Will wonders never cease?
Last night Brian dished out some incredible corn bread. No, he did not use a box.
A few months ago we were sweetly gifted one night’s stay at a local bed and breakfast. This establishment was not only charming and friendly, but they gave us their very own cookbook, too. The fruit parfait has already been mastered; and this week so was the ‘Grilled Ribeye on Lime Sweet Potatoes with Sautéed Morels’ (except we didn’t have morels, but the portabella mushrooms that replaced them were divine). So last night it was time for Brian to tackle the corn bread. He’s been itching to do it ever since we got a $10 Khols coupon in the mail.
Brian, “Do you mind if I use the Khols coupon?”
Me, “Really? What for?”
Brian, “I think I’m going to get a cast iron skillet.”
Me, “Ohhh. Sure.” Brian’s purchasing cookware?
I love that he follows a recipe to a T. If you include the time spent driving to Khols, calling me to double check if the price was reasonable, driving back home to begin the recipe, driving back to the grocery store because we only had one egg, preparing the rest of the recipe and the amount of time it baked in the oven… Well, it really only took about three hours. Totally worth the wait. I knew it. Brian knew it. He felt like a champion. He was a champion. Then he kindly took a plate of his award winning corn bread (we were the judges; he took first place) to our neighbors to spread the joy.
In all of this, my absolute favorite part about the evening was hearing him marvel over the skillet.
Brian, walking in the door, “Feel that pan, boy!”
(We don’t have “boys”. We have cats, dogs and me.)
Brian, “I’m a baker, son!”
(We don’t have “sons”. We have cats, dogs and me.)
Brian, “We should be able to fight zombies with that beast!”
(We don’t have “zombies”. We have cats, dogs and me.)
I believe that this is the third difference between men and women (I’m compiling a list): women do not fight zombies with cookware… at least, not to my knowledge.
In case you’d like to enjoy the corn bread:
Almost Famous Skillet Corn Bread
- 1 1/2 sticks butter plus 3 tablespoons for skillet
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 can cream corn
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon minced pickled jalapeno peppers
- 1 cup yellow stone ground corn meal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Place large cast iron skillet in oven and heat to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, add butter and sugar and beat until creamy. Add cream corn, eggs, cheese and jalapeno to butter mixture blending well.
In another large bowl, add cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, folding together until blended, but taking care not to over mix. A couple of dry lumps are okay.
Remove skillet from oven, add reserved butter, swirling to coat bottom of skillet, then pour in batter. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until cake tester inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Serve warm with honey. Serves 8.
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I love that Brian went to all that trouble for corn bread.
have you seen Rapunzel kicking butt with her skillet in Tangled??? 🙂
No! But I’ve been wanting to see that! Were they zombies?
No, just your run-of-the-mill thugs, villains, and misguided castle soldiers trying to do their duty.
I was thinking the same thing! I have it, Suzy. We can watch it anytime.
Date night with Sherri! Soon, I hope.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!!
I can’t wait to try the recipe. 🙂
I like Brian a lot. I love that he made the corn bread. But I love even more what he had to say about it all.
I still giggle over the zombie comments.
The corn bread tasted pretty awesome, too. Now if I need to kill a zombie, I’ll know where to turn. Yet another reason to love our neighbors!
I think I just peed my pants a little…oh….em….gee…
just read Part two and had to find part one…I am getting 2 cast iron skillets for Christmas (I already bought them and told David to wrap them up for me….see I buy for Christmas in August, while you dream of decorating!)
I love this Zombie frying pan thing. It cracked me up. To this day, whenever I see a frying pan, I think about this story! LOL.