Bacon Cornbread

Everyone likes to complain that food blogs have long stories before the recipe and that you have to scroll to read the actual recipe - well I'm not going to break with that tradition! I'm not going to break with tradition, so let me tell you why, for today only, my blog is suddenly a food blog. I've been at my job for six years now, and annually we have a chili and cornbread cooking competition. COVID-19 means that the contest is altered this year, and we were challenged to either 1) create a cooking show video or 2) write a food blog post - so obviously you know what I selected! 

I've competed in the chili contest for the past five years and last year I was finally awarded the prize I coveted - the hottest chili of the day, with my Thai inspired creation, "Chili Thai-me" (yes, I do think I'm very clever with that name). The cornbread contest is usually way less popular and often not even a contest, so having achieved chili greatness, I turned my thoughts to the often overlooked side.

Bacon can dress up anything, so first, get your bacon cooking! I use the oven method, with a cookie sheet under the bacon so that it doesn't sit in the drippings while it's in the oven. 1 lb of bacon at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes!

This recipe would most likely be better in the summer, with fresh corn, grilled on the cob and then cut off and put into the bread, but as it is winter, we are stuck with canned - one can is enough. I don't have a food processor, so I used a blender on the lowest setting to turn the corn into a rough wet pulp.

Then mix the dry ingredients (1.5 cups flour, 0.5 cups sugar, 1 T baking powder, 0.25 t salt).

Then the wet (your corn pulp, 0.5 cups milk, 2 eggs), and then add the dry 1/3rd at a time - because that's how chefs do it. I don't know why but it is so I do it that way too.

Grease your loaf pan (I used a little bit of olive oil and rubbed it around with a paper towel). Chop your bacon into chocolate chip sized pieces, and add to the batter. Optionally add 1 T of paprika - it is mostly to amp up the color, it doesn't really add flavor - and pour into loaf pan to bake.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes. While it bakes, you can make honey butter - equal parts honey and butter in a blender, and blend until uniform (this requires a lot of scraping the sides of the blender, and slowly adding the honey between spins). Get your pretty wood cutting board to plate it up - this is a food blog after all, it needs to look amazing - cut off a slice, spread on some honey butter, and bam.

It is super delicious! Takes cornbread to a savory place, but still preserves the sweetness of corn. Because there's no cornmeal it doesn't have quite the crumb of other cornbread recipes. Also makes good muffins.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups corn (1 can)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 lb bacon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
• Cook bacon for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet to drain the fat.
• Process corn in a food processor until it is chopped, but NOT mushy.
• Whisk together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
• Combine the wet ingredients in a larger bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine.
• Grease loaf pan and fill with batter
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a chopstick in the middle comes out clean.
• Combine equal parts honey and butter together until creamy.
• Enjoy your bread and honey butter!

2021 New Years Resolutions

 Here are my resolutions for 2021!

1) Weekly Prayer Journal 

I was much better about journaling in high school and college but have fallen out of the habit. I found this past year that prompts help me (I've been doing a maternity journal) and so I ordered this one from Amazon to try out: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J5HLXRD

2) Baltimore Half Marathon

Since the pandemic isn't going anywhere, I think pools will keep being hard to access, so I'm pivoting from the triathlons for a year to try and gain endurance in my running. 2021 is the 20 year anniversary of the Baltimore Running Festival (would have been 2020 but it was cancelled) and so that's my target (it's in September, we'll see if it happens in person or not).

3) "Completing" a Cookbook

Julie & Julia style, I want to "finish" one of the many cookbooks in my collection by trying every recipe in the book. I have not decided which book to do yet - that is going to be based on reviewing the recipes and gives me flexibility to switch to an "easier" cookbook part way through the year if needed, but I've gotten many cookbooks as gifts and want to branch out from my basic staples. The goal is less pasta, more adventure.

4) The 2021 Reading Women Challenge

I have alternated between the Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge and the Reading Women challenge the past couple of years, but I love the goals that stretch what I read and get me out of my genre comfort zones!

5) Try out online "scrapbooking"

I usually aim for 10 resolutions but have slimmed down to 5 this year because having a baby is going to be a big change for us. I want to experiment with documentation techniques (a co-worker recommended the Qeepsake app) for this change. We intend to keep our kiddo off of social media, so I want to try recording the same memories I might reach for my phone to share online, but in a more tangible, long-lasting format.

2020 Resolutions Wrap-Up

I think it's safe to say that 2020 was not what any of us thought it would be, but I did still manage to make some progress towards my resolutions. Here's this year's update, as requested by my "fans" ;)

1) Get a will - Done, 1 pt
Ryan and I did this right after we found out we were expecting a baby - we had already planned to do it and with a business and a baby we really needed to get everything laid out.

2) Remodel our Master Bathroom - Done, 1 pt

Oh boy, this one was an adventure. We interviewed contractors and had literally just signed with one guy the week before the state shutdown...We waited 3 months before he was allowed to re-open his business and come to our house to do the work. And even then, so many things were delayed in arriving. But both our upstairs bathrooms have been redone now, and we have a great relationship with our contractor for future jobs.

3) See a comedy show live - COVID cancelled, 0 pts

I had planned to see the Iliza Shleschinger show at the Casino in Arundel Mills...no idea when I'll get to do this in the future, sadly, but I've listened to Iliza's podcast all year instead.

4) Sew my own clothing - Do masks count? 0.5 pts

I fully intended to do this but then in march was making masks like the rest of the world, and then I was pregnant and my measurements were all out of whack for making the skirt I have planned. I did do more sewing this year (masks, curtains, pillowcases) so I'm giving myself this half point for meeting the intent of the resolution (better understand my sewing machine/gain sewing confidence) if not the actual letter of the resolution. Also, masks are clothing items now. :)

5) Add backing to my two quilt tops - Did one of the two quilts! 0.5 pts

I did finish a lovely baby quilt for my cousin's new baby, and then ran out of quilt filling for the larger one, which is quite expensive. I have made some quilted pot holders and learned a lot on this crib quilt - this is a hobby I hope to be able to hold on to after baby is born :)

6) Complete an Olympic distance triathlon - COVID cancelled, but I did a duathlon of the same distance, 0.5 pts
I was all registered and training for a race in May that obviously did not happen! I did push myself to do duathlons this spring (run-bike-run instead of swim-bike-run) but the loss of the YMCA and loss of my weekly swim trainings is something I really missed this year.

7) Make a grilled cheese from scratch - Nope. 0 pts

I made pita bread and flatbread but yeast was VERY hard to find (thanks, pandemic shortages!).

8) Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge with Stephanie - Done! books below, 1 pt

I read a total of 50 books in 2020, according to my Libby and Goodreads shelves, with a focus on trying to read books by women - so the "challenge books" are listed below:

1. A book published the decade you were born - Wild Swans, by Jung Chang

2. A debut novel - Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng

3. A book recommended by a source you trust - Homegoing, by Yaa Gyaasi

4. A book by a local author - A spool of blue thread, by Anne Tyler

5. A book outside your (genre) comfort zone - The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

6. A book in translation - The Littlest BookShop in Paris, by Noel George

7. A book nominated for an award in 2020 - The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. Mandel (2020 National Book Award Finalist)

8. A re-read - The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, by Kate Rorick

9. A classic you didn’t read in school- I know why the caged bird sings, by Maya Angelou

10. Three books by the same author -  Christmas Shopaholic, Surprise Me, Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella

9) My Utmost for His Highest daily devos (also with Stephanie) - Did well into March...but failed. 0 pts
OK, I find Oswald Chambers to be...not that inspiring. I tried but I think I need something more self-driven. I also tried an advent devotional this year, but just reading a little message doesn't do much for me. Next year I'm trying a weekly instead of daily and a journal instead of just readings...we'll see how it goes.

10) Finish "While True: learn" game, TIS-100 game, and Human Resource Machine Game - Done! 1 pt

I wrote a little article for a journal at work reviewing video games that introduce you to coding concepts that covered these games. While True: learn is my least favorite - it's fun to play but doesn't teach the concepts well. Human Resource Machine is my favorite, and most recommended for learning computer concepts. TIS-100 is too much like actual programming work (I needed Ryan's help to finish it).

Score: 5.5/10 (2 were made hard by COVID-19 restrictions, so we could say out of 8)