Trying to be healthier... Cornbread Makeover!

So, we've been trying to "step-up" 
being healthy even more than ever!

We've been trying to eat more beans, legumes, veggies and healthy fats and have tried to keep our "glycemic" index down as much as possible Monday-Fridays! 
On the weekends we do a little more splurging.

To keep our glycemic index down, 
I've been trying to limit using "unbleached white flour" in my recipes to only cookies and desserts, which means it has been a fun journey for me to tweak my bread recipes to use more whole wheat flour and I've also been venturing out and try using oat flour as well.
Since we purchase steel cut oats in 25 pound bags, I have an abundance of them and so I've been grinding my steel cut oats into flour and incorporating it into my baking.

Well, it turns out, you can't completely 
use oat flour in a recipe if you want it to turn out,
because oats don't contain gluten and so it behaves differently than wheat flours.  
However, after experimenting, I have been able to successfully replace oat flour for up to 1/2 of the whole wheat flour.

When I made up a batch of Bean Chowder for my family, it was just automatic that we would have a delicious pan of Corn Bread to go along with it.  
Cooked bean dishes at our house mean "Corn Bread"! 

So, I tweaked my Corn Bread recipe to use not only less sugar, 
but, less refined sugar. 
(took it from 1/2 cup white flour to 1/3 cup raw cane sugar)
(I buy these bags of Raw Cane Sugar at any of our local grocery stores in the Mexican Food Section.)

I also used one cup whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup oat flour 
and it turned out to be an absolute success!
It was very hearty tasting, VERY moist and delicious and it had my family begging me to make more!

I'll never 
make Corn Bread from unbleached flour again. 
Raw Cane Sugar, Whole Wheat and Oat Flour is how it will be made at our house from here on out.

Delicious Corn Bread 

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup raw cane sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup freshly ground oat flour

1-½ cups milk

Cream butter and sugar. 

Add eggs and stir.

Add in cornmeal, baking powder and salt and stir until just combined

Add flours alternatively with milk. 

Put in greased 9x9 pan.

Bake 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until lightly browned and toothpick inserted in comes out clean. 

(oven temps vary...check after 30 minutes). 

Absolutely delicious! 

ENJOY... 

being a little more healthy in your day to day life... 

one recipe at a time! 

(PS...I really enjoyed this site here for information about Oats) 

Here's what's cookin' at our house!

 My sweet little Ethan Kip
has after school activities each Monday and Tuesday and my work has been extremely busy, and so I offered to work extra to help out.
SO, Monday's and Tuesdays for the past month and half have consisted of leaving the house at 6:30 each morning, working until 2:30 and then staying in town until 3:45 where I pick up Jade from track practice (since we live 10 miles out of town)
Needless to say, on these days I get home between 4:15 and 4:30 (and if I haven't planned ahead) I feel overwhelmed trying to throw something together for dinner that is yummy and goes together quickly.
While I am very much a Chili lover and would much rather make Chili if I have time, I have fallen in love again with one of my tried and true recipes of Taco Soup!

This uses ingredients I always have on hand,
goes together quickly and
while you're cooking it you can also
make batch of Corn Bread and by the time 6:00 comes, dinner can be gracing your table top that's delicious, nutritious and a hit with almost anyone!

I also whip up a batch of Refreshing Lime Drink as well...

for recipe click here

Taco Soup
1 pound ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans (with liquid)
1 (17 oz.) can corn (with liquid)
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup taco seasoning

In a large soup pot brown ground beef and saute onions; drain well.
Add tomatoes, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce and taco seasoning.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
(the longer it simmers the better).
Put soup in bowls and garnish as desired with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. This also goes GREAT with corn bread!


Sweet Corn Bread 
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp. salt
1-¾ cup flour
1-½ cups milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and stir.
Add in cornmeal, baking powder and salt and stir until just combined
Add flour alternatively with milk. Put in greased 9x9 pan.
Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This is WONDERFUL and tasty
and kids and dads don’t seem to mind eating soup or a “bean” dish if they have yummy cornbread to eat.

**Helpful tip**

I mix 1/4 cup dried milk powder with 1-1/2 cups water
in a pint jar and shake well to use in place of regular milk...
you can't tell a difference and it uses food storage powdered milk.

Yummy...Delicious...Enjoy!

Great use for cornmeal!!

I don't know about you but I LOVE anything made with cornmeal!
I really enjoy eating pizza where they have sprinkled the pan they cook the pizza on with cornmeal, or cornmeal on top of hamburger buns. There's just something about biting into the crunchy cornmeal coating...
Yummy!

I really enjoy cooking from staple ingredients and
cornmeal is definitely
a staple ingredient in our house!
With all of the soups and bean dishes we make up Cornbread is delicious and so I alternate by making up either corn bread or any of my other homemade breads. (click here for Cornbread recipe AND Split Pea Soup recipe)

Until this year, I have only ever used cornmeal to make CORN BREAD, however we received a delicious recipe for Cornmeal Pancakes from some great friends of our family! We made them up one weekend and they were a great hit with our kids! However, we realized that we needed to cut the recipe in half since it made more pancakes than our family of four could eat for one breakfast and so we adjusted the recipe and also added an extra egg to the batter since we have chickens and it's always nice to use our Farm Fresh Eggs (since they are plentiful at our house) and we added in vanilla to the recipe as well.

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Last Tuesday, I had just gotten home from work and starting cooking up some split peas and then the power went out for the rest of the afternoon. Thank goodness my gas range still worked even though the power was off, but since the power was off all afternoon, it meant I couldn't bake up any bread to go with our Split Pea Soup.

When Tracy got home he whipped up a batch of "Cornmeal pancakes" and we spread some butter on them and folded them in half and ate them with our Split Pea Soup and they were delicious!
********
I often times think about the Pioneers and how they must have ate and compromised with things and I'm sure they would have thought this meal was delicious!

Once again my kids never complained, but commented how yummy it was! Oh, and after dinner Ethan asked me if we had any leftover pancakes so he could take a PB and J sandwich
to school for lunch the next day!

He thinks they are great and loves it on Monday when we have leftover pancakes from the weekend because that is what he wants in his lunch...
Pancake Sandwiches!
(I would love to be a fly on the wall when my kids open their lunches at school and wonder what people are thinking). (wink)
**********
I sure love and appreciate
my "easy to please" kids
and my hubby
who always pitches in and helps out
when things haven't gone well
with my afternoons!
How VERY lucky I am!

Cornmeal Pancakes
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the buttermilk, milk, oil, and eggs and stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
Heat a griddle or large frying pan to medium hot and oil lightly.
Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to ladle the batter onto the griddle.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface;
turn to brown the second side. Serve with butter, syrup or jam!

Enjoy!!

Beans, Peas and Cornbread fit for MY king Tracy!

I LOVE

the thrift of taking dried beans or peas and cooking them all afternoon and have it turn into a YUMMY dinner! Even more, I am grateful that 2 of Tracy's favorite meals

to eat are Beans and hamhocks and Split Pea Soup!

We had Beans and hamhocks last week and we had Split Pea Soup tonight with yummy Cornbread!

Sometimes, I think we should have been born in Pioneer days because some of our most filling dinners are "Simple foods" such as peas, beans, soups and homemade bread.

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Pinto Beans and Ham hocks

4 cups pinto beans washed and cleaned soak these overnight
Drain off water and add in clean water and fill pan 3/4's full.

Cook beans for 1 to 2 hours until tender
Then add in:
Ham hocks (OR chopped ham)
1 large onion chopped
1-2 cloves garlic minced
Cook for 2-3 more hours until really tender and thick.

SALT and PEPPER to taste!

Great served with cottage cheese and hot pepper sauce!

*******************

How frugal is this meal?
Well the pinto beans cost $1.12
the Ham hocks were .50
the onions were .29
the garlic was .02
SOUP cost: $1.93

Cottage Cheese $1.00
Total cost--$2.93 (with cottage cheese)
This fed 4 people 1 dinner and 3 people 1 lunch!!

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Green Split Pea Soup

Ham hock (OR 1/2 cup chopped ham)
8 cups water
1-1/4 cups green split peas
1 large onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 cups diced carrots
1 or 2 potatoes diced
(salt and pepper to taste)

Combine water and peas in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add in ham hock and simmer gently for 1 hour. Add in onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer gently for 1 more hour until peas are tender and soup is really thick.

YUMMY! Great with a dollop of cottage cheese,

hot pepper sauce and not to forget "Corn Bread"!

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How frugal is this meal?
Split Peas cost---.68
Ham hocks were---.50
onion/garlic---.31
carrots/potatoes---.30
Total Cost--$1.79

(if you add in cottage cheese it will add another $1.00 to the total)

This fed 4 people 1 dinner and 3 people 1 lunch!!

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Sweet Corn Bread
½ cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup cornmeal
1 ¾ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
1 ½ cups milk (I use powdered milk)

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs and stir.
Add cornmeal.

Sift dry ingredients and add alternatively with milk.
Put in greased 9x9 pan. Bake 350* for 45 minutes.

***********************

This is WONDERFUL and tasty
and kids and dads don’t seem to mind eating soup or a “bean” dish
if they have yummy cornbread to eat.
YUMMY and one of Jades favorites!