Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Penguins!!!

These little babies are the CUTEST EVER!!!!!!!

In my hiatus from blogging I also stopped looking at food blogs because a lot of foods did not appeal to me. Quite honestly I was too tired by the time I came home from work to do much more than eat and go straight to bed. It is so nice to be in my second trimester!

This week when I got up the effort to start looking at blogs again, Megan's Cooking caught my eye. She made the cutest little penguin appetizers. We are having a couple of friends over for dinner so I thought I would try this recipe out. I was worried it would be really time consuming so I didn't have high expectations. WRONG! These babies are EASY to make and so damn cute!!!!! When they are all bunched up they look like they are keeping their eggs warm.

Penguins:
18 jumbo ripe Black olives
18 small ripe Black olives1
(8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 carrot (about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide)
18 long fresh chives
18 toothpicks

Cut a slit lengthwise from top to bottom in each jumbo olive. Fill each cavity of the jumbo olives with about a teaspoon of cream cheese (I used a knife and pushed the cream cheese in a little at a time through the top hole). This makes the the white stripe in penguins chest.

Cut carrot into 1/4 inch slices, then out of each slice cut a small pie shaped piece. This makes the feet, save the piece you cut out, this will be the beak. In the x slit in the center of each small olive (where the pit was removed) press the small piece of carrot into the hole with the pointed end out. Using a toothpick, stack head ( small olive ), body (large olive) and feet (carrot slice), adjusting so that beak, cream cheese breast and notch in carrot line up. Tie chive around neck for the scarf.

Not only are these little guys cute, they are TASTY! The chive is a requirement. If you don't use it as a scarf, you should chop them up in the cream cheese. Thanks for the idea Megan!!!

Seriously! This is so easy. You have to make these for your next cocktail party.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Greek Salsa

These salsa books I bought in San Antonio ROCK!!!!! I love salsa. I could eat it all day, every day. I bought these two books at the Alamo and *hoped* they were going to yield a couple of good recipes. All three recipes I have made from these books so far are phenomenal. I am going to be the hit of every appetizer party I attend for the rest of my life!

I wouldn't consider this a salsa exactly...it is lacking the spiciness of a chile...but it certainly is yummy! Alex thinks this would be awesome on a pizza. I whole heartedly agree!

Grecian Island Salsa:
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled - I made sure the feta was pasteurized so I can eat it in my 'condition'
1/2 cup white onion, minced
1 medium tomato, finely diced
4 0z. black olives, chopped - we used kalmata olives, much tastier
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup fresh parsley, minced - I only used 1/3 cup because we only had curly parsley
2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced - our silly grocery store didn't have fresh dill so we used a teaspoon of dried dill
Freshly ground black pepper to taste - NOTE: it does not say to add salt...don't do it. The feta and olive are salty enough. I added salt :)
Combine all ingredients and stir gently. Serve immediately with toasted baguette slices or pita crisps. We had it with crackers and it was GREAT!
Despite the fact that I added salt at the end, this was a wonderful salsa! But seriously, don't add salt. I'm not sure what I was thinking. It wasn't miserable by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't need it.

Wow. I have missed sharing recipes online. I am glad I am feeling better. When my belly gets bigger I will post a picture.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

GREAT SALSA!

I have apologies to make...it has been nearly 2 whole months since my last post. That kind of sounds like I am confessing sins to a priest. I have been feeling under the weather as a result of a parasite...a self inflicted parasite. I am pregnant!!!! I have not felt like cooking for months. It has been kind of heart breaking. I think I am on the rebound, so you should be seeing more posts in the coming weeks...but be patient...this little parasite of mine is sucking the life out of me.
Alex and I went to San Antonio to celebrate the holiday with his sister. We a GREAT city! We encountered the BEST STORE in the world! City Market is a high end grocery store similar to Wild Oats, but not so vegan. The deli serves gourmet dishes worthy of a fancy-schmancy dinner party, a cheese section so freaking fabulous I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and a wine selection better than the wine stores I am used to...not that it matter much on this trip since I can't drink.

While in Texas I scored two SWEET salsa cook books. Both books have a lot of recipes for fruit salsas. I dig mango salsa, but there is a recipe for strawberry salsa that is to DIE for. We made it in San Antonio with Alex's sister...sorry, no pics, but I have included the recipe if you'd like to try it out.
Corn and Black Bean Salsa:
1 cup drained canned corn
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced - I used red and it was fantastic!
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 avocado, seeded, peeled and diced
2 Jalapeno chiles, seeded and finely diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill.

This salsa is so easy and PURE yummy! We cooked up some salmon with yam potato pancakes and topped it with the salsa and a dollop of chipotle sour cream. This salsa is awesome with chips too. You should make this for your New Years football parties...you'll be the ROCKSTAR of the party.

Summer Salsa:
2 cups diced strawberries
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno chile, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and white pepper

Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Come on Baby Light my Fire...Potatoes!

This last weekend a couple of my favorite blogs featured potatoes... ZestyCook...For the Love of Cooking. These blogs gave me a hankering for my Fiery Potatoes.

There is a fun little Tibetan restaurant in Salt Lake called, 'House of Tibet.' I have been eating there since I was in high school. They have a GREAT lunch time buffet that you can taste each of their fabulous, flavorful dishes. One of my favorites after their noodles with cabbage are the spicy potatoes.

I bought my office dinner from House of Tibet and every LOVED their potatoes. One of my co-workers loved the potatoes so much he went online and found a recipe similar to what House of Tibet serves. I have modified the recipe he found as I didn't feel it used enough seasoning as the original recipe called for.

Life My Fire! Potatoes:
3 large garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
3-5 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons pepper sauce
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 medium russet potatoes (scrubbed and cut into 1 -inch chunks)
Notice from my picture I didn't include the garlic...yes, I forgot to add the garlic to the potatoes...they still turned out just as fabulous!
Preheat oven to 500 F.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl...you can do this on the cookie sheet you intend to bake them on...but I find it is easier to do it in a bowl. Toss and coat evenly. Place coated potatoes on a cooking sheet in the center of the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove, scraping bottom while stirring to expose uncooked potato.
Return to oven and continue to roast an additional 15 minutes or until tender when pierced with fork.
Talk about comfort food! These potatoes can mend ANY bad day! I love that they are spicy and baked!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Six random things about me.

I was tagged by Meg of Megan's Munchies with this six random things about me Meme. Here are the rules and six things about me.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
1. I have two yellow labs Ruby and Alice. I have had Ruby since she was 16 weeks old. She is going to be 10 this Christmas...Yep! She is a Christmas puppy!
2. I LOVE sunflowers! I have a sunflower tattoo that got when I was 19...and I have never once regretted it!
3. I am a crime show addict. I love CSI, Law and Order, and City Confidential.
4. I have been putting of getting my master's degree because I am afraid of taking the GMAT...I am a bad tester. I know! I'm lame and need to just bite the bullet!
5. I LOVE vintage children's books. I like to find my childhood books on ebay and purchase them for my kids. I drew in all my books and ruined them. :(
6. Cooking relaxes me. I have a 70 miles commute everyday and cooking gives me some thing to look forward to when I am cursing people on the road.

This is who I am passing it on to (I love that Meg breaks the rules and only sent it to four...it makes me feel better about breaking the rules):

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Cooking with my Sis!

Last weekend I went up to Portland to see my sister and her family. What a great weekend trick-or-treating with my nieces and hanging out with my sister and her fam! The best part of the weekend was cooking with her, of course. :) She is so cute. When I arrived she told me we needed to cook something so we could put it on my blog.

My sister has a ton of cook books that are completely different than the ones that I have. She had a recipe for Mole that she had been wanting to try for awhile and she used this opportunity to make it. She and I always thought that Mole was a day long process, but this recipe was so simple and TASTY!!!!! It rivaled some of the authentic Mole I have had in restaurants and at the homes of Hispanic friends. Did I mention EASY?

Mole:
1 can chicken broth
3 T sesame seeds
2T oil
1 med onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 square semisweet chocolate
1/3 C golden raisins - I know...this sounds barf, but it isn't!
1/4 C slivered blanched almonds - what is blanching? Can any one tell me?
1 10 oz can mild red enchilada sauce
2 ready-to-eat taco shells, crumbled - we used tortilla chips
1 slice white bread, crumbled - my sister is healthy and only had wheat bread
1 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t anise seed, crushed - we couldn't find anise seed so we used anise extract
1/8 t ground cloves
1/8 t pepper
Cooked turkey - We used 5-6 poached chicken breasts

In 12 inch skillet over med high heat, cook sesame seed until lightly browned; remove to paper towel. In same skillet, in hot oil cook onion and garlic until tender; stir in chocolate. Heat until chocolate melts.In covered blender container, blend 1 T toasted sesame seed, chocolate mixture and remaining ingredients until smooth. Return mixture to skillet and stir in chicken broth. Over medium heat, heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Spoon some sauce on chicken; sprinkle with remaining sesame seed.
We served this up in flour tortillas with a little cilantro over the top. YUM!

The only draw back to this meal was the spicy factor. I grabbed the bottle of red pepper flakes when I sat down at the table. But since we were serving up little kids, it was probably a good idea to keep the heat down. The kids LOVED it! All of them except my niece, Meagan. She thinks she is a vegetarian...she is just a picky eater. She eats hot dogs, hamburgers and almost anything with cheese on it. She sure is lucky we love her! :)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Biscuits, Texas Style

Friends, our buddy the Homesick Texan makes a mean biscuit! I saw this post a week or two ago and have been dreaming about it since. Fortunately, I didn't botch it up. These little guys were surprisingly easy to make. I always thought making biscuits from scratch was a long and drawn out process, but it's not!


Biscuits:
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of sugar (can add more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of salt1 stick of butter, cold (8 tablespoons)
3/4 cup of buttermilk, cream or half-and-half

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Cut the stick of butter into pieces, and work into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Add the liquid, mixing until a bit loose and sticky. Pour dough out on a floured surface, and knead for a minute. Dough should be smooth and no longer wet. You can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find it’s sticking. Take dough into a ball, and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes.Roll out dough until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick, and then fold it in half.Using a round cutter (can use a glass or a cup if don’t have a biscuit cutter) cut out your biscuits from folded dough.Place on a greased baking sheet close together (so they rise up not out), and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Makes 10-12 biscuits.

I was kinda nervous about beating the biscuits so I only did it a couple of times. It don't know if beating makes them more dense or what...but they turned out FABULOUS! I expect to makes these a LOT! I am one step away from making biscuits and gravy from scratch for my Sweetie!

Monday, October 27, 2008

All made up!

I was reading For the Love of Cooking and got a hankering for some of Pam's yummy chili. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of the fixin's for red bean, red meat chili. I did however have white beans and chicken so I decided to make something up. I know...you're thinking...uh oh...we all know what happens when Sarah makes things up. But I pulled this one off FAMOUSLY!
White Bean Chicken Chili:
1 breast of chicken
1 serrano, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 garlic clove crushed
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 can great northern beans
1 can navy beans

Heat up a frying pan on medium high with a little olive oil in it and brown on both sides until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked through.If you are thinking when you start cooking, you could cook the chicken up in the heavy bottomed stock pot instead of dirtying another pan. I, however, was not thinking when I started cooking and used a separate pan. Let the chicken sit for a second or two and then chop up into bite sized pieces and set aside.

In your heavy bottomed stock pot with a little olive oil cook up the onions, red onion and serrano until soft.Add the chicken, tomatoes, chicken stock and seasonings, bring to a simmer. Strain and rinse both cans of white beans and add to stock pot. Stir carefully so as not to break up the white beans. They are much softer beans than red beans and break easily. Simmer for 15 minutes until the beans are warmed through.
This was a pretty great creation. Even Alex was impressed. He has had to eat enough of my silly concoctions that he worries a little when I tell him I am winging it. :) We sure are lucky this one was yummy!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Golden Ticket

O.K., so this post isn't about food per se, but it is about something you consume to compliment your food. I am curious as to the vitamins you all take. I have heard a plethora of things about vitamins from 'they give you tons of energy...you can live off these babies' to 'they make your waste expensive.'

I personally take a multi-vitamin and calcium. I don't really drink milk except to put soy milk in my morning cereal and iced latte's when I have them. However, a while back a co-worker told me that regular calcium pills don't break down in your stomach fast enough for your body to make use of the calcium. He is in the boat that vitamins make 'expensive waste.' He had me cutting my freaking calcium tablets in half for a while because I had bought a monster sized bottle of calcium at Costco.
I have been searching out alternatives to my Costco Calcium and got turned on to Viactin...those chocolate chews. They were pretty decent but went hard WAY fast. I found a GREAT alternative at Wild Oats...Whole Foods...I liked Wild Oats better. Their stores smelled like lavender and eucalyptus and Whole Foods stores smell like health food...but I digress. Nutrition Now has a product called, 'Calcium Soft Chews'. Kind of a lame name, but a GREAT product.
The 'Chews' come in individually wrapped golden packages that make you think you have won the golden ticket from Willy Wonka! The Chew its self is nice and soft. 500 mg of Calcium is what you need each day and each 'Chew' is 250 mg...so it gives you the opportunity to drink a glass of milk or eat some cheese and truly supplement your diet with a 'Calcium Chew'. The best part is that it gives you a great excuse to eat chocolate. Alex thinks that's why I get this particular brand of calcium...and he is probably right. I need strong bones so I don't get osteoporosis.

Tell me what vitamins you take to supplement your yummy blogs! I am curious to see how many pill cutters their are out there.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Love from Zesty!

The Premio Arte Pico was bestowed upon me by by blogging buddy ZESTY! His name is Cory, but he is my ZESTY COOK! You have to check his blog out because it ROCKS!...and I'm not just saying that because he gave me an award!

This award originates in Uruguay and is called the Premio Arte Pico from a blogger who makes dolls. You can visit her site here.
The rules of the Premio Arte Pico:
1) Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2) Advertise name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) Share these rules.

I am passing this award onto the following:

Project Domestication: If you want cupcakes...check out this blog. She makes cupcakes, she reviews cupcakes and finds SWEET decorations for cupcakes. Maybe it is because she is from Utah too or because she frequents Williams Sonoma as much as I do...but I dig her blog!

Tracey's Culinary Adventures: Tracey had me at her Guinness Milk Chocolate Ice Cream . You got to love a blog that mixes our favorite Irish Beer with chocolate and cream. Great blog, Tracey.

Chocolate Shavings: I have a tendency to make things I perceive as 'safe'. Chocolate Shaving's has opened my mind to what 'safe' really is. Bacon wrapped scallops, pea puree in risotto, salmon tartare... I would normally pass over these dishes in a cookbook...but I want to try them after seeing them at Chocolate Shavings!

Sweet Sensations: Talk about good energy. You enter this blog and the background cheers you up. Then you start reading the recipes and start drooling. You gotta support the military wives! (I'm one too!)

Life, Lightly Salted: Self described"...lightly salted and slightly jaded... an aging punk rock princess" has a fun, dark blog with GREAT food! She has a signature dish called, 'Death by Garlic'...this recipe is how I would take my life with food. :) She is also doing her first giveaway...check it out.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Light but SPICY!

After a week of Mexican food, I opted for something light tonight. When I want something light but with tons of flavor, I turn to Ellie Krieger. That chick know how to stay skinny and still eat food that tastes good. I bought her 'The Food You Crave' book off The Good Cook.com. Bare with me while I plug this web site. I don't remember how I heard about this site, but I scored 3 FREE cookbooks when I signed up and I was only obligated to buy two others at 'club' price. I know...businesses like this are shifty...they mail you books when y0u forget to mail in those silly cards. But The Good Cook allows you to decline online. They also hook you up with 50% off books all the time too. O.K., I'm done plugging...but check it out.

I loved this book so much, I bought one for my mother and mother-in-law for Mother's Day last year. What is the best way to show the mother's in your life that you love them? Give them books that will keep them healthy so they stick around for a long time.

Enough with the book already! Tonight I made Ellie's recipe for Savory Chinese Chicken Salad. This is the BEST and I mean ABSOLUTE BEST asian chicken salad I have ever eaten. The dressing makes the whole thing!

Adapted from Ellie Krieger's
Savory Chinese Chicken Salad:

1/4 cup sliced almonds

For the chicken:
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
For the salad:
1 bag shredded cabbage
1 bag romaine lettuce
3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
1-11 oz can mandarin oranges
For the dressing:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons chili sauce, such as Sriracha
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger...I didn't have fresh ginger so I used powdered.
Alex and I put the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil in a plastic bag with the chicken and let it marinade for about 10 minutes. Alex grilled it up...it was VERY proud of the grill marks he achieved.While the chicken was cooking up I mixed up the dressing. Throw all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until the brown sugar is completely dissolved. The dressing is runny like a vinaigrette...which is one of the things I love about this dressing...it isn't sticky sweet like some of the dressing you get in restaurants. This recipe meets ALL my needs. Because of the Sriracha it gives a nice KICK of spicy heat to the dish. How many dressing do you know that are spicy?! I love it!Mix up the amount of greens you want in a salad bowl and top with the cooked chopped up chicken, mandarin oranges, scallions and almonds. The last time Alex and I made this recipe we didn't have almonds and substituted cashews...anything you like. The sky is the limit!
I hope you love this recipe as much as Alex and I do!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Did you guess CARNITAS?

I have been wanting to make Carnitas for a long time...we are talking YEARS...but I have been too afraid to make them...until NOW!

I searched high and low for an easy recipe for carnitas because that was part of what dissuaded me all these years. All the recipes I had seen called for cooking all freaking day long and I am not that patient...even if it means pure melt in your mouth taste. While searching, I found a recipe that caught my eye from the Homesick Texan, but it required minimum cooking for 4-5 hours. The next recipe I found had a footnote saying to use a pressure cooker to reduce cook time to 35 minutes! I HAVE A PRESSURE COOKER! And from my pulled pork sandwiches and red beans and rice, you know I'm not afraid to use it.

Alex and I bought a 5 pound pork shoulder...well, pork butt...but it really is a shoulder. I learned from Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs that a pork shoulder is referred to as the butt, and the actual butt of a pig is a ham. Butt, back to the pork shoulder. :) Because it was just the two of us, I cut the shoulder in half and froze the left over meat. This cut of meat has a lot of fat on it. You should try to trim back as much as you can...but not all of it. There is a LOT of flavor in that fat!

Carnitas (adapted from Diana Kennedy) - from the Homesick Texan blog.
3 pounds of pork butt
1 cup of orange juice
3 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt

Like I said...pretty simple. The only part of the recipe I followed after the ingredients was to cut the pork into strips, well 3 inches chunks and salted and peppered the crap out of it. I then seared the cubed pork until each side was nicely browned in the pressure cooker. I emptied the pork into a separate dish so I could put the metal part into the bottom of the pressure cooker. The metal piece has holes in it to keep the meat (or whatever you are cooking in it) from touching the bottom of the pan. I suspect because you keep the heat on close to high or medium high the whole time it is cooking. I put the pork back in with the orange juice and water...I also added two chicken bullion cubes for my entertainment. :) I sealed the pressure cooker and cooked it for 35 minutes at the first line. My pressure cooker has two lines to indicate how much pressure there is in the pan. I had to release a little bit of pressure a couple of times while it was cooking so it maintained the pressure at the first line.
You can't tell very well from this picture, but the pork was shredding just by touching it with the tongs.Homesick Texans Directions:

1. Cut pork into strips (three inches by one inch), bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered on low for 2 hours. Do not touch the meat.2. After two hours, turn heat up to medium high, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork fat has rendered (about 45 minutes). Stir a few times, to keep pork from sticking to bottom of pan.3. When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready (there will be liquid fat in the pan). Serve either cubed or shredded (pork will be tender enough that just touching it will cause it to fall apart).Goes very well with a green salsas such as Ninfa's green sauce or this tomatillo salsa or this salsa verde with avocados and tomatillos.Serves 4-6

I dig the fact that the Homesick Texan included the suggestion for salsa verde, but again, I am not patient enough to make salsa when I am making a meal like carnitas...even if it is in the pressure cooker. I bought a bottle of Herdez salsa verde and kicked it up a bit.

Sarah's FREAKING AWESOME Salsa Verde:
1 - 16 oz. bottle of Herdez salsa verde
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 splash of lime juice
1/2 a serrano pepper with or without seeds
2 handfuls of cilantro, chopped

Mix all together and savor. You can really add any combination of the ingredients listed above. Warning...this salsa is FABULOUS!!!!

I warmed up some corn tortillas and served the pork with the salsa. You're going to love me for this one!!! The fact that I don't have a picture of the final product goes to show how amazing these babies turned out.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Spicy Corn Bread

I have been craving corn bread for some time and decided tonight was the night. Continuing with the Mexican theme Alex and I started this week, I shook up the corn bread with some cheese, onions and jalapeno. WHOOHOOO!!!!!!

This was the side dish to my ultimate, FANTASTIC, Mexican, main course. But the main course is a SECRET...until tomorrow. It is killing me not to tell you what our main course was tonight...but, I have to hold you in suspense! Your mouth should be watering now...In the meantime, you're going to have to settle with my spicy corn bread. :)
The best part about this corn bread is it is easy as all get out to make even better! I followed the directions on the side of the Quaker Corn Meal box:

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Quaker Corn Meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites or 1 egg beaten
I and added 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese, half a jalapeno...which I later realized was a MONSTER sized serrano - HOLY SPICINESS!!!!- and three green onions chopped. Mix it all up and follow the directions on the side of the cornmeal box. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm. 9 Servings.Now, note that the recipe on the side of the Quaker Corn Meal box says '9 Servings'. Now look at what Alex did before I could stop him. When I asked him why he cut it into such small pieces he said he likes them small because they taste yummier that way. I beg to differ...I think they taste better when they are HUGE Texas sized pieces...but I guess I will have to continue to crave a big bite into a BIG piece of corn bread.
This was how he served them up on our plates. :)