Winter is a great time to indulge in comfort foods — those hot and delicious dishes from our childhood and family dining experiences that we remember fondly.
What says “comfort food” to you? Maybe it’s a platter of meatloaf made from your mom’s old recipe, with sides of mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. It could be a pot of spaghetti and meatballs or a big bowl of chili with cheddar cheese melted on it.
Comfort foods are the meals that take you back to a happy and perhaps safer place. In a world of financial insecurity and pandemics, this might just be what gets you through the long, cold nights of winter.
Comfort Food Doesn’t Have to Be Homemade
Not everyone has the time, energy, or inclination to come home from work and create home-cooked meals for family dining every night. But you don’t have to slave for hours over a hot stove to recreate some delicious menu items.
We asked our friends at Zorbas Family Dining to recommend some of their top winter takeaway favorites. Their suggestions are listed below.
Stuffed Peppers
This simple meal is surprisingly filling on a cold winter’s night. You can order family-size offerings of stuffed peppers at many family-style restaurants even when they may not be open for indoor seating. Want to make it even healthier? Ask for side salads to go as well.
Roast Beef in Mushroom Gravy
Your mouth will start watering just thinking about a succulent cut of beef, slow-cooked to bring out its flavor, topped by delicious homemade mushroom gravy. Roast a few red new potatoes topped with olive oil and rosemary in the oven for standout flavor in your side dish and serve with the family’s favorite vegetable.
Chicken Pot Pie
Call in a takeout order of chicken pot pie to your favorite family dining restaurant just before leaving work. That way, the meat, and natural juices will still be bubbling hot beneath that delectably flaky crust when you serve the chicken pot pie to your family. Bon appetit!
Pepper Steak and Rice
What’s not to like about a family-size order of pepper steak grilled with green peppers and onions over a bed of rice? A salad on the side rounds out your order and covers the essential food groups. Who says comfort food can’t be made healthfully?
Serving Comfort Foods this Winter as Easy as Dialing the Phone
Just because you can’t eat out at your favorite family dining restaurants right now does not mean that you are hopelessly yoked to the kitchen each evening. Most restaurants have done laudable jobs transitioning to the new normal by adapting their menus to include family-style takeaway meal favorites.
Not only are you feeding your family members the comfort foods they crave on cold winter nights. You are also helping local restaurants keep afloat in these trying times. So give guilt the boot and relax. Your dinner menu full of delicious comfort foods is only a phone call away!
