How to Make Healthy Winter Comfort Foods
Inside: Winter comfort foods help us get through the cold dark months but aren’t always the healthiest so what can be doing to make them into healthy comfort foods?
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I must admit, winter isn’t my favourite season. I know some people like the frosty, bright mornings and love snow but that isn’t me. The shorter days, darker nights and cold temperatures do me no favours.
One thing is for certain, during winter some foods become a bit of a necessity, making you feel warm and cosy. These are what we call winter comfort foods – but what are they? And can you go for healthy winter comfort foods?
What are winter comfort foods?
There’s no strict definition of winter comfort foods – there’s no aisle in the supermarket where you specifically find them! But the idea is that they are warming, comforting foods that we enjoy and give us a boost, physical and mental, during the cold months. Foods that we associate positively can help us feel better, but they aren’t always healthy.
Foods can also help with SAD – seasonal affective disorder, also known as the winter blues. This is a very real condition that lots of people suffer with. You feel down during the winter, lethargic and out of sorts. But some of the food that you eat can help to combat this. Examples of them include:
- Salmon, tuna, trout, sardines and mackerel – provide Omega 3 to boost serotonin levels
- Leafy greens like spinach and kale – provide folic acid that also boosts serotonin levels
- Any magnesium-rich foods like spinach and dark chocolate
Boosting those serotonin levels is important to give us the push we need to combat the winter blues. Simple carbohydrates like sugar provide this but don’t last very long. Complex carbohydrates like brown rice, vegetables and wholegrain flour provide it as well – and the boost lasts longer.
How to make healthy winter comfort foods
The problem often comes when our favourite winter comfort foods aren’t the healthiest options out there. That’s why learning what changes you can make to some of the dishes to make them into healthy winter comfort foods can help you.
Some easy substitutions to consider for some of your dishes include:
- Change normal pasta to a whole wheat flour alternative and reduce meat content a bit
- Bake coated chicken rather than frying it
- Make your own soup rather than using canned variety and add in plenty of vegetables
- Go for leaner cuts of meat for stews and chilli
- Use olive oil in place of butter
- Reduce some of the salt in a dish and add herbs or spices instead
- Make more meals from scratch rather than using ready meals
Why the slow cooker is your friend
Another big problem that I find with the winter is that I don’t have the energy to make dishes from scratch. I know I should, but that pasta ready meal just looks enticing and so little work!
That’s why the slow cooker is your friend at this time of year in particular. There are loads of ideas for slow cooker winter comfort foods as well as those adapted for the Instant Pot (which is what we have).
The idea is you can prepare the meal on a morning when you have the most energy, put it in the slow cooker, start it with enough cooking time to be ready for the evening meal then dish it up. By evening meal time, my energy is definitely waning but there’s almost no work to do at this stage – just dish it up and enjoy!
If you have an Instant Pot, you can even do this for a lunchtime meal as the cooking time is much shorter. We usually find that a recipe that says four hours will only take around two hours in the Instant Pot. So if you are up early and prepare the dish, you still have plenty of time to cook it for lunch if that’s when you prefer to eat your bigger meal.
To help inspire your winter comfort food planning, here’s a classic Beef Stew recipe to get started!
Classic Beef Stew
A hearty, beef stew made in the slow cooker that is the perfect winter comfort food for those cold evenings!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 8 oz mushrooms (sliced)
- 2 lbs beef stew (cut into 1 inch cubes)
- Salt & Pepper to aste
- 3/4 beef stock cubes
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 whole bay leaf
- 3 large carrots (chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (diced)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 2 lbs Russet potatoes (chopped)
- 2 tsp thyme leaves (rinsed)
- 2 tsp oregano leaves (rinsed)
- 1 tbsp rosemary leaves (chopped)
Instructions
- Wash and peel all vegetables and pat dry before prepping. (Potato skins can either be left on or removed based on personal preference).
- Heat olive oil, garlic, and mushrooms in a large (5 or 6-quart), high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté for 5-7 minutes or until mushrooms start to release their liquid, stirring occasionally.
- Working in batches if necessary, add beef to skillet and cook until browned on all sides. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Transfer browned beef and mushroom mixture to a large bowl and return empty skillet to the cooktop.
- Deglaze skillet with 1 cup beef stock and the red wine over medium-high heat, using a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits. Boil liquid until reduced by one half before returning the beef-mushroom mixture to the skillet.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add 2 cups of beef broth and the bay leaf to the skillet. Cover and simmer for 1-1½ hours, or until the beef is tender. Stir beef mixture occasionally while simmering.
- Remove lid and add carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, and fresh herbs. Stir to combine and add additional beef stock, if necessary, to reach desired consistency.
- Continue simmering, uncovered, for another 20-25 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender, but not mushy. Remove from heat and discard bay leaf. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon hot stew into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.
Notes
You can add more or less beef stock to get the consistency that you like.
