Sweet Yellow Cornbread

 

You Will Need:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal (I use Indian Head Brand)
• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 t. sea salt
• 1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 stick salted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease 8 x 8 pan with butter.  In medium bowl combine dry ingredients, in a separate smaller bowl combine wet ingredients. Mix it into the dry ingredients until blended well. Pour into pan, Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Or 12 muffin tin pan buttered and filled 2/3 full. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown

This bread is a slightly sweet cornbread, and to me it compares to Jiffy brand cornbread, but in my opinion this made from scratch cornbread is better. I like that this homemade version has nothing added to it in the way of soybean oil or preservatives.

Enjoy!

Homemade Bread Crumbs

 

You Will Need:

• 1-2 cups of leftover bread crumbled (I used 4-5 day old homemade bread)
• about 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• sprinkle of garlic powder
• sprinkle of Italian seasonings (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees, in a bowl combine ingredients, spread crumb mixture evenly on a sheet pan, cook for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to turn over the crumbs, stir around and spread evenly again on the pan cook another 5 minutes, turn over the crumbs and stir around again, and cook again until desired crispness about 5 more minutes, let cool, then store in plastic bag or container for use in recipes. Can be frozen up to 3 months. If using from freezer, let them thaw on paper towels before use in recipes, you can also re-crisp them if needed, in the oven for 5 minutes or until crispy.

I love to put these bread crumbs on top of my salads, I use them now instead of Ritz Crackers, they give a salty-sweet taste and a little bit of cracker crispiness.

Enjoy!

Basic Bread Recipe For Elite Gourmet Bread Maker

 

This recipe is for use in The Elite Gourmet Bread Maker Programmable Bread Maker, Recipe is for the 1lb. Basic Bread Setting

You Will Need: 

• 210 ml water (slightly warm)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Oil (I use avocado)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. of sugar
• 2 1/3 cup bread flour
• 1 tsp. instant yeast

Put ingredients into bread maker pan in the order above, starting with the water, do not stir, place pan in bread maker, set on Program 1 (Basic), 1 lb. weight, and medium color setting. Timer will display 2:55. 

Bread will be ready in 2 hours 55 minutes, bread maker timer will beep when done and display time will display 0:00 when finished. Using oven mitts, remove the pan from the bread maker, remove the bread from the pan by shaking loose, it does not stick and falls right out, cool on a wire rack. 

So easy, tasty, and we like that we know what went into our bread. I highly recommend this bread maker for ease of use. 

Our bread keeps in a gallon size plastic bag or on a cake plate underneath a glass dome for 2 days for sandwiches.  On the 3rd and 4th day, we toast it for sandwiches. If any bread is left over after the 4th day, I make bread crumbs to use on top of my salads or in recipes like casseroles and meatloaf.  

For the bread crumbs recipe, scroll to the post above this one, or view the recipe index on the right-hand side of this website. If you are viewing this with a phone, you may need to go to the bottom of the page and click view web version to find the recipe index. 

Enjoy!

Easy Biscuits From Scratch

 

You Will Need: 

• 1 cup all purpose flour sifted (I use unbleached)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 Tablespoons salted butter
• 1/2 cup milk (you may not need all of the milk it depends on the humidity in the air, you'll add it into dry ingredients a little at a time)  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients together, grate the butter in and mix together with back of a spoon, then use fingers to mix it in better. Add milk a little at a time by the tablespoon. You want a smooth dough that you can roll out. If you find that the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. Once the dough can be made into a soft ball that's not sticky, roll it out about 1/2 inch thick onto a floured surface, (I used a chopping block to roll mine out). Cut with a biscuit cutter or glass turned upside down. Place biscuits on a baking sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Makes 5 Biscuits 

Enjoy! 

Banana Bread

 

You Will Need:

• 1 stick butter (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
• 2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)
• 2 cups  all purpose flour (sift after measuring)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Add mashed bananas to the sugar mixture, alternately with dry ingredients. Add nuts and vanilla extract. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan bake 1 hour or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of loaf. 

Enjoy!

Spinach Cornbread~Delicious & Easy

You will need:

•  a package of defrosted chopped spinach, defrost it in the microwave, and  squeeze all of the water out of it 
• 2 eggs beaten,
•  1/2 stick of butter or margarine melted (I used smart balance),
• 1/2 a small yellow onion chopped , 
• a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, 
• 3/4 cup of lowfat cottage cheese or reg. cottage cheese,
• 1/3 cup of buttermilk......

Mix it all together in a medium sized bowl.....

Pour it in a square 8 x 8 baking pan, sprayed with Organic Pam, or greased with oil, and bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven, Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until golden brown.

and here's what it looks like, when it is done......I cooked this about 5 minutes too long, but it still turned out good.....just a little more golden than usual.....

Now, I realize that some people do not like spinach, but cooked in this sweet cornbread.....it's delicious . A great way to get your veggies......

Enjoy! 

(This was Grandma T's recipe)

Side Dishes~ Homemade Mashed Potatoes~ Turnip Greens with Southern Fried Cornbread

Southern Style Turnip Greens

You will need: 

• 3 slices of bacon
• family size bag of frozen turnip greens with roots
• tsp. oil
• enough water to cover the greens
• 1 heaping tsp. sea salt

Directions: 
Put 3 slices of bacon in medium pot with teaspoon of oil. Cook the bacon until it starts to bubble, but not until it's crisp,add water to the pot, just enough to cover the turnips, add heaping teaspoon of  salt, you can add more to taste when done, bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover and cook at a slow boil on medium low heat for about an hour .

The longer they cook, the more yummy flavor they will have. Now that they are done, you can season them to taste with more salt, black pepper or hot pepper sauce, if desired. I don't add hot pepper sauce to my turnips, but a lot of people do.

*For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave the bacon off, and instead of bacon add beef broth in place of the water. 


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Now, onto the cornbread. You can't have turnips without some. 

Southern Fried Cornbread

You will need: 

• about 1 cup white corn meal (I use Hoover's fine sifted)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Directions: 
In a small bowl add cornmeal, water and salt

It should be about the consistency of muffin mix.......

Heat 2 cups of oil in a skillet. I heated it on high for 3 min. (As a word of caution, never turn your back on grease),

Carefully add the cornbread by heaping tablespoons to the hot grease quickly turn the heat down to about med-high. Cook about 30 seconds without disturbing and then start turning about every minute...

Until they are golden brown, like this.....

Remove from grease and drain on paper towels on a plate......

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Homemade Mashed Potatoes

You will need: 

• 5 medium russet potatoes (this will fee about 5-6 people)
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• water to cover the potatoes
• 6 Tablespoons butter or margarine
• milk (about a cup)
• 1 heaping tsp. Mayonnaise 
• black pepper to taste

Directions:
Peel, wash, and cube the potatoes.....

Then put them in a pot with about a teaspoon of salt and cover them with water. Bring them to a boil and once they begin boiling, cook them for about 12- 15 min. on a timer until they are fork tender....

After they are tender, drain them in a colander, and put them back in the  pot. Add 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine, and mash with metal potato masher, after butter is melted, add some milk, a little at the time, and keep mashing. I ended up using about a cup of milk, just start with a little and add more until the potatoes reach your desired consistency. Add a heaping teaspoon of Mayonnaise. Add more salt and pepper to taste. 

For creamier smoother mashed potatoes, you can use a hand mixer, sometimes I do, but I usually use my metal masher.

Enjoy!

* For a healthier lower saturated fat version of these, use half the amount of butter, and use chicken broth or rice milk (or both) instead of the milk, and leave out the mayonnaise.