I know. I said I was going to do baking posts on Wednesday, but Wednesday is Halloween and that means this year’s Halloween story should post on that day. So, I decided to flip things around a little. I think one should shake up the routine a bit now and again. Good for the soul.
Last week, I made chili on Tuesday. It came out well, even if it was an experiment with using textured vegetable protein (tvp) instead of actual meat. No, we are not going vegetarian. The ICS has added a veggie chili category this season, and as the good chief judge/scorekeeper team we are, we wanted to see if there was a discernible difference with the tvp in case we get a chili made with it, and a judge thinks there might be meat in there. Turns out there isn’t a big difference. The tvp does a pretty good job substituting for meat, although it is a bit grainier. We didn’t really miss the meat all that much. Who’dda thunk?
Anyway, we usually serve chili with oyster crackers, but on this particular day, we had none, so I was trying to figure out what to do. Hmm, I thought, cornbread goes good with chili. But if I made a whole cornbread, chances are we wouldn’t eat it all before it got dry and stale and then we’d end up throwing some away. Hmm, I thought again, what if I made the cornbread batter and baked it as muffins? Or better yet- mini muffins! That way, what didn’t get eaten could be frozen for easy use later. Yes, I could have frozen regular cornbread, too, but the mini muffin idea was cuter.
We also happened to have on hand some Yancey’s Fancy Hatch New Mexico chili cheese. If you ever find some, or any of their cheeses, try them. They are good.
I used our favorite cornbread recipe, found on the back of the Quaker Yellow Cornmeal canister. I cut it in half for just the two of us, and added about a half cup of the grated cheese. I used my about 2 tablespoon sized disher to scoop the batter into the mini muffin tin. (Note- I have several dishers in different sizes and they are great for portioning things like batters, cookie dough, meatballs, and more. They help you get consistent sizes for each portion.) I got 16 mini muffins out of the half recipe of cornbread. I sprayed the muffin tin with cooking spray before adding the batter. Baked them for about ten minutes at the 350 degrees F noted in the recipe. Turned them out onto a wire rack to cool, and there you have it. Cute, nicely browned outside, and they were yummy with the chili.
Don’t forget- I am also doing a giveaway on the blog for ebooks of Two’s Company, plus some extras. Find out how to enter here. Winners chosen on November 1. Comment on the blog linked above to enter!
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On presale now and coming in December 2018: Two’s Company, a sci-fi novel in the space opera tradition.
Medusa “Deuce” Grainger is smart, confident, and as good a pilot as she is a poker player. A freelance shuttle jockey working for an independent terraforming company, she’s left her former life, and her father, behind. Mostly.
Now, her AI has downloaded another Personality and it’s making him act strangely, her friend’s company is in danger of being shut down, and people have died at a sabotaged terraforming site. If Deuce wants to help save the company and her job, she’s going to have to figure things out fast.
Learn more here, where you will find links to the presale.
Two’s Company is listed on Goodreads. If you like what you see above, I’d appreciate you adding it to your Want To Read list. Thanks!
Available now :
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And So On... 