We’ve all heard the term “comfort food.” What does that really mean? Well, the dictionary defines it as “food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically any food with a high sugar or other carbohydrate content and associated with childhood or home cooking.”

My mom was an amazing cook, so pretty much anything she cooked was a comfort because she loved to cook and we loved to eat her cooking so it was a win/win in our family.

But, if you had to name your top 5 “comfort foods”, what would they be? I spent some time thinking about this and found that, as the definition says, these foods can be associated with childhood or home cooking — or in my case — both.

Some of today’s top comfort foods (according to Google) are: mac ‘n cheese, mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, lasagna, chili, spaghetti and meatballs, ice cream, grilled cheese sandwiches, sloppy joes, chicken pot pie, chicken tenders, pizza and meatloaf.

Ok, so… I’m not sure what types of people think of meatloaf as a comfort food, but if they do, I guarantee it’s not the actual meatloaf but where they ate it or who fixed it.

My mom made the most amazing chicken pot pie. She made a homemade crust she would roll out and put in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. She would boil a chicken and bone it out. (Side note: if you have never done this and just go with getting a rotisserie chicken at your nearest grocery store, you’re missing something). A lot of time and love go in to boiling a fresh chicken, boning it by hand so that you have fresh chicken to go in your recipe.

Mom would put the chicken on top of the crust, put cream of chicken soup in “dollops” on top of that and then would put English peas and carrots on top of that. This is what made this a comfort food for me; I did not like carrots — still don’t. So my mom would leave one end of the 9×13 pan with no carrots so that I could eat my homemade pie without carrots. She would then top with another homemade crust, put butter on top of that and bake until golden brown.

She continued to make it this exact same way up until she passed away. A lot of time and love went in to that chicken pot pie. A lot!

My Mamaw’s homemade buttermilk biscuits, gravy and fried potatoes were comfort foods because I remember watching her hands as she would make the biscuits — never measuring anything and always getting them perfect. Mongoes (my other grandmother) made the best sugar cookies and would always save me a baseball size portion of sugar cookie dough, refrigerate it so that when I came over, it was nice and chilled and I could eat it raw.

Jerry’s grandmother, “Bubba”, made the best pinto beans. When we would go visit her in Oklahoma, I would give her a hug and then ask “Did you boil some pinto beans?” She would say “go out to the refrigerator outside and see.” Sure enough — there was her old, very worn stainless pot with pinto beans she’d boiled a couple of days before. Why boil them then refrigerate them for a few days? All that wonderful seasoning then has time to soak in. To this day, I cook my pinto beans this way.

Jerry’s mom, Burniece, taught me how to chicken fry steak. She made the best and always fried it in an electric skillet. I’ve become quite good at frying steak and every time I do, I still smile and think of my sweet mother-in-law.

So, if you don’t cook, start. Find at least two or three things to learn how to make and make them well. Make them for your family. Attach sweet memories to those foods.

Comfort food, in my opinion, isn’t just the food itself. It’s the memory attached to it.