On The First Day of Christmas: Dining with the Bloggers - Downright Comfort Food

I did warn you - old(er) pictures and ideas would be coming up. Let's start Christmas off nicely, with a little DwB'ing...

Homesick Texan's Refried Beans

I really like that whole tex-mex food thing. I have no idea as to what is authentic or real or the right thing, but that's why I turn to Lisa, the Homesick Texan - she is my go-to person when it comes to anything tex-mex. Lisa cooks lovely looking food and tells tales of Texas and New York, and of food so nice-sounding, you can't help but want to cook it yourself. That's what happened to me with these refried beans - I'd been looking for a recipe for a while so I could add to my repertoire of Mexican dishes. Naturally, when this post went up, I bookmarked it and cooked it asap.

It's easy and relatively quick to do, once you've cooked the beans. You even get to munch on bacon while you're finishing it up. I'm a simple person - there's not much more I ask for when it comes to cooking than that ;) I ate the beans on homemade tortillas with a scoop of guacamole and a topping of cilantro - nothing more needed. Comfort food at it's finest.

You know it, I know it, Everybody knows it - the No-Knead Bread

Look, I know this isn't really new or anything. And it has been a while since I made it myself (courtesy of everybody's favorite Wednesday Chef Luisa), but I just thought I'd remind us all of this very easy to-do bread, here in the days of eternal stress and busy-ness. There's nothing like homebaked bread, and the scent of it sure belongs in your Christmas home. So cut out a little of the labor, and make this again this season. You could easily double the recipe, as I have the couple of times I made it. Either way, make it, now rather than later.

Nutmeg Muffins from Orangette

As well as bread baking, you need sweets baking. And yes, cookies are all good, but sometimes, you need something a bit more substantial. These are it. Again, it's that Molly. This time, she made some lovely muffins with a touch of nutmeg. And c'mon, nutmeg - it doesn't get much more smelling like Christmas and the muffins themselves couldn't have you thinking more of winter and snow with that look of theirs (powdered sugar = snow). I added a couple chopped up plums to these, and that worked fine, BUT, the next time I'm trying them, they're going to be smaller, and as far as possible, they'll be nothing but muffin tops, 'cause that whole butter and powdered sugar thing on top? YUM!

You still here? Go, go buy Christmas presents! Shooo!:)