Mexican Cornbread

This recipe was stumbled upon unplanned and was really good! The meal I had planned to fix required a certain ingredient that I didn't have enough of, so I had to change plans at the last minute. We call that a "happy accident." =)

For a while, I had been craving cornbread and just kept forgetting to work it into my menu plan. When I had to come up with a meal at the last minute, I looked in the refrigerator and saw some chopped onions and bell peppers, some jalapenos and our homemade turkey sausage. I also knew that I had some corn in the freezer. We found a cornbread recipe in our recipe book and decided to just throw it all together in a casserole dish to see what would happen. We enjoyed it so much last week, that we decided to make it again this week with a crock pot of beans. We just had it Tuesday night, and it was delicious! (FYI: We cooked a 1 pound bag of dried navy beans [soaked the night before] with some chopped onion, minced garlic and some salt in the crock pot on high for about 6 hours.)


Here's the recipe...Enjoy! Let me know if you try some variations and whether or not you like them.

Cornbread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 Tbsp. double-acting baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk (we use plain soy milk)
4-8 Tbsp. agave nectar (This depends on how sweet you like your cornbread...I used 6 Tbsp.)
2/3 cup oil (We used coconut oil the first time and grapeseed oil the second time. Both worked just fine.)

Ingredients to add to cornbread mixture:
1 1/2 cups turkey sausage
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/3 cup canned or fresh jalapenos, chopped (obviously, less if you don't want it too spicy, more if you want it more spicy.)

This is all we used because that's all we had on hand at the time, but feel free to experiment with additional ingredients. I imagine this would be a good mixture to "sneak" in some veggies that your kids might not eat alone (ie. chopped spinach, diced zucchini or squash, diced mushroom, etc.).

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Grease 9" X 13" baking dish (We use grapeseed oil).

Dice and chop pepper, onion and jalapenos and combine with corn and sausage. Set aside.

In medium bowl with fork, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. In small bowl with fork, beat together egg, milk, agave nectar and oil. Pour egg mixture all at once into flour mixture. Stir just until flour is moistened. Do not overstir--It should be slightly lumpy. Add vegetable and sausage mixture to batter and gently combine. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Bake 30 minutes or until golden.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I know, I know...I've been promising this recipe to some of you for weeks now, and I'm just now getting around to it. I'm such a slacker! =)

This recipe will make two loaves, or you can do like I do and have some fun with it. I like to braid all the dough like challah. Here is a video (not me, by the way) with instructions on how to braid a 6-strand challah. It's fun...you ought to try it!



Here recently, I've just been shaping a long, mounded loaf on my sheet pan. I don't really like my loaf pans, and it turns out just as well (if not better) than if I had used a loaf pan. I haven't taken any pictures of the mounded loaf, but here are some before and after pictures of the braided loaf. We like the different "bumps" on the top of each slice of bread. It makes it more interesting than just a plain old loaf. =)

This is a braided, unbaked loaf.

Here it is after it's baked. Look how beautiful! Can't you just smell it? =)

This is what it looks like after it is sliced. I use an electric knife with a slicing guide to get the most uniform slices.

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:
6 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1 3/4 cups warm water, divided
1/3 cup honey
1 pkg. yeast (I use about 1 Tbsp. of the loose dry, active yeast.)
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. oil (I use grapeseed oil)

1. Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 cups of warm water in a large glass bowl. Allow this to sit for about 30 minutes. This will break down the gluten and help the bread to rise better.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup water, yeast and honey. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and mixture becomes bubbly.
3. Add yeast mixture, salt and oil to the flour and water mixture. Gradually add the remaining three cups of flour and stir well. (I use my KitchenAid with the dough hook.) Every time I make this I end up needing a different amount of flour...sometimes almost a cup extra and sometimes 1/2 cup less. I think it has to do with the lunar cycle. =) Just watch for the smooth consistency that dough takes on. The dough should not stick to the edges of the bowl, but on the flip side it should not become dry and flaky.
4. If you are stirring by hand, you will need to knead the dough by hand on a clean counter as the dough becomes harder to stir. Add a little flour if needed to keep it from sticking. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. (KitchenAid works great!)
5. Place the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover it with a cloth. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place (set on a chair or table near a window for the sun to warm it, or place near the stove/oven if you've recently used either one) for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.
6. Using a floured hand, pull the dough out of the bowl onto the counter. Knead for just a minute or two until the air bubbles are gone.
7. If you are making loaves, cut the dough in half with a large sharp knife, shape each section of dough into a loaf and place them each into a greased bread pan. I use a sheet pan covered with foil and grease it with some grapeseed oil before placing my loaf on it to rise.
8. Cover and allow 45 minutes to one hour to rise again.
9. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 30-45 minutes (we like ours at about 30 minutes), or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump on the top.
10. Allow bread to cool completely before slicing entire loaf. This will keep it from drying out or from becoming "soggy" by storing it still warm. If you are like us, though, you will want to cut a few warm slices to enjoy right away. Just make sure you cover the open end with a cloth, so it won't dry out. Store slices in an airtight container...Ziploc bags work great!

As I mentioned in my muffin recipe post, coconut oil is so incredible on a warm slice of bread! You have to try it! =)

Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins (or Blueberry, if you prefer)

This is a recipe that we have adapted from one of our favorite recipe books but have changed certain ingredients to meet our needs. You can make them with either the raspberries and poppy seeds or with just blueberries. This particular recipe can be made with either all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour or a combination of both. If you use whole wheat flour, you will want to increase the baking powder to a total of 4 teaspoons.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups flour (all-purpose, whole wheat or both)
1 Tbsp. and 1/4 tsp. double-acting baking powder (4 tsp. total if using whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp. salt (slightly mounded)
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds (omit if making blueberry)

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup milk (we use soy milk)
1/4 cup oil (we use grapeseed oil)
1/2 cup agave nectar
3/4 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries or blueberries (Run the raspberries in a food processor for a few seconds so they will spread throughout the muffins more evenly.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin-pan cups or fill muffin pan with disposable cups. Recipe will yield 16-18 muffins.

In large bowl with fork, mix dry ingredients. In small bowl with fork, beat egg slightly, then stir milk, oil and agave into beaten egg. Add fruit to wet ingredient mixture and slightly stir to make sure fruit doesn't clump. Add wet mixture all at once to flour mixture and with spoon, stir just until flour is moistened. (Avoid overmixing which causes toughness; batter should be lumpy.) Spoon batter into muffin cups. Be sure to wipe pan clean of any spills.

Bake muffins 20 to 25 minutes until they are well risen and golden and toothpick inserted in center of one comes out clean and dry.

***Now...this next step is VERY, VERY important!!! =) Do NOT put butter in your muffins! You must, Must, MUST get some coconut oil to spread in your muffins! That is the best stuff you will ever taste, and it is SO much better for you than butter! Try it! =)