Cornbread Muffin Goodness

With autumn making her appearance here in the Midwest (love the cooler mornings and looking forward to sweatshirt weather!) I'm sharing one of our favorites.  Serve these with a big bowl of chili or bean soup and enjoy.  These also make a great after school snack.

 

 

Corn Bread Muffins (with some 'extra' yumminess mixed in):

 

Corn Bread "Base"

 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup corn meal

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

1 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease (or use cooking spray) muffin or mini-muffin pan. Combine dry ingredients.  Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

 

Here's where we ramp it up ....

 

Get 1/2 lb. to 1 lb. of bacon.  This is your call.  How much do you love bacon?  Do I really need to ask that?! I fry bacon in the oven - MUCH less mess and faster - but you can also do this in a skillet if you prefer. 

 

Line a cookie sheet with foil (make sure the cookie sheet has sides!) and lay bacon slices on it side by side.  Place in 400 degree oven and cook for about 20 minutes.  Check after the first ten minutes.  There is no need to turn the bacon but  I usually rotate the pan at least once.   Easy!

 

While the bacon cooks, grab a large onion and dice it up.  Heat a skillet on  medium high with a small amount of oil (about a tablespoon or so) and add onions.  Throw in a pinch of salt, pepper and a little bigger pinch of sugar.  Stir and allow the onions to caramelize.   This will take about 5 minutes.

 

When the bacon is cooked, take it out of the pan and blot it on paper towels to get rid of excess grease.  Then, crumble it up ...

 

 

 Grab those onions ....

 

... and stir both into your batter.  To make these EVEN better, at this point you can also throw in about a cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  I didn't do it this time, but trust me, you should definitely try it.  Diced jalapenos or a little crushed red pepper could also be added now for some 'heat'.

 

Spoon batter into muffin tins.  I almost always use the mini-muffin pans and fill them to the top.  This pan holds 24 minis ...

 

Bake muffins for about 12 minutes then check.  If you use the mini pan, 12 - 14 minutes should be good.  Larger muffins will obviously take a little longer (probably about 20 minutes).  Just keep an eye on them and when they spring back from a finger poke and the edges are a little golden, you're good to go.

 

 

Do I even need to tell you what comes next?  Eat them warm with butter.  Butter is necessary, required, a must.

 

Enjoy!



Comfort Food for a Winter Day

My dear friend Jeannine made this soup for us last year.  At first, I admit, "French Carrot Soup" did not sound all that great to me.  I was skeptical that it could really be as good as she claimed.  Boy, was I wrong!

So, here's the recipe with a few add-ins.  The original recipe is more like a first-course soup.  I tweaked it just a little to make it more of a meal for our family.  Add a loaf of good bread, salad and you've got a great winter meal.


First, wash and peel 12-14 medium carrots . . .

Next, clean 2 leeks.  You will use the white part only (trim off the roots).  Slice the leeks lengthwise, separate well and rinse.  Sand and dirt may be trapped between the layers so it's important to wash well . . .

Next, peel the skin off a large onion and thinly slice, slice peeled and cleaned carrots and thinly slice the leeks . . .

Place 4 tablespoons of butter in a large stock pot and heat to melt . . . (This is 8 tablespoons.  Gotta double the recipe for this family!)

Add carrots, onions and leeks.  Saute over medium heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add chicken broth . . .

. . . bacon (uncooked), sugar and seasonings. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer slowly for 20 to 25 minutes (longer is fine) or until carrots are tender . . .

Add rice; cook an additional 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Now . . . soup doesn't look all that great does it?  Kind of runny.  Weird with that raw bacon.  Very weird.  But . . . this is where it all comes together.  That raw bacon, well, that is THE very best part of the soup.  We have a saying in our house, "Bacon makes everything better!" and it is so true for this soup.

Take the soup and puree in SMALL batches in food processor or blender until smooth.  It is critical to do this in small batches.  If  you load the blender too full, the steam will build up pressure and blow the lid off the blender.  Messy and HOT (and dangerous if it explodes in your face).

I usually ladle the batches into the blender, then pour pureed soup into another bowl until the whole pot is blended.  Then, I pour it back into the stockpot.

Next, add 2-3 cooked, shredded chicken breasts.  I usually buy a rotisserie chicken (or two) and shred those up.  Easy, fast and they add more flavor.

Last, stir in the heavy cream and garnish with fresh thyme or rosemary.  It is equally good with either.  Toss a few croutons on top and serve with good French or a rustic whole grain bread.

I know, it doesn't seem like it could be that good does it?  Trust  me.  The bacon is the key and it is so yummy and the perfect comfort food for a cold day.

Here's the recipe in full:

French Carrot Soup

4 Tbsp butter
10-12 medium carrots, peeled, sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 leeks, white part only, carefully washed, thinly sliced
10 cups chicken broth
1/4 pound bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (uncooked)
1 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup uncooked white rice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2-3 cooked, shredded or cubed chicken breasts
croutons or toasted bread cubes
Fresh thyme or rosemary (your preference)

In large saucepan or stockpot, melt butter. Add carrots, onion and leeks. Saute over medium heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add broth, bacon (uncooked), sugar and seasonings. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer slowly for 20 to 25 minutes (or longer is fine) or until carrots are tender. Add rice; cook an additional 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Puree in small batches in food processor or blender until smooth. Do this in SMALL batches!!! (The pressure builds up in the blender from the steam. If you get the blender too full, the lid will blow off. Messy and HOT!!) Add cream; heat just until thoroughly warm. Serve immediately.

This can be made ahead and kept in Crockpot on warm for a party. Will hold on warm all day.

Enjoy!

Food - Or What We Do While We Wait (Patiently)

One of my most favorite things to do is to cook.  And eat.  Having a large family drives me to come up with good food that doesn't cost a fortune.  It's a challenge to try to make really yummy meals that are budget friendly but not made of 'cheap' food.

On the menu tonight?   Bacon wrapped pork tenderloins marinated in teriyaki sauce and then roasted to a crisp, caramelly, bacony deliciousness.  I can buy four nice sized tenderloins from Costco for around $14.00.  Bacon, about $4.00 and the teriyaki sauce varies depending on whether it's store bought or homemade.  (If you have the time, homemade is infinitely better and soooo worth it.) 

Bacon-Wrapped Roasted Pork Tenderloin in Teriyaki Marinade

2 Pork Tenderloins
Bacon (1 package or 6 slices for 2 tenderloins)
Teriyaki Sauce

Take tenderloins and place into a large shallow bow.  Cover with 1 2/3 cups of teriyaki sauce OR if time is short, you can use 1 bottle of store bought teriyaki marinade.  (I prefer Ken's Steakhouse Teriyaki Marinade because it does not have high fructose corn syrup.)  Marinate for a few hours or overnight.

When you're ready to prepare, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Take the tenderloins out of the marinade and place on rack in roasting pan OR 9 x 13 baking dish. I prefer the baking dish because the meat seams to 'soak in' more of the teriyaki flavor as it cooks.


Taking 3 slices of bacon per tenderloin - gently stretch each slice, one at a time and wrap around the first tenderloin.  Tuck ends under so they do not shrink and curl while roasting.  Follow with second tenderloin.  Pour reserved marinade evenly over wrapped tenderloins. 
 
Place in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until meat reaches and internal temperature of 160 degrees.  When done, remove from oven and tent loosely with foil for about 10 mintes.  Slice and enjoy!


Homemade Teriyaki Sauce or Marinade

2/3 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1 cup soy sauce
4 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/3 cup white sugar
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 dash red pepper flakes (if you like more heat, you can kick it up a little!)
black pepper to taste

Directions

Bring mirin to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Season with garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and black pepper; simmer an additional 5 minutes. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.