corny bread for a corny gal

There are oodles of blog events out there, but one of the very best that I've found is Taste & Create. Its premise is that each blogger is paired with another and asked to recreate a recipe from his or her blog. It’s a brilliant way to introduce a person to a new blog and a new recipe (or two)(or twelve).


For this go-round (XVI, for those of you keeping track), I was paired with Min of The Bad Girl’s Kitchen. Finding just one recipe to replicate was not an easy task--her blog is loaded with a variety of tasty dishes. It came down to deciding between the Blueberry Cornbread and the Grilled Rosemary Garlic Pork Tenderloin. Taking into consideration the sour milk, almost-expired cornmeal, and gorgeous frozen blackberries in my possession, I finally opted for the cornbread.

Mark Twain once said: "Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern cornbread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite so bad as the Northern imitation of it."

To that I say yowza.


I also should mention that I'm a corny person. I love puns and corny jokes--anything eliciting an eye-roll or groan is a winner in my book. Some food-related favorites:

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Enough of the fluff--the cornbread was an excellent choice. The texture imparted by the cornmeal really stood out. I followed Min's recipe pretty closely, only substituting blackberries for blueberries. Also, I poured my batter into mini-muffin and mini-loaf trays.

Before you ask, no, I did not add cinnamon. :)


I highly recommend participating in Taste & Create, and checking out The Bad Girl’s Kitchen.

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for the purist

I’ve often heard people proclaim “Oh, fudge!” and mean it as a profanity. That just seems wrong to me--fudge should in no way be associated with anything negative. In my eyes, it’s a gift from God. Manna from Heaven, if you will. Would you agree?


Although I personally prefer my mint fudge, this version by my Mammacita is for the chocolate purist. If ever anything melted in your mouth, this is it. It’s smooth and creamy, as fudge should be, but some of its appeal is that it’s not too rich. It seems to be the perfect balance of decadent chocolate and subtle sweetness. Kudos to you, Mamster. Kudos to you. And by kudos, I mean bear hugs and more fudge.

Fudge a la Mammicus
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips (1 1/2 bags)
14 oz condensed milk
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 cup marshmallow crème

Combine chocolate chips and condensed milk in a heat-safe bowl and microwave in intervals until chips are melted. Stir in the peanut butter and marshmallow crème and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into an 8x8" pan lined with wax paper and refrigerate until set. Cut into bite-sized morsels of delight.

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a cinnamon celebration

The community of food bloggers is an amazing group of people. They entertain and amuse, provide many a feast for the eyes, and are always quick with an encouraging word. I’ve been amazed by the generosity of my fellow bloggers, and I'd like to thank you all for everything you do!



I recently received the gift of all gifts, Vietnamese cinnamon bark, from two separate sources. Todd & Diane, the White on Rice Couple, took it upon themselves to send me some simply because they knew about my cinnamon obsession. Then, immediately thereafter, I was the oh-so-fortunate winner of a sampling of the bark from Krysta of Evil Chef Mom. Imagine my delight—so much cinnamon, and all for me!

In light of the new year and that resolution thing, I’ve decided to share my bounty. It’s hard, believe you me, because this is some powerfully amazing stuff. I’ll show you a couple of the things I’ve used it in soon, but in the meantime, I want to hold a little contest.


To enter, all you have to do is make a recipe containing at least one teaspoon of cinnamon, although more is encouraged. Send it to me at asoutherngrace @ gmail . com using the subject "Cinnamon Celebration" by February 13, along with a picture of your creation, your name, the name of your blog, and the link to your post.

Also, please link this page in your post and feel free to display the slightly illegible little logo below. If you don't have a blog but would like to participate, just send me your recipe, your name, and a picture, if desired.

*UPDATE: Although I'd prefer a new post, you can certainly submit a dish that you've already discussed.


The challenge is officially open when this post goes up and will close at 12 pm EST on Friday, February 13th. (However, I’ve been known to be pretty flexible about such things...) A round-up will follow shortly thereafter (hopefully right in time for Valentine's Day!).

I hope you’ll enter and do what you can to bring attention to the best spice in all the lands. I’ll use that ubiquitous random number generator to pick a winner, and that person will receive a bit of my Vietnamese cinnamon stash. And trust me, if you like cinnamon at all, you’ll want to win.

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if you're gonna eat raisins...

...this is the way you should do it.


Dense (in a good way), moist, chock-full of textures and tastes--I think you need this cake in your repertoire.

Funny story: The recipe originated as one that made use of pork fat. A friend of mine had recently obtained a whole pig and thought a pork cake would be a good way to use some of said porker. As one might expect, there are different types of fat on the pig, and apparently my friend picked the wrong one--belly fat. He ended up spending quite a bit of time trying to incorporate the fat into the hot coffee, all the while becoming more and more verklempt.


Needless to say, his next batch was made with butter. And it was splendid. My advice--save your pork belly for other things.

Pork Cake (or, in this instance, Cow Cake)

1/2 cup strong coffee
1/2 pound pork fat (or unsalted butter)
1 pound brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup walnuts or pecans, tossed in flour
1 pound raisins, tossed in flour
4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Pour the hot coffee over the pork fat and mix until the fat melts. Add brown sugar, baking soda, nuts, raisins, and flour; mix thoroughly. Pour into tube pans or loaf pans and bake for at least an hour, using the toothpick test to ensure doneness.

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you're getting sleepy...

Hypnotic, yes?


The only thing I don't like about the candy you see above is that it looks like it might be an unrisen cinnamon roll. Talk about misleading. Talk about false advertising. Imagine my disappointment when I discover that, sadly, it contains no cinnamon whatsoever.

Now that that’s out of the way, you should know that although this candy a bit of a beast to make, the final result is quite delicious. Is that any surprise, considering that it consists of butter, sugar, and peanut butter? I think not. When I spotted these on Robin Sue’s blog Big Red Kitchen, I bookmarked it immediately, and when my dear grandma mentioned a spiral-shaped, peanut-butter-containing treat from her younger days, I knew I had to make it for her.

The primary mistake one should avoid in making this is adding too much milk too quickly (and yes, I speak from experience). If you accidentally do this, you must compensate by adding more sugar and making use of your fridge.


Although it wasn't exactly what she had in mind, my grandmother was thrilled with the candy, so thanks Robin Sue!

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more balls o' meat

Three ingredients, three food groups. Easy to make, easy to eat.


Nice.

These particular meat morsels are quite a bit different from my previous batch o' balls. For one thing, sausage is the main ingredient. For another thing, there's no sauce, and the only binder is flour. Those things being said, these balls are just as good as, if not better than, the saucy stuff.


Most recipes for sausage balls call for baking mix, which is pretty much just flour, a leavening agent, and some form of fat. As Mamma-lama-ding-dong says, the sausage and cheese have enough fat already, so we just use self-rising flour. Also, since I'm not what one would call a fan of cheddar cheese, I'd be interested to see how these would taste with something like jack cheese.

Simple Sausage Balls
1 pound sausage (pork is preferred)
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups self-rising flour

Mix the ingredients with your paws until thoroughly combined. This will take time and effort, but trust me, it's well worth it. Roll into small balls about the size of a walnut. Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees F until the tops are golden brown. Take care not to burn the bottoms--that takes away from the delight. :)

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deja vu

I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.


Yeah, you've seen all these before. But I'd be remiss if I didn't show them again--they're all that good.

First, good ol' chicken barbecue with cole slaw on sourdough bread. See all that fresh-cracked black pepper? It's the perfect accent to a delicious combination.


Next up, we have the mint fudge remix. If you haven't tried this yet, I greatly encourage it. Why wait for a holiday to pamper yourself? There are other food colorings.


Finally, bananner puddin'--smooth and creamy and full of banana-ness. So what if the recipe's full of shortcuts? It's divine.


Keep cool, my babies--original stuff coming soon.

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