M. Suzanne Terry

I’m excited for my baking staples to make an appearance in my house soon. I’m also excited for candy-making time.

Winter recipes are designed to create warmth. Winter recipes make me think of Carla Hall and her insistence that food should hug you.

I eat a lot of casseroles in the winter. They are easy to make, and they feed a lot of people. Your mind may be going to memories of weird potlucks of the past, but let me share a few delicious things that will make casseroles some of your go-to favorites, too.

1. Stuffed shells – so easy to make; so tasty to eat.
2. Cauliflower pepperoni pizza casserole – this is a sneaky way to get a lot of vegetables in a dish, for those of you who either a) have a hard time getting all your vegetables in or b) are responsible for feeding people who love pizza but not so much vegetables.
3. Lazy Sunday casserole – this makes an appearance in my house almost as often as roast in the winter.
4. Stacked chicken enchiladas – stacked enchiladas are pretty much the only enchiladas I ever make. All the flavor of regular enchiladas with none of that rolling nonsense.
5. Fancy green bean casserole (with goat cheese) – I love a green bean casserole with the salty cream-of-whatever soups and the canned fried onions on top, but this version is glorious. I leave out the mushrooms because life is too short to eat fungus on purpose, but I can vouch heartily for the rest.

In the winter, I also love to bake bread. I am excited right now, because the countdown has begun – I have a loaf of bread in the fridge and half a loaf in the freezer, and by the time those are eaten, it will be cool enough for bread-baking. One of my favorite bread resources (and the one I recommend if baking your own is daunting to you) is The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Hertzberg, Francois, and Gross.

What foods do you look forward to eating this winter?

I’m sharing my Epic Meal Planning strategies for Write 31 Days – click to see the master list.