In the event you’re ever trapped with a need for pancake style cornbread but you don’t have any eggs for the Jiffy mix, you can sub mayo or Miracle Whip. The general ratio that I’ve seen is 1/4 cup of mayo/whip for each egg. However, I recommend starting with a bit less, especially of Miracle Whip. You’ll probably need to add more milk to compensate, but the cornbread will rise nicely. Watch out, it’ll also burn much more quickly. You might want to cut the heat a little from your normal settings.

We had plenty of soup beans tonight but I forgot to buy the cornbread mix that I normally get, so I went looking for a recipe I could whip up from things already at the house. Unfortunately, nearly everybody puts baking powder (which I didn’t have) in their cornbread, so I made a few changes. The only real problem with the batch I made is that it didn’t taste as sweet as we prefer. Still, turned out pretty good for hybrid recipe taken from 4 others.

• 1-3/4 c corn meal
• 3/4 c flour
• 1 tsp salt (forgot to put it in, but turned out okay anyway)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 3-4 drops lemon juice
• 1-1/2 c milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp butter
• a few small pinches of sugar

Let the pan heat up; I used a little more than medium heat. Once it’s hot, I add a little canola oil. I don’t normally put much oil in the bottom of the skillet since it’s non-stick, just enough to get the edges of the “pancakes” to sizzle. Then cook until you can see the cake starting to solidify up the side just a little and carefully flip. Total cook time per “pancake” is about 3 to 4 minutes, maybe less. Once the pan gets good and hot, you’ll have to watch or they may cook too quickly.

The recipe actually turned out a little thick, so cutting in some more milk probably wouldn’t hurt. Also, they rose much more than I expected, considering the way I substituted for the missing baking powder. A little more sugar and these would have been just about right.

I enjoy baking cakes and have had several comments on the fluffiness and moistness of each cake. I attribute this to:

1. Generally, the box recommends mixing at low speed for 30 seconds, which I do. However, I mix the cake for about 5 minutes at medium speed and constantly use a spatula to mix in any mix that is sticking to the walls of the bowl. You have to be careful not to catch the spatula in the mixer, but this gives a more even mixture. The box normally says to mix only 2 to 3 minutes at medium speed, but I find mixing the additional time actually gives a noticeably “fluffier” mix even before it goes into the oven.
2. Use a small amount of oil to grease both the sides and bottom of the cake pan, even if instructed not to. Also, dust a small amount of flour after greasing to help prevent sticking.
3. Cook the cake at about 25 F lower than recommended by the box. If the cake rises a lot more in the middle than along the sides, you might want to reduce by an additional 25 F the next time you cook one.
4. After removing the cake from the oven, move it around carefully (don’t jar it) and allow it to stand for at least 45 minutes or so before attempting to decorate it.

We needed grilled corn tonight so I went out looking for a recipe. As it turned out, a nice storm came rumbling through, so I decided to go ahead and cook the corn in the oven instead. The results were much better than I expected. The only reason we have leftovers is because we got too full.

Grilled Corn (still in husk):

1 Ear of Corn, still in husk (won’t work if already shucked)
1 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp crushed ice

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place butter and some crushed ice on a piece of aluminum foil and then wrap the corn in the foil. Make sure the butter and ice are in contact with the corn. Also, the foil should wrap at least 2 full times around the corn and should be sealed at the ends so little moisture can escape.
3. Place on baking sheet and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, turning once. I couldn’t really tell a difference in the tenderness of the corn, but you might want to check a few times during cooking. Word is that different types of corn might cook in half the time.
4. Remove corn from foil, clean husk and silk from corn, enjoy!