My Spicy Cornbread

This is the basic Albers Cornbread recipe:

1 cup Albers cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients together, set aside.

1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

Whisk milk, oil, and egg together, add to dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

However, I add chipotle pepper in adobo, frozen corn and cheese, so I call it my own.

2-3 Tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
1 cup grated colby jack or cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen corn kernels

Pour into greased 8" x 8" baking dish or greased muffin tins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until well browned.

I'd like to thank Norfolk Cooking Examiner for this discussion on Northern vs. Southern Cornbread: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4180-Norfolk-Cooking-Examiner~y2009m10d19-Northern-cornbread-versus-Southern-cornbread-with-add-in-ideas, because my family is Southern and I like the drier, less sweet version of cornbread.

It's hard to make "original" chili...

Four Bean Chili

3/4 cup small white beans
3/4 cup small red beans
3/4 cup pinto beans
3/4 cup pink beans

Sort over and rinse (these are "agricultural products") to remove any stones and dirt. Cover with water and soak overnight.

1 1/2-2 lbs. ground beef, ground sirloin, chili or stew meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, minced
cloves of garlic to taste (lots), minced

2-3 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Salt and pepper to taste, cook beans on medium low heat.
28 oz. crushed tomato in puree
16 oz. "Fiesta style" frozen vegetables

Meantime, brown ground beef, chili meat, ground sirloin, stew or chili meat in frying pan on medium heat. Add chopped onion, jalapeno, garlic and garlic salt. Cook until most or all grease is evaporated. Add to cooking beans. Add crushed canned tomatoes. Cook for 1-2 hours until beans are tender.

Stir in frozen vegetables. Serve with cornbread.

Crab Scramble

I found crab on sale at Safeway for half-price last week and bought 4 of the little darlings.

We spent the evening cooking, cleaning, and “picking” (we’re pickers, we don’t eat the crab until it’s all out of the shell. We then feasted on crab, just crab, no sides, dipped in melted butter. Yum.

But there was a lot left…The next night I made Louisiana Deviled Crab Cakes found at Epicurious: They were delicious, but we still had a lot of crab left.

So I put them in scrambled eggs the next day. Just a couple of eggs, milk, chopped green pepper and green onion, threw a little Monterey Jack cheese and crumbled bacon on at the end.

And we still had crab cakes again the next day! Maybe next time I find it on sale, I won’t buy so much :)