Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     Cornbread has been a staple of my diet for as long as I can remember.  My parents are from southeastern Kentucky.  In the early 1960s, the moved to eastern Indiana and put down roots.  But, "home" was, and for them always will be, the mountains.  Any school break, funeral, or sickness we were on the road down home.  I am glad for those miles.  Many treasured memories that modern kids miss if parents let a DVD player, DS game system, iPad, iPod, or cell phone 'keep the kid busy'.  I highly recommend road trips with disconnect agendas to allow your kids to get to know you better. You will be amazed and even shocked at all the beans a kid will spill about friends and family and hopes and dreams from the back seat of vehicle while they think you are only sort of paying attention.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     This ain't a "hoosier-cake" as I call midwestern yellow and sweet cornbread.  This is poor mans bread that some call hot water cornbread.  It's cheap and will make you lick your lips all night dreaming of another slice with butter melting on it.  My parents love it as a dessert... crumbled up cornbread into a cup of buttermilk or even milk if you don't have a taste for buttermilk.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

Granny Bates Cornbread

     Here's the tricky part that can mess folks up on the final result... it a 1:2 ratio of one part self-rising white flour to 2 parts self-rising white corn meal mix... one part flour to two parts meal.

Ingredients to make a medium size pone of cornbread in a cast iron skillet:
2 cups self rising white corn meal mix
1 cup self rising white flour
4 pinches of salt (that's how I measured it when I paid attention this time, lol)
2 pinches of pepper (again, that's how I measured it when I paid attention this time, lol)

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     Preheat oven to 350 F.  Medium to large cast iron skillet, gently wipe interior with a thin layer of oil as when seasoning it (the cleanup will be so much easier if you do this), and wipe one more time with a clean paper towel to assure excess oil removed.  Put the skillet in the oven to preheat while you assemble the cornbread ingredients. Combine all dry ingredients.  Now, here's your challenge... getting the right amount of water into the batter.  So, start with 1/2 a cup and add 1/4 cup at a time until it seems the consistency of thick pancake batter.  Some folks swear hot water helps, I haven't noticed a big difference.  Stir well a couple of times until all ingredients are mixed, and then let set about 5 minutes at least.
     Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven.  Stir the mix one time well, then pour into the hot skillet quickly.  Put the pan in the oven.  Turn up the heat to 400 F and let it bake about 35 minutes, then continue baking until the crust is the desired dark crusty crust you prefer (one hour at most).  Hey, if it burns somewhere and no one in the house likes that... just cut that part off and add to the compost pile.  I actually prefer a crust a darker and crunchier than noted in the pictures.  I am a crust loving girl.  Some folks like the inside stuffings.  You decide for yourself.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     If you flip the pone of bread out of the skillet while hot from the oven onto a large plate... your skillet should be clean enough to fill with a batch of brownie mix to bake since the oven is already hot.  I might have done that and loved it. The Boys like that use of efficiency.  Same on the brownie, flip out onto a plate and clean up should be just a wiping out of the skillet.

Brownies baked after I turned out a pone of cornbread from my cast iron skillet. 

If you try it... leave me a review.

Pantry supper - Baked sausage casserole

Pantry supper

     For January 2014 I have participated in a No Spending Challenge group.  *sigh*  The ONLY good thing I am finding about Old Man Winter so far... is being trapped at home with The Boys having so many delayed or cancelled school days... it keeps me from stopping in a store to or from work.

     The heating bills have also increased and the incentive to stay on track in the challenge is strong.  Add the awareness of increased medical premiums, higher co-payments plus deductibles and I am on board to keep up the challenge in February.

     That all being said... the goal is no to very little grocery shopping.  Loaf bread, gallons of milk, dry cereal are about what is on the list once a week.  We had to add in ketchup and peanut butter since my 8 year old survives on those and I hadn't had a lot left in the pantry.

Baked sausage casserole

     My husband and I like to have sliced sausage with potatoes and green beans and onions sometimes.  The kids don't care for it, but like I said earlier they live on peanut butter, lol.  I wanted to stick to the challenge and hoped to cook something a little healthier, too.  That meant... the oven, and one of my cast iron skillets to help with a richer flavor.  I dug around in the pantry and found a can of whole kernel corn and carrots. I had leftover canned green beans in the fridge, and peas from our garden in the freezer.

Baked sausage casserole.  Before going in the oven.  

     We liked it.  The frozen peas I have found hold up better in casseroles than from a can, but I would have only had canned they would have been fine, too.  I was glad I had part of the sausage on the top and part on the bottom.  Some was nice and caramelized crispy and some soft and tender. If I hadn't had the long polish sausage to cut up, I would also have used little smokies if those were on hand. I like cutting the sausage in bit size rounds instead of the traditional angle cuts, everything ends up one bite size.  To me, a casserole isn't about needing a knife to eat it, it's about comfort food and easy eating.

Baked sausage casserole.  Hot out of the oven. 

Baked sausage casserole

Ingredients:
Frozen peas -two handfuls, frozen but broken loose from one another
Whole kernel corn -1 can drained
Green beans -2/3 can leftovers
Sliced carrots -1 can drained
1 package polish sausage -two large links sliced into thin medallions, or any sausage sliced, about 2 cups.

     Preheat oven to 350 F.  Medium to large cast iron skillet, gently wipe interior with a thin layer of oil as when seasoning it (the cleanup will be so much easier if you do this), and wipe one more time with a clean paper towel to assure excess oil removed.  Put the skillet in the oven to preheat while you assemble the casserole ingredients. Combine all vegetables and mix well.  Canned vegetables and the sausage have more salt than home canned/frozen foods so I did not add extra -I decided that could be added to taste at the table and keep the dish a bit healthier.
     After about 10 minutes, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven.  Layer half of the sausage in the bottom of the skillet. Cover with the vegetable mixture.  Finally, layer with the remainder sausage.  Pour in enough water halfway up the side of the skillet.  Turn up the oven temperature to 400 F.
     Cover the skillet loosely with aluminum foil.  Bake about 20 minutes as the meat used was precooked. Then, remove the foil and bake the dish another 15-20 minutes until the some of the top sausage layer is noted to be caramelized to your liking.  Remove from the oven, and loosely recover with the foil until ready to serve (at least 10 minutes).

Baked sausage casserole. 

I do believe I will make this again and not the skillet method. The cleanup of the baked dish compared to when I have usually fried it was wonderful.  And... it surely is healthier since there was no frying involved.

If you try it... leave me a review.

Soup Beans

     Often, younger generations seem to have a hard time keeping up with family lore and recipes. Given the many miles that generations move to seek work or be near a new found love -it may be months and months before wee-ones have a chance to be back around their kinfolk for "dinner on the ground" or gathering.

     One of the staples of our eastern Kentucky mountain pioneers and for many of us present day branches too, is Soup Beans.  You just can't beat how affordable it is and so versatile at almost any dinner table.  I love them so much (best about 2 days old), I prefer them with warmed up cornbread for breakfast. 

     So, to help younger generations keep it going, I happened across this recipe ages ago that even has pictures of just how easy it is to put a pot on the stove.  Perfect for these brisk winter days.  Warning, the cornbread she makes is not the mountain kind, but it's pretty tasty itself.  You Northern generations likely can relate to it better than the mountain bread.  (I'll get around to telling you how amazingly easy and cheap it is as well... one day.)

Beans and Cornbread

     The Pioneer Woman - Ree Drummond

     Her blog has always been a favorite. And her books make it simple to pull them off the shelf for quick reference.  Also, the photography helps calm after a stressful day. 

     I find that if I am just too lazy to make them myself... Cracker Barrel has pretty good "Pinto Beans"... add a side of fresh cut onion, some of their okra.

Now... I gotta go make some...