It’s after midnight and I’m in the kitchen for a therapy session.

Cooking is therapeutic for me, especially when it involves lots of chopping up of things … aromatics that fill the air … ingredients I can put in a pot and leave on a slow simmer and know it will come out just right!

Tonight, I’m cooking potato soup.

My ultimate comfort food.

It takes me back to my childhood. To the days that I would stay home from school because I was “sick”. And my mom would make me some potato soup for lunch because she knew it was my favorite.

I was rarely sick in any physical sense of the word. We would call them “mental health days” in today’s lingo. I hated school. And some days I just needed to be wrapped in a cocoon, or hide away in a blanket fort, or just take a day to recharge. And my mom got it. She was cool like that. 

So, here I am in my mid forties (did I just admit to that?) and when I’m stressed, when I need to hide away in my blanket fort for a day, it’s still potato soup that I crave.

The “recipe” has changed some, evolved over the years as I’ve put my own spin on it. I use the word “recipe” in quotes because neither my mom nor I are big on following directions - especially in the kitchen.

She has told me many times that she doesn’t know where I learned to cook like I do.

And I always tell her, “you taught me everything I know!”

And that’s true, for the most part. Yes, I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way … I’m slightly obsessed with Gordon Ramsey, Robert Irvine and The Great British Baking show (what is with the Brits anyway?).

However … 

It was my mom who taught me to be fearless in the kitchen, she taught me to cook from the heart, she taught me to cook with the ingredients that are on hand, she taught me to enjoy a really delicious meal because it probably would never come out quite that way again! 

There are so many ways that food feeds more than our bodies, it also feeds our souls.

It connects us to memories, to traditions, to family. 

Food is therapy… growing food is good therapy, cooking food is good therapy, sharing food is good therapy.

How does food get you through tough times? What’s your go-to comfort food?