Saturday 23 November 2013

Ideas For Easy Comfort Food For Cold Weather

There is nothing better than coming in from the cold  to a warm house filled with delicious smells of food wafting from the oven! We have had over 30 centimeters of snow in our city already and that means snow-shoveling on a daily basis is in full force.  In winter, my family loves nothing more than the comfort of a roast dinner complete with vegetables and gravy. It's a hearty meal which warms the belly fast and satisfies hunger like nothing else! And after a day which often includes a rushed breakfast, a brown bag lunch and snacks on the run, a hot meal is the ultimate in comfort food for our family! I love getting back to simply prepared meals that harken back to my grandparents' days!
No fancy ingredients, no obscure spices...just simple vegetables and meats roasted to perfection.
You may remember how last month I shared with you how I had the honour of being chosen as a Frigidaire Canada Ambassador through a program with Mom Central Canada, and a brand new Frigidaire Gallery  Induction Range was delivered to our home. I have to say that cooking with this range has been such a pleasure! Preparing a roast has never been easier with the help of the probe feature. The probe is designed to help cook things such as roasts, ham, poultry, meatloaf and casseroles by measuring the internal temperature of the food to ensure that it is cooked properly, safely and to the desired 'target' temperature so the food is done just the way your family likes it. It is very simple to use...just plug one end into the oven and the other end into the thickest part of the food. The probe will display the internal temperature of the food on the control panel on the oven top and will alert you with a beep when the desired 'target' is reached. This means that you can look forward to juicy poultry, tender hams and roast beef that can be done medium rare or well done. No more guessing! You can just literally walk away and leave it until the beep sounds.
Let's take a look at everything, shall we? All of these pictures are snapped with my iPhone as I was cooking in the kitchen so you are seeing everything in real time. Nothing is staged.
In winter, I often fill up the oven with enough food to provide for a few meals. I find that this works best for my busy schedule and for our busy family. And the Frigidaire Gallery Induction Range, with it's convection feature, makes it so easy to have a lot of food cooked in record time. Here, I am making roast potatoes & asparagus, stuffed salmon, plain chicken breasts and bacon-wrapped chicken breasts in barbecue sauce. I removed each thing from the oven as it finished cooking and whatever was not eaten that evening for dinner went into the fridge for the next day.
For the vegetables, I simply peel and chop them, spray with a little olive oil, sprinkle salt & pepper and place them in the oven on a cookie sheet with the meat and cook them until they are fork tender.

And here I filled up the oven with ribs, a roast chicken, potatoes, parsnips and carrots. It that will be enough to last our family for 2 dinners. And often I will add a green salad or coleslaw to these meals too!
This is such a great way for a busy family to get delicious and healthy meals on table fast and with minimal effort.
Another favourite comfort food for our family...homemade apple pie.
My 17 year old daughter recently made 2  lattice top apple pies and the crust was golden and delicious...cooked to perfection with tender, juicy apples inside!
Roasts and vegetables are our stand-by comfort meals...they are easy to prepare and everyone leaves the table satisfied after a wonderful meal. And our new Frigidaire Gallery Induction Range, with it's probe and convection features, make cooking roasts and vegetables oh-so-easy!
I absolutely love having a large, efficient range that I can fill up with our favourite comfort foods and know that within a few hours...I will have enough tasty meals to last for a few days!

Disclosure: I am part of the Frigidaire Canada Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Linkin up with:
Sunday Best Party, Inspiration Monday,  Monday Funday Linky Party, Craft-O-Maniac, One Project At A Time,  Tuesday Talent Show, Time To Sparkle, Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons,

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