Top 10 List: America's Favorite Holiday Comfort Foods

It's my favorite (and most delicious) time of the year! 

Preparing holiday meals is an extremely important tradition in my family -- it has been since I was a little girl. During the holiday season, we'd always make tons of veggie casseroles and cornbread for our extended family. I used to love the smell of everything browning and bubbling in the oven. I still do. 

I recently partnered with Del Monte (the makers of premium canned vegetables and so much more) to share with you some fun stats on what Americans love to eat during the holidays . They just published their Del Monte Comfort Food Index, which ranked the Top 10 Holiday Comfort Foods.

1.  Potatoes (mashed or scalloped):  84% (percent who feel "comfort" by eating the food)

2.  Pie:  82%

3.  Baked goods (cookies & muffins):  81%

4.  Macaroni & cheese:  75%

5.  Cake:  71%

6.  Casserole:  69%

7.  Stews and hearty soups:  68%

8.  Meatballs (with or without pasta:  65%

9.  Sweet potatoes (mashed or cut):  61%

10.  Cornbread:  60%

Throughout the holiday season, we have pretty much all of these dishes on the menu. We love potatoes in our household, but casseroles are always a huge hit too. Who doesn't love casseroles?

Going through the Del Monte America’s Recipe site  I discovered some recipes I'd like to try out for this year's feast. 

Cheddar Corn Casserole  may be the ultimate holiday comfort food. You can also add ham or turkey to it to make it a complete meal. 

Another guaranteed holiday hit is Green Bean Casserole. In fact, it's not surprising to hear that 57% of Americans find it comforting and nostalgic to eat green bean casserole. (I'm certainly one of these folks.)

And... Pie. I could probably eat a fruit pie everyday. Del Monte's Peach Slab Pie  recipe is so easy to make, I'm excited to try it! The crust is mixed into the pan, it doesn't get simpler than that. 

So, just how important is comfort food during the holidays? Very important. The survey also found:

>> 46% of Americans agree that their family "shows love and comfort through food."

>> 44% of Americans look forward to the food more than presents during the holidays. (Totally true in my family!) 

>> 62% of Americans say that they are "traditional and like to make or eat classic comfort recipes in the same way every year."  

>> 38% of Americans say they "like to change things up and prefer modern twists on favorite comfort foods." 

Looking for more quick and delicious versions of comfort food? Check out some of my new faves which match the top 10 comfort foods:

1.  Potatoes (mashed or scalloped):  84% (percent who feel "comfort" by eating the food)

>>  Skinny Scalloped Potatoes 

2.  Pie:  82%

>>  Peach Slab Pie  http://prhack.com/1O9cq4x

3.  Baked goods (cookies & muffins):  81%

>> One Bowl Carrot Oat Muffins

4.  Macaroni & cheese:  75%

>>  The Best Macaroni, Cheese and Peas 

5.  Cake:  71%

>>  Individual Mandarin Tin-Can Cakes

6.  Casserole:  69% 

>>  Cheddar Corn Casserole

>>  Green Bean Casserole 

7.  Stews and hearty soups:  68%

>> Shrimp and Corn Stew 

8.  Meatballs (with or without pasta:  65%

>>  Meatball Pasta Bake

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9.  Sweet potatoes (mashed or cut):  61%

>>  Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pear, Sage and Browned Butter

10.  Cornbread:  60%

>>  Golden Sweet Cornbread

Find more of Del Monte's top-rated, family-approved holiday recipes here: Del Monte America’s Recipe site

I'd love to hear which of these recipes you want to add to your holiday dinners! Let me know in the comments below.

Be Cool Scooby-Doo and Win a $100 Amazon Giftcard

There are few cartoons that stand the test of time. Scooby-Doo! is one of those classics that our kids can enjoy just as we did. Now, you can watch your favorite team in an all new show, Be Cool Scooby-Doo! airing on Cartoon Network in the US. While one of our favorite cartoons continues to provide entertainment for the whole family, the way our kids watch cartoons is certainly not the same. Now, they can watch videos, play games and download printable activities on ScoobyDoo.com

The Warner Bros Youtube Channel makes it easy for our kids to watch their favorite mystery squad, on-demand, and from any device. Scooby-Doo! is giving away a $100 gift card for Amazon, which makes it a great time to check it all out. Watch the video and enter for your chance today!
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Check out the Kmart Fab 15 Toy List to make Holiday Shopping a Breeze

Every year around this time, I think about the Christmases from my childhood. While I can’t remember what I received each and every year one Christmas stands out. It was the year I received my favorite gift.  It was also the year something funny happened. I didn’t think it was funny at the time. It all started Christmas Eve when I was about eight. My family has a tradition where the kids open a gift on Christmas Eve. It was usually a gift from my family.  My grandparents had gave both my sister and I two gifts this year. As we were picking which gift to open there were a few for each of us under the tree. I opened my gift from them first. It was plastic stilts. I was like oh cool. Then it happened. My sister opened her gift. It was a Barbie Dream Bed. I was so upset! After all, all I got was plastic stilts. I cried and I cried and probably threw a fit. Why did she get a super cool gift and all I got from them was plastic stilts. Don’t get me wrong they were pretty cool. I didn’t play with Barbies but that was still a better gift. I got over it and went to bed.

 The next morning it was time to open our presents. I probably had 56 minutes of sleep and it wasn’t all at once. As we are opening gifts I notice there is a huge box at the end. It’s for me! It was my very own Cabbage Patch Cradle. It was beautiful and glorious! My sister threw a fit because she opened her plastic stilts. I am pretty sure this whole ordeal was videotaped and would have made a great YouTube video. I still have my Cabbage Patch Cradle and I used it all the time growing up. It was my favorite gift of all time. Noah has heard this story a few times. He thinks it’s pretty funny. I think it was a moment for me to be grateful. As for what’s hot in our house, it’s still LEGO. I think we will always have LEGO. He is also really in to Star Wars and he still loves to make art projects.  He also wants to get our kittens a thousand pack of pipe cleaners because Charlie likes to steal the pipe cleaners we have for crafts.

It can be hard to buy presents for people you aren’t around all the time. I am so glad that Kmart made the Fab 15 Toy List to help me find gifts for my niece. She is one. So, all the toys Noah loved at that age are either no longer available or different than what Ava would like. She would love the Sesame Street Play all day Elmo. Noah would love the Zoomer Kitty.  The Fab 15 Toy List makes it super easy to shop from because it showcases some of the top toys. If you don’t know exactly what to buy, it gives you some great ideas. Not everyone gives ideas or if you want to make it a surprise the list helps.

  

When I was a child, I wanted an Easy Bake Oven because I loved to bake. Santa decided I couldn’t get one. Instead he brought me a huge box full of Jiffy Mixes and I could just use the real oven. Noah has asked for gifts similar to the Easy Bake Oven and I explain that food baked by a light bulb wouldn’t be very good. I am now thankful that I never received an Easy Bake Oven because using the real thing helped my love for baking grow. I vowed never to buy my future children anything that cooks with a light bulb that year.

Here’s what makes the Fab 15 Toy List different than any other toy list:

Kmart has awesome toys and games for kids of all ages and stages, which comprises Kmart-exclusive toys and hot brands like Disney’s Frozen, Star Wars, LEGO®, Barbie™ and NERF,® is carefully curated based on industry trends, input from parents and kids, and more than 50 years of experience in knowing what toys kids love to play with and find under their Christmas trees. LEGO has been a part of our Christmas for the last 6 years. I remember Noah’s first LEGO set. It was just a box of different blocks for him to build with. He fell in love with them at first sight. I love that Kmart really does their research!

Kmart’s Fab 15 list features the hottest toys for the 2015 holiday season, which have been tested by Kmart’s first-ever Kid Toy Advisory Board – a select group of kids of Kmart employees who are serving as toy experts and holiday toy consultants. Noah would have given anything to have been a part of this group. He thinks that I am blogger is totally cool, but I think he would have wished I worked at Kmart.

I love how they have it broken down by age. Here’s the full list:

Ages 1-2 

• Playskool Sesame Street Play All Day Elmo by Hasbro

Ages 3-5

• Hot Wheels® Ultimate Auto Garage by Mattel®

• Imaginext Ultra T-Rex by Fisher-Price®

• Paw Patroller by Spin Master™

• Disney Frozen Sing Along Elsa Doll by Jakks Pacific®

• VTech® Kidizoom® Action Cam

• Star Wars Signature Lightsaber by Hasbro®

• Zoomer Kitty with Toy Mouse by Spin Master™ (Kmart exclusive)

• MONOPOLY Here & Now by Hasbro®

• Monster High® Boo York Floatation Station™ with Astronova™ Doll by Mattel®

Ages 6-8

• Holiday Auburn Barbie™ 2015 Doll by Mattel® (Kmart exclusive)

• FurReal Friends Star Lilly the Unicorn by Hasbro®

• NERF® Zombie Strike Doominator by Hasbro®

• Hulk Smash RC Vehicle by Jakks Pacific®

Ages 9+

• LEGO® Friends Pop Star Show Stage

Members and customers can shop for any of the items on the Fab 15 list and hundreds of other exclusive toys from brands and characters kids know and love at local Kmart stores nationwide or online anytime at Kmart.com/Toys. Be sure to check out the 2015 Toy Book for many more suggestions of great toys!

  

You can win all of the Fab 15 Toys in the Shop Your Way Sweepstakes! It’s really easy to enter! Think of all the fun your kids or loved ones could have! You could donate any of the toys that your kids may not be into and help others have a Merry Christmas too.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of the Role Mommy Writers Network and Kmart. All opinions are 100% my own.

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