comfort foods: chicken and dumplings, homemade pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, potato and dumpling soup, homemade spaghetti, homemade breads and rolls. my grandmother is known for her pecan pie. she's been baking it for longer than i've been alive. when she and my granddad came to visit, i thought i'd try to make them feel at home and make one. i was nervous, but i heard her say (hilariously, under her breath, just so i wouldn't hear) that it beat hers! YAY! i was cooking a beef stew for a large group (20-25). i had everything finished, but the stew needed to simmer, so i asked my husband if he could PROMISE to remember to stir it frequently while i was gone for a few hours. BIG MISTAKE! not only did he NOT remember to stir it, i could smell the charred and burned stew when i drove up in my driveway 3 hours later. and on top of that, we had borrowed on of our neighbor's nice stockpots! yikes! needless to say, we spent another 100 bucks on lasagna from Costco!