Company Cornbread

This is the cornbread recipe I use when company's coming. I also use it when I just want some really good cornbread. :-) My youngest son doesn't like cornbread, but he likes this recipe because, he says, "It's like cake." Sometimes I get really fancy and add blueberries. Here's the basic recipe:

Company Cornbread
Copyright 2011 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved

INGREDIENTS:
2 C. Corn Meal
1 C. White Whole Wheat Flour
1 C. Whole Grain Corn Flour
3/4 C. Sugar (Sometimes I substitute the same amount of Agave in with the liquid ingredients)
2 T. Baking Powder
1 t. Kosher Salt
1 1/3 C. Canola Oil
2 Eggs
2 C. Buttermilk
1/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
Brown Sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well (I use a wire whisk).
2. Combine egg, oil, milk and yogurt in another bowl and mix well.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well (after this step is where I would add the blueberries, tossed in a tablespoon of the dry ingredients).
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place butter in a large cast iron skillet or 9x13" casserole dish. Allow batter to rest while butter melts in preheating oven.
5. Pour batter into skillet or casserole dish, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake for 25 minutes or until done (a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).








This recipe comes out sweet and fluffy, reminding me a little of Marie Callender's cornbread. My family loves it and I hope you will too. Enjoy!

Grilled Avocado and Cheese Sandwich

This is what we had for lunch today and it was so yummy I just had to share. Right now is a good time for avocados and no one loves a good avocado as much as I do....well, maybe someone does. My point is I REALLY like them. I also love grilled cheese, especially on a cold, drizzly day like today. So, a combination of the two was inevitable and it was as simple as......well, as a grilled cheese sandwich. :-)

2 Slices of your favorite bread
As many avocado slices as you want and can keep from sliding off the bread.
Tomato slices (again as many as you want).
4 thin slices of Colby Jack Cheese (or whatever kind of good-melting cheese you like).
Margarine or butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat (or 300 if you're using an electric griddle). Butter the bread and lay one slice butter side down on a griddle or in a skillet. Layer 2 slices of cheese, avocado, and tomato on that first slice of bread. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, and top with remaining two slices of cheese. Top all of that with your second slice of buttered bread, butter side up. When the first side is golden brown, take two spatulas (because the avocado and tomato like to slide around) and turn the sandwich. When the second side is golden brown and your cheese is all nice and melty, move it to a plate and enjoy!



I like thick slices of avocado, but thinner might be easier to handle if you prefer that. I also like wheat bread, but a good sourdough or ciabatta would probably be awesome. Just make sure you have enough seasoning inside the sandwich that the flavors don't get lost in the bread. There are so many cool combinations you could come up with for grilled cheese sandwiches. I may just have to do a dedicated blog on several different combos. I would need a few people to help me eat all the experiments though. ;-)

Baked Oatmeal

Ok. I tried this recipe this morning, or rather last night (I put it together last night for breakfast this morning). I may be a little premature in sharing it with you because I still want to tweak it a bit, but it was pretty good this way. I'd just like to take it to spectacular. Anyway, this is what I've got so far:

3 C. Steel Cut Oats (I think I may want to reduce this a bit to say 2 1/2 C.)
1 C. of my own Homemade Peach Jam (you could also use maple syrup or Agave nicely here, I think)
1 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Vanilla
6T. melted Butter
1 3/4 C. Vanilla Yogurt
1 C. Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
2 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Salt

Mix everything together and pour into a casserole dish, cover and store in the frig. over night. In the morning; remove casserole from frig. while you preheat the oven to 350. Once oven is preheated, enter the casserole. Bake 30 mins. or until it looks browned around the edges.








It came out more bread-like than oatmeal-like, which may not be a bad thing if you like bread, which I do. I spread a little butter on top and enjoyed it quite a bit. The inside was a little more oatmealy (not sure that's a word). I'm thinking that reducing the amount of oats will make it more like cereal. Feel free to play with it and let me know what you come up with.