warm your heart and soul as you gather around the table and dig in. Author Kim Wilcox is the owner of the popular family-owned restaurant It's All So Yummy in Knoxville, Tennessee. She is the author of The Great Book of Grilled Cheese and her recipes have also appeared in the best-selling title, The Ultimate Spam® Cookbook.

Leseprobe

© 2023 by Kim Wilcox and Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Comfort Food Essentials is an original work, first published in 2023 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders.

Photography by Chris Grove. Food styling by the author and Chris Grove.

Print ISBN 978-1-4971-0320-7eISBN 978-1-6374-1157-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023938670

To learn more about the other great books from Fox Chapel Publishing, or to find a retailer near you, call toll-free 800-457-9112 or visit us at www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: Tools and Tips

Cooking Utensils

Making Substitutions

Time-Honored Cooking Tips

RECIPES

CHAPTER 2: Breakfast Favorites

CHAPTER 3: Sweet and Savory Breads

CHAPTER 4: Satisfying Soups

CHAPTER 5: Hearty Sandwiches

CHAPTER 6: Childhood Comforts

CHAPTER 7: Memorable Main Dishes

CHAPTER 8: Delectable Desserts

CHAPTER 9: Beloved Beverages

CHAPTER 10: Favorites from My Chef Friends

RECIPE CONVERSIONS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Introduction

“Comfort food is the food that makes us feel good, satisfied, calm, cared for, and carefree. It’s food that fills us up emotionally and physically. Finding comfort in food is a basic human experience.”—Ellie Krieger

Decorating cookies is an annual family event. Someone was always the first and last one at the table: my daughter Sydney.

Comfort food is defined as “food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.” As I see it, it’s not any specific food (although we all have our favorites). It’s food that reminds you of good times. Food that soothes your soul and mends broken hearts. Foods that are like a big warm hug when you need it most. It’s holiday gatherings, family tradition, and memories. Comfort food is any dish that truly makes you feel better. In this book, you’ll find recipes for food to set the soul at ease, including some of the most popular comfort foods like mac and cheese (here), spaghetti (here), chicken noodle soup (here), pizza (here), meatloaf (here), lasagna (here), homemade ice cream (here), and so many more ranging from conventional favorites to unexpected delights.

My restaurant is known for tried-and-true comfort food and grilled cheese (perhaps the ultimate comfort food), but many of my warmest memories are related to foods cooked by my mom and grandmothers. It wasn’t just the food they cooked; it was the comfort that it would bring us and the joy they had in making it for us. They would each add their own special touch to everything they prepared, whether it was my mom making sure we had dessert or grandma serving us in her threadbare apron.

My granddaughter Halo’s mom and dad both love to cook and she is always right there helping them.

The passing on of traditional family comfort food recipes is something that fills my heart with joy. It is important to me that my family have a record of our shared recipes and the stories and memories tied to them. Almost all of these dishes have been prepared for me when I was young, and I’ve subsequently made them for my own kids and grandkids. Whether it’s tweaking a family recipe in the restaurant and watching a customer savor that first delicious bite or teaching my grandkids to make the perfect cookies in my home kitchen, it’s the love behind a meal that creates the best flavor.

Comfort food is about sharing with others. It’s food that comes from the heart and spills out warmth and kindness to everyone who partakes. My hope is that you will enjoy these dishes as much as my family has!

—Kim

My grandson Bentley loves to help us out at the café! Here he is helping me roll dog treats! (We cater to our guests’ pets too!)

Sydney often talked Alley into pulling a chair up to the counter and joining her for a creative cooking afternoon!

My daughter Alley kissing a turkey! We have a family game we play where we dare each other to eat items left on the table. Alley won $5 for kissing the turkey!

Beautiful handwritten recipe cards add a special touch when cooking family favorites.

CHAPTER 1

Tools and Tips

The cooking process, whether you’re cooking as a family or simply preparing a meal to share, is part of the joy that makes something a comfort food in the first place! Your grandma’s favorite rolling pin is just one of the secret ingredients to creating her signature pie crust, for example. The tools we use and the family tips and traditions we follow all combine to create the shared experiences and joys provided by comfort food favorites.

Cooking Utensils

If you peek into any cook’s kitchen you are bound to find an assortment of their favorite tools of the trade. We all have those items that either make our adventure in the kitchen easier, more nostalgic, or both. For some it’s the latest gadgets and gizmos, for others it’s tools passed down through their family. Whatever you choose, it has to work for you and serve your culinary needs. A lot of my tools and décor were passed down from my family or are items that hold special memories for me. Here are a few of my favorite pieces to use.

Bundt Pans

Bundt pans were popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. Sadly, I don’t think that a lot of people make Bundt cakes anymore. Because I love all things nostalgic, I use them for a few cakes and for some breads that I make. You will see in the cookbook how I used them for my pull-apart breads (see here).

Cast Iron

My grandmother used cast iron to fry catfish, cook cornbread, and sauté okra. I use cast iron as much as I possibly can, as you will see in the recipes. I like the way well-seasoned cast iron cooks and how easy the cleanup is, and cast-iron cookware is very durable and has a nostalgic feel. I have a very large collection of cast iron that I am very proud of, and my children have already called dibs on it.

Spoon Rest