Pioneer Woman's Skillet Cornbread
You will need the following:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening
2 tablespoons shortening
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Stir together.
3. Measure the buttermilk and milk in a measuring cup and add the egg. Stir together with a fork. Add the baking soda and stir.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until combined.
5. In a small bowl, melt 1/4 cup shortening. Slowly add melted shortening to the batter, stirring until just combined. In an iron skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons shortening over medium heat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Spread to even out the surface. (Batter should sizzle.)
6. Cook on stovetop for 1 minute, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Edges should be crispy!
NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I have all of The Pioneer Woman's Cookbooks, and there are recipes in each and every one my family enjoy. However, I think my favorite one of the batch is her very first one. It's the one that "got me hooked."
Euna Mae's Sour Cream Blueberry Streusel Muffins
You will need the following for the Muffin Batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh blueberries
You will need the following for the Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed and soft
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffins cups with Baker's Joy or line with baking papers.
2. To make the streusel topping, mix together all the ingredients, mashing/incorporating with a dinner fork or pastry cutter, and set aside.
3. For muffins, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Pour vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; crack the egg in the oil and add enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this liquid/egg mixture with the flour mixture. Add vanilla and sour cream. Stir with a wood spoon. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups just below the top, and sprinkle - I mean, heap on - the crumb topping mixture!
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then check them in 2-minute intervals until they're done. Don't overbake them. Cool completely in pan or your tops will separate from your bottoms. And nobody needs to be topless - or bottomless, for that matter. Gently run a knife around the edges and carefully lift out of the tin. Replace any crumbly streusel topping that falls off. Or eat it. I prefer the latter. Serve with butter, naturally!
ANOTHER NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I am also still loving my LOVE WELCOME SERVE cookbook of Southern comfort food from Amy Nelson Hannon. I made the above recipe this past week, and they were gone in just a couple of days.
My Favorite Things RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE - I went gallivanting today to a new-to-me place on Clairmont Avenue in Birmingham. It is simply called Shoppe...
And it is a lovely nursery/gift store.
After a thorough browse through Shoppe, guess what happened?
One of the workers asked if I needed anything, and I told him I was quite content. That's when he told me something else special about Shoppe.
The people at Shoppe own the space right next door that once housed Silvertron (you have to be kinda old to remember that wonderful eatery), AND it is a lovely home store simply called General...
As in General Store...
But so much fancier.
You can see in the above photo (taken in General), there will soon be a very nice coffee/eatery shop on one entire side of the store. They told me they would start serving in four to six weeks...
But I'm hoping it will be a little sooner.
RANDOMNESS #1 - The Alphabet Adventure Continues... "L" is for LOVE - Judith and Eden came over the week of Valentine's Day, and I took the opportunity to celebrate all things LOVE and LIPSTICK and LIBRARIES and LOLLIPOPS and The LITTLE Mermaid...
Just to name a few.
Oops.
Almost forgot...
And LITTLE sister.
RANDOMNESS #2 - Our 32nd Anniversary Trip to Gatlinburg - Mike and I decided we needed to go to the Mountains for a couple of days, and although we didn't go exactly on our anniversary date, we did make it up there a couple of weekends later...
And enjoyed ourselves immensely in this little cabin near Ober Gatlinburg.
We rode into Gatlinburg and it was entirely overcast.
The next day we woke up with an inch or two of snow all over our deck (and we still had clear roads).
The next day it was bright and sunny with a high of 50 degrees.
Basically, we had all the right kinds of weather for this little trip.
I brought this puzzle and set it up about two seconds after we arrived so we would have plenty of time to work on it here and there over the long weekend.
This "BEFORE" pic will also now be known as the "AFTER" pic.
We never even sat down and picked up a piece.
One of my favorite new-to-me things in Gatlinburg in February are all of these snowmen located up and down the strip.
I have about 15 different pictures, but I'll just share three for now.
There are no murals, but I thought these were an excellent substitute.
This pic was taken on the Sky Bridge.
I have several pictures of the Sky Bridge AND several pictures of the upper portions of our bodies with scenery behind us while we are standing on the Sky Bridge, but no real proof we actually walked across the Sky Bridge.
I'm going to have to ask you to trust me on this one, please.
We had a bunch of "little" things we wanted to do during our stay, but our BIG PLAN was to drive through Cade's Cove. We've been there many, many times, but it is still one of our favorites.
We took our time on the winding roads, and we ignored all the signage along the way telling us the Cade's Cove Loop Road was closed through the 26th of February...
Because we were in denial...
And we thought maybe, just maybe they had opened it this one particular day when Mikie and Belinda were in town.
Guess what?
They weren't kidding.
The stone tunnel on the Loop Road had been in some disrepair the last few years, and they decided to fix everything before it got any worse.
I thought that was very proactive of them, but was still disappointed a little bit.
Disappointment aside, we decided to meander through Wears Valley and Townsend, and we stopped whenever we felt like stopping for as long as we felt like being in any particular place.
It just fit my mood.
At 58 years of age, I have never been inside a Ripley's Believe It or Not...
And while I assume it is mainly for a younger audience, it dawned on me I really wanted to try it.
Unfortunately, I made this decision too late into the trip, and we had to go home without fulfilling this wish.
But that's okay.
Now that I know I want to go there, I can put it on an official list in my Official List Notebook.
And I will!
You know I will!
All in all, a lovely little trip.
RANDOMNESS #3 - Upcoming Things - I ran out of time, but in the next post, I know for certain I will be talking about...
Just Keep Smiling - Characters on Parade!
And...
This guy turning 29 this past weekend.
I won't tell you any more about the party right now, but needless to say, Baby Girl didn't make an appearance to tell her Daddy "Happy Birthday" in person.
Wouldn't that have been fun?
Also, you may or may not be able to tell where we celebrated by this photo.
Have a wonderful "end of February." I'll be back soon with March stuff and more!
Sincerely,
The Enchanting Belinda
I found out squirrels can have up to 15 babies in one single litter, and now I totally understand why they are always running out in front of cars.
This one is dedicated to Roxie...
Trainer: What are your goals?
Me: To be able to pet all the dogs.
Trainer: No. Your fitness goals.
Me: To be able to run fast enough to pet all the dogs.
