All of the cold rainy weather made me think of comfort food. There are many things that I consider comfort food. Most of all it is food that is satisfying. Of course, the first one is homemade soup. I found a new recipe this year. I cannot even remember where I saw it. It sounded so good that I could not wait to try it.

Although I am not a vegetarian or a vegan, this one sounded good to me. I am sure it would be easy to make it with a vegetarian in mind.

New Vegetable Soup Recipe

2 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1 sweet potato

¢ small onion – chopped

1 c. chicken broth

¢ tsp. thyme or sprig of thyme if you have it

1 bay leaf

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 c. water

Cook the vegetables in the broth and water with the cubes until they are tender. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup. Before you begin to blend the mixture by sure to remove the bay leaf and sprig of thyme. You will have approximately one quart of soup. It was very smooth and had a wonderful taste. It was also easy and I had all of the ingredients on hand.

Usually when I serve soup, I serve some type of homemade bread. I have an electric bread maker that my son gave me years ago. It has so many recipes. When my granddaughter and her boyfriend bought one at a second-hand store, I copied some of the recipes and sent them to her telling her to try the smallest loaf first and then gauge which size loaf fits best in their machine.

Next, I went to my own cookbook. I made this casserole a while back when I entertained the neighbors and they loved it. First, let me say that I have used this with several different meats and they are all good. I have used pork, turkey, chicken, and sausage. Depending on the meat of choice I adjust the gravy. If I have cooked my own meat, I use the drippings to make the gravy. Although it is called “Thanksgiving in a Pan” it works with the variety of meats I mentioned.

I serve it with some type of apple dish. If I have applesauce, I use that – homemade is best! I also make fried apples and we enjoy that. Sometimes I just cut up an apple and put sugar and cinnamon on it. If you have some of this last variety left over, put it in with your oatmeal when you make that for breakfast.

Thanksgiving in a Pan

1 pkg. stuffing mix

2 ¢ c. of meat

2 cans green beans or I have used cooked broccoli

1 (12 oz.) jar of gravy or 1 ¢ c. homemade gravy

Pepper to taste

Cook the meat or use some that is leftover. Make the pkg. of stuffing as per box directions. Add together meat, stuffing, vegetable, and gravy. Bake in 350-degree oven for 30 minutes – covered. I use a glass 9×13 casserole when I make this.

The best part of this recipe is that you have your complete dinner when you are finished.

Most of my comfort food recipes are casseroles. Once they are put together all you have to do is wait for them to bake.

It will soon be Thanksgiving. It is not too early to begin putting dishes together. Pop them in the freezer, then thaw when ready to use. A quick warm up will make everything ready to eat.

In my book Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without cranberries. I prefer to have the fresh ones made into a relish. I use my grinder attachment for my mixer. I always used to grind them in my old-fashioned grinder like my grandma used to. The only thing bad about that is I always ended up with juice all over the floor or in a bowl that I set underneath. This method does not make a mess.

The recipe calls for 2 oranges along with the bag of fresh berries and sugar to taste. The only trouble is that the packages of cranberries are now smaller. I have found that I can use a couple apples, ground up, to keep the proportions the same.

Whatever you do, keep making your meals from scratch. They are much healthier. You have full control of all of the ingredients. There are no preservatives and no additives. Even if you do not enjoy cooking, none of these recipes take a long time to put together. Give it a try!

Ann R. Swanson writes from Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.