Category Archives: Home Cooking

Thoughts About Cornbread

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Some Thoughts on Cornbread

 

May be an image of text that says 'The North thinks it knows how to make corn bread, but this is a gross SuPerstition. Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern corn bread, and Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as bad as the Northern imitation of it. Mark Twain Sonthern THE Voice'

 

 

 

 

I think Mark Twain got this right. I don’t think I’ve ever had true Southern Cornbread but I’ve had some pretty awful cornbread here in the North. Maybe my sister in law and I should have a cornbread bake off. My sister-in -law is from Charleston, South Carolina and is one of the most fun people I know.  But I digress.

Cornbread is something I don’t eat very often but every once in a while I get a craving for it. When I was working I’d buy the little mix packages that were just add water. Although easy and quick to make the result was  this dry, crumbly stuff that was really pretty bad.  Still bad cornbread is better than no corn bread so I kept doing that until someone gave me a recipe for Boston Market Cornbread. I’m always looking for ways to improve my cooking skills.

Boston Market Cornbread

Boston Market cornbread is a very moist, very sweet, cornbread that is served as a mini loaf.

No photo description available.

Photo credit- Boston Market

I think they are great but is it cornbread? 

When I got the “Imposter” recipe I could see why it’s so cake like. It uses a box of Butter Cake mix as a base. It makes a ton of these little loaves and they also freeze well. I used to make a batch for the office and we’d put them in the freezer so my co-workers and I could have them whenever we wanted.  

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread

Boston Market cornbread aside, I still think there is nothing like cornbread that’s baked in a cast iron skillet. You get such a beautiful crust when you bake your cornbread this way. So  I set out to see if I could make a decent cornbread even though I am a Northerner. I think my effort was pretty successful. Here’s the result. 

Photo credit Deb Neumann

 

 

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

 

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread Recipe

(Food Network)

 

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teas. kosher salt
  • 2 teas. baking powder
  • 1/2 teas. baking soda
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
  • 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, Melted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, and place a 9 inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while you make the batter.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt baking powder and baking soda. Whisk in the milk, buttermilk, and eggs. Lastly whisk in all of the melted butter, reserving about 1 tablespoon for the skillet later on.
  3. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and reduce the oven temp to 375. Coat bottom and sides of the hot skillet with the remaining butter. Pour the batter into the skillet and place it in the center of the oven. Bake until the center is firm and tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (25-30 minutes) Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. 

Enjoy! 

 

 

 

Why Does Everyone Hate Meatloaf?

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Tender Juicy Meatloaf

 As part of my project to improve my cooking skills I decided to try to find the reason that everyone seems to hate meatloaf. And I don’t mean the Musician known as Meatloaf.  

Meat Loaf' life in photos

Photo credit- Internet

 

 

I made a meatloaf Sunday. I was in the mood for meatloaf sandwiches so made a small one just so I’d have the left overs. (Like a good hamburger, meatloaf is there – you know you sang it) Anyway, while it was in the oven I was perusing Facebook and saw one of their many “Lists”.  It was foods  Boomers should get rid of or something like that and there was the lowly meatloaf. The Comments were eye opening.

Meatloaf should Never be Dry

Best Meatloaf Recipe [VIDEO] - Sweet and Savory Meals

Photo credit- Flickr

Everyone talked about their mother’s meatloaf. How it was this dry lump of ground meat.  And you know what? They were right! After I thought about it I remembered I didn’t like meatloaf when I was growing up either. One of the first things I did when I was on my own and realized it was learn to cook or starve was to learn to make a juicy, tender meatloaf. 

I am a purist in that I use hamburger meat. I don’t mix it with pork or veal or any other kind of ground meat. You can if you want but I don’t. Next I hate slicing into a meatloaf and seeing lumps of bread. You get that when you just shred up some bread and soak it in milk. No I liked to use the bread to add a bit of flavor. My choice for breadcrumbs? A package of stove top chicken stuffing. But the real trick is the sautéed onion and green pepper. 

To keep the meatloaf from falling apart the onions and green pepper need to be chopped very fine then softened by sautéing for about 4-5 minutes so they will not be crunchy bits. 

If I have chicken broth I use that for the liquid instead of water for a fuller flavor. 

Here’s my Easy, Peasy Meatloaf Recipe

What you need

  • 2 lb ground beef
  • 1 package of Stove top Stuffing mix  (16 oz) for chicken
  • 1 Cup water or chicken broth
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1/2 C Barbecue Sauce or catsup (divided)
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 1 small green pepper

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 F

  1. Chop onion and pepper into small pieces and sauté in a little oil at low heat for about 5 minutes. Don’t let them burn. Set aside
  2. Place meat, stuffing mix, water (broth) and 1/4 cup Barbecue sauce/catsup in a bowl.
  3. Gently mix with your hands until just blended.
  4.  Add the Sautéed veggies and blend 
  5.  Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper
  6. Shape into a loaf
  7.  Top with remaining sauce/catsup
  8.  Bake 1 hour or until done

 

Meatloaf Sandwich | Leftover meatloaf in a sandwich. Mmm... … | Flickr

Photo Credit- Flickr

I like to try different things with my meatloaf- maybe a dash of Worcestershire Sauce or maybe A1 Sauce for a little extra flavor. I always use onion but sometimes I skip the green pepper if I don’t have one handy. Maybe add some cheese in the center of my loaf. If your bread crumbs aren’t seasoned don’t forget the salt and pepper. When using the Stove top as bread crumbs I skip the salt and pepper. There’s enough in the stuffing mix.

I hope you never have a dry meatloaf again!

Whipping Cream Biscuits

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Whipping Cream Biscuits and More

Have you ever heard of Whipping Cream Biscuits? I had not. I’ve heard of Baking Power biscuits, Buttermilk Biscuits, Flaky layer biscuits (from a tube) but never Whipping Cream Biscuits. I guess they are also called just Cream Biscuits if you want to shorten the name.

Blackberry jam on a cream biscuit

Photo from Julia’s Simply Southern

 

Where did I hear about them you ask. Well as a retired person I have time to indulge in one of my favorite pass times- reading.  Currently I’m reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series.

You may remember a 1980’s TV show called Spenser for Hire. Robert Urich played Spenser, a Boston based gum shoe who played fast & loose with the law in order to catch the bad guys. Spenser is an enlightened thug who enjoys cooking and quoting poetry. He is consider a wise guy even though his comments are kind of lame at times. 

Spenser works with Hawk, played by Avery Brooks. I always loved the Hawk character. But I digress, I heard about Whipping Cream Biscuits in one of the early Spenser novels. Spenser mentions making them for his breakfast and it made me curious. I needed to try them. 

Whipping Cream Biscuits the Recipe

Light, airy and slightly sweet. Very Tender and delicate

Ingredients

  • 2 C All purpose flour
  • 1 Tbs. plus 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp. Salt
  • 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
  •  4 Tbs. Butter, Chilled and cut in cubes
  •  1 C plus 1 tablespoon Heavy Whipping Cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 F
  2. In mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder , salt and sugar together
  3.  Next, cut  the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly
  4.  Add Heavy Whipping Cream to flour mixture stirring just until combined.
  5.  Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out
  6.  Use your hands to press out dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. Fold into thirds then press out again. Repeat fold once more  then press dough for cutting.
  7. Using a Biscuit Cutter, press straight down (do not twist) to cut each biscuit. Place  the biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet
  8.  Bake 12-15 minutes until light golden brown on top
  9.  Brush top with melted butter if desired.

My Results

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

 

I made extra large biscuits because I planned to use them to make bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches and wanted the eggs to fit without falling over the sides of the biscuits. I don’t think these biscuits were the best choice for that. They came out super soft and and light as advertised with a very nice rise.  The sugar gave them just a hint of sweetness but they just didn’t hold up to the task of the sandwich. They crumbled too easily. Tasted great but kind of messy.  However they are absolutely the best with butter and jam or honey or for strawberry shortcake.

Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Sorry for the fuzzy photos. I used my call phone and those pics are always a little out of focus.

Honing My Cooking Skills

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What’s Cooking?

I have always enjoyed cooking but the busier I got at work the less cooking I did. I found I ate out a lot or ordered take out for lunch. When I did cook I tried to find casseroles or crock pot dishes that I could cook up on the weekend and then just reheat during the week. Now that I have more time and less demands I find I’m exploring more dishes. The only problem is that I am just one person and usually anything I make could feed an army!

I’m really glad I didn’t have any warning that I was going to be laid off. If I had I might not have bought my beautiful new stove. Like anything you do, having the right tools makes all the difference.

Lovely Quick Lunch

Everyone likes pizza right? Wrong I only tolerate it but I found a pizza recipe that has made me a true pizza lover and it’s quick! First you need to make friends will Belle from Beauty & the Beast so that she can get you some French Baguettes or you can go to your local bakery. I actually found mine at my local Hannaford’s Market in the bakery section.  Nice and crispy outside and soft as a cloud inside.

French Baquette Bread by Seven Spikes Bakery, french baquette bread from dubai | ID - 4361255

 

Once you have the baguette I cut mine in 3rds. (Portion control) If you want a larger piece just cut it in half . Now cut each piece lengthwise.

Spread your Pizza Sauce on each piece.

Pizza Sauce

The Pizza Sauce I used said “Pizza Sauce” right on the label but if you want to make your own it’s real easy.

  • 6 oz tomato Paste
  • 15 oz Tomato sauce
  • 1-2 Tbs Oregano to taste
  • 2 Tbs Italian Seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 TBS Garlic Salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar ( optional)
  1. Mix tomato paste and sauce in a medium bowl until all lumps are incorporated
  2. Add spices and mix well!
  3. Use in your favorite pizza recipe

The Cheese

The most common cheese is Mozzarella cheese. 

Some folks like to get a chunk of it and slice off pieces to lay on your sauce.

Homemade Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Recipe (Tasty & Firm) | Kitchn

I found I liked a mix of 2 cheeses, mozzarella and cheddar. I was able to find this “Pizza Mix” in the dairy aisle. It’s 2 cheese shredded Pizza cheese. 

Toppings

Let your imagination run free. Top your pizza with your favorite flavors. I like mushrooms (fresh works best), chopped onion and pepperoni. 

Pop it into your preheated oven at 475 degrees for 10-15 minutes. So good. 

Enjoy

Pepperoni French Bread Pizza | America's Test Kitchen Recipe