Food for the Pilgrims

Cornbread

Ah cornbread; such a staple and so simple to make!

I must confess I was never a cornbread-craver...until now.

I never attempted to make cornbread from scratch before, but once I did, one bite of it made me a believer! 

Now all I think about is bloody cornbread!

My recipe below is absolutely divine.

It's one of those bring-home-to-your-boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse's-parent's-house-for-holiday-dinner kinda treat.

It's perfectly moist, yet dense at the same time.

I love how it doesn't fall apart or crumble on you while being eaten,

(because cornbread shouldn't be mistaken for Duncan Hine's),

and I especially love the popping-of-cornmeal action while you chew.

So fun! 

Ingredients and Supplies:

mixing bowl

measuring cups and spoons

wooden spoon for stirring

1 cup of flour

1 cup of cornmeal

1/2 cup of sugar

3/4 teaspoon of salt

4 teaspoons of baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup of extra light olive oil

1 cup of milk

honey or agave

9x9 baking pan

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl mix together 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of yellow cornmeal, 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.  

Mix together the dry ingredients with a wooden mixing spoon.

Add 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of oil, and 1 cup of milk.  

Mix in wet ingredients and stir until mixture is smooth.  

Make sure you do not over stir the mixture as it will become too runny.

Finish off with some honey, however much you'd like.

*Note: the thicker your mixture, the denser your bread.

Slowly pour the mixture into a 9x9 baking pan.

Bake in oven (top rack) for 23-27 minutes or until golden brown on top.  

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Cut, serve and enjoy!

If you like buttery cornbread (which I do), smear a small amount of sweet cream butter on top of the batch as it cools. 

It'll give it a nice finish, but remember to only butter what you will eat, as butter may cause it to lose its crunchy top layer if it sits for more than an hour.

For the experimentally inclined:

After you're done mixing all ingredients, add kernels of sweet yellow corn (fresh! not canned or frozen) to the batter, and then finish the steps as you did.

Yum!

Eat well.

Miss Sabado

A Spoon for Your Salad?

You know you got a good salad when you have to eat it with a spoon...

The selection of ingredients in this salad below is the result of trying to use up all my left-over produce from the top of this week's grocery shopping run (I do not tolerate food-wasting).
Nevertheless, the finished product was still superb!

 The Left-Over Produce Sesame Spinach Salad

ingredients:
baby spinach
broccoli florets
tomatoes
sliced mushrooms
thinly sliced red onion
fried minced garlic
shredded mozzarella cheese
Asian sesame dressing

Don't be discouraged by the simplicity or 'boring' (if you will) facade of this recipe.
I must confess that the salad was a little bland before I added the shredded mozzarella and fried minced garlic components to it. The cheese I luckily had as left-overs from my pizza-making dinner party with Amber on Halloween. And the garlic- well, the garlic factor is because I am Filipino and that's what we do. We add garlic to everything.

Before combining ingredients into a bowl, mince the garlic and deep fry in a pan on medium to low heat. The key here is patience. You want the garlic to fry crispy, not stale and hard.
Fry until golden brown.
Combine and toss spinach, mushrooms, red onion, broccoli, tomatoes, and sesame dressing in a bowl.

Top with fried minced garlic and shredded mozzarella.

There.

A guilt-free (and cost-free) meal.

Eat well.

Miss Sabado