Comfort Food.

It's raining outside, and I'm enjoying my morning cup of Pero. (Closest to the now-defunct Postum I can find, thanks to my friend Aimee!) I've been mulling over what to fix for dinner tonight, when it's cold and rainy like this. Of course if it was ten degrees colder we'd be buried in SNOW, which would be awesome, but I digress...

I have dishes I only fix in Winter. Like most of you do. Summer is too hot for hot casseroles and homemade soups and double chocolate carmel brownies, so I actually cook and bake more in Winter. I have a really yummy (and easy) Chili recipe, which I make with sweet cornbread. I have a clam chowder recipe that is SO yummy, but I have to get the bread bowls at Panera. I'm no good at making them. ;-) Although I imagine they're not that hard.

The kids and I love Stroganoff, but Hubby would rather stab his eyes out than eat the stuff, so I think I'll fix it when he's in NYC next week. My neighbor informed me it starts becoming "shorts weather" in mid to late February, here (CAN YOU SAY HALLELUJAH?????), so I don't have a whole lot of "comfort food" nights left.

Anyone have a fantastic and easy comfort food recipe? I've pasted my chili recipe at the end of this post, its so easy it should be CRIMINAL. Yet so yummy!

Thing One has been sick. I took her to the dr. yesterday. It's viral. She's had a high fever for three days now, and she's a total snot-sucking zombie. (I know, GREAT mental picture, right?) I'm sure she'd appreciate me telling you all. But the poor thing really has it bad. Luckily she can get most of her homework online with MOODLE, so she's not behind. Gotta stay on the honor roll! (And yes, I won't go so far as to put a bumper sticker on my car but I am proud of her honor-roll student status--so indulge me the occasional shout out.) ;-)

And now, folks, I have officially run out of time. Gotta get moving! Happy Thursday!

Lara's Quick and Easy Crockpot Chili: (Serves four, I usually double it for our family of six!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 Pound Ground Beef, 1 can dark red Kidney beans, drained, 1 can light kidney beans, drained, 1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomato, undrained, 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce, 2 small onions, chopped, 4 cloves garlic, minced, 2 Tb. Chili powder**, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 cup water

Brown beef, drain fat. Pour into crock pot, add rest of ingredients, stir well and cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Ten minutes before serving, remove crockpot lid (keep heat on) and let thicken. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese. Yum!

 **If you have kids with "weenie mouths" like mine, cut the chili powder to 1Tb. It still has a "little" heat, but not too much for kiddos. Also, if you're low on fresh ingredients, minced garlic in a jar and dehydrated onion (reconstitute it first) works just fine.