Category Archives: Side Dishes

Extra Rich Corn Muffins With Homemade Honey Butter

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Extra-Rich-Corn-Muffins-With-Homemade-Honey-Butter

Extra-Rich-Corn-Muffins-With-Homemade-Honey-Butter

I think I’m completely incapable of making a recipe that is 100% good for me (you, my family, the rest of the world). I instinctively search out the worst for you version of…well… everything. Ice cream? I go for the high fat premium stuff. My homemade bread puddings? I have to cover them in a puddle of heavy cream and if the recipe called for making it with low fat milk, you’d better believe I’ll be substituting cream. I am not, surprisingly enough, a huge sugar fan. My weakness is anything creamy and/or buttery. Richness is my downfall.

That of course is why, even though I lost almost 50 pounds last year, I’m still overweight lol. I am, I think, totally unwilling to live a life that isn’t filled with rich and creamy foods. This and the fact that I’m old, not that pretty,  saggy and practically toothless is the reason that the modeling world never need worry about me taking it by storm and shoving out all the young girls. However, if I were to give all the supermodels one or eight of these muffins, they too would end up with my love for rich foods and that would be the end of the modeling world as we know it. Hey… I may be onto something here. THIS is the way to get normal sized models featured more. Just FEED the poor women; make them realize how yummy food is lol.

And these are pretty yummy. They come from The Pastry Queen cookbook which is a damned awesome cookbook and one that I plan on using often. The only thing I would change about these would be the ratio of flour to corn meal. They could use a bit more of the cornmeal flavor, less of the flour. So next time I will probably increase the cornmeal one cup, decrease the flour one cup. I also cut the sugar down to about 1/3 of a cup because I am of the school that says cornbread should either be not sweet at all or just barely. ANDDDDDD, I used frozen corn because it’s too early in the year for fresh here and canned corn should be outlawed… nasty nasty stuff.

Extra Rich Corn Muffins

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3 cup heavy cream
  • 3 large egg
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
  • 1 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup fresh, frozen or canned corn (optional)
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional- my addition)
  • 1/4 cup canned chopped green chiles (optional- my addition)
  • Honey Butter-
  • 1 cup softened unsalted butter
  • 1 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional- I prefer it without but some people like the addition of cinnamon)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line 24 muffin cups. I used 12 muffin cups and a 8 count mini loaf pan.
  2. Pour the cream, butter and eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer (this can all also be done with a hand mixer or even by hand if you have strong arms 😛 ) fitted with the paddle attachment.
  3. Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt on top. Mix at medium speed just until the ingredients are combined and not lumpy. Stir in the corn (and the cheese and chiles if using)
  4. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans, filling them about 2/3 full. This is a very thick batter, almost more dough like than batter like so don’t think you goofed up when it’s thick.
  5. bake at 350 degrees until they are a light golden brown and spring back when touched, about 15 minutes.
  6. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool slightly but these are best served warm, like most muffins. They reheat nicely in the microwave however.
  7. For the honey butter, put the butter and honey in a small bowl (the cinnamon too if using). Beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. taste and add more honey if you like it sweeter. Store this in the fridge covered will as it will pick up refrigerator odors if not covered.

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Savory French Onion Soup Bread Pudding

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I've said before & say again, tis hard to make bread pudding photograph well, especially when ones skills are limited :-p

I’ve said before & say again, tis hard to make bread pudding photograph well, especially when ones skills are limited :-p

I’ve never figured out why bread puddings get such a bad rap. The same people who will eat an entire pan of stuffing turn up their noses at bread pudding when the only difference is that stuffing is made with broth and bread pudding made with milk and/or cream. Mind you, if one has had a bad bread pudding, i.e., soggy, flavorless, shoved full of poor quality ingredients, or one of the really old ones that was pretty much just stale bread mixed with milk, sugar and cinnamon and so on, it’s understandable that a person could be leery. But heck, who hasn’t had most everything good badly cooked at one time or another?

But a GOOD savory bread pudding? One that is filled with gooey cheese, cream and butter? Really… how can you go wrong with that? Especially if you also add slow caramelized onions, beef broth and red wine?

It’s already been made clear that I absolutely love French Onion Soup with this recipe for French Onion Soup Macaroni & Cheese. Just that the combo of flavors mentioned in the above paragraph is one of those practically perfect combinations. Other than Cheetos and Twinkies *sobs and has yet another mournful moment of silence for Twinkies*

This is one I have been making for years and even my bread pudding hating husband loves it when I make it. If you’re turned off by the idea of bread pudding, just call it a strata. Pretty much the same thing with interchangeable names. This is, as I alluded to above, dripping with gooey Swiss and Mozzarella cheese, a healthy portion of caramelized onions, red wine and beef broth. The loaf of French bread that is its base is almost an afterthought here lol.

So get rid of your food prejudices for one meal and give this a try. If you like all of the above, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed here. This is so far from good for you it’s not funny but as say, a once a year treat, it’s worth it. Just make the rest of the meal light or just make the bread pudding BE the meal.

Savory French Onion Bread Pudding

  • 8 tablespoons butter, divided in half
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 large onions, sliced in half width wise then sliced into very thin half moons
  • 1 can (about 14 ounces) beef broth
  • 1/4 cup dry red wine
  • 1 small loaf (about 6 to 9 ounces) good French bread
  • 3 cups shredded Swiss cheese
  • 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup shredded REAL Parmesan cheese
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2 quart baking dish.
  2. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter along with the vegetable oil in a large deep pan. Add in the sliced onions and stir to coat them.
  3. Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and allow the onions to cook for about 10 minutes on very low heat, stirring occasionally, until limp and mostly cooked.
  4. Take the cover off of the pan, turn the heat up to just barely medium and continue to slowly cook the onions until they are a deep brown.
  5. Add the beef broth and the wine to the pan. Stir to mix, then turn heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has been nicely soaked up by the “ungins” (as my dad used to call them)
  6. Meanwhile, take your French bread and cube it into bite sized pieces. Toss it into a large bowl.
  7. Whisk together the 3 eggs, the cream and the milk.
  8. When the onions are ready, toss them with the cubed bread.
  9. Pour in the cream/egg mixture and stir well.
  10. Toss the shredded cheese (not the Parmesan) into the mixture, stir it all well then let sit for about 10 minutes so the bread can soak up the cream. Melt the last 4 tablespoons butter.
  11. Pour all of the bread mixture into the prepared pan. Drizzle the melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
  12. Bake at 350 degrees until the pudding is golden brown, puffy and when a knife is inserted in the middle, it comes out clean (other than cheese) and with no custardy mixture on it.
  13. Let sit for about ten minutes before trying to slice.

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Product Of My Generation

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Chilled Lemon Dill Tuna Macaroni Salad

There are times when I know that I’m a dinosaur in the foodie world. I don’t always cook light and healthy, I’m not vegan, I don’t cook gluten free and I’m not out to reinvent the wheel cooking wise. And while I admire those who do all of those things, I kinda like it that way 😀 I am, as the titles says, a product of my generation. I was born in 1964, which by some lists makes me born in the last year of the Baby Boomers. It was back when women’s rights was still a fledgling moment, back when Civil Rights was (unfortunately) still not something that everybody liked. It was also back in the days when Vietnam was a country very few people had heard of. In 1964, there were really no hippies. There were “Beatniks”. The famed Jack Kerouac (much loved by said Beatniks as well as the hippies to come) was near both the end of his career and the end of his life. The Beatles were in the middle of their first world tour and on the day of my birth, The Kinks released the song “You Really Got Me”.  The St. Louis Cardinals won the world series and everyone watched it in black and white on TV’s that had long “Rabbit Ears” attached to the back of them.

People also ate differently back then. With exceptions, it was still the time period of mom stayed home and cooked three meals a day plus snacks and dad went to work. People were just starting to eat lighter but for the most part, creamy, heavy, fried, calorie laden foods were the norm. Jello salads were still all the rage and dad manned the bbq grill on the weekends while mom made the side dishes. No one would ever think of making either potato salad or pasta (macaroni) salad without a few gallons of mayo thrown in and approximately 500 calories per half cup serving. Dad would drink a Pabst Blue Ribbon with dinner and mom would clean up afterwards.

In other words, I really AM a product of my generation since we all know what I love to cook for this blog. Creamy, heavy, fried and calorie laden and Lord above knows I love my mayo.

But at times, even I try to lighten things up. At least a little bit. Like I’ve said before, if I actually ate much of many of the things I make on here, Paula Deen would be sharing her diabetes medication with me and I would have to be lifted with a crane. Everything in moderation right? It sucks but it’s one of those sad facts of life that if you eat 14 Twinkies in a row, you WILL regret it. And if you eat a tub of the typical pasta salad, you WILL end up with no room in your arteries for the blood to flow.

So give this one a try. It makes a great meal on it’s own, a tasty side dish (you can even omit the tuna if you want though I personally love it that way) and while I won’t claim that this is health food, it definitely doesn’t have a gallon of mayo in it. I’ve lightened it up with Greek yogurt and added flavor with lemon juice and zest as well as a boatload of fresh (and dried) dill weed. Also, this makes enough for a pot luck or a good amount of people so feel free to cut in half. Remember when you see the amounts of mayo and such, that this is for 12 ounces (uncooked) of pasta. Not as much as it seems and when the salad sits in the fridge for a while, it will soak up a good amount and you may need to add more at serving time if it seems too dry.

Chilled Lemon Dill Tuna Pasta Salad

  • 12 ounces elbow macaroni, cooked according to direction
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2/3 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 1 carrot, grated (can use more but I don’t like carrots very much)
  • 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
  • 2 teaspoons jarred pickled jalapenos (optional)
  • 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1 cup (give or take) good quality mayo (preferably home made)
  • 1 cup good quality Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup Miracle Whip (if you hate Miracle Whip, use more mayo instead
  • 1 cup finely chopped fresh Dill weed
  • 1 teaspoon dried Dill weed (can up the dried to 2 tablespoons if you don’t have fresh)
  • zest of one large lemon
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 or 3(depends on how meaty you like it) 6 ounce cans GOOD tuna (NOT the stuff that looks like cat food. You want chunks, not mush), drained
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Cook your pasta according to package directions, adding the two teaspoons salt to the cooking water.
  2. While it cooks, combine the rest of your ingredients, except for the tuna, in a large non metal bowl. Stir well. Taste for seasoning and add more dill, salt and pepper if needed. I also usually end up adding more pickle relish because I am sadly addicted to the stuff. For the most part, the ingredient amounts in here are just guidelines. You may like more carrot, less green pepper, dill relish…etc etc
  3. Drain the pasta very well. You can even go so far as to pour it onto a cookie sheet and pat it dry with a paper towel.
  4. Add the pasta to the bowl of creamy ingredients and mix well. Let cool until just warm, about 10 minutes or so.
  5. Gently fold in the tuna.
  6. Chill. Serve.

 


Please Keep The Blue Box Away From Me

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Caramelized Onion & Bacon Mac & Cheese

 

My kids are pretty normal kids when it comes to food tastes. Normal as in they prefer simple foods like hot dogs that have ketchup and mustard on them and nothing else. Whereas when I eat a hot dog, that bad boy better be covered in onions, sauerkraut, relish, cheese, ketchup and spicy mustard. Plus, it had better be Oscar Mayer or Nathans, not “Joes Brand Hot Dogs.,..made with all beef lips”. They like ice cream, but are perfectly content eating the container of vanilla I bought last year and forgot about, that has now gotten horribly freezer burned (“there isn’t anything wrong with this ice cream, momma”). When I eat ice cream, it usually has some weird name and bigger price tag as well as a much higher fat content 😛

It’s the same with mac and cheese. My boys (and sadly, my husband too hehe) are perfectly content with mac and cheese from the little blue box. Or even worse, from a box that has the store brand name on it and is made with something that may or may not have had intimate relations with real cheese about 15 generations back. On the days when I don’t feel like cooking, boxed mac and cheese and hot dogs is considered a wonderful, gourmet meal. Obviously, none of my kids are going to grow up and try to emulate James Beard. Though, in their defense, my three older and moved out kids all seem to have inherited my “cooking gene” and love to cook as well as experiment with food that goes beyond beef lip hot dogs.

So last night, when I made the following mac and cheese, I knew that the adults would like it (my daughter and her family were over) as well as my 2 year old grandson Lukas (Lukie… hey, we’re in the south. If a name can be changed and made to end in “ie”, we’ll do it). He will eat anything. I try to put the cats up when he is visiting… and cardboard…and his uncles…and…well, you get the point. He is the rare child who isn’t picky. The reactions were about what I expected, especially from Zachie (see?) my 15 year old. “Ewwww, I might have eaten it if you hadn’t put those onion “things” in there.” From Jordan (hard to put an “ie” on the end of his) “Whet ate the brown things in there, momma?”. From Joshie, “I don’ wanna eat, momma”. Gee, never would have guessed that was coming *rolls eyes*. From Lukie, <insert gobbling, slurping noises here>.

Personally, I thought it was pretty darn tasty and I will definitely be having leftovers tonight for my own dinner. So what was this, you ask? Well, it wasn’t blue box, that’s for sure. I made a wonderful creamy cheese sauce and mixed in a good amount of caramelized onions and enough bacon that our arteries are probably still screaming in pain even now. This was rich and creamy without being overwhelmingly so. The onions added a nice caramelized nutty sort of flavor and the bacon mixed with the cheese sauce and the macaroni was just heaven on a spoon. Yes, I used a spoon, not a fork. I didn’t want to miss any of the sauce.

You really need to try this. The sauce whips up quickly and is based on one I found on Martha Stewart’s web site and with no powdered cheese in sight. Tender pasta, creamy gooey cheese, meaty bacon and nicely browned onions. I mean really… what more do you need? Except maybe ice cream with a high fat content for dessert. Continue reading →

I Like Taters Cause Taters Can Make You Mine…

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I like taters, specially when eaten with lots of wine!! Ok, so my revamping of song lyrics leaves something to be desired. Like talent. But in my defense the song “I like Dreamin'” has been floating in my head all day long. I had to use it SOMEHOW!

Yes, I know taters can’t really make you mine either. But if I make them for my husband, they make HIM mine. Again. Or still. Or something.

Making these particular potatoes can quite possibly make anyone yours. Think crispy potatoes, gooey cheese, green onions, more gooey cheese. Wouldn’t YOU be someone’s sweetheart for that? I would. So maybe I would be someone’s sweetheart for a ten pack of Twinkies, a few Kindle E-Books and two liter of Coke but then, I’m cheap that way.

I found the original recipe for these potatoes HERE . I knew that, being me, I would change the recipe somewhat but honestly I didn’t do a whole lot. I added a teaspoon of jarred diced jalapenos, some extra cheese (you know me. I ALWAYS use extra cheese) and some green onion in lieu of the regular onion.

You need to try these. Trust me. Just cause I eat Twinkies and drink wine spritzers made with flat Sprite and cheap wine doesn’t mean I don’t know good potatoes when I inhale them. Admittedly, the above sentence isn’t the best way to endorse myself but oh well… Continue reading →

Not Yo Momma’s Cranberry Sauce

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When it comes to holiday meals, especially Thanksgiving, I have a hard time choosing what I like best. I’m one of those people who, while I normally have the worlds worst appetite and usually have to be forced to eat (go figure… a food blogger who likes to cook but not to eat), loves Thanksgiving dinner and all the different parts of it. Mind you, I don’t actually EAT much of it the day I cook it because I’m too burnt out from cooking the food. But leftovers and I? We’re BFF’s big time.

When it comes to the poultry, I love all of them…. as I am eating them. I eat roast chicken, it’s my favorite. When I eat roast duck, IT’S my favorite. When I am gnawing on the tail of the turkey (don’t judge… it’s tasty. Plus it makes me smile when I eat it and remember how every year my dad would ask for the tail saying “Hon, save that for me. I’m wanting a little bit of tail right now” followed by a lewd snicker. 😛 ), it becomes my favorite.

When I eat stuffing, I love that even though I don’t eat it much the rest of the year. Stove Top and I are NOT BFF’s and I’m too lazy to make homemade except on Thanksgiving.

I mentioned last post my love for sweet taters buried under a pound or five of mini marshmallows.

Mashed potatoes with approximately 37 sticks of butter in them? Yep… love them too.

But I think my favorite part of the meal may just be the cranberry sauce. I love the stuff. Canned and gelatinous with the ridge marks from the can on it, canned and with whole berries in it, home made and prepared with just berries, sugar and water, turned into chutney (one of my favorite ways of making it)… you name it, I’ll eat it… all of it… growling if you get too close and smacking any appendages that venture too near to my bowl of saucy Heaven.

Though I love it plain, I rarely make it plain. It’s too much fun to play around with the basic recipe. Cranberry sauce takes so well to other flavors. Add different fruits, add spices, extracts, booze, trees, raw offal (just making sure you’re paying attention again) and it tastes delicious. So, being me, aka the woman who can never ever follow a recipe, I never make it the same way twice.

I like to make it a few days ahead of time because it just gets better as the flavors have time to meld. So here’s the one we will be having this Thursday. If you’re wanting something a little different, give it a try. It’s sweet, tart, a little boozy :-P, spicy and just flat out delicious!

Brandy Spiked Spiced Cranberry Sauce

  • 1 12 ounce package fresh cranberries
  • 1 small tangerine, finely ground up in a food processor (peel and all)
  • 1/4 cup (give or take; however much you want to add ) orange marmalade
  • 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup brandy (you could sub whiskey or Grand Marnier)
  • 3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar (cider vinegar would work but I’m doing something tomorrow with raspberry vinegar so just go buy some 😛 )
  • 1 5 ounce bag dried cherries
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Mix all ingredients in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan
  2. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat when it boils and continue cooking until the berries pop. If you want a thicker sauce (I like it a little juicy so that when I serve it with turkey, the liquids run into and flavor everything else but I’m weird that way), cook longer until the liquid reduces down some
  3. Chill for at least 4 hours.
  4. Store tightly covered in the fridge until ready to serve. It can be stored for up to 2 weeks or so.

Yes, You MUST Have Marshmallows…

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This TASTES 9000 times better than my horrid photo attests to. Like I said, use GOOD quality sweet potatoes, not cheap ones. Mine just looks like a casserole dish of caramel sauce covered in marshmallows lol

When you have sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving, you HAVE to have marshmallows on top of them. I am pretty sure it’s the law in all 50 states as well as 492 small countries, all 7 continents and the planets surrounding Earth (this includes Pluto because it IS a planet darn it no one will ever make me say otherwise!)

Sorry… tangent there. Erhmmmm… where were we? *Rewinds head cassette* Yes btw, my head works on cassette. I’m old. Be glad I don’t rewind my mind via 8 track tape or 78 rpm albums. We’d be here all day. I mean… you DO rewind your brain don’t you? Or am I the only one special enough for that?

I just went into tangent mode again didn’t I? Sigh. Well, we’re used to that, you and I. Aren’t we? I was thinking that….

ARGHHHH!! Marshmallows Janet! Marshmallows!

As I was saying about three pages ago before I got distracted… ooo, shiny things! , marshmallows are the law on top of sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving. If not, there SHOULD be a law and I may just go petition congress on this issue. If for no other reason than they look pretty on top of them, all toasty and gooey. One can never have enough gooey.

I normally make the typical sweet potato casserole on Thanksgiving. You know the one. Brown sugar and butter mixed with either fresh cooked or canned (depends on my time constraints) sweet potatoes, then covered in a bag or so of mini marshmallows. Everyone then eats it and falls immediately into a diabetic coma even if they aren’t diabetics. (And yes, I know sugar doesn’t cause diabetes contrary to popular legend. Literary license here people… if we can call anything I do literary… or even literate.) The only thing I do differently is to add unsweetened crushed pineapple to mine because it adds a nice tart taste and kind of gives it a sweet potato/pineapple upside down cake taste.

But in planning to post that one for you, I came across a recipe for sweet potato casserole that while basically the same, had enough difference to make it worth trying. And it had marshmallows on it! Though I suppose if you are really strange and in massive need of marshmallow haters rehab, you could leave them off.

This has sweet potatoes as well as apples all smothered in a caramelly sauce, then baked and topped with marshmallows. This was really quite good. The apples add that tart flavor that I crave when I eat the very sweet sweet potatoes and marshmallows. The original recipe came from
Just Get off Your Butt And Bake and her photo is much much prettier than mine. The blog is great; go give it a look if you never have! I didn’t change her recipe much at all. Just swapped out cream for some of the water and used some spices in it and also increased it some because I live with gluttonous pigs aka teen males :-P. Otherwise, this is all hers. If you make this, I suggest using a good quality canned sweet potato if using canned. The ones I used were from a low cost chain; the kind that specializes in bulk buy and while the casserole TASTED delicious, the sweet potatoes were so overly processed in the can that they practically dissolved into the casserole as it cooked and it really didn’t have any nice chunks in it. Thus why you are only getting a photo of the casserole as a whole lol; not of individual servings 😛 .

So if you’re wanting something traditional yet not quite, give this a try. Sweet tart apples, tender sweet potatoes, caramel sauce and marshmallows all combine to make this yummy to the max!

Apple & Sweet Potato Casserole

(Covered In Gooey Marshmallows Cause I’m Not A Law Breaker)

  • 3 15 ounce cans sweet potatoes (or about half a dozen fresh ones, cooked, peeled then cut into chunks)
  • 4 tart apples such as Granny Smith, sliced thick (I used an apple corer & didn’t bother peeling them)
  • 2 1/3 cups boiling water
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream (brought to boiling with the water)
  • 1 cup Brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
  • 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter
  • 1 cup mini marshmallows
  1. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt & nutmeg with the cornstarch in a large measuring cup & blend well. Add the water/cream mixture to the sugar.
  2. Mix until well blended. Microwave at full power for about five minutes, taking out and stirring every minute, or until the sauce has thickened and is translucent.
  3. Combine the apples and sweet potatoes in a large greased baking dish (mine is a 2 quart ceramic dish)
  4. Pour the glaze over the yams and the apples.
  5. Bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees, or until the apples are tender.
  6. Sprinkle the marshmallows on top and broil until the yummy marshmallows that are totally legal are nicely browned. Do not NOT use them or I WILL call the law on you.
  7. Eat. Enjoy. Buy more marshmallows.

Me?? Make something the “Normal” Way?!

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Bite your tongue! You should know better than that. If there is any way to mess up change a perfectly good recipe, I’m the woman to do it. Hmmm, coming from a food blogger, that doesn’t sound too great now does it? Let me rephrase that to put myself in a much better light shall I? If a recipe has certain inherent flaws or shortcomings, or possibly could be adjusted by adding alternate flavors or adding more layers of flavor, I am the woman who will screw up attempt it and be seen later banging my head off of a table when it fails make a roaring success of it.

So were you impressed there?? Huh huh huh? Did I use big words and sound frighteningly wonderful?! Whadda ya mean I just sounded frightening!? I’m hurt! Nay, wounded to my very core! Nay, devastated. Nay, rambling as usual!

Fine, I’ll stop now.

Living in the south, I kinda love cornbread. If you don’t, they kick you out and make you live somewhere like Siberia (prays I have no readers in Siberia cause I just spent five minutes thinking of places one wouldn’t want to live and then changing them so as to not offend anyone living there 😛 ). You also have to love sweet tea (lack of that love is why they made my native Kentuckian daughter in law move) and Paula Deen (don’t tell anyone, but while I love her recipes, but she annoys the poo out of me with her use of “Y’all” fourteen times in each and every sentence). I wrote a post back when I first started the blog about the differences between Yankee cornbread and Southern cornbread. But this post isn’t about either of them. It’s about MANLY CORNBREAD! Please make sure you say that with a sneer on your face and while swaggering across the room adjusting your crotch. And in reality, I didn’t do much changing to the original recipe. My point was just that I seem to be incapable of making things that are “normal”. Nope; have to hunt down and make the unusual ones. And as cornbread goes, this fits that criteria. It’s from Emeril Lagesse. The only thing I changed was to not use cayenne pepper because while I love spicy foods, I thought that that as well as the jalapenos may be too much for my kids. Plus, I added a good amount more cheese and threw some green onions in there too. I mean… cheese, bacon, peppers… it was just crying out for green onions.

So go get out your cast iron pan (please tell me you have one. If not, time to buy one.) and your cornmeal and get to cooking. And Kim go get me a COKE while you’re cooking, wench! 😀 And for YOU
Ann there is no cinnamon in my recipe today so you can make it hehehehe 😛

This is wonderful cornbread. Crispy and hot and stuffed full of a creamy corn and bacon mix. It has just the right amount of spice and flavor. Enjoy! As my dad would have said “Eat it! You’ll grow hair on your chest!”

Emerils Manly Man Stuffed Corbread

  • 1 pound bacon, chopped (his called for a half a pound… what can I say? I HAD to have some sitting there for noshing on didn’t I? It’s like…the law!)
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (I used frozen & it worked fine)
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
  • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (again; I didn’t use this)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
  • 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven to get hot.
  3. In a large pan, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until brown, about 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels
  4. Drain all the fat but 2 teaspoons. Return to medium-high heat and add the corn to the pan. Cook, stirring, until golden and tender, about 5 minutes.
  5. Add the cream, butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt and water and cook until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes.  Do NOT do as I did and walk away and come back just in time to prevent it from overflowing all over your stove top. Ummm… oops?
  6. Remove from the heat and mash with a potato masher, spoon, your husbands electric razor… to crush some of the corn. Let cool.
  7. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining salt, and cayenne (if using). Stir to combine.
  8. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.
  9. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
  10. In a separate bowl, combine the cooled creamed corn, bacon, jalapenos, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese, and mix well.Remove the skillet from the oven and add the remaining tablespoon of melted butter, tilting the skillet to coat the bottom and sides.
  11. Pour half of the batter into the bottom of the skillet. Top with the corn-cheese mixture, then top with the remaining half of the batter.
  12. Bake until golden brown and set, about 30 minutes.Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

 

Is It Tomorrow Yet? Also, Savory Gooey Onion, Cheese & Sausage Bread Pudding

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Have you ever had one of those days you just wish hadn’t happened? Not a wish to start it over, but a wish that it just disappeared and never repeated itself.

Yeah. me too. Today was such a day.

I’m sure some of you have read me talking about (writing about?) my kids. I have six children, five boys and one girl, ranging in age from 25 on down to 3. I also have 5 grandchildren. As I’ve said before, I started having kids at age six… honest. 😀

One of my kids more frequently mentioned, if not here, on my FB page, is my son Jordan. Jordan is sixteen but is always going to be my baby. He is the sweetest boy you could ever know. But he is also Autistic, mildly intellectually challenged, has a severe case of ADHD, some OCD, and other things falling into the emotional/mental disabilities spectrum. He has the emotional and intellectual abilities of about an 8 year old. He is sweet, funny, loving & enjoys helping people. He loves to work with tools though that can end up with broken gadgets and bikes and what have you lol. He loves to “invent” things cooking but rarely does anything of it turn out to be edible. Heck, we all know what THAT’S like though huh? 😀 He loves our cats and adores his siblings. He worries about me and wants to take care of me forever.

He also can get overwhelmed when stressed out, discouraged, angry or pushed too hard. He doesn’t like rules and will rebel if he thinks that one is unfair. He wishes he could do everything but frequently tells me that he feels like he can’t do anything right, is stupid and doesn’t fit in anywhere. Those are the days that I feel my heart crack into little pieces. When he is upset and something (usually chaos or being pushed too hard) triggers him, he can also become violent and aggressive. Not in the bullying sort of way. When he is aware of himself and his surrounding, he wouldn’t hurt a flea and has been known to carry flies outside so that they wouldn’t die. But when he gets upset, he is no longer cognizant of how he is acting. he is pure adrenaline. Today was one of those bad days. He has been doing poorly in school, in part, in my opinion, because they are expecting too much academically from him. He is a sophomore who should have extreme modifications in his work but doesn’t. So when he feels like a failure, he doesn’t try and acts up to get out of working.

Today, something happened that made him lose control. From what I have been told, he sat in the wrong chair in class and rather than say the obvious “oh well, what does it matter? and let him sit there (it was a chair for petes sake!), it was turned into a control issue by the teacher and others were brought in to “help”. It ended with him being restrained (way bad move with an autistic child who doesn’t like being touched other than to be hugged), his biting and spitting on a teacher (again; think young child and temper tantrum) and him being suspended. Now, I agree with the suspension. He can’t be allowed to do that and there have to be consequences. But it didn’t end there. The school is pressing charges of assault against my 16 year old Autistic, mildly retarded, IQ of around 75 boy.

I want someone to explain to me what they think will happen to an extremely vulnerable mentally challenged boy in jail or juvenile detention. He isn’t the type to be able to fend off someone who wanted to hurt him or do other things to him. He would cry, he would beg for me to help him though I wouldn’t be there, he would fight as well as he could but ultimately he would lose. The problems he has also have led to poorer than usual muscle tone and strength. But they want him in jail. They want to take him and put him with men or boys who have REALLY committed assault, have raped, have committed armed robbery, have done drugs, abused parents or siblings and God knows what else.

I want this day to disappear. I want to hug my children and hide them in a cave so no one can ever harm them. I want him to be whole.

There is no subtle way to lead into a recipe today so I won’t try. I’ll just post it.

As Scarlett O Hara said, “After all, tomorrow IS another day”. Dear God, I hope so.

Savory, Onion, Swiss & Sausage Bread Pudding

  1. 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
  2. 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
  3. 9 cups thinly sliced onions (about 4 to 5 onions depending on size)
  4. 1 large shallot, finely chopped
  5. 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
  6. 1/3 cup dry red or white wine (I prefer to use a Cabernet  in this)
  7. 1 loaf (about 12 ounces) French or Italian bread, cubed (I use the garlic/Parmesan loaf that many stores carry in their bakery section.)
  8. 4 cups shredded Swiss cheese
  9. 1 cup grated fresh (not the dry nasty kind) Parmesan cheese
  10. 1 10 ounce package Tyson Italian Sausage Crumbles (or just use regular Italian sausage that you have cooked and crumbled)
  11. 4 eggs
  12. 2 cups heavy cream or a mix of cream and half & half
  13. 1 cup whole milk (you could try this with low fat milk and even use that instead of the cream too, but this isn’t supposed to be a diet dish lol)
  14. 1 teaspoon salt
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Melt 5 tablespoons butter with the oil in a large pan. Add in the sliced onions and the shallots. Cover and cook over low heat until the onions are tender and limp.
  • Uncover, turn heat to medium and cook the onions until golden brown and nicely caramelized. About five minutes before they look done, add in the garlic. Stir well and continue cooking.
  • When browned and cooked, pour in the wine. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid is gone.
  • Butter a 13×9 inch baking dish, preferably a glass one.
  • In a large bowl, combine the bread, sausage and the onions.
  • Melt the last 5 tablespoons of butter and pour it over the bread mixture.
  • Add the cheeses.
  • In a small bowl, mix the cream, milk, salt and eggs.
  • Pour the egg mixture over the bread and mix well. Stir this well for about 2 to 3 minutes to make sure all the bread has a chance to start soaking up the cream mixture
  • Pour mixture into the prepared pan and bake at 350 until it is golden brown and cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. To check doneness, poke a butter knife into the middle. If it comes out wet or dripping, it’s not done. It should be the consistency of a cooked cheesecake. Firm and yet still creamy.
  • Let cool for about ten minute before you cut this.
  • This is an awesome side dish for a company dinner or a great light meal with a salad for the family. It’s also great for a weekend breakfast. It’s gooey, crispy at the edges because of all the butter used in it and cheesy and oniony and oh my, it’s SO good. One of my favorite side dishes in fact.

Did I mention How Much I Love Pumpkin??

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If the rising amount of Pumpkin recipes on my blog and my drooling comments on all of your pumpkin posts hasn’t made it clear, I LOVE PUMPKIN!! Whadda ya mean, you couldn’t hear me!? Ok, I’ll say it again.  I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!  Yes, yes, I know. I’m very subtle when it comes to displaying my likes and dislikes. I bet that not a one of you knew I loved chocolate, Twinkies or Cheetos did you? Or that I absolutely hate beef liver? Shocking huh? I really need to learn to express myself better don’t I? Oh… by the way.. I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!

Autumn in the blogging world is obviously the time when we see a plethora (dontcha just love when I use big words… like “I want a  plethora of Twinkies and Cheetos”. Now THERE’S an awesome sentence!) of pumpkin recipes (as well as apple and pear recipes and Thanksgiving style recipes and…and…and.. *drools yet again*). I absolutely love this time of year.  Not sure I made that clear before either hehe. Seriously though, I do. I love the weather, the way people seem more chilled out (and not just cause they are cold) and I definitely love the foods. Especially…erhmmm… pumpkin.

One thing I notice though is that there are many more sweet Pumpkin recipes than there are anything else. Mind you, you’ll never see me knocking that (I love love love my Pumpkin Cranberry Bread Recipe   as well as the 5000000 pumpkin recipes I’ve printed out in the last few days) but Pumpkin is wonderful in so much more than sweets mmmmmmmmaaaaaan!

The other day I received an email that had a recipe for Pumpkin Hummus. I was all over that one! I love hummus. It’s one of my favorite snacks or light meals. So combine that with my love for Pumpkin and I knew I had to try this. So I did. And it was bland and downright boring which is why I’m not sharing where I got it. I don’t want to show where I got a ick recipe.  So we all know me right? No way could I just say “oh well, that’s that. I’m done.” Nope. I had to fix it… cause that’s the kind of a gal I am. Or something.

And fix it I did. I make a curried Pumpkin risotto that I love. I mean, it’s absolutely amazingly good! Yes btw, I will be sharing that recipe here during the Pumpkinish season. So the risotto popped into my mind and I figured “why not?” So I added some curry powder to the pumpkin hummus mix, a bit more salt, a touch of red pepper and oh my gosh, is it good! It has a tang from the lemon mixed with a meld of exotic flavor from the curry and garlic. All topped off of course by the wonderfully fresh UNSWEETENED flavor of pumpkin. If you like Pumpkin and want a light meal, side dish or snack, try this. I served it with onion flatbreads. My husband, peasant that he is, didn’t like it. But that’s ok… more for me 😀

Curried Pumpkin Hummus

  1. 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
  2. 2 to 3 tablespoons tahini
  3. 2 teaspoons  garlic powder
  4. 2 teaspoons onion powder
  5. 2 1/2 teaspoons mild curry powder
  6. 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
  7. 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste. I’m not a big salt person but many of you may need more)
  8. 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
  9. 1 teaspoon olive oil
  10. 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
  11. 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • In a food processor, combine all ingredients until smooth and creamy.
  • Taste for seasoning.
  • Spoon into serving bowl and drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with a touch more curry powder.
  • Eat.
  • Feel good about it because this is actually quite good for you.
  • Cheer because I’m so good at figuring out ways to add extra superfluous (another big word… didya see that?) recipe directions because I hate short recipes.