Comfort food

In most parts of the county, it’s beginning to show definite signs of fall. Although the passing of summer always makes me a little sad, knowing what’s coming makes me feel a lot better. And what’s coming?

Comfort food.

We all have our own definition of comfort food; to one person, it might be mom’s macaroni-and-cheese. To others, it might be homemade tomato soup, or a nice big dish of homemade lasagna. Regardless of what it is, there’s one thing every comfort food recipe has in common – it’s homemade.

I have a few comfort food dishes – my mom’s meatloaf, or my own chocolate cake recipe. But my favorite, on a cool fall evening, is definitely a dish I like to call Spanish Chicken. Plus, it’s a crockpot recipe, so that’s another great reason to keep it in your rotation:

Spanish Chicken

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken, or cut up parts (enough to fill the crockpot about 1/2 of the way)
• Two medium cans (or one large can) of stewed tomatoes (or you can do what I do and use a quart of home-preserved tomatoes)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 1/2 cups peppers (you can either cut up some bells, toss in some hot peppers if you like too, or use the ones that come frozen)
• One onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• Half a jar or so (about a dozen) green stuffed olives (the kind you put in martinis, although you can use the big ones too)
• One bay leaf
• Basil
• Oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dump all the ingredients into the pot (you can estimate the basil/oregano; about a tablespoon dried of each should be plenty). Set the crockpot to cook about 6 hours, and let it go to Keep Warm after that.

This dish is especially good over some rice; it tastes even better the second day. Do you have any special dishes you consider comfort food? We’d love to hear about them – share with us in the comments!