Last Spoonful of Summer- Fresh Corn Spoon Bread

I've been really off the ball in taking advantage of summer produce. This summer seemed just so hot, and so endless. Sure there's a wonderful produce bounty, but just thinking about cooking seemed like hard work in 110 degree temperatures. So I decided I'd better take a stab at something summery before the heat has completely passed me by. When it came time to choose I went with this Fresh Corn Spoon Bread from the September issue of Everyday Food. I felt brave for choosing it, since it required several different steps. And let's face, lately the many steps I've been taking in the kitchen have been from the freezer to the microwave with another burrito. Sad, but true. I decided I'd serve this with some grilled fish and I had some fresh tomato, sliced into wedges with a sprinkling of salt and pepper on the side. Josh passed on the tomato, generally only likes them in a cooked form. However, he loved the spoon bread. He was shocked when I told him it didn't have any cheese in it. He kept referring to it as corn souffle. Eventually I stopped correcting him, and let him go ahead and think I'm a fancier cook than I am.

Fresh Corn Spoon Bread
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 6

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
1/2 small yellow onion, diced small (1/2 cup)
1 jalapeno, diced small
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cups whole milk
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. In a medium pot, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and jalapeno and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add milk and corn and cook until milk is very hot but not bubbling, about 3 minutes. Whisk in cornmeal and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Whisk in egg yolks.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into corn mixture, then pour into baking dish. Bake spoon bread until browned on top and set in middle, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating dish halfway through. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

My notes: I used fresh corn, cut from three ears. I didn't really measure, I just figured if two ears usually gives me 1-1.5 cups that three should do the trick. It did taste really good, but I think I could have been a little heavier-handed with the salt & pepper, and my jalapeno seemed to be fairly mild. Would have been nicer with just a little more kick to it. And, I may have slightly over-beaten my egg whites, so keep a close eye. I had to do a little more mixing than folding to weaken them a bit and get things to meld a little better.

Fast and Easy Summertime Food- Cornmeal Crusted Fish with Black Eyed Pea Salad

One of the most common search phrases that leads people to this little blog here is either "Cornmeal crusted Tilapia" or "Cornmeal Tilapia". Which the other day reminded me that I had plenty of fish in the freezer and hadn't used this recipe in awhile. I thought I would make and share the recipe again, since it seems to be such a popular one. And on the side I decided to make a really great salad. This is one of the first recipes I tried when Josh and I decided to try eating better, and I still love it. It's really delicious, first off, but it's also really quick to toss together; the corn and bell pepper make it particularly great for the summer. Who wants to spend forever in a hot kitchen during the summer months anyway? Not me. So a quick fish fry up and a no-cook salad is a sure-fire combo for summer cooking success.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4


1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons paprika
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 (6-8 oz. each) skinless tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons olive oil

• In a shallow dish, combine cornmeal and paprika; season generously with salt and pepper. Separate fillets into thick and thin sides. Dredge each piece in cornmeal mixture, patting it on to coat completely.
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook as many pieces as will fit (without crowding) until golden brown and firm, about 2 minutes per side for thin pieces and 4 minutes per side for thick ones. Transfer to a plate; sprinkle with salt, if desired, and cover loosely to keep warm. Wipe skillet with a paper towel. Repeat with remaining oil and fish.

Black Eyed Pea Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. package frozen corn, thawed
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, finely diced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• In a medium bowl, whisk mustard, vinegar and oil. Add all vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, toss to combine. Serve room temperature or slightly chilled.

My notes: I used trout that we had in the freezer from my father-in-law, so don't feel like you have to limit yourself to tilapia. I also used this recipe to make some great fish tacos before. Summer puts me in a mood for Mexican, so I'll probably be making those again soon too.

A Fresh Start with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Wow, hold on just a moment. Let me dust away some of these cobwebs. There, that's a little better. It's been a while, huh? But I'm trying to get back in the cooking saddle around here and the best way to do that is to get back in the habit of sharing what I make again. I'm going to be a lot busier these days as we're gearing up for a trip at the end of June, and then I'll be starting school in the fall. My goal is to try and post twice a week. Sometimes it might just be a tip or trick for coming up with something fast and easy, since that's going to be key for me soon. And I'm using my handy-dandy iPhone for pics more often now, since I found having to upload from my camera seemed to be a point of procrastination for me. I'm debating making some other changes around the blog, so if things get a little wonky, it's just my inept html/css skills at work.

To start things off with a taste of summer I made some delicious cookies. I was planning on making them on Sunday to take with us to our Concert in the Garden picnic that evening. However we went to a lunchtime barbeque at Josh's dad's house that we didn't leave until late in the afternoon, which left me little time to do the baking. So I made them on my day off yesterday instead. The cookies were so good, and really easy to make. the most time consuming part was dicing the berries. I am admittedly very slow with knives though, so that might be specific to my kitchen. No creaming butter and sugar, no adding eggs. In fact, I'm happy to tell you that there are no eggs at all. Which makes it far less dangerous to eat the cookie batter. Which you will want to do, because it was so, so good. I recommend you bake most of the batter before you taste it though, because otherwise you might never find out what the baked cookies taste like.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living June 2009; Makes about 3 dozen


12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
• Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

My notes: I used my 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to form my cookies, and I came about with roughly 28 cookies. I didn't have any sanding sugar, so I just gave them a little sprinkle with regular granulated. These cookies would be great for picnics, cookouts, even a brunch. If I was preparing them for more than just our own consumption I would have made some whipped cream to drop a dollop of on each cookie.

Black Bean Confetti Salsa

Things have been very busy around these parts lately. Josh has been doing a lot of traveling on weekends and in the next two weeks we'll be having friends over to see the house for the first time and then going on vacation. New recipes have been trumped by finishing up projects, cleaning, and eating some of the reserves in the freezer. Last weekend though we managed to get away from all the chores for a Labor Day potluck. I decided to make use of the still reasonably priced summer produce and take Deb's Black Bean Confetti Salad, although I always eat it scooped up on tortilla chips so I call it a salsa. It's easy, colorful, delicious and can please just about any party-goer, be they carnivores, veggies, or vegans.

Black Bean Confetti Salsa
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen














2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 bell peppers, a mix of colors, small dice
1 medium white onion, small dice
Juice from one lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

• Mix beans, bell peppers and white onion in a large bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk remaining ingredients into a vinaigrette. Pour over the bean mixture, toss it well and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

My notes: This makes quite a bit. In fact, I ate it for lunch the rest of the week. Next time I think I'll halve the recipe and use the extra bell pepper for our lunch salads. But it's really good, and a nice break from heavy dishes that typically turn up at a potluck.

Have a Happy July 4th- with Blueberry Crumb Bars

I wanted to quickly share this treat with everyone for the holiday weekend. If you're like a lot of people, and okay maybe like myself, you might be having a last minute look around for something to take to that picnic/barbecue/cookout/fireworks extravaganza that you've been invited to this Independence Day. Look no further. In fact, you don't really even have to stick around here if you don't want to, because this recipe originally comes courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen. If you read that blog, then you have probably already made these. How could you not? Her pictures nearly endangered my laptop due to the excessive drooling that occurred on sight. And truth be told these things live up to their photographic image. This is in fact the third time I've made these bars and I'm just now sharing them with you. Can I help it if any thoughts other than eating them went out the window, resulting in no photographs being taken? This time around I made these to take with us to Concert In The Garden last weekend. You may recall that last year I made these Fresh Peach Drop Cookies. I was tempted to make those again, but since we were doing a Friday concert this year I needed something I could make the night before and have no doubt of it holding up well till the next evening. These bars fit the bill perfectly. So, if you're even still here reading this and not already over at Deb's page drooling, here's the recipe. Make these. For reals.

P.S.- Since these are made with fruit they make a completely acceptable breakfast with a cup of coffee. No arguing, they do.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen; Makes a 9 x 13 pan















1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks), cubed
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
• In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
• In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the berries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berries.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

My notes: I have used both frozen and fresh blueberries for this recipe and both worked just fine. This time around I halved the recipe and used an 8 x 8 pan and fresh local berries. I think the fresh berries hold their shape a little bit better through the baking than the frozen, but that is completely unimportant as far as the flavor goes so feel free to use what you've got. Happy Fourth of July!

Weekend Food Fun

Okay, sorry I haven't posted for a little bit, but I did a couple of repeat recipes last week so wasn't much to write about. However we went to Blue River this weekend, which you can soon read more about over at On This Harvest Moon. We had an awesome, fresh, summer dinner though, so I gotta share that with you. The Pop-In-Law had gone up to Blue River in Oklahoma Friday night, and so when we arrived just after noon on Saturday he had already been up early that morning and caught several catfish. So, for dinner we had a real seasonal feast:
-Fish fresh from the river, cornmeal battered and fried
-Red Potatoes roasted on the grill
-Grilled ears of corn
-Yellow squash, some grilled and some fried
-Homemade Coleslaw
-Green Bell Pepper

The squash, bell pepper and coleslaw ingredients all came from Pop-In-Law's garden. We drizzled the potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley (also from his garden) and cooked them on our portable propane grill double wrapped in foil for 25 minutes, turning once or twice. We rubbed the corn with a little butter and just grilled it directly for about 8 minutes. Everything was so delicious! We just sat around eating, and talking about how much we loved what we were eating. :) After dinner we went down to the river to cool off a little bit, and when we got back to our camp base we had strawberry shortcake for dessert. The perfect end to a great summer meal!