Honey Cornbread

At one of my vegan cooking classes taught by Eileen Breslin, I got this recipe for cornbread:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/cornbread-and.html?m=1

And it's a family favorite.

What I like about vegan cooking is its minimalism. Unless you're talking about stuff like quinoa or seitan, it is usually stuff you have laying around the house.

A vegan doesn't panic if he runs out of milk and eggs during a snowstorm.

So in addition to the health benefits and animal rights, veganism offers simplicity in the kitchen. And I like that.

Today's cornbread might not be considered vegan by hardcore strict vegan standards because I used honey. The original recipe uses sugar, but I thought honey (from a local orchard) would help our immune systems. We're allergy sufferers in this house.

Today's recipe:
HONEY CORNBREAD
Preheat oven to 350. Batter must go into the oven immediately for best results.

Dry ingredients (mix separately from wet, then combine with dry, mix until moistened and bake 30-40 minutes)
- 1 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground sea salt

Wet ingredients
- 1/4 cup local honey
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup unsweetened Silk soymilk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Spinach and corn muffins

I got the inspiration for corn muffins last night so today I dusted off Eileen Breslin's vegan recipe which I had previously posted here:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/cornbread-and.html?m=1

I added about 1 cup frozen corn and two cups shredded fresh spinach to the dry ingredients. And I reduced the sugar.

I reduced the dry ingredients by about 1/8 of a cup or less. I used 3/4 cup organic whole milk (so this variation is not vegan), and more than 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, then I added about two tablespoons black strap molasses.

I poured into cupcake tins and once cooked served as a sandwich with a Morningstar breakfast pattie.

Cornbread and refried beans

The old vegan cornbread recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. These muffins, or cornbread, need to go in a hot oven as soon as they're mixed.

* 1.5 cups yellow cornmeal
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1.5 cups soy milk
* 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour liquid into dry, mix until just combined. Bake 30-40 minutes. Note: You may not need quite that much oil.

Now, using this recipe from the Food Network as a base, I am going to attempt refried black beans.

Ingredients

* 1 cup dried pinto beans, soaked overnight in a large bowl with water to cover by 2-inches, and drained
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 cup bacon drippings or lard
* 1 cup chopped yellow onions
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeno
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Pinch cayenne
* 1/2 teaspoon chopped oregano
* 1/2 cup grated queso blanco
* 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro, garnish

Directions

In a medium, heavy pot, combine the beans, bay leaf, and enough water to cover by 1 to 2 inches. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours, adding more water as necessary to keep covered. When the beans are soft, mash in the pot with a potato masher or the back of heavy wooden spoon. Remove from the heat.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the bacon fat over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the beans and any cooking liquid from the pot, and the oregano, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring with a heavy wooden spoon, until the mixture forms a thick paste, 5 to 10 minutes, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time to keep from getting dry.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a decorative bowl. Sprinkle with the cheese and cilantro, and serve.

My version:
I started with the old Le Creuset skillet. Out of habit, I slapped a couple tablespoons of butter into it, forgetting I wanted them to be vegan. The beans. So I quickly switched to extra virgin olive oil. I didn't measure anything, perhaps 'cause I'm brave, also because I'm reckless.

I got a bag of beans from the freezer. A ziploc sandwich baggie full of black beans. I thawed them in the microwave on defrost, smashing them periodically with my fingers. I added some homegrown oregano, a sprinkle of four-color organic peppercorn, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and a dash of paprika.

Leftover plan

I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow already...

If we have real maple syrup, I'm going to have a vegan breakfast of Morningstar breakfast (sausage-style) patties and leftover cornbread.

If we don't have maple syrup, I'm going to use my mother-in-law's homemade strawberry jam for my cornbread...

Or maybe, if I don't want to go vegan, I'll use a little of my imported French butter on my cornbread.

Cornbread and sausages

Tonight I'm planning cornbread and spinach-asiago chicken sausages. I had planned to make Eileen Bresslin's vegan cornbread recipe but I ran out of soy milk.

Eileen's recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. These muffins, or cornbread, need to go in a hot oven as soon as they're mixed.

• 1.5 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1.5 cups soy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour liquid into dry, mix until just combined. Bake 30-40 minutes. Note: You may not need quite that much oil.

I added parsley and flax seed to mine tonight.

Now for the sausage... I decided to try and make a sauce. In the bottom of the pan I started with:

• About 1/4 cup apple juice
• About 1/4 cup chicken broth
• About one teaspoon cornstarch

Whisk as bring to a boil to reduce and thicken. It smelled sweet, so I added:

• About 1/2 teaspoon four color peppercorns
• About 3/4 teaspoon garlic pepper
• About 3/4 teaspoon garlic
• About 1/8 teaspoon curry

After it seriously thickened, I added:

• three spinach asiago chicken sausages, sliced
• about 1 cup French cut green beans, frozen and thawed in the microwave

Then I served with the cornbread, using some of the excess sauce as gravy.

(Note: These are the same sausages I got at the warehouse club a few weeks ago and had in the freezer. We've eaten them in pasta sauce, and as sausage sandwiches, and now this funky recipe.)

Cornbake

I have tried unsuccessfully over the years to make my mother-in-law's cornbake. I don't know where she got the recipe from but it's a family favorite and chock full of comfort food-ness. I'm sure over the years I've failed at it because of my tendency not to follow a recipe so today I tried extra hard AND I called my mother-in-law to verify the size of the pan.

Esther's Corn Bake

• 8.5 ounces Jiffy cornbread/muffin mix (yeah, something out of a box!)
• 1 can whole corn, undrained
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 eggs beaten

Mix and pour into large casserole or 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Should not be as dry as cornbread, but should set more than a pudding.

Five Alarm Chili

Yesterday, my family ate leftovers and string beans with ham (blech) from my inlaws. I worked crazy hours so cooking did not happen. For lunch, I thawed a container of my infamous five alarm chili. It was meant to be mild, but I used Indian Chili Powder instead of McCormick. Oops.

I adapt my batches of chili from three recipes. I've listed them below.
Wegmans Slow-Cooked Pineapple Chili
1 lb ground beef (I omit);
8 ounces diced peppers;
8 ounces diced onions;
1.5 cups matchstick or grated carrots;
8 ounces sliced mushrooms;
28 ounces crushed tomatoes with herbs;
31 ounces dark kidney beans, drained;
8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained;
2 tablespoons chili powder;

1. Brown ground beef and remove drippings. (Or skip! Really, this recipe does not need the meat.)

2. Combine everything in a slow cooker and set to high for four hours or low for eight.

Now I present the another classic chili recipe. This came from my vegan cooking course with Eileen Breslin and my husband adores the dumplings.

Chili with cornbread dumplings
2 cans kidney beans;
2 cups corn;
2 cans stewed tomatoes;
2 tablespoons chili powder.
Combine and simmer.

Then, for the dumplings:
1.5 cups cornmeal;
1 teaspoon salt;
1.5 cups flour;
3.5 teaspoons baking powder;
2 tablespoons sugar;
1.5 cups (soy) milk;
1/3 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients. Then add wet. After chili has cooked at least 30 minutes, turn up heat and spoon batter in like dumplings (plop). Do not cover entire surface. Cover chili, reduce heat, and cook another 15 minutes.

But for plain old chili, I make Betty Crocker's recipe vegetarian, mix up the beans with some black beans and I simply add carrots and pineapple. Then I add dumplings if so inclined.

Betty Crocker's Chili Con Carne
1 pound ground beef (I substitute black beans. My family like different colors in their food);
1 cup chopped onion;
2 cloves crushed garlic;
1 tablespoon chili powder;
1/2 teaspoon salt;
1 teaspoon ground cumin;
1 teaspoon dried oregano;
1 teaspoon cocoa;
1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce;
16 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained;
15.5 ounces kidney beans, undrained

1. Cook ground beef, onion and garlic in 3-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally, until meat is brown. Drain.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat.
3. Cover and simmer one hour, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in beans. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, at least twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.

Unplanned snack time

 Lunch was a success (on the Superman plate). We each ate the equivalent of one carrot and about twice what is on the plate in muffin. But we were trying to use them up. I almost served cheese cubes with this, and I probably should have. By three p.m. I was starving. So, the family and I decided on snack (striped plate). Daddy made cocoa (Swiss Miss, some bittersweet shavings, a hearty dose of powdered milk someone gave me). To up the protein count in the snack (preschooler requested granola), I added a slice of homemade bread with peanut butter and nutella. 

Another photo from lunch

I used to have a blog... but it was a long time ago and this photo utility is giving me trouble... But here it is... The final product:

Ideal lunch for a dreary day

We are approaching desperate (and maybe destitute) in the status of our pantry. I used the last of our fresh veggies the other night when I finished the carrots. I haven't made bread in several weeks and we've been consuming too many deli bagels... which are almost gone anyway. 

So, while I had some dough for French bread on the rise, I threw together a batch of vegan cornbread and planned to augment it with Pacific Foods Organic Cream of Tomato soup and berry-no sugar added applesauce. I think it's Mott's Healthy Harvest. I don't usually buy individually portioned items, but I like this applesauce. The Healthy Harvest usually doesn't have HFCS (I always read the labels to check) and the blueberry and country berry flavors have 25% RDA vitamin C. Great for those *Darn, we haven't gone grocery shopping in weeks* states. And I could save beaucoup d'argent if I would eat Campbells instead of Pacific Foods, but I find Campbells utterly repulsive. And with Pacific Foods I don't have to have milk on hand to reconstitute it. And yes, I often have no milk. Hence the tendency to have favorite vegan recipes on hand.

But the muffins... I thought of cornbread last night, but opted for almost-Vegan Pumpkin Belgian Waffles instead. (adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen, cool vegan site.) My recipe is adapted from a vegan cooking class I took at a local community college with Eileen Bresslin. One of the keys to success is to have the oven preheated to 350 degrees, because the muffins won't rise if the heat isn't ready when they are.

Cornbread muffins:

Makes 18 small muffins (like those in photos)

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 cup soy milk (or cow milk, if you're not going for vegan)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white, in a pinch)

1/4 cup (or a little less) vegetable oil (I use canola)

1 can corn (liquid in tact, I use no-salt-added)

soy bacon bits (optional)

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients including corn (liquid and all). Stir liquid into flour, quickly and just until mixed. Get into muffin tins and in the oven ASAP. Bake at 350 30-40 minutes.

1 quart of Pacific Foods Cream of Tomato soup. Three individual servings of applesauce which I get when they're on sale (3 packs of 6 servings for $5). Total of five muffins. Tap water to drink. Remaining muffins: six went into freezer, seven got wrapped and stored in the pantry. I'm working late tomorrow so we'll all take a couple for a late afternoon snack.