Better than Jiffy...Cornbread..that is!

After 3 months of 100 degree weather, we have finally cooled off some, in fact more like alot! Yesterday the high was 60 degrees and rainy. I am so anxious to start cooking Winter Food that I made a Pot of Ham & Great Northern Beans....that's the White Beans. I usually make Pintos. But Great Northern are the kind I grew up on and yesterday I kind of felt nostalgic. Cooking them in the morning took the chill off of my Kitchen so I did not need to fire up the furnace for the first time...AJ was happy about that! I used a Ham Bone that I had froze this summer after having a Ham, Baked Beans and Potato Salad meal. To ME that's Summer Food, where as a Big Pot of Beans simmering on the stove for 2 1/2 hours is Winter Food. A BLT & Chips is a Summer Lunch and a Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup is a Winter Lunch...are you getting my drift? These are my Cooking Rules and I pretty much live by them. Example: In July or Aug., AJ says " I sure would like a Meatloaf" ..he get a Hamburger..."a Pot of Chili sound good"...he gets a Chili Dog from Sonic, "how about Chicken & Noodles tonight?"...close, a Bucket of KFC & Mac & Cheese. These are MY rules and I am sticking to em! But now with the Hot Days behind us (I Hope) I do not mind pulling out the BIG Pots and cooking something that takes most of the day on the stove. Oh my, did my Beans turn out good? oooh ya! Just a little cooking Bean Tip.. put a 1/2 of an Onion in the Beans in the beginning. Do not chop it just throw in the 1/2 onion whole and also do not add any salt the first hour of cooking. Salt will toughen the skin on the beans. Salt after cooking one hour. Now as French Julia Child would say here is the "Piece de Resistance" the Cornbread. You must have Cornbread with Ham & Beans. Some like a few Fried Potatos also, but Cornbread is a MUST! In this household we are Sweet Cornbread eaters. In fact Madison has called it Corn Cake since she could talk. I usually purchased Jiffy Cornbread, easy and reasonable and pretty good tasting. Then I ran across this recipe one day while browsing the Web (that sounded cool didn't it?...Browsing the Web!). It was a recipe for made from scratch cornbread. It was called "Better than Jiffy Cornbread". Well I know there is a cake out there called "Better than Sex Cake", never tried that...cake that is (Tee Hee...now is when you laugh). So I had all the ingredients on hand, I keep a very well stocked pantry, hey I do, really! I guess I get that trait from working in a restaurant for years. The recipe was fast, easy and really was not much harder then whipping up a double batch of Jiffy. I was really impressed. I have stopped buying Jiffy and now make this whenever I have Beans, Chili and Stews. Last night was no different, I made the Better the Jiffy Cornbread and it and the Ham & Beans made for a Wonderful dinner. Yes, Yes, Yes...Okay, I'll share the recipe, only if you promise to do these things 1- when you write it down on your Little Recipe Card, call it " Diana's Wonderful Sweet Cornbread Recipe, she got off of the Web while Browsing, Better than Jiffy Cornbread"....2- keep the recipe a secret..tell folks it's an Old Family Recipe and you can not divulge the secret ingredients and 3...for real...try it, it is so good.

And if there are any left overs

the Birds also love it!

Better than Jiffy Cornbread Recipe:

1 cup flour

1 cup fine ground cornmeal (I think it's all fine ground)

2/3 cup white sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

Mix this altogether by hand till smooth

2 tablespoons oil in the bottom of a 10" or 9"round pan..or 9" x 13" metal baking pan or you can spray pan

bake 30 minutes at 4oo degrees or till tooth pick comes out clean and is golden on top. Butter the top as soon as you take it out of the oven...let cool at least 5 minutes before cutting...Enjoy!
Oh yes and one pinch of LOVE!