Cornbread You Won't Believe

I recently watched an episode of Giada at Home where Giada made a cornbread that I knew I could improve on. So here’s what I did – I experimented with different ingredients and I came up with a most delicious cornbread you can serve with soup or stew or anything else.

Becky’s Deluxe Cornbread

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix (see I told you this was good and easy, plus Jiffy is only $.50 here in Rochester)

½ c. milk

3 tbs. butter, melted

2 eggs

10 large pimento stuffed olives, coarsely chopped

1 small jalapeno pepper, finely diced

½ red pepper, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 c. grated mozzarella cheese

Spray a baking dish with cooking spray – Giada used an 8x8 but that was too small for me after adding all the additional ingredients, so I used my 11x8 dish which worked perfectly.

In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients together. The batter will be very thick and lumpy but you can spread it easily in the pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. It will be crunchy on the outside and wonderful and soft on the inside. Give this a try. You will love it.

The Burke Banana Bread

On Wednesday I promised to share my banana bread recipe with you - so here you go.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a large loaf pan with cooking spray or line it with foil.

Sift together in a large bowl:
2c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Add ½ c. sugar and 1c. chopped walnuts to the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, mash 3 ripe bananas (I am talking the more rotten the better – this is one time when brown spots are a good thing). Add 1 tbs. fresh lemon juice, 1 slightly beaten egg, and ¼ c. vegetable oil. Mix well and add to the dry ingredients.

This is the difficult part since this is NOT a liquidy dough – getting all the dry ingredients incorporated takes patience but you can do it. I use a big spoon and keep mixing it all together. Spoon into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert on baking rack and let cool, if you can. I usually have a piece in my mouth within minutes!!

Breads, Breads, Breads

I know there are a lot of different specialty breads out there to make. My cookbooks are full of them, not to mention the internet. Zucchini bread, carrot bread, date nut bread or pumpkin bread are all available. But I only love one and that is BANANA BREAD.

We have a recipe that has been in our family forever and I will share it with you in an upcoming blog. Banana bread is very special to me. When I visit my mom or sister they always bake me a loaf because they know how much I like it - warm with butter.

Now, a silly side story – my sister and I have an ugly troll doll we have passed back and forth for years. She once wrapped the troll in foil and baked it in the center of a loaf of banana bread and mailed it to me from Colorado to Cincinnati. Very, very funny. We have quite a few “troll” stories. Bonnie now lives in California and in the photo of the banana bread below you will see the troll – after a visit to Disneyland. Banana bread means love and comfort to me and I hope it will do the same for you.