10 Best Comfort Foods ...

Chicken fresh from the fryer always makes me think of when I was little and we would go to Grandma's house for Sunday dinner. She makes the best fried chicken! Yum! We would all gather around the table and share stories about the past week. It was like an energy booster for the week to come. This was a perfect time to just hang out and be happy for all of us being together. It's amazing how happiness was all about simple things back then.

This is one of those comfort foods that I seem to fall back on quite a bit, even though it isn't listed as my number one fave. For some reason, this reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons, back when we didn't need cable or a satellite dish to watch them. Cartoons were on until about noon, then mom would make me some mac and cheese for lunch. And ofcourse this is one of the best foods to gain weight.

I think this kind of goes along with the fried chicken. I do like an occasional bowl of mashed potatoes by itself every now and then though. They also make me remember when I'd go to the afternoon buffet with my grandparents. I would always get mashed potatoes and creamy gravy. Sometimes that's all I'd eat!

Hmm, I don't know what makes cake fall into the category of comfort foods, but I know it sure makes me remember my childhood. I can recall many birthdays growing up. I even find this type of food comforting if I'm just making it, not necessarily eating it. I get a warm fuzzy feeling decorating cakes! It makes me happy to create something that others will enjoy just as much as I do. My favorite cake to bake right now is the Chocolate Decadence cake! Mmmm.

Don't most people find pizza comforting? It's such a great finger food. It's even better when shared with a group of friends. I do love to dress up and go for a fancy brunch but sometimes there is no better way to spend an afternoon than with a group of friends and two or three large pizzas. Eating and chatting go hand in hand with pizza.

These always make me recall all the cookouts we had during the summer. I remember hunting down sticks and my dad showing me how to sharpen the end with a pocket knife. After roasting the hot dogs and loading them up with ketchup, mustard, and relish, the stick had to be filled with at least three marshmallows. It just wasn't the perfect weenie roast without those crusty marshmallows!

I love chocolate pudding! Actually I love any dessert with chocolate. It's an all-time favorite in my list of comfort foods. This has to be topped with a giant blob of whipped cream to be the perfect comfort food. My grandmother and mom both used to layer chocolate pudding and whipped cream in a clear dessert glass for an after dinner treat. Crumbling a graham cracker over the top of the whole concoction was the only way to make it even better.

We used to have spaghetti on nights we'd rent a movie. I don't know why this always happened, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't planned this way. My dad would come home from a long day of construction work and the sauce would be simmering on the stove. After he got cleaned up, we'd sit down to a hearty spaghetti dinner with meatballs and garlic bread. I couldn't tell you what movies we watched, way back when, but I remember how great the spaghetti and meatballs tasted!

My mom would always make me chicken noodle soup when I was sick. My grandmother would make it on cold winter days. She would simmer it on the stove all day and when we came inside from playing in the snow, the soup would be ready. It was always wide egg noodles or even homemade egg noodles with big chunks of chicken in it. My family likes the hearty stuff, no stringy noodles and tiny chicken flavored cubes.

These have to be my all-time favorite dessert/ comfort food, which is why I placed it in the number one position on my list. Memories come rushing back every time I eat one. I love making them for my kids as well. My mom and I would bake a batch of these when my dad would have to go out of town for construction jobs. It always gave him a little bit of love to take with him on his journey.

This is my list of comfort foods that I fall back on, time and time again. I'm sure some people lean more towards lots of sweet snacks, but since I didn't have those growing up, most of the foods I find comforting aren't sugar based! The foods listed above often make me feel very happy and bring back lots of excellent childhood memories. What’s your favorite comfort food, and what does it remind you of?