In the cold winter season, we look forward to comfort food to sustain and fulfill us. For some of us, vegetables are hard to include in our comfort foods, but quite often, we do need to eat more of them! Some of the easiest vegetables to add to your dishes are onions, celery, peppers, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. Even when cooking my favourite comfort foods, I often try to max out my additions of these power veggies. 

Keeping a balance of flavours is essential to great tasting food. Chefs will use a ‘mirepoix’—a combination of two-parts onions/leeks:1-part celery:1-part carrots slowly cooked in butter or cooking oil. Within this ratio, a mirepoix can be added to a myriad of side and main dishes, or soups. You also can freeze your mirepoix combination to have on hand in portions appropriate to what you would add it to: leftover reheated mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, omelettes, and stir fries, for example.

Creamy Ham and Mushroom Supper

This recipe is nice to serve over whole grain toast or a tea biscuit topped with shredded cheese and finely chopped green or red onions—or both!

Ingredients: 

2 celery stalks, finely diced

1 can (284ml) mushrooms, drained or 2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 tbsp. butter

2 cups of thick white sauce (1/4 cup each butter and flour, 1 cup milk, salt & pepper) 

3 ½ cups cooked ham, cubed

¼ cup green onions, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute celery and mushrooms in butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add white sauce and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add ham, turn heat to low and cook until ham is heated through. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve on a halved tea biscuit or toast. 

This is an original 4-H recipe from the 70-80’s. I have embellished this recipe many different ways by adding some mirepoix, peppers, zucchini, and other starchy vegetables like peas or corn or, in a pinch, frozen mixed vegetables. Quite often, I end up adding more milk and/or flour to the sauce (doubling it) in the recipe because I have added so many vegetables! 

This next recipe is great for having a gang in to watch a hockey game. Serve hot out of the oven with tortilla chips (scoop shaped or restaurant style), mini pitas and of course, a veggie tray of celery, carrots, zucchini sticks, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

Hot Taco Dip

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 small tub (250 ml) sour cream

Beat these two ingredients together with a mixer and spread in the bottom of a 10” x 15” glass pan.

In a large heavy saucepan, cook the following:

2 lbs ground beef

1-2 onions, chopped

2-3 ribs celery chopped

(Insert any other veggies here chopped fine: tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, corn, sweet and/or hot peppers. Sliced black olives are also a nice addition. By adding extra veggies, you can stretch this out to make two pans for a larger crowd.)

1 large jar salsa (hot, medium, or mild — your preference)

1-2 packets taco seasoning mix (chili seasoning mix works too— or add Mexican/hot  seasoning to your own taste)

Directions:

Cook above mixture and drain any excess liquid to use immediately or simmer on stove uncovered to reduce the liquid and marinate flavours. Spread this mixture on the base. Cover with 2-3 cups shredded Tex-Mex cheese blend (Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella cheese). 

Bake in 325°F oven for 45 minutes or until cheese is nicely browned. Make sure your pan is not too full as it can bubble over in the oven.

Stuffed Portobellos

I made this recipe by combining my favourite ingredients in stuffed mushrooms.

Ingredients:

8 large portobello or portabella mushrooms, stems removed

1 package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 egg

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp celery salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) or regular black pepper to taste

1 ¼ cups smoked cheddar or gouda cheese, finely shredded

1 small package frozen crabmeat OR 1 cup frozen seafood mix, chopped, OR bay scallops, chopped, OR salad shrimp, thawed

¼ cup roasted red (or sweet fresh red) pepper, finely chopped

¼ cup each finely chopped onion, celery, carrot (or mirepoix)

¼ cup panko bread or cracker crumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Melted butter

Finely chopped chives for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Set portobellos on a parchment lined cookie sheet and set aside. 

With a mixer whip softened cream cheese, egg, lemon juice, garlic, celery salt, and pepper. By hand, stir in thawed seafood, smoked cheese, and chopped veggies. 

Using a medium-sized cookie scoop, place this mixture gently onto portobellos being careful not to overstuff. Gently press with fork to slightly flatten. 

Mix crumbs with parmesan and sprinkle a little over each stuffed mushroom. Drizzle with butter to cover crumbs. 

Bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until evenly browned. Watch in the last 15 minutes to avoid a mess from bubbling over. Serve hot with finely chopped chives sprinkled on top.

I love rice pudding at the best of times. It seems like the perfect snack or dessert to have on a cold day! 

This recipe is from Joan McClure in the Home United Church cookbook, 1995. Note: I do not add the cinnamon or nutmeg, vanilla, and raisins (plumped in boiling water, drained) until the end of cooking time because it makes the rice look less appealing by giving it a more brown colour. When serving, you can also add nuts for protein as a garnish and chopped fruit (apples or berries). 

Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding 

(For Crock Pot)

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing crock pot.

2 ½ cups cooked rice (2 cups water, 1 cup raw rice, 1 tsp salt cooked for 15 minutes)

1 ½ cups evaporated (I use 1 full can) or scalded milk 

2/3 cup brown or white sugar

3 tbsp butter

3 eggs, beaten

½ - 1 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup – 1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

Grease the crock pot generously with butter. Thoroughly combine rice with remaining ingredients and pour into a prepared crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 4-6 hours. Stir during the first 30 minutes. (I stir throughout the cooking time to avoid pudding sticking to the bottom and burning—it is just what happens in MY slow cooker.) 

Note: this recipe may be doubled for 112 or 144 oz models. I have an extra-large crock pot and have done up to 5 times the batch to have leftovers for a couple of days. 

Wherever you are in the cold winter, I hope you enjoy the comfort 

of your favourite hot foods! ◊

~ Carolyn Crawford can be reached at carolynbcrawf@gmail.com