True Comfort...A meal that is perfect as is.

Today for Easter we decided to take advantage of the stormy weather in Seattle, and head to the slopes. With rumors of 16" of fresh snow in the last 48 hours, we had to get in one last ski day.  So, what does this mean from a food perspective?  Starbucks for breakfast, lodge food for lunch, quick easy comfort food for dinner.  It's kind of our ritual; there's something almost comforting about it.

Starbucks is one of those reliable breakfast stops.  It's not anything super special, but you always know what you are going to get.  I got the Komodo Dragon blend (still prefer the Pike Place Roast), the reduced fat berry coffee cake and a yogurt parfait.  All in all a good healthy and filling way to get started for a day on the slopes.

After a few hours skiing in what turned out to be probably the best conditions we've skied all year, we headed into one of the lodges up at Steven's Pass for lunch.  I'm not sure what the name of it is, but if you are coming down the front side, it is on the one on the far right.  Now, some ski resorts have fantastic restaurants in their lodges.  Steven's Pass unfortunately does not.  We ended up going to the pizza place in the lounge and ordering the combo.  This consisted of an ok piece of pizza (though not as good as even Digiorno), and a "caesar salad" that was pretty much a pile of lettuce with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a watered down dressing.  Quite disappointing actually, and next time we will probably go back to our usual fair of chicken alfredo or chili.

But enough of the other things for the day.  The point of this post is not the skiing or the disappointing lunch, but actually our dinner.  Tonight I did the ultimate comfort dinner in our house, beef stroganoff.  This is the meal that we have at the end of long days and long weeks.  This is the meal that is not experimented with or changed.  This is the meal that is quick, easy, and always delivers a smile.  I always have the appropriate ingredients for this so that I can make this whenever in a pinch.  I think that all home cooks either should have a meal like this, or already do.

It's a very simple recipe, one that I've tweaked for freshness, but really have not deviated from.  I start with sauteing some fresh onion and garlic.  Then I add extra lean ground beef and season with black pepper, seasoned salt, and basil.  A lot of beef stroganoff recipes call for something like Sirloin, or other cuts of meat.  I stick with ground beef because it's what we've always used, absorbs the spices well, and my love of steak makes it difficult for me to chop it up and add it recipes like this.  Once the beef is close to brown, I add some white wine.  Then, to finish it, I actually cheat a little.  I pull out the packet of McCormick's Beef Stroganoff seasoning.  I know, it's almost sacrilegious for someone with aspiring cooking skills to rely on the premixed seasoning packet, but it adds the perfect flavor, and like I said, I don't deviate very much.  Then I add in a little sour cream and serve it directly over some steamed calrose rice with green beans.

This simple recipe has become such the comfort meal that any deviation is usually met with some displeasure.  One time I tried ground turkey, another fat free sour cream.  I've tried adjusting the spice blend for the meat.  Nothing works.  The thing is, it's not necessarily that the taste of this is the most amazing taste ever.  In fact, it's probably not the most delicious thing that I've made, and I'm sure with enough experimenting I could enhance it in someway.  But, that's not the point.  The point is that this meal is pure comfort as it is.  And sometimes with food, that is ultimately what is most important.