Nostalgic snowy/winter day meals.

[GiddyRobin]

So, as it's snowing where I am, and I knew it was coming...I've made a giant pan of lentil soup. This was what we always had as kids when it snowed or got really wintery.

Also colcannon, veggie cottage pie, or a meatless hot pot. I remember smelling them all cooking when I'd walk up the garden path as a child, kitchen windows fogged.

I also love just big thick pieces of toast with loads of butter and a hot cup of Yorkshire tea. Preferably mid afternoon or late evening when it's cold, the fire is warm, and you just want to warm up from inside.

What's your go-to as soon as the weather goes super cold? Even better - when it's snowy? An extra point if you've a favourite activity! Mine is wrapping up with a book or a boardgame once I'm suitably warm.

If you hate winter, please don't have a bun fight. It's light hearted and nice!

Not snowing where I am (jealous!) but we always had knoor packet chicken noodle soup and hot Ribena.

I've made a lentil soup tonight! It's got roasted veg in too

@boulevardofbrokendreamss Warm Ribena is so nice! I'd forgotten about this until recently, but it's so warming! Bloody love Knorr too. The spring veg. 😍 I loathe being coeliac, stupid "may contain gluten". BAH HUMBUG.

@buffyspikefaithangel Ooohh what roasted veg did you add? I always boil mine (just carrot and turnip usually!), but I need to try this!

About once a year I decide we should have mince with suet dumplings.

My mother would 99% of the time refuse to make the dumplings so it was just mince and boiled veg.

Feels like the height of luxury to have the dumplings still. Insanely filling.

The rest of the household are quietly appalled by it - I think there’d be a riot if I presented them with a plate of mince and carrots as served during my childhood however.

I'm a life long pescatarian and never had dumplings, are they made with meat? I know I could Google but you just get new fancy recipes and I'd like a proper old fashioned one. (That I will butcher as I'm coeliac, but get close enough!)

Bloody love a mince meal. We used to call it Discombobulated Cottage Pie as kids.

We're in the South West by the Bristol channel so the chances of seeing snow here are almost non existent - jealous of anyone who gets a sprinkle because we barely even get frost!

Meal wise...
I remember savoury mince with boiled potatoes being an absolute staple growing up. Delicious. These days I like to do a huge cottage pie, a beef + red wine bolognese, or a big sausage casserole with Yorkshire puddings or fancy bread. Something meaty and tomatoey.

@GiddyRobin no meat in the dumplings, it’s just suet, flour, salt and water. You can add some herbs or cheese if feeling fancy.

The mince element is easy enough to make pescatarian, I don’t know about coeliac friendly dumplings though.

Suet is a meat product so not vegetarian but I think you can now get alternatives.

I promise to get really cold hands for you and drink a big cup of tea!

Savoury mince was huge here for us too. Tomatoey rich is also a favourite, it's funny because you don't think tomatoes = winter but when they're cooked in a stew or something, they absolutely are. Love a spicy tomato and red wine bean casserole. I add Marmite (well, fake marmite) to get that richness. Never thought of sausage casserole with Yorkshire puds though, that's a stroke of genius!

@MidnightPatrol Oh no, this is perfect then. I can totally sub wheat flour for GF, that's excellent! It's not something I ever had so I think I've always been cautious, but it looks so nice. Mince I can batter out with my eyes shut these days. I like the fake mince stuff but I have to say I'm quite keen on a mushroom one with Marmite. Definitely not quite the same though, but it's got a good flavour!

Ah! Thank you! I'm going to have a look!

The same brand (Atora) do a veggie suet too.

You can get vegetarian suet. I bought some this week.

Baked apples and rice pudding remind me of childhood winters.

@MidnightPatrol Ahh bugger, it's wheat. I'll have to have a shop around and see what I can find. There's bound to be something out there - I don't believe all coeliac are forgoing dumplings!

@Lifeglowup Oh rice pudding! Homemade? I like both - the Ambrosia one out of the tin I liked cold...but hot homemade with that skin on it. I've not made that since I lived at home, so long ago now. I think I'll surprise the kids this week!

@GiddyRobin here's the recipe
I added celery and diced chorizo to the onions and also carrots to the roasted veg

Omg this sounds absolutely amazing, I might get some of the veggie chorizo for that spice too. Or maybe chilli 🤔 Or maybe I'll make it twice and see what works best! Was the coconut milk nice? I've only used it in Thai/Indian cooking before so I'm so intrigued! This might be tomorrow's tea.

I didn't end up adding the coconut milk as I had none in but I did put some chilli crisp oil on top!
It's quite flexible, I don't always add the chilli, I forgot the ginger once and it's still nice
Easy too

I made GF suet a while ago using the recipe below. It was a bit of a disaster as there was too much GF flour. If I make it again, I'll put in less flour.
For vegetarian friendly use hard vegetable fat like Trex.
www.glutarama.com/homemade-gluten-free-suet-recipe/

Absolutely love stew and dumplings and that's what my daughter always asks for in winter

It hasn't snowed today but there's plenty left from yesterday. We had leftover cottage pie for dinner tonight. With peas tonight, we had neeps (turnip) last night. It was perfect.
I'm thinking curry would be another warming winter dinner.

Hot buttered crumpets are a must in snowy weather!

Childhood winter meals focused on food that "sticks to your ribs", a favourite saying of my Mother. We ate lots of dumplings and meat pies, thick soups and stews.
One of my favourites was mince with crispy dumplings, with the lid removed towards the end of cooking so the tops of the dumplings browned.

On snowy afternoons we would have hot chocolate and popcorn, both made from scratch on the stovetop. For a meal, tomato soup with corn and herbs

I've made a cottage pie for tomorrows lunch. We always had it on snow days. Also got some squirty cream and marshmallow to have hot chocolate after dc have been out in snow tomorrow (it was the only time we had hot chocolateas kids). Looks like we're having a snow day tomorrow (rural south Yorkshire).

Ah for us lancashire hot pot always with lots of bread and butter.

Tomato soup with chips in , cheese and bread.

Steak pie and mash

Not vegetarian but lovely!

@buffyspikefaithangel Oh I've got the chilli oil stuff! Okay, this is tomorrow's tea 100%. I'm going to report back with findings because it sounds perfect and we've actually got everything in, aside from the coconut milk. I might forgo that too, and use that as an experiment one weekend!

@ghostbusters Thank you!! I think it'll be a case of trial and error but I'd like to give it a go. My husband is Scandi and on Xmas Eve we all do different dishes, so I'd quite like to get this one right and give them all something new to try! I love turnips in cottage pie. I'm Irish and we always had that growing up!

@leia24 Everyone is recommending this now so I have got to try it. 😆 I feel like I've been missing out!

@AdaColeman Have you seen the crumpet thread? I've been salivating over it all afternoon. Reminds me of being tiny and getting a plate (of way too many), drenched in butter and my Nan would pour me properly strong tea. As much as I like fancying them up, nothing beats a plain one.

@Aroastdinnerisnotahumanright I've never made popcorn from scratch! We used to do roast chestnuts, and this reminded me because one year we didn't mark the bottoms and they exploded in the oven. 😆 Tomato soup is just a medicinal salve and inside hug for everything. You cannot beat it.

@Powertothosewhodonthaveit Yay for snowdays! I'm hoping we do too - it's very heavy here now and I think it'll stick, so fingers crossed. Do you do your hot chocolate super thick? I remember my dad refusing to buy powder and melting bars of Cadburys down. With fruit and bloody nut. 🥴🤣

@Norzilla Oooh! Like chip chips or crisps? Either way I'm intrigued and I could probably go either way tbh, I just love tomato soup and can't find a way for it to be wrong! Have you seen those lasagne soups? I was a bit confused when I heard of them...but what's not to like? Tomato, cheese, pasta, protein?!

Being a Yorkshire household we have Yorkshire puds with any meal that has gravy. It's snowing hard here- I have minced beef and sausages from the butcher in the freezer and was set on making lasagne for tomorrows tea. Now wondering about sausages, mash, peas and onion gravy with yorkshires on the side!
Love dumplings in any stew- always done with original atora suet but crisped up for the last 20 mins in the oven. Could do cottage pie with the mince instead of lasagne. We have had a gravy dinner tonight so thinking the original lasagne with lots of red wine in (and to drink with) salad and crusty bread on the side. I'm deffo having soup for lunch though- its bitter here tonight and forecast to snow until 6 am- started at 7pm and we have about an inch settled now.
I WFH thank goodness so don't have to brave it in the morning.