Winter seems like the right time to think about comfort foods. We turn to macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, warm brownies and gooey cookies.

What is your favorite comfort food?

We’d like to do a story on comfort foods and use some of your recipes.

You can email information on your favorite comfort food — what it is and why — and a recipe, if you have one, to news@salisburypost.com or mail it to P.O. Box 4639, Salisbury NC 28145. Be sure to put Comfort Food in the subject line of the email and in the address of your standard mail.

We’ll do a story once we have some ideas from you.

Where’s the beef?

Hold on there, pardner. According to a report from The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., the Agriculture Department may soon tell you what foods are better for your health, but also for the environment.

That means beef could be under fire, as well as other meats. The guidelines would include a diet based on more plant-based foods such as vegetables, nuts and whole grains. A draft said a diet with fewer animal-based foods is “more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet.”

A study by the National Academy of Sciences said raising beef is more harmful to the environment that pork or chicken.

Objections are coming form many sides, while others are praising the guidelines as healthier for people and the planet.

Foods to look for

You’ve probably heard lots of people blabbing on about hot new foods or telling you never to eat certain foods. Confusing, isn’t it? Well, here’s more. From U.S. News and World Report, some trends to look for:

1. BrusselKale or lollipop kale. Kale was and is everywhere these days. Now someone has crossed red Russian kale and Brussels sprouts. Crisp and peppery.

2. More smoked foods, including veggies, butters and even cocktails.

3. Bitter. Bitters to drink, bitter greens, bitter coffee and more turmeric.

4. Pistachios are the “nut of the year” for 2015. The green kind, please. Even in pancakes.

5. More plant proteins, some from ancient grains such as freekah, barley and farro.

Southern Living sticks with classics

Southern Living editors picked 110 of their favorite recipes from 2014. That’s a lot. By the time you try them all, it’ll be 2016. Among their favorites, macaroni and cheese with city ham and country ham, peanut butter banana cream pie. Honey was hot, with pineapple upside down cake, honey flan, honey-glazed carrots. The usual classics show up, too, with several variations on biscuits and desserts like buttermilk pie. But there’s a nod to food trends, too, with berries making frequent appearances and things like Grill-Smoked Summer Peas. The beef industry will be happy to see sloppy joe burgers, a fat burger topped with a heaping helping of sloppy joe. Are you full yet?