For lo these past 16 months, some of our neighbors have given us odd looks and not really said much. And I’ve been OK with that, especially since the day I saw a few of the men in their backyard hunting for something. With guns. In a fenced-in backyard spanning less than an acre of manicured grass and concrete lawn cherubs.

Bang! Bang!

So, we didn’t think they were quite right. And it turns out, they’ve felt the same way about us.

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Biscuits require a little finesse, but cornbread is wonderfully forgiving and practically foolproof. It’s also cheap, which is why many Southerners have made many meals off cornbread and greens, cornbread and beans, and cornbread crumbled in milk or buttermilk.

There’s no real trick to it – make the batter, melt some butter in your cast-iron skillet, pour the melted butter into the batter, and pour the batter into the skillet –but the cornmeal matters. If you want a Southern cornbread, you need to use white cornmeal. Preferably something fine-ground, like Martha White®. The Southern preference for white cornmeal is rooted in agriculture; a century ago, the majority of corn raised here was white. As for leaving the sugar out, it makes sense when you consider the way cornbread is eaten here – not as a separate entity, like a dinner roll, but as an accompaniment. Something to sop up pot likker or crumble into a bowl of soup.

This recipe, dubbed Our Favorite Sour Milk Cornbread by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, makes a light, all-purpose cornbread that’s crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside. The fine crumb makes it just right for a cornbread dressing. Which we’ll be making tomorrow.

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I knew she was holding out on me.

Mom makes the best Monkey Bread, but she only does it once a year, when they release a new “Twilight” movie.

Kidding!

She’s made us monkey bread and hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) for breakfast every Thanksgiving morning since my bedroom was plastered with posters of The Muppets, Bo Duke and B.J. and The Bear. Biscuits quartered, dipped in butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked in a bundt pan, forming a wreath of sweet and sticky goodness worth waiting a year for. Read More…

When I posted the Cinnamon Biscuits as a quick alternative to cinnamon rolls, I learned something very important: many, many cooks are yeast-phobic. And I get that. There’s nothing like uncovering a bowl of would-be pizza dough (after hours of waiting) and finding a sad, unrisen, murky pool of nothing.

What we need is a baby step. Something that has the flavor of yeast but doesn’t require all the wishing and hoping and proofing and folding. Something foolproof and delicious.

That’s Beer Bread. Simple. Quick. And so good with a schmear of honey butter or vegetable spread. And a big bowl of soup.

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So, you remember that scene in “Sex and the City” when Carrie spots those petal pink Christian Louboutin stilettos in a shop window and purrs, “Hello, Lover”? Because, no matter how impractical, she has to have those shoes. She sees herself in those shoes. She’s made a connection.

That was me with Alice Waters’ Strawberry Shortcake. I’d been flipping through “The Art of Simple Food” since Mom gave it to me last Christmas, but I didn’t connect with anything until this morning, when I noticed this recipe and envisioned the spoonfuls of slightly sweetened strawberries and vanilla whipped cream spilling out of a just-cooled cream biscuit dusted with powdered sugar. Oh, yessssss. I connected.

What’s different about Ms. Waters’ Strawberry Shortcake? The cream biscuits are light and crumbly,  just sweet enough, and they can soak in all of that lovely strawberry juice without turning to mush or cutting the roof of your mouth. As for the strawberries, Waters suggests an interesting twist: purée a fourth of them. Paired with the juice oozing from the sitting strawberries, the purée intensifies the strawberry flavor and transforms the liquid from a watery pink to a bright, beautiful red.

So, I think I’m going to skip the processed and the Peeps® this weekend and see what other simple wonders have been hiding inside this book. Yes, I’m finally ready to fall in love with a cookbook without pictures. Next stop: puberty!

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So, when my turn came to pick a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, I chose the Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins. Because the group had never baked any of the book’s savory recipes. And because people have very strong opinions about cornbread. When you have a group of 300+ members all baking the same thing, you need a little controversy. Otherwise, you’ll be ready to lobotomize yourself with a soup spoon after No. 89.

At the risk of sounding like a cross between Foghorn Leghorn and Scarlett O’Hara, I’ll say that I’m a Southerner, and we tend to be territorial about cornbread. I fully expect the Southern delegation of TWD to either a.) politely decline to make these corn muffins on the grounds that they contain sugar or b.) politely make the muffins but mention how they cut the sugar. I know, we put sugar in everything else, but when it comes to cornbread, most Southerners don’t like it sweet. We go with cast-iron, high heat and bacon grease. Judge the bacon grease if you must, but my 89-year-old mommaw swears by it, and she could give you the family trees of every character on “Days of Our Lives” while single-handedly plowing a field right now.

I picked Dorie’s Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins, because I wanted to try a Southwestern cornbread. In the South, everyone’s grandmother makes “Mexican Cornbread” with cream-style corn, canned green chiles and at least a cup of cheese. Dorie’s recipe offered an authentically Southwestern cornbread with fresh corn, jalapeño, red bell pepper and cilantro. I was curious. Read More…

One of the best things about working at a bakery is the freebies. At the European bakery where I started out, we were given one free meal a day. Some people ate a hunk of Black Forrest Cake for breakfast. Others sat down to brotchen or croissants or soup served in a bread bowl. On Saturdays, when I knew I was going to see Jeff, I would skip breakfast and use my “free meal” pass on some of the bakery’s focaccia. Sometimes we’d just tear it and eat it. Other times, we’d split the bread, fill it with turkey or ham, and have the greatest and best picnic and road trip sandwiches ever made.

When I make focaccia at home, I use Art Smith’s recipe for Focaccia with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese and Rosemary with sliced Roma tomatoes and Kalamata olives. The hefty toppings make it extremely versatile as an appetizer, an accompaniment for a big bowl of soup or as a sandwich bread. But don’t feel like you have to go with my add-ons. Try the original formula: olive oil, sea salt and herbs. Go with pizza-like combinations of cheese, meat, vegetables, herbs and onion. Or create something completely different, like a focaccia with sliced pears, gorgonzola and walnuts.

The focaccia-making process is a little time-consuming but very simple, so if you’re feeling particularly impatient, plan it on a day you’ll be home doing the laundry or grouting or looking for the tape. For minimal effort, you can impress your friends and family without resorting to the dreaded holiday newsletter. That could be better than work freebies.

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I love making breakfast.

It should make me curl into the fetal position and rock myself, since my mom was Queen of the Rude Awakening. She would wake me up by flickering the bedroom light and singing at the top of her lungs: “Good mornin’, good mornin’! We’ve talked the whole night through, good mornin’, good mornin’ to you-hoo-hoo-hoo-HOOOOOOO!”

Oh, the agony of being an angsty teen and waking up to Debbie Reynolds every morning. Pass the flannel and the black eyeliner!

I wasn’t a morning person until I switched careers and started working at a German bakery. I had to be there, bright-eyed and ready to strudel, at 3:45 a.m. It was very weird to pass the late-night/early-morning party people on the road and realize you were living in their tomorrow, but I liked the solitude of unlocking the bakery door and getting the day started. I’d make a variety of croissants, coffee cakes and breakfast pastries every morning. Cinnamon rolls on the weekends. I’d always set one aside for Jeff, who would drive to my hometown to see me on the weekends. A little bribery never hurt.

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1. Prep this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe–The Black and White Banana Loaf–and lovingly place it in the oven.

2. Lock the front door before you go downstairs to check on the laundry.

3. Step into the laundry room, and close the door behind you. Realize it just locked.

4. Remember the banana bread.

5. Open the garage door, and run to the neighbors’ house. Try to forget that you’re wearing a Rocky T-shirt and workout pants.

6. Arrive as the entire extended family is gathered to welcome someone home from hospice care.

7. Ask to use the phone. Realize you’re trying to call your husband during his office’s weekly production meeting.

8. Call your mother.

So, my Black and White Banana Loaf was a bust. Attractiveness-impaired and flavor-challenged. But, I did learn that I have very good, very gracious neighbors. That the Rocky T-shirt has to go. And that our new house is very, very secure.

To try the Black and White Banana Loaf, check out the recipe at Ashlee’s A Year in the Kitchen.

Today, Barefoot Bloggers around the world are posting Ina Garten’s Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread. It’s a recipe she prepared on her TV show, “Barefoot Contessa,” for an episode called “The Cat’s Away.” Apparently, when Ina’s husband Jeffrey is away, she makes herself a pan of jalapeno cheddar cornbread and a steaming pot of Mexican chicken soup.

When my husband Jeff is away, I make myself a bowl of Fruity Cheerios.

Jeff’s working late this week, so it seemed like a good time to try Ina’s way. Be warned, her cornbread recipe has a few stunning omissions: a cast-iron skillet, buttermilk, and bacon fat. (Special note to my mom: I KNOW! Maybe they don’t have bacon in Connecticut.) Her cornbread also has three times more flour than cornmeal. Barely yellow, bless its heart. Read More…