Southwest-Style Whole-Grain Cornbread

I love cornbread, and I especially love this recipe for cornbread. It's flavorful, always moist, and goes perfectly with chili. It's a modified version of a recipe that years ago appeared in my hometown's cookbook courtesy of the best cook in town, Athalia Jensen, a good family friend.
It's a 'southwest style' cornbread recipe, so it calls for peppers and corn kernels. I always have frozen corn in the freezer, specifically for this cornbread. I always use bell peppers for this recipe since I'm not too fond of spicy food, but if you prefer you could of course use jalapenos for their kick. 

Cornbread

1 ½ cubes butter, softened (¾ cup)

¼ cup yogurt

2 T honey

4 eggs

¼ cup chopped bell peppers, green or red

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (sharp preferred)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup cornmeal

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350* and grease a 9x13 baking pan.

In a bowl, mix the butter, yogurt, honey, eggs, peppers, corn kernels, and cheese. Pour the flour and cornmeal in a pile on top, and mix the salt and baking powder into it. Mix the flour mixture into the underlying butter mixture until all the flour is moistened. Scrape out into the greased baking pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is browned and the center is set.

Cut into squares and serve warm with homemade chili.

This picture has a story. I told Tyler he could have the last piece of cornbread if he would grab my camara for me to take some pictures of it first. This is the last picture I got before it was devoured.

-Zay

Pizza and News

So, it seems the word has not quite traveled through all branches of my family that I am alive and well, and have a place to live. My cousin Tod's Uncle Steve is renting Tyler and I a room in his very nice house. So far we are getting along very well with him and our other housemates, Sidney and Astara.
For the first week our room was completely unfurnished, we were living out of our luggage and sleeping on the hideously uncomfortable mattress from a couch bed, but in the last few days we managed to get ahold of some free dressers off craigslist and a very inexpensive but comfy mattress from goodwill. We are still looking for a couple desks, some tables, and some hippy wall hangings to decorate the very white room with, but it's starting to feel like home, and our house mates are starting to feel like family.
The past week has been great, one of the highlights was when Steve and I got excited about having chickens and started running around in the back yard figuring out where to keep them. There is already a structure that with very little improvement will make a great coop for 3-4 hens. I am so excited!
This being primarily a food and craft blog, I should share a recipe. Last night I made Pizza for everyone, and everyone loved it, so I thought I would share that!

Pizza Crust
3/4 cup water
1 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
olive oil

Mix the room temperature water and yeast together in a bowl. Mix in the flour and salt and knead gently, it will be a slightly sticky dough. Round it into a ball and pour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil on top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least one hour and up to 6 hours.
When you are ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 450*. Dump the dough out onto a cookie sheet and press out with your fingers until it covers the sheet. It will be quite thin. If it fights you, let it rest for 5 minutes then come back to it.
Bake the undecorated pizza crust for five minutes, then remove from the oven. Top with the sauce of your choice (my favorites are pesto and home made tomato), the vegies of your choice, (I like zucchini, onions, mushrooms, all lightly sauteed), fully cooked meat of your choice, and a generous layer of mozzarella cheese. Bake another 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Cut into portions and enjoy immediately.

And here, a picture of the leftovers.

A word on Quiche

Quiche is Delicious.
Quiche is adaptable.
Quiche is classy!
Once, I was cooking with someone I would rather not have been cooking with, I recommended Quiche (since we had the ingredients) She became flustered, and told me she couldn't possibly serve such 'poor people' food to guests (though she had been raised on it). She told me the story of how her ex husband and his dinner guest friend had once made fun of her for serving quiche instead of some sort of red meat for the main course.
To this I answer "Whathafuuu?" and still to this day I cannot imagine how someone could feel that way about quiche.
Quiche is GOOD! 
There is nothing 'low end' or 'cheap' about the crunch of a well-made crust contrasted with the smoothness of the cheesy custard perfectly complemented by the freshness of the vegetables - no matter how economical of a dish it is to make.

Quiches adaptability begins with the crust. A testament to it's adaptability is that IT DOES NOT NEED ONE. That's right, you can pour your filling into a bare pie tin and the results are great (I did this once with seared eggplant and leftover potato cubes as the filling). You can of course use the old standby of a pastry crust, which is delicious. You can use filo, which some people like and I hate. But what if you want something wheat-free? You can use a cup of leftover rice mixed with an egg and baked to set, you can use the same method with leftover mashed potato. The best quiche crust I ever made was hash browns well buttered, pressed into a pie tin, and baked until crispy.
I rest my case as to the adaptability of quiche crust.
Today I have decided to use a mashed potato crust: around a cup of leftover potato, mashed, with salt, pepper, and a beaten egg, pressed into a pie tin.

Mashed Potato Quiche Crust

This could be immediately filled with the quiche fillings, or it can stand in the fridge for several hours, or you can bake it at 350* for around 15 minutes to set it and crisp the edges for greater contrast of texture.

Quiche Filling
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
about 1 cup cheese, grated
Optional fillings to taste

This recipe for quiche custard makes enough for one small quiche. For a larger quiche or one with a very thin crust or few fillings, add another egg and 1/3 cup milk.
In a medium sized bowl, beat the eggs, add the milk and salt, and whisk until homogeneous.
Grate your cheese and spread it in the bottom of your quiche. A mix of cheeses usually makes the best quiche. I am fond of mozzarella and parmesan. I would recommend against using 100% cheddar as it makes a greasy quiche.
Fillings are optional. With good quality eggs and flavorful cheese, you don't really need them. That said, I always like to put some vegies in my quiche. Chop your fillings into bite-sized pieces. Some good fillings include bell peppers, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, onion, and zucchini. I am not a fan of adding meat to quiche, but some diced ham or a little crumbled bacon could go well in a quiche. Choose a few flavors to use in your quiche - don't overwhelm it. Some ingredients, like onions and eggplant, are better if they are pre-cooked, but most are fine raw. Use about a cup to a cup and a half of fillings, put in your pie tin and toss with the cheese.
Gently pour your egg mixture over the fillings - try not to make your quiche overflow if you used a lot of additional ingredients.
Bake your quiche at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour. It is done when it is slightly puffed and raised in the middle and the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

I made this quiche with mozzarella cheese, sauteed onions and bell peppers, and baby portabella mushrooms.

There it is, before and after baking.
I love Quiche.

My Overinflated Ego vs Cheese Souffle and the Universe

I have a kitchen-ego problem. I tend to be able to cook anything I want to, make things up as I go along, eyeball quantities, make substitutions, and mostly ignore recipes with delicious results. Sometimes I start feeling a bit kitchen-invincible. Sometimes, I notice this is happening and intentionally set myself up for a fall - because, really, if my head gets any bigger I'll have to make myself some new hats.
Hence, my epic battle with cheese souffle and the universe.
On my Ego''s side, an eggy cheesy craving on my part and my generalized kitchen luck, also, the 12th edition Fannie Farmer Cookbook. (the best cookbook ever written).
On the Universe's side, lack of a souffle dish of any sort, poor quality store-bought eggs, only barely enough cheese, my inexperience with the medium, and the fact that I chose a "tricky" and "fragile" souffle recipe to start with. (What, you think I should start with the sturdy souffle recipe that follows the recipe I chose? Nonsense!)
No Souffle dish... Hmm, I'll just use a muffin tin and cut down the baking time. (Souffle is just like cake, right? Right!)
Recipe wants a 1.5qt souffle dish = 6cups volume vs 12 muffin tin, each cup holds .5 cups = 6 cups volume. (Perfect!)
Everything went well white sauce was thick and creamy, added cheese which melted in beautifully, beat in the egg yolks, didn't curdle, folded in the egg whites, didn't fall. Poured 1/2 cup souffle batter into each muffin cup, filling them to the top, popped them in the oven, put the timer on, waited.
Recipe called for 35 minutes, I thought 12 would probably be plenty for the muffins. At 12 minutes, they look a little pale still, decide to give them two more minutes.
At 14 minutes, I remove them
.

Removing Souffles

They look Awesome, so poofy! My ego begins to do a victory dance in my head. It doesn't last long.
By the time I get them to the table, they have begun to look more pancake-like on the top.

The Souffles Begin to Deflate

I manage to wrestle one out of the muffin tin, but they aren't so poofy anymore.

Scrambled Souffle

Still, the taste is great! The edges, were it they cooked more, didn't deflate like the centers did, and even the centers were a bit fluffy still. I think, with proper equipment, I could totally make a Souffle to be proud of.

Fallen Muffin Souffles

I guess my kitchen-ego hasn't learned much of a lesson after all...