Leftover Cornbread

A couple days ago I posted about the Easter dinner I made for my friend and myself. This morning I realized I still had some of the cornbread sitting on the counter. Now, I love cornbread, but when it sits around a few days it gets a little old tasting. I have been known to use the leftovers to make stuffing (and I guess I've never blogged that because I can't find a post... weird). But, since it was morning and I was looking to have some breakfast, not plan dinner, I revived my days old cornbread by cutting it in half, slathering it with butter, and pan frying it until it was golden and delicious. I also realized I was out of syrup, so I improvised and made molasses honey to pour over the top of the cornbread. Voila, simple, delicious breakfast made with what I had in the house.

Cornbread with Molasses Honey

day old cornbread, sliced in half
butter
1/4 c honey
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
pinch of salt

Butter the cut faces of the cornbread and put in a skillet over medium heat.
Fry the cornbread until golden, then flip.
Briefly fry the cornbread on the other side, then remove from the pan.
While the cornbread is frying, in a small sauce pan, heat the honey, molasses, and salt over medium heat.
Once warm and salt is dissolved, remove from heat.
On a plate, place your cornbread and drizzle with the molasses honey.

Strawberry-Mango Smoothie

Another round of smoothies for the next couple days. Actually, it made enough for three days, which is great! Familiar ingredients, but a different flavor.

Strawberry-Mango Smoothie
(about 3 servings)

1 banana, broken into pieces
1 small mango, peeled and chopped
2 c strawberry halves
1/2 c plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp raw honey
3 tsp spirulina
1 c soy milk
1 c carrot juice
1/2 c water

Place all ingredients in a blend and blend until smooth.

Midnight Smoothie

I made my smoothie for tomorrow (and the next day since it made two servings) and the deep purple reminded me of a midnight sky, thus the name. Familiar ingredients, but slightly different taste. I added spirulina, but it's not necessary.

Midnight Smoothie
(makes 2)

1 small mango, peeled and chopped
1 banana, peeled and broken into pieces
1 c frozen blackberries
1/2 c frozen blueberries
1 c carrot juice
1 c unsweetened soy milk
1 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp spirulina

Place all ingredients in a blender. Cover and blend until smooth.

Creamy Mango-Carrot Smoothie

Another smoothie for you to try. This one is similar in color to the Berry Smoothie due to the blueberries and beets, but the soy milk, banana, and walnuts give it a creamier texture. I made it tonight for my breakfast tomorrow morning, so I am hoping that it stores well. The Berry Smoothie is best enjoyed once it is made, as by the next day the flavor had changed. I think it was because of the kale, but I am not sure.

Creamy Mango-Carrot Smoothie

1 c soy milk
1/2 c carrot juice (get pure carrot juice)
1 banana, broken into pieces
1 beet, washed and cubed
1/2 c frozen blueberries
1 c frozen mango
1 tbsp raw honey
1/2 oz raw walnuts
2 tbsp grated ginger

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If it seems a little too thick for your taste, add a little water and blend to mix. Pour into glasses and serve.

Berry Smoothie

Lately I have been drinking smoothies for most of my lunches. I like being able to get extra fruits and vegetables while also feeling full. Plus, it is easy to drink at my desk. I workout during most of my lunch breaks, so a quick lunch that is desk-suitable is perfect. I recently saw this smoothie recipe on the New York Times and it inspired the smoothie below. It is bright pink and not too sweet, which is perfect in my opinion. The recipe makes about four cups, so you can cut it in half to make just enough for one serving.

Berry Smoothie

1/2 c frozen blackberries
1/2 c frozen mango
1/2 c frozen blueberries
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1 3-4 inch beet, washed and cubed
3 leaves kale, washed and torn into pieces
1/2 c yogurt
3 oz silken tofu
1 c water (or a little more, if needed)
1 tbsp honey

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

Cajun Salmon, Rice and Collard Greens

I made Cajun salmon again tonight. I've never made salmon any other way and I really must try something new, but I just love Cajun salmon. I also boiled rice and sauteed some collard greens. The combination of spicy, sweet, and slightly salty was very nice.

Boiled Rice

water to fill medium sauce pan
1/2 cup rice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp butter

Bring water to a boil.
Add rice and salt and boil until tender (the water should not all cook off, it should be like boiling pasta - too much water for the rice).
Drain in a sieve, then put back in the pan.
Add the butter and stir until melted.

Collard Greens

1 tbsp ghee
1/4 c red onion, sliced thin
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 large bunch collard greens, torn and washed well
2 tsp to 1 tbsp honey

Heat pan over medium to medium-high heat and add ghee.
Once ghee is hot, add onion and saute for one minute.
Add garlic clove and red pepper and saute until onions are translucent.
Add collard greens and cover, stirring occasionally.
Once greens are too desired tenderness (I don't like mushy greens, so I leave a little bite), drizzle with honey and stir.

The Sad Cook

My new company was very generous and set me up with an apartment for the time that I'm in between cities. Unfortunately, that apartment was supplied by someone who obviously cooks absolutely nothing. The knives are dull, the cutting board is glass (glass! ugh! loud and the answer to why the knives are dull), the can opener is broken, I had to buy a spatula, there are no measuring spoons, and (for me) there aren't nearly enough pans and bake ware. It's sad, and it makes for a sad cook who barely cooks. I guess I'm also hindered because I don't have all the staples I would normally have to make a wide variety of foods. But, simplicity also created this salad.


It was based on a Japanese cucumber salad that I had made before, but I added lentils and red bell pepper. It turned out really well. It's been a really long time since I made it, so I'll guess at how much I put in it.

Lentil, Cucumber, Pepper Salad

1 c dry lentils
1 cube vegan "chicken" bouillon
plenty of water
1 cucumber, scrubbed, seeded, and sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
2 tbsp brown rice vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cracked red pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped red onion

Put lentils, vegan "chicken" bouillon in a pot and add plenty of water (2-3 cups).
Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer until tender.
In a bowl, mix together the brown rice vinegar, honey, olive oil, and cracked red pepper.
Add the cucumber, red bell pepper, and red onion.
When the lentils are done, rinse with cold water until cool.
Add lentils to the rest of the salad.
Let sit for at least 1/2 an hour before serving.

Honey Mustard Sauce and Excuses

I'm afraid that both parts of this post will be boring. The more boring part: excuses:

For not posting often enough:
I'm preparing to move across the country and have been extremely busy.

For not having photos:
I'm lazy, plus see the note above.

For not having my homework ready to hand in:
I did it, I must have left it on the kitchen table.

The less boring part: my experiment with making a honey mustard sauce:
I suppose the easy thing to do would have been to find a recipe in a cookbook, but after shopping all day Saturday (I hate shopping, except for shoe shopping or when I have a specific item that I NEED to buy. The latter has a maximum time limit of 2 hours to ensure that I don't lose all brain function) and then moving my boxes out of the attic for a good part of Sunday, I didn't even think to look in a cookbook. I just took the pork tenderloin and butterflied it. I dry roasted some yellow mustard seed (about 1 tbsp) in a small cast iron pan, allowed it to cool, and crushed in plastic wrap with a meat mallet. I fried a large white onion in a pan, added the crushed mustard, then added the tenderloin to brown. I figured it was cooking too quickly, so I put two cups of chicken broth and a quarter cup of honey in the pan. It was at this point that I realized that I was near ruining pork tenderloin.

Luckily, mom was there to save the meal. She took the pork out and put it in a dry cast iron pan to brown (and get rid of that porky smell). Then she instructed me to start the sauce separately because the pork had left nasty little balls in the sauce (gross). This time I started with 1/3 cup of prepared Dijon mustard (the other stuff hadn't even smelled like anything), slowly added 2 cups of chicken broth and then whisked in 1/4 c honey. I think I added salt and pepper as well. When it had boiled a bit, mom deglazed the browning pan with a bit of water and added it to the sauce. Then I added a bit of cornstarch/water mixture until it was thick enough to glaze. We put the pork in the sauce and allowed it to sit, covered, but without heat until we were finished preparing the accompanying dishes (corn and mashed potatoes).

Perhaps it was my mood that made me not love this dish, but my dad seemed to really like it. I'll have to try again, perhaps with tenderloin that is grilled (tenderloin tastes best grilled) and using the sauce as an accompaniment rather than the sauce in which it cooks.

Colorful Breakfast

I had a wonderful breakfast this morning that also happened to be very colorful. Two of our dyed eggs, strawberries (more than just three. I thought three would look nice in the picture), and a piece of homemade bread with butter and honey. That is no ordinary honey. It's pumpkin honey. We got it last fall when we went to pick out pumpkins for our Jack O' Lanterns. It has a delicate flavor and you can definitely taste flowers. While I love clover honey, this is far superior. It's so good, I've refused to use it in my tea. I spread the pumpkin honey on bread and biscuits only.