weekend vibes & cornbread

Pet-sitting, a visit to grandma’s, some comfort food in the form of Welsh rarebit, and feeling cute in another thrifted dress. Rose decided to taste my thrifted hat, then proceeded to dislike the taste of this hat she just had to have, and stomp it. Waylon has been crowing each morning and it sounds pitiful, and he’s a late sleeper, starting to crow around 7:30/8. I’ll take it since his sleeping quarters are right outside our bedroom window and we’ve been sleeping with the window open the last few nights… 

I also have to share again my little seedlings that I have been experimenting with. I am giddy with excitement as they grow bigger each day and I hope so badly they grow into what I am expecting. Ya see, I am attempting to grow something that oddly enough I haven't seen around here - or perhaps I have been blind to it. Either way, I am not jinxing it by revealing what it is until it is totally in the 'home-free' zone.

Feel free to guess, and if you are right I will gift you TEN PLANTS when they are ready.

Now for the cornbread.... While my recipe isn't traditional, it tastes just like my mama's and grandma's but they both use good ol' iron skillets.

Sadly, I have ruined many and have never been able to keep one seasoned and cleaned properly. It’s ok though, just like not being born with a green thumb, eventually I’ll get wiser with age and figure it out....

First off, I’ve heard the debates for years about sweet vs. savory cornbread. I think whatever you prefer, is engrained in our genetics - what social class your family came from. Upper class folks seem to prefer sweet cornbread, while the po' folks in my experience prefer the savory. Our family - or rather my mom’s family (her cornbread always gives me ‘home’ vibes, and I’ll never turn it down), worked in cotton fields, grew their own food, raised and butchered their own chickens, and so forth. I’m not talking about generations past, I’m talking about my grandma picked cotton and raised several kids while doing it. I even remember scowling at having to pick beans in the garden when I’d spend the night with her. This is where I think the good ol’ savory cornbread comes from. Just the basics that were always on hand; corn meal, buttermilk, eggs, salt, and butter. No flour for fluffiness, no sugar. Just a plain cornmeal based bread. I never have buttermilk, but always keep plain stone-ground cornmeal on hand and this recipe can be made pretty much anytime. I use sour cream (but you can also use yogurt) in place of buttermilk because we always have it in the fridge. 

•   2 cups cornmeal medium ground or coarse ground
•   2 tsp baking powder
•   1 tsp baking soda
•   1/2 tsp salt
•   1½ cup sour cream (can also be dairy free sour cream also)
•   5 tablespoons melted and slightly cooled butter 
•   1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl:

Put all 5 Tb butter into your baking dish (a pie pan will work or an 8” x 8” square dish), and put into the oven while it is preheating

Once oven has heated, take baking dish out, and let butter cool while you:

In a separate medium bowl, whisk sour cream and egg together:

Now pour melted butter in and whisk (this will leave enough butter in your baking dish for your cornbread to release easily).

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients, then whisk with a fork until combined:

Pour into your buttered baking dish:

spread evenly

and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden.

xoxo

-s