Honey Hush Cornbread

I've been searching for a good cornbread recipe and I think I finally found it. This Honey Hush Cornbread is pretty amazing and so easy to make. Baby Girl helped me mix this one up before our Southern dinner with friends.

This is a sweet cornbread, which I happen to like. I even added a bit of sugar to make a crust on top, just like our favorite Southern restaurant. The flavors are so, so good. You definitely want to eat this warm/hot.

Honey Hush Cornbread
Dinosaur BBQ

vegetable shortening or butter
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey
sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan with shortening or butter. Put the pan in the oven to heat while you're mixing up the cornbread.

Combine the cornmeal, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir, just until everything is moistened.

Take the hot pan from the oven and pour in the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cornbread from the oven and brush the top with honey and dust with sugar. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before cutting into squares. Serve warm/hot.

Corn Casserole

This is one of those recipes that came into my life by chance. I had a 16oz container of sour cream that was mostly full and expiring in a few days. I asked the ladies on my cooking board for savory ideas to use it up and my friend Stephanie responded with this recipe for Corn Casserole. I was making a roast chicken for Sunday dinner and thought this would be a great side dish.

I knew this would be good but I wasn't expecting it to be incredible. There were 5 of us eating this and the only reason there was a smidge leftover was because there was chocolate pudding for dessert. It's an incredibly simple recipe that's slightly sweet and slightly savory. We couldn't stop eating it, Baby Girl especially.

The only issue I had was finding the corn in the sizes indicated in the original recipe. The small cans were 8.5 ounces and SP could only find whole-kernel corn in a 15.5-ounce can. Once I drained and rinsed the corn I weighed it and it was exactly 8.5 ounces, so I just dumped the whole thing in. It was totally fine. And if you can't find the no-salt-added corn, don't sweat it. One of my cans was and one wasn't and it was still delicious.

Corn Casserole
As seen on Stephanie Cooks, originally from Elizabeth's Edible Experience

1 egg
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 can (15.5-ounce) no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
1 small can (8.5-ounce) no-salt-added cream-style corn
1 (8 1/2-ounce) package corn muffin mix
8 ounces sour cream
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine everything but the cooking spray in a medium bowl and stir into well incorporated. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish (or 9x13 if you double it) with cooking spray. Pour in the batter.

Bake for 45 minutes or until set.

Use a spoon to stir and mash the bread until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes or slice and serve like corn bread.

Rather Rich Corn Muffins

It's been awhile since I made cornbread so when I needed a great recipe for the Southern dinner I was making with a friend I asked the ladies on my cooking board for suggestions. These Rather Rich Corn Muffins sounded awesome.

This recipe made a ton of batter - I got 36 muffins from it - which was a good thing because these were a big hit with the adults and kids alike. Mine didn't get golden brown, but they were baked in my friend's oven on the convection setting so that may have been the reason. Regardless, the flavor was amazing. I'll definitely be making these again.

Rather Rich Corn Muffins
As seen on Fake Ginger, from The Pastry Queen

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal plus extra to sprinkle over
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh corn kernels or canned corn, drained (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously grease 36 standard muffin cups or line them with disposable muffin wrappers.

Pour the butter, cream, and eggs into the large bowl. Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt on top. Stir until the ingredients are combined and not lumpy. Stir the corn into the batter, if using.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full with the batter. Sprinkle cornmeal over the tops of the muffins. Bake the muffins for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly brown; they should spring back when you touch the tops lightly with your fingertips.

They are best served warm, and are equally delicious toasted and buttered.

Chili Cornbread Skillet

My friend Melissa has been raving about this Chili Cornbread Skillet for months. She makes it every single week for dinner. I admit, I'm not that into chili. It's fine, it's just not something I crave, but after seeing it week after week on her tumblr page I decided I needed to see what all the fuss was about. Plus SP loves chili and Baby Girl could probably eat a whole pan of cornbread herself so this seemed like a win all around.

This is a great weeknight dinner - it takes almost no time to prepare and tastes great. I found the chili a bit salty, so I cut back on the salt in the recipe below and I think next time I'll leave out the green pepper because they just don't agree with me. SP wanted the chili a bit spicier but I always err on the mild side since Baby Girl eats what we eat.

We all enjoyed this and the leftovers were even more delicious. I had half an avocado in the fridge so I diced it up to eat with my leftovers. I think sour cream, maybe even some cheddar cheese, would be great as well - really whatever toppings you like on your chili would be great with this. Thanks for the push to make this, Melissa!

Chili Cornbread Skillet
As seen on Alosha's Kitchen, from Very Culinary

1 pound ground beef
1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon chile powder
1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 (10-ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup salsa
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 package (8.5 ounce) Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
Toppings: grated cheddar, sour cream, diced avocado, etc.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a 10 or 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef, onion, bell pepper, garlic, spices and salt to the pan. Cook, breaking up the chunks of beef with a wooden spoon, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink and the vegetables are softened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the beans, soup, salsa, and ketchup and stir until thoroughly combined. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the corn muffin mix, egg, and milk. Let sit for 2 minutes. Spoon the corn muffin mix over the beef.

Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until cornbread is golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes, then break into cornbread top to serve. Top with cheese, sour cream, etc., if desired.

BBQ Chicken Dinner

I wanted to do something different for dinner one night so I baked some chicken with BBQ sauce. I cooked some frozen corn and whipped up some mashed potatoes. SP picked up cornbread at the supermarket on his way home.


I don't know why the chicken looks so weird in the photo, but it was tasty. I loved the cornbread, although homemade is always better.

Chili & Cornbread

I've never made chili before. For whatever reason it isn't something I find myself craving (except when we're in Chicago and go to Lindy's), but it's one of those things SP asks me to make from time to time. I didn't have a recipe in mind, but I did a quick search for Emeril and ended up making one kick-ass bowl of chili (if I do say so myself):


We ate it with the leftover jalapeno cornbread from Sunday's rib dinner and some tortilla chips for dipping. It had just the right combination of flavors from the beer, cayenne and red pepper flakes, brown sugar and the surprise ingredient - cinnamon. I really modified the recipe, first cutting it in half to make less chili and then omitting certain ingredients we didn't have. I had to leave out the kidney beans because we didn't have any in the pantry, but I would certainly add them next time. The recipe says it cooks for almost 3 hours, but mine was done in 45 minutes (probably because I used only 1 beer instead of 2 so there was less liquid). Regardless, it tasted fabulous and was easy enough to make on a weeknight.

Emeril's Kickin' Chili
Modified from Emeril's Original Kickin' Chili

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds ground beef
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 bay leaf
4 minced garlic cloves
2 (12-ounce) bottles dark beer (I used one this time)
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, crushed
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
2 (15-ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (we didn't have any on hand)
1 cup grated Cheddar, for garnish
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions, for garnish
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
sour cream, to taste

Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over high heat. Add the beef and brown well, about 10 minutes. Add the onions, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, crushed red pepper, and bay leaf and cook, stirring often, until the onions soften, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beer and cook until the foam subsides, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt and brown sugar to the pot. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the chili from sticking to the bottom of the pot. (This is where you add the beans, return to a simmer, cover, and cook until thickened). Serve with the cheese, sour cream, green onions, and cilantro alongside as garnish.

Ribs, Mac & Cheese, Cornbread

Our Sunday decorating commenced after breakfast when SP built a fire that we kept going for most of the afternoon. We got the decorations out of the garage and brought in the tree we picked out on Saturday. We put on some Christmas music (yay for DirecTV's XM Satellite Radio) and got to it. In between hanging ornaments and garland we worked on our respective dishes for dinner that night - country-style ribs, mac & cheese and jalapeno cornbread.


The ribs were a disappointment that night, but excellent the next day. SP decided to experiment with boneless ribs we saw at the wholesale club, but they were dry in some parts and perfect in others (something we discovered after we'd eaten). SP made a rub using various spices (I think thyme, white pepper, dried sage, cayenne and salt were involved) and a mop using apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. I asked him to make a tomato-based BBQ sauce to go along with the ribs and we're both glad he did. That involved tomato sauce, Worcestershire, white vinegar, onion powder, salt and pepper (among other things). After we'd eaten I attempted to salvage some of the rib meat for our lunches and discovered that it was perfectly cooked in some parts - it tore into perfect shreds of meat that we mixed with the rest of the BBQ sauce. If only all the meat had been that good. At least our lunches were tasty.


For the mac & cheese I mixed cheddar with some mozzarella in my usual recipe, adding a bit of grated garlic for an extra zing. It was thick, rich and creamy. The cornbread is an Ina recipe. I made a half order since the regular recipe makes way too much. As it is we only ate half the pan for dinner and lunch the next day. I'm saving the rest for chili tonight.

These pictures didn't come out as well as I'd hoped so I'll take some more later, but just to give you an idea here's our tree:


... and the banister leading up the stairs: