5 Comforting Recipes to Get You Through the Rest of This Long Winter

Keep warm and hone your cooking skills with the Food Network Kitchen app.

February 16, 2021

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With snow pounding different parts of the country and the holidays in our rear view, it’s safe to say that the dreariest part of winter is upon us. Our favorite cure to the winter blues? A nourishing and filling meal! Hearty food just seems to make cold weather more bearable and bundling up with something tasty warms the soul just as much as it does the body. Being stuck inside isn’t always easy, and winter can be synonymous with boredom and monotony. Let’s kick that with some classes. With the Food Network Kitchen app, it’s easy to hunker down and hone your skills in the kitchen. In fact, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite comfort food classes that are guaranteed to help you keep busy and keep warm all at the same time.

Start with Something Smoky

Let’s start with an all-time party favorite, the potato skin. In JJ Johnson’s Loaded Sweet Potato Skins class, he teaches us a fun spin on the classic. Using sweet potatoes instead of regular and smoked gouda instead of cheddar, this recipe is sweet and twice as smoky (thanks to the addition of smoked paprika). He teaches us how to effectively cook and cut the sweet potato to keep the skins intact, leaving us with the perfect vessel for loading with cheese, sour cream and herbs. The best part? You can stick to his recipe or go rogue and add your own toppings (we’re thinking bacon, jalapenos or avocado!)

Vallery Lomas, as seen on Food Network Kitchen.

Vallery Lomas, as seen on Food Network Kitchen.

Photo by: Lauren Volo

Lauren Volo

Learn to Cook a Classic

Ready to tackle a main meal? Check out Vallery Lomas’s Quick Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya. In this class, Vallery will teach us that cozy meals can be quick too. You can’t go wrong with sausage, shrimp and rice on a cold day, and learning to make the classic Creole dish is easier than you think. It’s the perfect recipe for big groups and is an impressive entrée to showcase at holidays and dinner parties alike (we won’t tell your guests how easy it is to make!)

Food stylist: Adrienne Anderson
Prop stylist: Leslie Siegel

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Food stylist: Adrienne Anderson Prop stylist: Leslie Siegel,Food stylist: Adrienne AndersonProp stylist: Leslie Siegel

Photo by: Andrew McCaul

Andrew McCaul

Another spin on a classic that we love for a snow day is the ever-so-indulgent fettucine alfredo. In Nikki Scott’s Low-Cal Fettuccine Alfredo class, she teaches us the skills to make this traditional plate of pasta a little healthier. Nikki’s recipe boasts a buttery, cheesy flavor while cutting down on the usual calorie count with healthier ingredients like low-fat milk and low-fat cream cheese.

Master a Mouthwatering Dessert

Desserts can be some of the most intimidating projects in the kitchen, but they don’t have to be. Lasheeda Perry knows how to whip up sweet treats that are totally stress-free and fun, and her Whiskey Hot Fudge Pudding Cake is no different. This decadent cake is a no-brainer for anyone who loves boozy desserts. If you don’t no problem! Feel free to skip the whiskey. Lasheeda teaches us to make a cake and hot fudge all in one class, which are two skills that you can keep in your back pocket and recreate time and time again. Insider tip? Make extra hot fudge to save and pour over ice cream all week long!

If cake isn’t exactly your thing, try Lasheeda’s Nutella Cookies with Fleur de Sel (pictured above) instead. In this class, she’ll teach us to make a sweet treat that’s a riff on the standard chocolate chip cookie, using hazelnut spread with a sprinkle of fleur de sel for a perfect balance of flavor.

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