Southern Blondie: March 2011

Paula Deen's Southern Cornbread Salad

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I decided to put my body through torture last night and go to kickboxing.

After I wobbled home from not being able to move my body, I ate a healthy supper and hopped into bed to catch up on some magazine reading.

This is when my phones beeps with a text from my dear, sweet cousin Shannon. She sends me a picture of her making Paula Deen's Southern Cornbread Salad.

She's losing her title of dear, sweet cousin.

Then, this morning, she sends me the picture of the finished product.


Nothing says good morning than a picture of this on your phone. So, I have bugged her all day until she sent me the recipe. 

  
Cornbread:
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 1/4 cup for greasing pan
  • 1 cup self-rising cornmeal
  • 3/4 cup self-rising flour
  • 1 cup cream-style corn
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar, optional
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Generously season a cast iron skillet with up to 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Preheat the pan either in the oven or on the stove over medium-high heat.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Pour batter into the preheated cast iron skillet. Place skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

 
 Salad Ingredients:
  • 1 batch cornbread, cut into 1-inch cubes, recipe follows
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (15-ounce) can niblet corn, drained
  • 1 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 3 large tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
  • 1 (8-ounce) bottle ranch dressing
  • Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish  
Directions:
In the bottom of a large glass bowl, place cornbread cubes. Layer beans, corn, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and cheese on top of cornbread. Spread ranch dressing evenly over cheese. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.

Shannon's Notes: 
The only thing I changed was substituting the bell peppers for broccoli - personal preference.  I also made a double batch of ranch dressing to ensure I had enough.  I didn't use bottled... Hidden Valley Ranch mix.

Thank you, Shannon for sharing your and Paula's recipe.  

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Asian Turkey Burgers with Wasabi Ketchup

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I love to read. I love to read books. But I don't have time or the commitment to read books. So. I read magazines. 

Lots and lots and lots and lots of magazines. 

I have enough subscriptions to magazines to start my own library. 

One of these subscriptions is to Shape magazine. It makes me feel like I am doing something good for myself, even if I am just reading it.

About 3-4 years ago, they had a recipe for Asian Turkey Burgers with Wasabi Ketchup. I tried it and have been making these burgers ever since.

How I make them:

First...let's grab what we need.

Ground turkey, cumin, garlic, cilantro, soy sauce and worcestershire.
(The recipe doesn't call for the worcestershire, but I add it because I like it.)

1. Add cilantro.

2. Then your garlic.
(There have been plenty of times I didn't have fresh garlic on hand, I just used the canned stuff. Works just as well.)

3. Then add some soy sauce.

4. How about a little Worcestershire.

5. Some cumin.

6. A little pepper

7. And of course salt.



























8. Mix it well. I use my hands. Works best.

9. Now, usually I'll cut up a sweet potato, but tonight I was crunched for time. So I used the bagged stuff. These have a little kick to them.
(They are good, and aren't that bad for you. Win.)

10. Getcha George ready.


And there you have it. Asian Turkey Burgers. 

(I was out of wasabi for the wasabi ketchup... sorry.)



Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground chicken or turkey breast
  • 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 clv garlic, minced
  • 1 t reduced-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 t ground cumin
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 t black pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 4 T ketchup
  • 1 t wasabi paste
  • 4 whole-wheat rolls

Directions

In a large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients well. Shape mixture into 4 patties, each about 1 inch thick.
Coat a large grill pan or griddle with cooking spray and set pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add burgers and cook 5–6 minutes per side, until cooked through.
Meanwhile, mix ketchup and wasabi paste well in a small bowl.
Place burgers on whole- wheat rolls and top with ketchup mixture.
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Sunsets

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"Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven."

To know me, is to know that I will stop whatever I am doing if there is a sunset anywhere near me. 

It's true. I've pulled over the car before just to take a picture of a sunset. 

These are the most recent sunsets that I have taken on my phone.  

Sunsets




There is peace in natural beauty.
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Randoms

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I had a conversation yesterday with a woman I worked with about how random her son is. How he will just say, 'I don't like black eyed peas,' then just walk away. 

So, here are my randoms for today.


1. I don't really care for ice cream. 

2. Thunderstorms make me crave a grilled cheese. 


3. I always like to play jokes when I go on first dates to test out the other persons sense of humor. No laugh, no way. 

4. One of the biggest life decision I will ever make will be bangs or no bangs. 


5. Today I'm going with bangs. 


6. Tomorrow I will cut them and think I should have gone with no bangs. 


7. I didn't watch Dirty Dancing until I was 22. 


8. The real world needs naps. 


9. When you get a phone it should come with 10 phone chargers. 


10. Popcorn taste better with M&M's. Period.
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A Simple Friday Night

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Sometimes there isn't anything better than sitting outside by the fire with good friends.

These can be the best kinds of nights.

(p.s. I built the fire...)
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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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I'm pretty much theme queen when it comes to cupcakes.

Gimme a holiday, and I'll bake ya a cupcake.

Luckily for my co-workers, I bring them all of the cupcakes I bake each themed holiday.


The latest one? St. Patrick's Day.


I will say that I somewhat cheated, and by cheated I mean I bought everything and just added the correct ingredients. This St. Patrick's Day, I baked two types of cupcakes. Green vanilla with white cream cheese icing and chocolate with green cream cheese icing. 

And green sprinkles.


(I'm sorry to those who thought I made all of these from scratch this time, I had a date that same night so I did what I could...)



First. This is what I used to cheat.




Added some food coloring...




Which makes it pretty.




Nice and green!




Bake away!




Getting ready to go to work the next day!






 In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to 'sell' cupcakes at work with all money benefiting Heifer International.

I created a Team Heifer account here:
www.heifer.org/teamcupcake.

We collected $17!


 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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Time to Cook!

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In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, my cousin Sarah and I decided to take a cooking class at Kitchen Co. The menu included Cornish Hens with Apricot and Balsamic Glaze, Turnip Puree and Gratin Cakes. 

(Also, wine may or may not have been involved. Or Guiness....I mean, it was St. Patrick's Day.) 

I've taken cooking classes in the past and they are always full of characters. This class was filled with a young couple celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary, two couples who have been friends for 38 years and a lady who was interestingly obsessed with barbeque sauce. 

The night was enjoyable as everyone watched the self-made chef cook and entertaining listening to the older women discuss their life adventures together. The more wine they drank, the better the stories got. 
Funny how that works. 

Cooking classes are fun. Cousins are fun. 

Going to a cooking class with your cousin is the best.
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