Big Yellow Cornbread

If you love corn you'll love this cornbread! I've been making this recipe for years baking the batter in big round cast iron skillets and when baked I cut the bread into triangular wedges. This weekend for the first time I made this cornbread in my cast iron Bundt pan! It baked for an extra ten minutes. It usually bakes for 45 minutes in a skillet. This recipe was originally a muffin recipe but I doubled it and never looked back! I find that the bread is nice and moist when you bake it as one bread rather than as muffins. In the summer I keep the bread in the fridge to prevent spoiling. This cornbread is fantastic with tea and is a great travel + picnic food. We spread slices of the cornbread with peanut butter and sometimes we eat it with sharp cheddar cheese and apples. I use medium grind whole wheat flour that I buy in 50 pound bags from JAR Bakers Supply in Lincoln RI but some folks may prefer half white flour and half whole wheat flour or all white flour. If using a lighter flour blend you may want to use less salt. I have also baked this bread with a few chopped apples added to the batter or chopped onions which become very sweet when baked. Try adding dried cranberries! Replace some (or all) of the milk with yogurt for a tangy treat. All the variations are delicious!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix up batter in a big bowl with whisk, fork or wooden spoon.

4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup corn oil
2 cups yellow corn meal
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons baking powder

Grease your skillet or pan with vegetable shortening. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes if using a skillet or shallow pan, longer for a deeper loaf pan. A skewer should come out clean, and the top should be lightly browned. Let cool for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool further.

Granola Bars

I love the taste of oats and raisins eaten together but store-bought granola bars are always too sweet. This is it!! A wholesome, simple, delicious, and crumbly granola bar. Perfect for breakfast, dessert or snacks. I bake mine in a square Pyrex 8" by 8" pan.

Mix 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup corn oil, and a couple of teaspoons of real vanilla extract, with a whisk. Then add a few cups of rolled oats (use old-fashioned oats, not quick oats). Add about a half-cup of whole wheat flour, and a dash of water to lightly moisten the whole thing. Add sprinkles of salt to taste, and some raisins. Then press into a greased pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Next time I will measure the oats, flour, and water!

Enjoy!

Sally Sampson

Cookbook author Sally Sampson has published another fabulous cookbook! It's called the 100 Calorie Snack Cookbook. Check it out! It's full of ingenious ideas.

Chocolate Cake

I made this cake last night. The original recipe for my chocolate cake was cut off of a box of cocoa 20 years ago but I've adapted it over the years. The pumpkin is something I tried last night for the first time because we had some leftover in the fridge, and I love how it came out!

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (or more)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups of cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips
dash of cinnamon + ginger (optional)

Beat the sugar oil and eggs with a whisk add vanilla and pumpkin and mix in all the dry ingredients. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. I baked mine in a greased and preheated cast iron Bundt pan. Let cool for 15 minutes before turning it onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Your home will smell so good when you bake this cake. It is very good and a gorgeous orange color. I bake it in my pre-greased cast iron Bundt pan. This pan is nearly 20 years old and it's finally perfectly seasoned! This cake is basically a gigantic muffin!

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat the eggs and oil together with a whisk, then add the vanilla and pumpkin. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients, then mix all ingredients together in a big bowl by hand or with a mixer.
Pour into the pre-greased, pan and bake for an hour!

2 eggs
3/4 cup of corn oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups of canned pumpkin*
3 cups of whole wheat flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries or a mixture of both! (optional)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
sprinkles of ground cardamom, allspice, and cloves

*This is an adaptable recipe. You can use applesauce in place of pumpkin puree or mashed bananas or even blueberries! You can add walnuts or sunflower seeds too. The batter should be the consistency of thick mud! If the batter is too dry add a splash of orange juice. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Insert a broom straw! It's done when it comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy with hot tea or coffee!

Survival

If I could teach a class to teens on the verge of living on their own it would be called survival cooking! We'd make rice, beans, bread, yogurt, and other delights. It's great to know how to feed yourself and it's really fun too!

Time

Time is the secret ingredient in most delicious foods!

An olive won't ripen any quicker,
however much you mess around with it.
-Tuscan proverb

Take Stock

Today our friend Tony Makalinaw roasted a whole 90 pound pig outside on our street for a fireman's party. He used hardwood charcoal and a home made rotating rotisserie that he welded, engineered and constructed himself. He calls his rig the oinkmaster! Tony started cooking at 7AM and finished roasting the pig at around 3PM. Bill and Lily and I walked over and watched the process and sampled the goods! The meat was amazing and had different taste depending on what part of the pig it was from. At the end of the day Tony offered us the whole pig carcass and we carried it home in a gigantic heavy bag. Now I am boiling it all up in two vats on my stove! We are the bottom feeders and proud of it! This will be amazing soup-stock and will get put in containers and frozen, feeding us throughout the year.

Apple Rhubarb

Today I spotted gorgeous magenta rhubarb stalks at Fernandez Market. We bought some and sliced them and cooked them with a few cored and chopped apples, (with skins left on) simmering them for 20 minutes in a bit of water in the in the Dutch oven. I added honey and it was delicious with leftover pumpkin ice cream.

Coffee Coolata

I took some of the leftover pumpkin and vanilla ice cream flavors we made and put it in a glass of leftover cold coffee the next morning! I made a coffee coolata for breakfast!

Lemongrass Ice Cream

Margaret Higginson's Lemongrass Ice Cream

Bring 2 1/2 cups milk to a boil with 3 stalks of lemongrass, cut up. Take it off the heat and leave to steep while you get on with other things (I think I left it in there for about an hour). Strain, to remove the lemongrass. Mix 6 egg yolks with half a cup of sugar. Meanwhile, warm the milk up again. Temper the egg yolks with the warm milk, then stir everything together. Let cook over low temperature (don't let it boil, and stir frequently) until it coats the back of a spoon and you can run your finger through it without it running together (does that make sense?). Off the heat, add a splash of vanilla. Let cool in the fridge for a day, then freeze!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Last night we made pumpkin ice cream! It's my favorite ice cream!
Here's the recipe:
1 egg
1/4 cup honey (or 1/2 cup of sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
dash of ground cloves
1/2 cup of milk
3/4 cup of cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup of canned pumpkin
Beat egg and honey together using whisk or electric mixer. Add pumpkin, spices, and milk. Fold in cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Yesterday we made vanilla ice cream and ate fresh blueberries with it.
2 eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
13/4 cups of milk
2 cups of cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Beat eggs and sugar with whisk or electric mixer, until thick. Add milk, cream, and vanilla. Mix well. Makes a quart!

Peppermint

The peppermint is growing like crazy in my garden. I keep going outside and snipping hand fulls with scissors and harvesting it to make pots of mint tea. I drink it hot with honey. It's delicious with a few bittersweet chocolates.

Home Made

I have this theory that if you make it yourself with love, then it's good for you! No matter what it is. So I am going to make chocolate chip ice cream and an apple pie!

Sausage Stuffing Machine

Yesterday we visited our butcher Jamie Sullivan and he showed us how he makes sausages using his 200 year old hand-cranked sausage stuffing machine. He mixed up ground chicken, roasted red peppers and fresh basil leaves and pressed it through a yard-long piece of casing from an actual hog's small intestine. He filled the casings in seconds and then twisted it into 6" links all in a few minutes! I was impressed! He has invited us to bring him a recipe and make our own.

Grilled Beets

Last night we fired up our Weber grill using hardwood charcoal. I ran in the house and sliced a bunch of beets into thin discs with the skins left on. We threw them on the grill for 5 minutes and then flipped them, brushing their dry sides with a mixture of olive oil, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar, and then grilled them for another four minutes. Fabulously sweet and crunchy! Then I sliced big white onions the size of grapefruits into discs and grilled them too! I threw green beans into a skillet of water, doused them with the same olive oil, soy sauce, and vinegar mixture, and put that on the grill to steam. I filled another cast-iron pot with black beans I had cooked the day before, and brought them up to boil, uncovered, on the grill. We threw on some sliced sourdough bread slices and toasted them. Then we shaped two pounds of chuck into 7 beef patties and grilled them. Everything was so good we ate the leftovers for breakfast and lunch this morning!

Simple Supper

Last night I made a simple supper; collard greens steamed with olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, cheap port, red pepper flakes, and salt, eaten with steamed sliced Yukon gold potatoes. Delicious!

Pumpkin Doughnuts

I made pumpkin doughnuts today! Here's the recipe.

4 1/2 cups of flour (I use whole wheat)
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of sugar
a dash of cinnamon
1 small can of pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup apple cider to moisten the batter

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients separately in another bowl. Then combine them and mix by hand or with a mixer. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board. Flatten to 3/4 of an inch. Cut with a doughnut cutter or cleaned empty tuna fish can. Make a hole in each one! Use scraps to roll more until all used up. Fill a pot or skillet with three inches of corn oil, and heat it to 370 degrees. If needed, use a candy thermometer to check the temperature. Fry three at a time! Drain them on paper towels and sprinkle them with confectioners sugar.

I used my electric Presto crock pot with the deep fryer basket (It uses a thermostat to maintain the temperature). I loaded three doughnuts into the basket at a time and cooked them until they were golden. My whole wheat batch took 5 minutes to fry each round of three doughnuts, turning them once. The cooking time may be more or less depending on your ingredients. They're delicious, especially with hot coffee.

Marinating

Tonight we walked by our butcher's shop just before closing and I bought a pound of stew beef! I put it in a bowl with cheap port, soy sauce, sesame oil, a sliced lime, blobs of peanut butter, hunks of ginger root, smashed cloves of garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and a bloop of molasses. I'm marinating it overnight. It makes me feel productive to marinate or incubate things while I'm asleep. I keep telling my husband he should teach me how to make beer so I can be the Ale Wife!

Garlic and Sapphires

Ruth Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires is great fun!

Spring

I just made a vat of vegetable curry with every vegetable I had; eggplant, red + green bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, celery, ginger root, green olives sliced, lots of freshly chopped garlic, leftover vegetable stock and whey, and a few sliced chicken breasts thrown in. It all started with making a pot of short grain brown rice. Now I'm thinking of making pumpkin cardamom donuts. Spring is sensory overload to me. A joy to cook, feed, eat, and be alive!

Lunch With a Star

I was so nervous and excited that I couldn't sleep for four days leading up to my lunch with Marion Cunningham and Judith Jones. I had illustrated a cookbook for them, 150 black-and-white illustrations on short notice for "Cooking With Children." Judith had suggested I come to NYC to meet Marion when she visited from California. The day I was to take the bus to NYC in early April 1996, it had been raining so hard that cars I could see from the highway in CT were 3/4 underwater. I was worried that I wouldn't make it in time. My bus left at 7:15 AM from Providence due to arrive in NYC 11:15. But the roads were jammed with traffic because of the floods.

When I finally made it to the city, I took a subway uptown. I stepped into Knopf's Cookbook Publishing offices at 12:30 on the dot. Whew! Judith was behind her large wooden dining-room-table-like desk covered with piles of papers and books, and Marion was seated opposite her. They were obviously great friends. Marion was beautiful with her silver hair pulled back and kind blue eyes. I liked her immediately. I was still terrified, feeling naked, haunted, and sleep deprived. I wondered, where was my appetite? Can I make intelligent conversation with these matriarchs of the cookbook world? The more I admired them the more foolish I felt.

I've never had luck eating during business lunches in NYC. My stomach always flies up above me, and hovers about 2,000 feet in the air and lands days later when I'm back home and have calmed down to my regular life. I ordered iced tea. Judith suggested "Oh, do have something a bit more daring." Iced tea was fine, with lemon and sugar, and my stomach promptly filled with air bubbles and cramps. I watched as they ordered platters of food, one of everything, on three tiered platters. We all shared. They discussed every bite. I said virtually nothing, hoping they wouldn't notice.

After the meal, Judith hailed a cab for us. We all ducked in and sat in the back seat. I was in the middle! As soon as we sat down we noticed the ceiling of the cab had a million trinkets attached to the loose gray cloth lining. We all oohed and ahhed and laughed and pointed. It was an unguarded moment for me, and the best moment of the whole visit!

Vat of Sauce

I'm making a vat of tomato sauce in the huge pot my pal Andy gave me. It's oval and cast iron with a cobalt blue enamel exterior. He showed up one day with it, placed it on the porch, rang the doorbell, and tried to run. We caught him and had a little porch visit! I think of him each time I use it, which is every few days! For my pasta sauce I sauteed in olive oil a big onion the size of a grapefruit; 5 ribs of celery, chopped, with the celery-top leaves; one eggplant, diced; a can of black olives, chopped; fresh garlic chopped in kosher salt to absorb the vital juices; a bouquet of fresh parsley, chopped; a cup or so of the cheapest port wine; chopped mushrooms; and a green pepper, chopped. Then I added a gigantic can (the size restaurants use) of Isabella diced tomatoes, 4 bay leaves, and dried oregano and basil. I threw in one seeded chopped jalapeno pepper too! It has been simmering away uncovered. I have already "tested" a few bowls full! It will be delicious on sourdough bread toasted (as a bruschetta) and on pasta. We love to grate Asiago cheese on top. It's locally made in Providence! Mangia!

Pickle Sandwiches

I got a 5 pound bucket of Bronx made half sour pickles last week from Fernandez produce and they are nearly gone. I fear they will laugh at me when I go in for another bucket this week! I love simple pickle sandwiches with mayo on my bread, toasted!