Cornbread

I have been on a cornbread kick this winter.  The bread pictured above is a Maple Cornbread variation of the Cornbread recipe found on pp. 556-557 of the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook.

But I am going to devote the rest of this post to another recipe.

I have always loved cornbread but until sometime last fall I was not happy with the recipes I had tried.  Guess what turned things around for me — the recipe on the back of the Quaker Corn Meal canister called Easy Corn Bread.  I make two or three little tweaks to recipe depending on whether I am making just for myself or to share.  For just me I substitute roughly half of the All Purpose Flour with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.  I skip the sugar all together and use just a packet or two of a stevia product like SweetLeaf or truvia.  My final substitution is to use buttermilk in place of the regular milk.  I usually bake this recipe in a preheated 8-inch iron skillet.

As you see from the shapes of cornbread above I  am lucky to have a iron cornstick mold that was pasted down to me.  I don’t pull it out all that often as it needs to be really well-greased in order to release the bread.  But it gives eye appeal and a crispy exterior. If you want to do a small cornbread portion then a mini muffin pan works great.  They are very useful for a finger food buffet when split and served with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Word for 12/3 – Hail — and the Kreativ Blogger Award

Hail to a few of my favorite bloggers:

1- I have to mention Nancy at My Life in Photos who nominated me for this pass it along, tag you’re it award.

2-  Jen of Cabin Fever in Vermont who is a new mom, a RN, has a Firefighter husband, and takes fantastic photos of her baby Emily, landscapes, and is a generally inspiring.

3- Andree Sanborn, another Vermont resident, who has a number of blogs.  My favorite is ‘meeyauw’s recipes‘.  She is yet another fabulous photographer.

4-hugmamma’s MIND, BODY and SOUL because she posts the most delightful pics of her “four-legged family” that make me smile and giggle. She also writes amusing and thought-provoking posts along with those photos.  She has some eye-opening, and to me mind expanding opinions — what can I say (?- I’ve led a rather sheltered life-?).

5- I’m going to end my list with perhaps the ‘Queen’ of all women bloggers, Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, the ranch wife who has also become an author, a Food Network cooking show star, & who knows what else as result of her blog.  And she sponsors more  terrific give-a-ways than you can imagine, but beware she receives thousands of entries for most of them.

Now the terms of the Kreativ Blogger Award state: “To accept the award, one is to share a little about oneself that might draw the interest of others (and encourage them to check out your blog) and then pass it on. It’s a great opportunity for community building; and to find others who are just as sane (or not) as you, is an added bonus.”

So, like many things in life, I have approached this backwards, by first mentioning some favorite blogs.  Hopefully one or two of them will find the time to pass it on.  Now, what might be interesting about me?        A–I think the fact that I was able to log an average of 2 trips per year ‘across the pond’ from 1998-2010 was great.  I took a lot of photos of places I went.  Thanks to digital photography (better than sliced bread & right up there with chocolate) I could click, & click, & click.     B–I’m a life long Vermonter.  That isn’t all that interesting to me.  I have had plans at many points in life to plant myself in some other soil.  But I seem to make choices, or submit to the choices of someone near & dear,  that result in staying within my little state’s boarders.  C– While my birth certificate says Kathleen the nickname ‘Kitty’ has stuck to me like glue.  At age 52 it is way too late to change that.

Gee, I think this word a day thing is a photo challenge, so I better find one.  Then bid you adieu.

Wells Cathedral, England - August 2005

Word for 10/18 – Refer

I like to be able to refer to my collection of cookbooks even if an online search yields quicker results.

Not all of my cookbooks are on these shelves, but these are my favorites.  I have others tucked away in a cupboard.

Word for 4/3 – Pardon

The phrase “Pardon my mess” applies to my kitchen at least 98 percent of the time.

Lemon Poppy Seed Tea Cakes

Back around Easter time, when I was feeling the urge for the tastes of childhood holidays past, I pulled  How Sweet It Is Without the Sugar off my cookbook shelf and thumbed through for something lemony.  Jean Wade’s recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Tea Loaf looked like a good option but I didn’t want to wait her 55 -80 minute baking time plus cooling time to dig into the product.  So I opted to use her recipe but to bake the batter in my silicone brioche molds.

They are made using the basic “muffin method” — dry ingredients in bowl one, wet in bowl two,

then combine with as few strokes as you can manage so they remain tender.  Spoon the batter into the molds.

The results are attractive, no?

I did learn, however, that they don’t so great right out of the oven. They are so much better the 2nd or even 3rd day.

I enjoyed them best split in half with  a  nice thick slice of ham on top.

Just looking at them makes me wish I had lemons & ham on hand!

Savory Buttermilk-Rye Quick Bread

This is, in my mind, a very unique loaf. The recipe appears on p. 59 of the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook.

I had some buttermilk that needed to be used up & by chance just about the right amount of rye flour also (I substituted a bit of whole wheat flour for the rye I was short.) The result is hearty & tasty. It might be great with a bowl of creamy soup or chowder.