This topic could have easily been a Facebook status, but I decided it was a good enough question to warrant more input from you readers.
So, it finally snowed here yesterday! From about 9AM until dark, the sky dumped a beautiful, fine powder. I kept thinking it would let up but it never did! We probably got 2 or 3 inches. It was BEAUTIFUL and just what I had asked for! (P.S. Why isn’t sledding as fun as I remember it being?!? I was DONE after about 30 minutes. #old)
When it snows here in Western North Carolina, things stop. Schools close, everyone retreats to their houses (after the prerequisite trip to the grocery store for milk and bread. You know, so we can have bread cereal for dinner) and if you’ve got a fireplace, you make a big fire.
Another common occurrence?
WE BAKE!!
Cookies, brownies, cakes. Anything sweet and chocolately – yep! We need that for a successful snow day.
I kept reading all these Facebook status’ yesterday about what people were making (chili, cornbread and brownies were the overall winners) and I couldn’t help but wonder WHY.
WHY does snow automatically mean you need to cook or bake??
I don’t know the answer (Heck, I felt compelled to make mac n’ cheese and some almond butter protein bars – not because we needed food- just because it was snowing), but I’m thinking it has to do with TRADITION. Do we spend time in the kitchen because that’s what our mamas did when it snowed? What if you lived in a place where it snowed constantly in the winter, like Alaska or New York? Do those people bake brownies all winter long and get really chubby??
I’m intrigued. And I wanted to hear from YOU.
What are your snow day traditions? What is a “must have” food? And WHY do you think we do the things we do? Comment below.
splendid…lindsay
I think that it is comfort. Baking and cooking creates that comfort feeling when you need it as the cold strike. I bake and cook (healthy of course) when Winter is here in SA as well because it creates a warm kitchen = house.
I don’t have children so a snow day doesn’t really apply to me. But I live on the NE-side of the mountain (read: snow doesn’t melt for days) so its hard for me to get out when it snows. I cook/bake more on this type of day because I have MORE TIME to spend in the kitchen (same goes for some Saturday & Sundays). Plus my husband has to work on snow days so I know when he gets home he is tired and cold, sometimes wet, so a hot meal with a little extra time put into it really warms him up.
HA! That is the LAST thing I would think to do. I am so not a baker…at all. Nor do I really even like to cook. I do it because I like the results of cooking but I am not a huge fan of the actual process. HA!
Those brownies look heavenly!!! YUM!!! If I baked every time it snowed here, I think I might get a little pudgy haha.
This post made me smile :)
I live in MN, so as you can imagine, it’s cold and snowy here for up to 6 months of the year (sometimes it really is this long, and it’s as terrible as it sounds). We definitely aren’t cooking and baking tons of things every day, but we do when there’s a snow day or a major blizzard. I think that it’s comforting, it’s fun, and it’s something that unites everyone. Makes for great memories at least!
I (sadly) do not get snow days in California, but I think we tend to bake/cook on them because snow days (and this is what I really miss about them) really force people to slow down and savor the day. Sort of like a forced rest day. Suddenly, your schedule clears up and there’s time to bake/cook. Also, the cold/snow just make us crave those things :)
So yeah, I miss snow days out here on the West Coast…or perhaps I just miss the pace of a snow day. Yeah, that’s probably it!
I bake on snow days because my mom did. My mom baked because it helped warm up the house with the oven on. It feels so good after baking to leave the oven door cracked open and the warm air on your back.
I grew up in Vermont, where there was snow through April most years, and there was a lot of baking, but I think it is because that was comforting. It wasn’t all unhealthy though. I agree with Linz though, always hot chocolate after sledding!
We live in North Mississippi so we don’t see snow very often. I agree with the warmth and comfort — something about a big bowl of soup when it’s cold outside is comforting. BUT, when it snows, we make snow cream (a big bowl of snow + a can of sweetened condensed milk; mix together and you have homemade ice cream)! THEN we have hot chocolate!!
I live in one of the coldest parts of Canada and definitely bake and cook more in the winter mostly because I can’t stand the idea of cold food in the winter. No salads, smoothies or sandwiches for me. I need soup, stew and oven roasted veggies! I cook less in the summer because we don’t have air conditioning and it gets too hot. Plus I love smoothies and salads in the summer!
Hot chocolate and sledding were my snow day traditions as a kid, but no particular foods. Nowadays it snows so much it’s not as special – there’s been snow on the ground for months here! Still love it though
I live in Iowa where we can get snow from October into April – last year it even snowed mid-way through May. This year however, we’ve barely had any but it’s been below 0 with wind chills hovering around -40 for more days than I care to count. Frustrating!
If I choose to bake when it’s snowing/cold out it’s more as another reader said – it’s a good way to warm up the house. But I do not do it every time it snows or is frigid or I’d never get anything else done! When you live in a climate that is 100+ with severe humidity part of the year, you learn when to turn on your stove and when not to. I guess this is just when I’ve learned it’s best to fire it up and get er done!
Glad you finally got your snowflake wish fulfilled!
I think it has to do with comfort. There is something so cozy about a snow day, and I think that automatically makes us crave comforting food. I mean brownies, mac and cheese, chili……all comfort foods for me!
We live in an area where things stop when it snows as well. There is something so magical about it! Sometimes I think it may be the only thing that hasn’t lost some of it’s magic from childhood :)
I live in Minnesota and when it snows, which is for 6 months out of the year (literally), we go about our normal business. We’ve had a few days off of school due to the -50 degree wind chills, but nothing else slows down. I do wish that we could slow down a bit though on those days and take some time to bake – though if we did it every time it snowed we would indeed get a bit ‘chubby’ :)
Funny topic! That’s fun snow makes a ‘snow day’ for you guys! Well.. up here in Canada, it snows… a lot. And, baking makes you feel cozy, literally warm (stirring, beating, oven, etc) and the food is warming and comforting.. BUT if we/I cooked and stayed in every night it snowed/was bone chilling freezing we/I would in fact be “chubby” and VERY blah come May (when it is actually Spring here). Sooo instead, when it was snowy and -15 (celsius, forgive me I can’t translate lol) I ate an apple, dragged my bum out the door to meet my Mum for Zumba (who in turn Had to drag her bum out the door to meet me.. it’s a good system ;) ) and came home for a healthy dinner, including soup (warm!) and dessert-ed on a winter orange and enjoy life bar with Warm almond milk. Gotta do what works, eh?
I like the warming up the house theory. My Dad always did a lot of cooking on days when he couldn’t work due to weather. We always related it to his “Puritan Work Ethic”- even when you can’t be doing your regular work you should be productive in some way.
Not really a snow day tradition since we get snow…never, except for yesterday HA, but cold weather = making chili!
I think it’s because I have time to do it. I am so busy during the week and when a snow day brings the world to a grinding halt, suddenly there’s time to make all the yummy things I have Pinned or printed from blogs.
Today is no exception:) I found a yummy recipe for Paleo protein cranberry orange muffins which I turned into breakfast bars:)
My mom always made big batches of soup, homemade bread, crisps & cobblers growing up (in the north). She said it was to heat up the house and for my dad after he had to trudge through the snow to get home after work. I secretly think she just liked to fatten up her kids…no seriously.
Its freezing rain/ice here in Charleston, SC today. All the bridges are closed and since we live on an island, we are stuck. (Insert at home body weight circuits here since driving to the gym would be slippery!) I honestly don’t have plans to roast any big meals or bake anything, except for dinner as usual, which always involves turning on the oven. Yesterday I made soup for my hubby & I so we have some leftovers today to go along with beer bread. Stay warm up there! As far as sledding is concerned, my husband will sled for HOURS. Call if you need a babysitter. ;)
Is it the nesting influence? Being cozy and warm? Who knows? But I, too, don’t find as much glory in the snow as I used to…maybe it’s the southern snow affliction: here in Alabama it was like the world was ending! Even the grocery store was closed! [No bread cereal for me…]
I just started a big pot of veg. beef soup!!! If roads are clear tonight you and kids come on over!!!
but i don’t wanna get out of my pjs mama.
I bake on snow days to warm the house. Running the oven heats up the main area of my house without cranking up the furnace. I wonder if that’s what our mom’s and grandma’s did? Especially back in the days when the stove was the main furnace.
huh!! i’d never thought of that.
haha i totally bake on snow days! growing up, we definitely always had hot chocolate with marshmallows after playing in the snow! (i know itz not baking, but still a tradition! haha)
oh we DEFINITELY have to have hot chocolate!
I definitely think warming the house was a big part of it – but snow days always feel like a holiday and what goes better with a holiday then great food? Especially if you spend part of the day outside wearing yourself out going up and down the hill to sled or building a snowman or snow fort for a snowball fight, when you come inside and the home is warm and smells of yummy things it just keeps the merry feel of the day. Too, where I grew up if the electricity went out it usually took longer than a day to get it back on, and it is nice to have a stockpile of good things to eat all ready for consumption. :)
yes to the holiday feel…makes sense!
we do the same. it’s warmth. it’s comfort. it brings us together. More than food, ya know? it’s just memories and lots of laughs