Got some serious issues going on with the cornbread.
First I made too much.
Second an experiment gone nuts.
This included...
Heavy cream mixed with water.
Vermouth.
And sweet marsala.

Geeeze Worth, that came so close to making a huge mess of your oven, lol. Hope it tastes good. I bet that overflow will be nice and crunchy from contact with the cast iron pan on the bottom. If it tastes good, that might be the beast part, lol. A fortunate accident.

Cornbread ready.
Nothing dropped to the always there drip pan on the bottom rack.
Homemade beef tallow was the oil of choice.

More layers of flavor.
Stone ground mustard seeds in the molcajete with apple cider vinegar.
Going in the greens at the end and heat turned off.

By the time anyone sees this I'll be passed out.

Speaking of sauerkraut here's a pint I have had in the refrigerator un processed or cooked for probably a year or more.
The stuff literally doesn't go bad kept this way.
It just gets better with age and remains healthy.
In the picture I've added freshly ground nutmeg and a healthy dollop of sweet marsala.
Butter and a pinch of brown sugar.
It's going to go with some mashed potatoes and spicy Italian sausage for Sunday dinner.
It was fermented with caraway seeds as well.
This is one of many ways to make German sauerkraut.
Every home has their own recipes.

Just a quick batch of sweet and spicy nuts to take to our immediate neighbors.
Pecans, walnuts, almonds, pepitas, dried cranberries.
Melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, ground ginger and cinnamon, chili lime seasoning and flaky sea salt.
Toasted at 350 for about 15 minutes with a few stirs while in the oven.
I added the cranberries after the nut mixture cooled off.

I went out and harvested some of those brassica greens, and a large scallion, and used that for dinner today. I based it on an Indian recipe I read, that had cabbage in it, but I used those brassica greens, and added some oat groats and red lentils, which I cooked in some ham stock, to use it out of my freezer.

It starts out with 3 Kashmiri peppers, soaked, then ground up with some garlic, and about 1/2 tb of that coriander/cumin mix. To mix in with the soup, I cooked 1/2 c oat groats with 3/4 c red lentils - set it in the Instant Pot on manual/18 minutes, and let the pressure release naturally.

While cooking, I got the rest of the ingredients cut up, and got cooking in a NS wok - in a couple of tsp oil, over med heat, I cooked that paste about a minute, then added about 2 c chopped scallions, and cooked a minute, then added a large, diced, red bell pepper - about 1½ c - and cooked about 3 min. Then I added the brassica greens - 5-6 cups, with the tough stems pulled out, before chopping up. I stir fried this until wilted - about 5 minutes - then stirred in those oats/lentils. I simmered this another 5 minutes, then stirred in about 1/4 c chopped cilantro.
Kashmiri chili and garlic paste, cooking down for soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The chili paste cooking down, along with with about 2 c of scallions. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 5 c of chopped, misc. brassicas, cooking down, after a large red bell pepper cooked a few minutes in the paste. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

1/2 c oat groats, and 3/4 c red lentils, cooked together in ham stock, added to the veggies, before mixing in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished soup, before adding any cilantro. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished soup, with a little cilantro added to the bowl. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

@pepperhead212 that will put some bounce in your step.

When I was working I'd bake cookies for Christmas, put on my Santa hat and take plates of cookies to about seven departments. Cookie Santa time! I retired about 10 years ago but have still kept up the Cookie Santa tradition, always delivering on the Monday of their last week of work before the two week holiday break.

These weren't baked today (about two weeks of baking and freezing them) but they were delivered this morning. Over time the number of departments has been reduced to four but they all still have good friends of mine who worked there when I did and it's always great to catch up on the news.

Four department plates, a large platter for the Main Office,two goodie bags for my two favorite bosses and a goodie bag for the mail lady.



The cookies:
Toffee chip center left and double chocolate center right.
Top half, L to R: Scandinavian Almond, ginger snaps, sugar cookies (with very light lemon flavor)
Bottom half, L to R: my mom's Ranger cookies, peanut butter marshmallow, and my aunt's butterscotch cookies



Here's what's left in the freezer. The whole middle section of the top shelf and a couple bags to the left. But I still have my brother's big box to pack plus goodie gift bags for friends. He'll get enough keep him in cookies for a while and he'll freeze them. Thankfully there won't be much left when I'm done giving them away.



I still have two kinds of biscotti left to make, cappuccino hazelnut and cranberry pistachio. They should have been done with the cookies but this year there was absolutely no spare room in the freezer for them! The Bro knows his box will be a few days late but doesn't care if there's biscotti involved!

Biscotti rules!

Pretzels tossed with butter, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and brown sugar. Oven warmed up, Yummy.

We had some comfort food today. Pink salmon patties, Kennebec mash with butter, creamed peas, imitation lobster mac, and Texas Gourdseed corn fritters. Washed it down with an ice cold Coca Cola! Probably should have posted this in the cheap eaten thread, because I grew the corn and taters, and the salmon was $1.50, and the peas were $.50 from the salvage store. Fed 4 for a buck 99!

Not not pancakes.
The best Mexican fry bread you've ever had.
3/4 cup Masa harina tamale style if you can find it.
If not use the stuff for tortillas.
1/4 cup flour.
1 teaspoon baking powder.
Big man pinch of salt.
Enough water to make a stiff mixture that will stand up.
Fry in hot lizard fat.
If you can't find a fat lizard use cooking oil and leave the lizards alone.

Gourdseed corn, I just read about this @Uncle_Feist . Pray tell more about the particulars of growing this.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:37 pm Gourdseed corn, I just read about this @Uncle_Feist . Pray tell more about the particulars of growing this.

Me, too. I did order some from SSE just cause it looked interesting and the german/Texas history. But would like more input about it.

Here's what the cakes were used for.
Homemade syrup made with brown sugar a little water and some vanilla extract and maple extract.
Cooked down a bit.
Bacon ends and pieces.
Eggs.

@Uncle_Feist , which grain mill do you have? I've been thinking about getting one for a long time but they're not cheap so it's a battle in my head between laying out the cash and how much I'll actually use the thing.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:37 pm Gourdseed corn, I just read about this @Uncle_Feist . Pray tell more about the particulars of growing this.

I had read about Gourdseed corn years ago but I didn't have any interest in growing it until last year. I came across some information on it while researching some dent corns I wanted to try. (I'ma cornbread connoisseur from way back) The article basically said that Gourdseed corn made the corn flour and cornmeal that all of the others were judged by. So I had to give it a try at that point.

That fritter above was my first time trying the cornmeal from a small milling a couple of days ago. It's definitely among the best cornmeals I have ever tried, and it has great milling qualities to boot! I can't wait to try it in a pone to further evaluate.

The corn itself produced well with 2 girthy ears on some of the heaviest stalks I have ever seen even though the height was only 8-10 feet. It supported the crop of greasy beans grown in it easily. Even with the poor germination from the seed I received the corn still managed to yield around 2 ear bushels per 100' feet of row.

@GoDawgs I have a Nutrimill Classic, which now is almost double the price, from when I bought it! $279 now, $179 then, and I got it @ 20% off. I have had great success with it. I hadn't used it for a long time, since I got my Vitamix about 20 years ago, but when this pandemic hit, I started grinding a lot more flour, getting 50 lbs of hard white wheat, and 35 lbs of rye, plus some millet, and some legumes I stocked up on. I still use the VM for small amounts of odd things, and started buying the WW from lidl, once I used up the 50 lbs of berries, but I don't grow any grains, like you do.