taste & create, lucky number xiii

I don't consider myself to be a superstitious person (although I do tend to knock on wood quite frequently, just in case). I don't toss spilled salt over my shoulder or fret about breaking a mirror. I boldly walk under ladders and encourage black cats to cross my path. And fortunately, I have no problem with the number 13.


It's fortunate in this case because this round of Taste & Create, run by Nicole of For the Love of Food is #13. I was paired with Katie from One Little Corner of the World. Her blog is full of useful and delicious recipes, and even some great tips for entertaining.

I chose to make her Blue Corn Flapjacks. Pancakes of any kind remind Katie of her grandfather and the huge buckwheat pancakes he'd make for her every Saturday. This struck a chord with me because while my brothers and I were growing up, my family had pancakes every Sunday. It was Mamboree's duty for years, and then I took over. So like Katie, I'll probably always associate pancakes with family.


Katie was the recipient of some authentic blue cornmeal from Mexico, but I wasn't so lucky (perhaps it was that salt I spilled yesterday or that mirror I broke back in '97...). I went to two grocery stores and two other stores and finally found some blue cornmeal at Dollar General, of all places. Unfortunately, I don't think its source was blue corn. No, I suspect it was regular cornmeal dyed blue (the presence of FD&C Blue No. 1 in the ingredient statement was a bit of a clue).


Regardless of the source for that cornmeal and in spite of the resulting neon blue hue, the flapjacks were quite tasty. They were fluffy and soft and super absorbent, which I consider an important quality for my pancakes. The more maple syrup they can suck up, the better.

Thanks to you, Katie, I now have a bag of scary blue cornmeal and a killer corn flapjack recipe.