1. As I think about cooking food these days, I try to imagine possibilities, try to imagine new approaches, rather than relying almost exclusively on what I've done before.
For example, a while back Debbie mistakenly bought a can of creamed corn instead of whole kernel corn.
Knowing this, I wondered to myself if possibly creamed corn might work as an ingredient in cornbread.
Recently, Christy assigned me to make cornbread for tonight's family dinner.
I jumped on the World Wide Web with creamed corn cornbread in mind and, sure enough, I found a recipe.
Therefore, today, I melted a stick of butter, put it in a mixing bowl. I added a drained can of whole kernel corn and can of creamed corn and the two boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix.
I mixed this well and added a cup of sour cream and, just to see what might happen, I went a little beyond the recipe and added a small amount of blue cheese dressing and some grated sharp cheddar cheese, too.
I mixed all this together, heated the cast iron skillet, buttered it, and poured the cornbread mixture into the skillet and baked it for about 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees.
The result was unlike any cornbread I've either prepared or eaten before.
It was dense, sweet, rich, moist and packed with flavor. I think the sour cream helped tame the sweetness of the Jiffy mix and the sweetness of all that corn so that it was tastefully sweet, not uncomfortably sweet.
Because this cornbread is so rich, we didn't need to add butter or honey to our individual pieces.
If I make this creamed corn cornbread again, I might try to figure out how to make it not quite so rich and a little bit lighter. I would also like to make it from scratch rather than depending on the (admittedly very convenient) Jiffy mix.
If I can't figure out how to do that, no problem.
Our family enjoyed the cornbread I baked today a lot.
2. Last week for family dinner, and while Debbie was back east, I made a cabbage salad with an Asian dressing that combined sesame oil, olive oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, and minced ginger.
I didn't put all that I made on the slaw and, a couple of nights ago, Debbie accidentally discovered this dressing in the refrigerator and told me I had to make more of it and that we should have it on hand ALWAYS as a condiment staple.
So I made more today.
3. Tonight's family dinner was superb!
Christy hosted.
She greeted each of us as we arrived with a cocktail called Lynchburg Beer. To me it was a like a Dark and Stormy from the Deep South, combining Jack Daniels with A & W Root Beer and lime juice. The lime was the essential ingredient. It helped cut the root beer's sweetness and helped make room for the Jack Daniels to be the drink's most forward taste.
I'd never heard of this cocktail and enjoyed its unique flavor and that it was so refreshing.
Paul assembled a relish tray featuring Carol's homemade dill pickles alongside her bread and butter pickles, complimented by black olives.
Christy made superb stuffed peppers for the main course. She steamed the stuffed peppers in her crock pot and they featured an awesome stuffing of ground beef, rice, tomatoes, onion, cheese, and other delicious seasonings. I might have forgotten other ingredients in the stuffing.
It had been a long time since we had stuffed peppers and I loved their return.
Carol made a terrific cucumber salad to go with the stuffed peppers and I brought the cornbread I already described.
For dessert, Carol made a splendid banana cream pie with a graham cracker crust.
We talked about a wide variety of things tonight.
Debbie returned to work today and we discussed the art and science of teaching.
We also talked about the mind boggling wonder of seeing our children and step children grow into adults and how parents just never really know what direction their children's lives will go and how much our adult children live more securely knowing that their parents' home is always a shelter in the storm, if wanted or needed.
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