Marcoux Southwestern Cornbread

Southwestern Cornbread
Straight from Jeff's Uncle Ken Marcoux

"A family favorite, Carol first created this recipe when we lived in Albuquerque about the time
Marc was born, and won first prize in the Albuquerque Tribune’s Great Green Chili Cooking
Classic."

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies – Hot or Mild, your choice (we like hot!!)
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 cup cream style corn (canned)
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup butter, melted
2 extra-large or jumbo eggs, well beaten (just use a fork to beat them in a large cup!)
2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, grated - put ½ cup aside for use later in the recipe
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies - we like them hot, but use mild if preferred

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Stir together the cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Add corn, sour cream, melted butter,
eggs, cheese and chilies. Stir until well blended.

3. Pour into greased 9-inch round cake pan (or use another pan of similar volume or use
individual muffin cups). Sprinkle reserved cheese over the top of the batter in the pan.

4. Bake for approximately one hour, until the cornbread is nicely raised and beautifully
browned on top. Reduce cooking time by about 20 minutes if using individual muffin cups.
You may want to reduce cooking times for all variations of this recipe and substitute careful
watching the first time you make this recipe because times are for high altitude cooking.

NOTE: If your first batch of cornbread seems dry or crumbly, add about ¼ cup water, milk or
cream the next time you bake the recipe, again this is an altitude issue if it happens

Now from Michelle:
I served this with an easy throw-it-together chili, and it was delightful - both with the chili, and just by itself for a snack!! Yum! Green chilis and the added cheese absolutely make this cornbread.

Corned Beef Update!

Corned Beef was a success!!! Unfortunately, so much of a success, I don't have a great picture of everything on one plate!! Oops! But here's some of the final prep process...

~*~

Take the meat out of the bag, and rinse, then pat dry. I debated this step, because I didn't want to wash away all the yummy-ness, but after reading numerous blogs and deciding to trust Bow-Tie Man, I did. It really doesn't take away any of the flavor, after all - it's been soaking in its juices for a week!!

The meat was added to a pot of water, filling the pot 1 inch above meat so it was all covered. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, and continue to simmer covered for 2-3 hours. Occasionally check, and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Meanwhile, you can clean house, pack up for camping, find some fun Celtic tunes to play, and chop up the veggies you choose. I decided on cabbage (of course), potatoes, onions, carrots, and some brussels sprouts. This pile of veggies did not all fit in the pot, so make sure you have an appropriate sized cooking vessel. :)

The veggies were added to the pot after the meat finished cooking. Place the meat on an oven-safe platter, and put in a 200 degree oven covered with a little bit of the juice, and cover the whole thing in foil. Carrots, potatoes, and onions go in first for 10-15 mins. Then add cabbage and brussels, for another 10-15 minutes. Like the meat, bring to boil, then simmer covered until veggies are cooked.

Irish Soda Bread, courtesy of Katy Bowers. Check out her baking blog! This turned out great - very simple and quick, and tasted amazing after cooking on a cast iron skillet. Just a little flour, salt, baking soda, dash of sugar and buttermilk - yum!

Our final adventure of the evening was these amazing cupcakes. I chose to adapt a couple recipes, because I liked different features of each. I chose to use this Guinness Chocolate Cupcake & Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, from Nook & Pantry.Then the Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache filling from Smitten Kitten, because it seemed too good not to include!

Final verdict:

OOF and YUM!!!

Best Banana Bread EVER

Scouring the hundreds of saved and "Favorited" recipes I have acquired through my food-blog perusing obsession, I found this gem that I didn't even remember seeing before. I had like 10 frozen super ripe bananas waiting to be made into some type of banana concoction, and this sounded like a perfect way to use a few of them. :) Enjoy!

Caramel Toffee Banana Bread
From BakingJunkie.com

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature*
1 1/2 cups sugar (used part brown, part white)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour (I used half AP and half whole wheat)
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt (omitted)
3 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup Hershey’s caramel syrup (omitted)
1/2 cup Heath toffee chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium sized mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and sour cream, then cinnamon, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Mix in bananas, and toffee chips (I dont have caramel syrup right now so I omitted). Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for approximately 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

*My trick for getting "room temp" butter, when I suddenly decide to bake and my butter is refrigerated or frozen, is setting the stick on top of the stove near the oven vent (usually the right rear burner) while the oven preheats and I gather all my ingredients. Watch it carefully so it doesn't start to melt, but this usually does the trick of taking the edge off so that I can successfully cream the butter and sugar together. :)

YUM!