Category Archives: cooking

Corny

Something out-of-the-ordinary happened in my kitchen last night.

I followed a recipe.

Only two three four tiny adjustments were made.

I love cookbooks, especially ones with color pictures of course, but I have a really hard time sticking to the recipes.  Rarely do I go shopping with a recipe in hand so I make adaptations around what I have on hand.  No eggs?  Eh, what do they really do for muffins anyway? 😉

More often than not things turn out delicious and with good consistency.

For a few weeks now I have been wanting to make a corn spoon bread and bake it in a squash.  I could have winged this, sure, but I didn’t.  And this led Tate and I to take turns beating egg whites into “stiff peaks”.  It’s steps like beating egg whites that I would never have come up with on my own.

Here’s the Allrecipes.com recipe I used for Fresh Corn Spoon Bread.

!*^%!  My link button thing isn’t working! The site is

http//allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fresh-Corn-Spoon-Bread/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

  • 4 cups milk
  • 1 1/4 cups cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1/3 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
  • 3 eggs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter one 8x8x2 inch glass baking dish. Separate the eggs.
  2. Whisk milk, cornmeal and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking constantly until mixture begins to thicken, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook until the mixture is very thick, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.
  3. Transfer cornmeal to a large bowl. Stir in corn, green onions and butter. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, stirring after each one.
  4. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the warm cornmeal mixture in two additions. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
  5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) until light, puffed and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 227 | Total Fat: 10.9g | Cholesterol: 105mg

 

I liked the look of this recipe because of it’s relatively short ingredient list and that it didn’t call for creamed corn like the other spoon breads.

It was a fun recipe and it turned out…pretty good.

The biggest downfall was that the Acorn it was baked in was really bland.  Next time I will bake it in half a bell pepper, I think that would elevate the whole dish.

I left out the butter (by accident) and green onion (didn’t have any) and subbed in a dash of cumin and pickled jalepenos.  Cheese would be pretty amazing but we were already having Feta on our salad.

The original recipe serves 8, I made a half recipe and filled four squash halves and a few mini muffin cups.  I think some cheese and salsa on the leftovers will be perfect.

Time to hit the scantron!

It’s time to renew my Personal Trainer Certification and after much research and soul-searching I decided to go with a new certification all together.  I started studying in October and have been really enjoying the process.  Most of the information is redundant for me but I learn best through repetition so that’s o.k.  And I started the final exam yesterday!  I have until April to finish the course but I am making a big push to get it done “this year”.  As soon as January hits and we are opening the clinic things are going to get very busy so now is the best time to buckle down and get this done.

Happy 6th day of Hanukah!

 

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Award Winning Breakfast

I wanted something different for breakfast this morning.  Something warm and cozy.

I reached deep into the kitchen cupboard and what did I find?

“World Champion Oatmeal”!

Well, if that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will!

The directions instructed me to boil 1.5 cups of water then add 1/2 cup oats (for 2 servings).  After a few near catastrophes involving lots of foamy oat water boiling over onto the stovetop (I am still getting the hang of cooking on electric!), we settled in for 10 minutes of gentle simmering.

As the champion oats worked their magic I broke out the plum and munched on some…crumbs.  It was much better today!  I think the wine and dinner and bourbon whipped cream all contributed to dulling the overall flavor last night.  Today is was tasty and nicely textured.

I also dipped into my kitchen experiment from yesterday afternoon, homemade almond butter!  At the bulk bins yesterday Kath mentioned that she was going to make Ashley’s recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter and I thought that sounded like an excellent idea.

Except I didn’t have time to roast the almonds and I am awful at following recipes.

My food processor whirled away for at least 15 minutes as it creamed raw almonds, molasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

But it just wasn’t happening.

Every two minutes Kath and I would get all excited that the butter stage was finally upon us but no such luck.  The mixture remained cookie-doughlike.  So I added a bitty bit of light olive oil (the only oil I had on hand).  Nope.  A little bit more olive oil.  Still resembles cookie-dough, a greasy cookie dough!

Maybe I needed to push past that point but I was bored and gave up.  It’s kind of tasty…for greasy cookie dough.  I should have trusted Ashley and followed directions!

Back to breakfast.

Steel Cut Oats topped with nutmeg, cinnamon, a few globs of the almond dough, and almond milk.

Loved the texture of the oats but it got a little watery with the almond milk.  Next time I am thinking of going savory, like grits, and topping it with a fried egg.  Maybe next Sunday!

We woke up to a dusting of snow and a blue sky! Unfortunately, the snow is nearly melted and the sky is clouding over. 😦

The plan for today is a workout, some housework, and studying.

My first week of MISSION: Balance (or Work.It.Out, as I have started referring to it) went fantastically!  It was a great week of exercise, just the right amount and variety!  To finish off the week I will do 10 minutes of Pilates, 20 minutes of strength training, and a run (4 miles probably) today.

I am still a little sore from BodyPump on Friday!   My pecs were SO SORE yesterday from all those chest presses and pushups!  I guess I need to do more of these exercises in my regular workouts.  The thighs and glutes were just a little tender but yesterdays walks and yoga helped loosen them up.  Today I am ready to run!

Do you get sore from your regular strength training?  Do you like being sore (as a reminder of the work you did)?

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