corn

Honey Butter Cornbread

May 16, 2018

I don’t know about you, but as a kid I loved cornbread! My mom and I would make cornbread maybe once a week (okay, maybe not that often) from the Marie Calendar cornbread mix. It was our go-to!

Lately, I haven’t been eating as much cornbread, but sometimes the meal (and mood) just calls for it! Particularly when I make our favorite turkey chili. How can you have chili without cornbread!? You really can’t.

So I went about trying to replicate my old favorite, with a few tweaks. For instance, I swapped the sugar for honey because honey and cornbread are a match made in heaven. The honey gives the cornbread so much more flavor and depth. Not to mention, it cuts out the processed sugar. Win-win.

I also added in some frozen corn kernels (specifically, roasted corn kernels from Trader Joes, just because that’s what I had on hand). This ingredient is totally optional, but I love the little bits of corn in the cornbread which add a little bit of extra moisture to an otherwise dry bread.

The coup de gras is the little bits of butter that baked right on top of the cornbread to give it this extra crunchy and delicious crust on top. Hense why I call this honey butter cornbread.

This honey butter cornbread was so good I was eating leftovers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Top it with a little more butter (or better yet, honey butter), and you won’t even need the chili!

How to Make It

Cornbread is actually a pretty simple recipe and easy to make from scratch, provided you have everything on hand. Like other quick breads, it’s as simple as mixing together the dry ingredients, then pouring in the wet ingredients.

In this case, first mix together the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl or cup, mix together the wet ingredients: milk, honey, melted butter, and egg.

Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Mix until all the ingredients are just combined.

Then, if you so choose, mix in the frozen corn kernels. I used roasted corn kernels because that’s what I had available, but roasted corn is not necessary.

Finally, pour the batter into an 8″-9″ square or round pan, pressing the thick batter all the way to the edges to ensure an even bake.

And for the butter piece of the honey butter cornbread, top the entire pan with little pieces of butter. As the bread bakes, the butter melts right into the top forming a crunchy, buttery top which is oh so good!

Once out of the oven, you will have to restrain yourself from digging right in! But I insist on letting it cool down a little otherwise the bread will just crumble to pieces.

Like this. Because I couldn’t help myself and just cut right into a slice.

It was still delicious though!

Supplies and Recipe

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Mexican Street Corn

August 12, 2016

This may be one of my all time favorite recipes. And not just mine, but my husband’s, too! It is incredible, if I do say so myself. I tend to be critical of my cooking and will never say that my recipe is better than someone elses because in the end, taste is pretty subjective. But I will admit that this may be the best Mexican Street Corn you will have.

We tried out a new Mexican restaurant here in Charlotte and when we saw Mexican Street Corn on their menu, we had to order it! All of our food came out and we just inhaled our tacos. But when my husband took a bite of the Mexican street corn, he looked at me and said, “your’s is way better”. To took a bite and agreed. I had to come home and make my recipe again, just to be sure.

Yep…so much better.

We even invited our good friend Matt over as an impartial judge. His review: two big thumbs up.

Matt is a fire fighter, which means he is responsible for cooking dinner for a bunch of guys in the fire house every couple of weeks. He took some serious notes when I was making this because he plans to make this for the guys the next time he’s tasked with making dinner.

Fortunately for both of us, this recipe is actually pretty simple. I like to start with fresh corn sliced off the cob, but can also work with frozen corn. I sauteed the corn in a bit of oil with garlic and jalapeno. Once the corn is soft (or the moisture has evaporated if using frozen), I transfer it to a bowl to let it cool.

Once it’s cool, I mix it with some mayonaisse, sour cream, queso fresco, cilantro, salt, and pepper. After a few taste tests to make sure it’s seasoned properly, the corn is done! See…easy!

But just a note on the cheese in this recipe. My preferred option would be to use cotija cheese. Unfortunately, I can’t find it anywhere here in the Carolinas. The next best option is queso fresco, which I found in the sliced cheese section of the grocery store (not the fancy cheese section). The last option would be to use feta cheese, which is basically the Greek version of cotija. All taste great in this recipe, I assure you.

You must make this next time you make tacos, faitas, hamburgers…really, it will go with just about anything. You can eat it as a side, topping, or a dip. I can promise you that you won’t be able to get enough.

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Roasted Corn Salsa

July 25, 2014

While corn is always readily available in the US, Summer is definitely corn season. Like a lot my recipes lately, I have been inspired by the produce at my local farmers market. I go without a list, and just pick up what looks good. This past weekend, there was an abundance of corn that looked amazing and I picked up a few too many ears. With a couple ears left over I mixed up a bowl of sweet, spicy, and zesty corn salsa.

Step one is to roast the salsa. I roasted it in the oven, then put it under the broiler until the it started to char. This can also be done on the grill.

Once the corn has cooled down, I cut the kernels off the ear and throw them in a bowl.

Then sprinkle in some lime juice…

What makes up the rest of the salsa is more or less a pico de gallo: onion, tomato, jalapeno, garlic, and cilantro. I chopped everything up and tossed them together with the corn.

You can serve the salsa right away, but I like to let it sit for a couple hours so that the flavors all meld together.

I will eat this salsa with anything. Its wonderful on chips, but also on tacos, fish, flank steak, you name it.

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