Sweet Goat Cheese Cornbread

I don’t know exactly why, but I love cornbread. Maybe it’s the slight sweetness. I have to say that my absolute favorite cornbread in the world is served at The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Walt Disney World, but now I have found a close second. That second favorite is this recipe right here… Enjoy!

What You’ll Need…

1 Cup Cornmeal

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

½ Cup Butter (Melted)

2/3 Cup Sugar (Or honey)

2 Eggs

1 Cup Buttermilk*

½ Teaspoon Baking Soda

½ Teaspoon Salt

3oz Goat Cheese

* If you don’t have butter milk fill a one cup measuring cup almost to the top with regular milk and top the cup off with lemon juice or vinegar. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes and now you have buttermilk.

Preheat your oven to 375.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly combined.

Once the dry ingredients are combined add in the butter, eggs, and butter milk and mix well, but do not over mix.

Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined crumble in the 3oz of goat cheese and mix so that the cheese is distributed evenly.

Pour the batter into a greased 8-9 inch cake or brownie pan and make sure that it is relatively level.

Bake the bread at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow the bread to cool slightly and then enjoy!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops

Pork chops are delicious, and there are countless different ways to prepare them, all you need is a little creativity to come up with new ways. So, if you’re stuck when it comes to how to prepare a new variation on pork chops, I may just have a recipe for you.

What You’ll Need…

1 Thick Pork Chop (Per person)

½ Cup Greens [Spinach, kale, chard] (Per person)

1oz Goat Cheese (Per person)

Pepper (To taste)

Garlic Powder (To taste)

Dried Oregano (To taste)

Preheat you oven to 350.

Start out by combining your greens and goat cheese in a bowl. Mix well.

Once the greens and cheese are combined set them aside and move onto the pork. Start out by trimming off any unwanted fat. Now, with a small sharp knife cut a pocket in each pork chop.  This is where the cheese/greens mixture is going to be, so make the pocket go almost all of the way through the pork. Obviously you want the chop to stay together, but you also want enough room for the cheese.

Once the chops have been cut fill each pocket with greens and cheese. Place the spices on the top of the chops before placing them in a skillet, spice side down.

When the chops are in the pan add the spices to the top side and allow both sides of the chops to brown.

After the chops have browned on both sides but are not cooked all of the way through place the skillet in the oven and bake the pork for 15 minutes at 350.

After 15 minutes remove the chops from the oven, allow them to rest for  a few minutes, and then enjoy with your favorite sides.

Sausage and Rutabaga Scramble

If you’re looking for something new to try and are a fan of scrambles either for a weekend breakfast or breakfast for dinner this recipe is for you. Howard and I love scrambles and we always try to pack them with vegetables; this one is no exception. If you try it out, let me know what you think.

What You’ll Need…

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

½ A Large Rutabaga (Cubed)

1 Parsnip (Optional) (Chopped)

¼ Large Onion (Chopped)

1 Bell Pepper (Diced)

½ Cups Corn

2 Large Handfuls Greens (Spinach, Kale, Chard, anything you like.)

1 Package Sausage (Your favorite kind.)

5 Eggs

Garlic Powder (To taste)

Chili Powder (To taste)

Paprika (To taste)

Herbes de Provence (To taste)

Season Salt (To taste)

Black Pepper (To taste)

Cheese (To top)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Start out by chopping the vegetables and cooking the sausage if it does not come fully cooked.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet before adding the rutabaga, parsnip, and onion. Sprinkle lightly with pepper and allow the vegetables to start to cook. Stir occasionally. Once the vegetables start to brown add the peppers before moving the skillet to the oven for about 10-15 minutes so that the rutabaga can cook through.

 

While the vegetables are in the oven move on to the sausage and eggs. Thinly slice the sausage and set it aside until the vegetables are ready. At this time also crack 5 eggs into a bowl and lightly beat them.

After removing the vegetables from the oven place it directly back on the stove-top and add the corn, sausage, and spices. Stir thoroughly so that everything is even distributed. Allow the corn and sausage to heat up, about 3-5 minutes, before adding the greens.

Allow the greens to wilt down, and they will shrink quite a bit, before stirring them in and adding the eggs.

Once you add the eggs stir the whole mixture around gently just like when making regular scrambled eggs until the eggs are cooked.

When the eggs are cooked the scramble is ready to eat. Top with cheese and enjoy just like that or enjoy with both cheese and ketchup.

 

Enjoy!

Crab Salad

Since today is Ash Wednesday I figured that I should share a recipe that could be used today, any Friday during Lent, or any day of the year. I will also try, now that it is Lent, to stay away from recipes for dessert; but I can’t make any promises.

Now, I’m sure that some of you are thinking that you have seen this recipe before, and in a way you have. A while ago I posted a recipe for chicken salad and this recipe is almost exactly the same. But, if you watch Food Network or Cooking Channel or go on their websites you will see maybe 10 versions of the same recipe from the same chef. This is not chicken salad, this is crab salad, and therefore it is a different recipe.

What You’ll Need…

16oz Real Crab Meat (Already cooked)

1 Green Onion (Chopped)

1 Celery Rib (Chopped)

¼ - ½ Cup Raisins

2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise

1 ½ - 2 Tablespoons Mustard

Sriracha Sauce (To taste)

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Chili Powder

½ Teaspoon Paprika

1 Teaspoon Herbes de Provence

Black Pepper (To taste)

Salt (To taste)

Start out by chopping your vegetables. Once the vegetables have been chopped make the dressing by combining the mayonnaise, mustard, hot sauce, and spices. I find it helpful to make this dressing in the bowl that I am going to serve the salad in.

Onto the crab. Make sure that you go through the crab to make sure that there are no shell pieces. Now add the crab, onion, celery, and raisins to the sauce and stir thoroughly.

I find that the salad is best chilled, but you can always eat it right after preparing it.

Serve with crackers, bread, or tortillas. I also find that a pickle goes well with the salad on a sandwich or in a wrap.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

(I will have a picture of this dish after this weekend.)