We invite you to join us at our showroom in Frome, to browse our many products in person and speak with our team of advisors and designers about your next home improvement project.
The Top Winter Comfort Foods
Everyone tries to eat well during the summer with it being ‘bikini season’ and what not. There’s plenty of phrases that have been coined recently. Things like “no carbs before marbs” etc, etc.
Well, now that winter is round the corner, you can expect people to drop the diets they adopted in the summer for their ‘bikini bods’ and start eating like relatively normal human beings again.
Well, now that we’ve established that the winter ‘comfort food’ will be making a return, we’re going to list 5 of the top winter comfort foods. The great thing about some of these is that there’s no end to where and when you can eat them.
You could have the family round and be sat around the Christmas tree with a hot chocolate or you could be making the most of the winter sun in your conservatory having a warming bowl of macaroni and cheese. At the end of the day it’s up to you what you have and where you have it. Anyhow, without further ado, here’s our list of hearty, warming winter foods.
Grilled Cheese
This is a dish that is loved all around the world but has a number of different names and it also has a number of different ways of being prepared.
People all around the world eat it differently but one way we like to have it is with a little bit of a kick to it. Now, there’s nothing wrong with people who just like to toast a bit of bread, bung a bit of cheddar on top and then smear it in red sauce or something similar. But this is new age grilled cheese.
Jalapeño grilled cheese is something that is sure to give you a bit of warmth this winter. Don’t worry though, if you’re not overly good at dealing with spicy food then you needn’t worry as jalapeños aren’t anywhere near the spiciest chillies on the market. If you want less spicy chillies though, check this list out and choose from there. Just don’t opt for the hottest one.
If this sounds like something you’d like to spice up your winter nights, or afternoons in front of the TV then you can find the recipe here.
Pizza
This is an old classic and it’s a dish that is loved the world over. It’s readily available all around the world, from a restaurant to a take-away, it just depends on what you prefer. You can even buy them boxed and freshly made from your local supermarket.
Or, you could also make your own at home, add your own toppings and have the deepest or thinnest pan pizza you like.
Ever go into a supermarket and not like every ingredient on the pizzas on offer? Well, why not make your own in the kitchen? Especially if it’s cold out, you can warm yourself up by following this recipe for making the dough. After you’ve done that you simply add your own toppings and voila, you have your own, made to measure pizza. A perfect winter warmer, especially with some chillies on it!
Pasta Bake
Pasta bake, for those of you who don’t know is pretty much what it says on the tin. For those of you out there who are pasta lovers then this may be one for you to try if you haven’t already.
This is another one that will warm you to the core in those winter months that are fast approaching. It’s basically all or any of your favourite ingredients bunged into a cheesy pot of pasta that is then baked until nicely crisp on top.
There’s so many different varieties of pasta bake out there that it would have been wrong to limit you to just one choice, so here’s three.
- Smoked bacon, mushroom and chilli pasta bake.
- Chorizo, pepper and mozzarella pasta bake.
- Creamy salmon pasta bake.
Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is one of the most popular hot drinks in the world. It’s a drink that can be turned into quite a Christmassy drink and sometimes, it’s good to just curl up on the sofa in your ‘comfies’ (comfy/chill out clothes) and slap a film on and relax with a hot chocolate.
Now, many people are happy to settle for drinking that shop bought stuff but there’s much better hot chocolate waiting for you if you took a little extra time to actually make it yourself, from scratch.
That satisfying feeling as you’re placing your marshmallows on top, knowing you’ve just made possibly the tastiest hot drink you’ll ever set your lips on. Perhaps you’re not a fan of normal hot chocolate. Well, fear not!
Here’s a recipe for making yourself some white hot chocolate. If you’re not a fan of the white kind of chocolate then fear not, there’s some awesome recipes out there for those of you who are of the darker preference.
Here’s the recipe for Jamie Oliver’s cinnamon-spiked homemade hot chocolate. The next one is another recipe straight from Jamie Oliver. Here’s the recipe for his hot chocolate with melt-in-your-mouth marshmallows.
Chocolate Puddings
There’s a huge, huge love of pudding in the winter. Whether it be jam roly poly or sticky toffee pudding, both with custard of course.
However, there’s a rather large love of chocolate based desserts when it comes to winter. Now, as it was with the pasta bake, it’d be nasty to leave you with just one option of chocolatey based, desserty goodness, so here’s a choice.
- Chocolate and mint truffle, straight from the depths of Marie Claire.
- Flourless chocolate cake which means no mess when you bake. Well, less mess.
- Frozen hot chocolate. A bit different from normal hot chocolate to say the least.