I have made many corn bread recipes and although I love corn bread I have never liked the way the bread falls apart.  This recipe has amazing taste and perfect consistency.  It is sweet and spicy, warm and buttery.  It makes a perfect side dish to anything… if you can keep your family from eating it all before dinner.  I have made this in mini muffin tins and regular muffin tins, but if you can find the pans that shape your bread into mini corn loaves it makes a great presentation. Again this recipe comes from Mitchell Rosenthal’s Cooking my way Back Home.  There are so many more recipes to try from this wonderful cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 jalapeño chiles, seeded and finely diced
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, mixed with 2 tablespoons honey

DIRECTIONS:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or line the cups with paper liners.

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

• In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, eggs, oil, and butter until well blended.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

• Finally, add the chiles and mix again until well combined.

• Distribute the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups.

• Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a corn bread comes out dry.

• When done, immediately brush the tops of the hot breads with the butter-honey mixture and then let rest in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes.

Serve hot.

I always keep a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the fridge.  So when I saw this recipe from Cooking my way Back Home, I knew it was a perfect compliment to the red potatoes I had just picked up at the farmers market.  Potato salad was a common side in the summer at my house, crunchy, creamy, and spicy.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds small red potatoes

• 6 large eggs

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• ⅓ cup finely diced celery

• ⅓ cup finely diced red onion

• 1 bunch green onions (including tender green parts), thinly sliced

• 1 ½ tablespoons horseradish mustard

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon Town Hall Spice Mixture

• 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

• In a saucepan, combine the potatoes with salted water to cover by 2 inches, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until fork-tender. Remove from the heat, drain, and spread out in a single layer on a sheet pan to cool and dry.

• While the potatoes are cooking, you can hard-boil, peel, and chop the eggs into small pieces.

• In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, celery, red onion, green onions, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, spice mixture, Tabasco sauce, and vinegar and mix well.  Fold in the eggs and season with salt & pepper.

• When the potatoes are cool, quarter them lengthwise and place in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise mixture and stir to coat the potatoes evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve.

Quinoa is one of those super foods… and the best part is it’s delicious.  I like to mix it with bulgar, a wheat grain, and this time I added rosemary spiced walnuts and dried cranberries.  This can be a side dish or served over greens as a lunch salad.

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ cup of black or red quinoa

• ⅓ cup of bulgar grain #2

• 1 tbsp of olive oil

• 2 cups of low salt chicken broth

• ⅓ cup of walnuts, spiced with rosemary and thyme

• ⅓ cup of dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

• Saute quinoa and bulgar in oil for 1 minute.

• Add chicken broth and bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce till all liquid is gone.

• Stir in walnuts and cranberries and serve.  You can serve this hot or cold.

This is so simple and delicious!  Take a whole head of cauliflower and slice rounds as flat as possible.  Some will fall off in small pieces, use this too as it all tastes good.  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees until cauliflower is crisp and slightly browned on edges (You should turn vegetables to cook evenly.).  When done add ¼ cup of freshly chopped chives, 1 tablespoon of chopped thyme, kosher salt to taste, and ½ cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese.  Put in oven for 2-3 minutes more and serve.  This is an excellent easy side dish.  Enjoy!

I know this isn’t a new idea and many of us may cook a version of these luscious potatoes.  The basic recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS:
• 12 small red boiling potatoes
• Kosher salt
• Good olive oil
• Optional: Lemon, Parmesan, and/or fresh herbs

DIRECTIONS:
• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

• Boil potatoes to cook then drain.

• Take two dishtowels and lay one down on counter placing cooked potatoes on towel separating them like mounds of cookie dough.

• Now place the other towel over the potatoes and using the flat base of your hand smash each potato.

• Transfer with a spatula the potatoes to the parchment lined sheet pan.

• Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt.

• You can add fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, dill, or just leave them plain.

• Cook till the edges of the potatoes are crispy about 20-25 minutes.

• You can squeeze lemon juice or sprinkle with Parmesan, but I love them just plain, crispy with a dash of salt.