10 Favorite Things to Fix When Snowed In or Just Dealing with Nasty Weather

I was reading a foodie blog the other day (I apologize for not remembering which one) and the author talked about research that was done regarding the most common foods folks fix when either snowed in, or otherwise dealing with inclement weather. Here's the list:

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies (no surprises here)
2. Chili
3. Beef Stew
4. Eggs and bacon
5. Minestrone Soup
6. Chicken Noodle Soup (and if the weather is super nasty, people seem inclined to experiment with making their own noodles)
7. Muffins (MY favorite is pineapple, carrot, bran with loads of raisins)
   
8. Spaghetti and meatballs
9. Pizza
   
10. Hot chocolate (lots of experimenting goes on with this one)

Do you notice the "comfort food" theme going on? Again, no real surprises with this list. My list would probably look close to this, except that I would qualify the "eggs and bacon" with omeletes and bacon. And I would substitute Bread for the "spaghetti and meatballs." What would YOUR list look like? This question would be a fun topic of conversation at the dinner table, don't you think? I'd be curious to see how close our family members would come to this list.

Now just for fun, I thought I'd share one of Kathy's all-time crowd-pleasing cookie recipes (you can see her demonstrate this on the website), just in case a snowstorm or other inclement weather heads your way:

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL COOKIES (yield: maybe a couple dozen cookies)
1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 C walnuts, chopped
1 Tbsp sugar (for mixing with nuts)
48 Rolos (you'll find these in the candy aisle; I would need to buy much more than 48 as I LOVE them and would be sneaking them as I was mixing this recipe)

Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, cover, and chill for about 1/2 hour. Mix nuts with 1 Tbsp sugar. Press each piece of dough around one Rolo and roll into a ball. Next, roll dough ball into sugar/nuts mixture and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 min. Let cool for 3-4 min. before moving to cooling rack.

This cookie recipe is to-die for, so be sure you have a couple bags of Rolos stashed in your pantry and hope hope hope for a snowy, nasty day (but then, who really needs any excuse to make a wonderful cookie?) Do YOU have a good recipe you like to make when you need a little extra comfort? Please share--we're all in this together, remember. And until next time, let's make our "10 Favorites" List and happy cook'n!