Now This Is Comfort

What to do on a rainy, cold Saturday? No plans, no extra money for shopping, hmmmmm...... so I cooked.  I kind of fancy myself somewhat of a "foodie", not the kind of "foodie" like Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain. I'm not eating neon colored food from Vietnam or whole, fried birds like they have been know to do.  I am a "foodie" in that I like to make homemade food, try new recipes, eat more local, fresh foods. I very rarely eat fast food and I am somewhat picky about what goes into my food.  But don't get me wrong, I do like to eat out every now and then, and I have actually gotten to like shrimp and scallops in the past couple of years. It took me a long time to try them, but when I did and they were cooked right, they were soooo good.

But I digress. This IS my comfort zone. I like to take a day like this every so often and cook and bake all day while watching either the SyFy channel or NCIS marathon. No judgements, that is what I like to watch while I cook.  Today I fixed homemade cornbread.....chocolate pudding......pizza dough.....tomato soup....and cinnamon kuchen, and I truly enjoyed myself and I have a stocked freezer. (Well, I didn't freeze the pudding).

I also fixed some homemade dog food. Ever since the dog food scare a few years ago, I have been making dog food.  I still buy dry food to make sure she gets all the nutrients that she needs, and I usually give her a cup of dry along with a cup of the homemade food.  I'll brown some ground turkey, chicken or beef and then add some frozen veggies, brown rice, eggs and/or leafy greens. Sometimes I fix chicken  livers for her, that's one of her favorites.  I feel like this food is better for her and she still gets what she needs from the dry food.

My favorite cookbooks right now are The Pioneer Woman Cooks, by Ree Drummond and Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn. The recipes are simple, easy to follow, hearty food.  I hope to someday come up with some original recipes of my own.

This has been a very good day, and I was totally in my comfort zone.  Next week maybe I'll go shopping....a girl never has too many shoes!!!