A thought hit me today.  It's 67 degrees outside and it's been raining off and on all day, oh no, summer's almost over!  I love the summer.  I'm a January baby, so you'd think I don't mind cold weather so much.  Not so!  About this time of year,  I get just a little down so I start making my famous pot of 3 alarm chili!  Now I make chili year round, but after summer's over I switch to the OTHER chili, even if it's still 75 degrees outside.  It just  makes me feel warmer and kind of braces me for those very cold chicago winters!  What do guys cook for yourself and your family as comfort food to prepare you for winter?  It doesn't have to be meal type comfort food either, how about snacks,  I like to make trail mixes.  Any ideas?

chicagosinger 

Hi,

  Speaking of comfort foods to help with the winter season not to far away, for my family I make beef stew alot and I make it either with all the veggies or make it making a brown gravy which I serve over mashed potatoes, noodles or white rice. They love it cooked both ways. Another comfort food which I seem to have quite a bit in the colder months is homemade soup. Our favorites are chicken and beef. Also I love to make chili. I will make a big batch and freeze for future meals.

Grammasgirls

I am a major from-scratch sort of gal.  I love mashed potatoes, or meatloaf (don't make that face at me! my meatloaf is amazing... it is stuffed with honey ham and swiss cheese, and it's a one dish meal with carrots and potatoes cooking in the sauce), or shepherds' pie.  That last one is an easy one to make, and always looks so pretty, with just some mashed potatoes, veggies, and meat (leftovers!), then some biscuit mix and a little shredded cheese on there. 

Soup is another good one.  French onion soup is a great thing to make yourself to cut down on the sodium, especially with those low-sodium broths out there.  I make the croutons in the oven by basically cutting up my bread, reassembling it, sprinkling with cheese, and baking until the cheese is nice and brown.  This is easier than the restaurant method, since I don't have broiler-safe mugs/bowls.