Chili

One of the foods I always crave around this time of year is chili.  During the freezing winters we have here in upstate New York it's great to come in from the cold and warm up with a nice big bowl of chili.

I know that sometimes people put some crazy things in their chili - I entered this recipe into a Chili Cook-Off this week at work and there were entries with beer, wine, and even chocolate!  The recipe that won had quite a few of those unusual ingredients. 

Roast Beef

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods.  My grandmother used to make it after church on Sunday afternoons when I was growing up and every time I make this it reminds me a little bit of my childhood.  Thanks to some shortcuts that my mom discovered this recipe is also quite simple.

Gravy

This is my standard recipe that I use for pretty much any gravy I make.  This recipe was passed down from my mom (and possibly from her mom) and it's one of the first recipes my mom ever shared with me.  It's also incredibly easy, which is a big plus.  We use it every year on Thanksgiving with our turkey and every time we make roast beef.

Honey Cookies

Nothing is quite as wonderful to me during the Christmas season as Christmas cookies.  They have this magical ability to take me back to my childhood.  On my mom's side of the family we usually had two kinds of cookies: the usual cut-outs that so many people know and love, and these honey cookies.  The recipe came from my mom's mom, who is Finnish.  This is the only Finnish food I can ever remember my grandma making, but if the rest of Finnish cuisine is like this then maybe I should invest in a Finnish cookbook!

There is only one problem with these cookies:  You have to let them cure for about two weeks after making them before you can eat them.  And trust me when I say that once you've had them you won't want to wait two weeks!  Lucky for you that there's still 16 days till Christmas so there's plenty of time for you to make a batch of these honey cookies for your family.

Spam Casserole

I am well aware that after reading the title of this recipe I probably lost about half of my readership.  I know that spam is just one of those things that you either love it or hate it, with no in-between.  But for those of you who stuck around, either out of curiosity or because you actually like spam, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at this recipe.

Chicken French

Quite possibly one of the tastiest regional dishes I know is chicken french.  It wasn't until recently that I discovered that this delicious chicken dish with a lemon and white wine sauce is native to the Upstate New York area.  I can't fathom going your whole life without trying this dish!  So for those of you who aren't from my neck of the woods, I present to you my recipe for chicken french.

Creamed Salmon on Toast

While it may sound strange to some of you, creamed salmon on toast was one of my favorite meals growing up. It's warm and creamy, and perfect when accompanied by canned sweet peas. Not fresh peas, not frozen peas, and certainly not any other vegetable. Trust me on this one. Canned peas. As I was making it for dinner the other night I realized it would be great to share as my next blog. I think it's perfect for a nice spring dinner, especially here in New York, where we tend to get random cold snaps as late as June some years. This is a quick dish you can throw together with things you probably already have in your kitchen.