Quick Breads, Morning and Evening

September 8 - What is your favorite, "go to" cooking recipe?

Recipes wax and wane in my appreciation, depending on my mood and/or pocketbook. There was a time when I didn't think much about buying fresh seafood from the market and whipping it up "Southern Style" (that means fried) for dinner. Of course, that was when I lived on the coast, and it was before we had kids. Now, I'm too broke and too far away from the coast to have fresh seafood. It is still my favorite feast though whenever we do get down to the Gulf.

Now, I'm more likely to turn to a pot of beans served up with homemade cornbread for a go-to meal. My cornbread recipe is an adaptation of the one that's on the blue-and-yellow box of corn meal. But it works at 5000 feet elevation. Here is the recipe as I shared it with my daughter.

Anna's Favorite Cornbread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In large mixing bowl, mix

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp sugar

In 2-cup measuring cup, mix thoroughly

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Add milk to the 2-cup line and mix.

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with fork; do not beat with mixer or bread will be tough. Break up large lumps with fork.Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 mins, until knife inserted into center of bread comes out clean.

This recipe works for almost all "quick breads". Make delicious muffins by substituting oats, bran, cereal, etc., for the cornmeal. Add nuts, fruit, applesauce, etc. Bake in prepared muffin tins for 15-18 mins, or in loaf pan 45-55 mins.

For example:

• 2 cups flour
• 2-3 small ripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/4 cup pecans, broken
• cinnamon

or

• 1 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup blueberries

or

• 1 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup bran
• 1 cup raisins
• brown sugar instead of white, or honey instead of sugar (mix with liquid ingredients)

There have been many mornings when muffins and milk were our breakfast. I like to use buttermilk or yogurt too, in place of the milk, just remember to replace the baking powder with half a teaspoon of baking soda.

How to Make a Basic Red Chile Sauce

June 29 --Write a "How To" post

I think I had promised someone to
 post my recipe for making red chile sauce. In New Mexico, we use this on everything, from enchiladas to eggs.

I came from South Texas where red sauce consisted of a can of Hormel Chili. Notice that "chili" and "chile" are two different words with different meanings. They are not interchangeable. Chile refers to the plant that the peppers come from.

Green chile is usually fresh, then roasted in a large rotating basket over a propane burner. You can also roast a few at a time on your grill or even in the oven. Ummm, nothing says fall like the smell of chiles roasting. Many people buy them in 40lb bags. They take them home after they're roasted, sort them into freezer bags and pop them into the freezer. Some people take the time to peel and chop the chiles before freezing them. Not me---too much work for one sitting. I actually get only a few at a time and roast them myself. I also buy them already chopped and frozen.

Red chile comes from the same plant as the green. They've just been left to ripen and dried. You can buy whole, dried chiles in bags to use over the season. People also tie the drying chiles into ristras, a staggered grouping of chiles that hang from the ceiling where they can be accessed throughout the year. These are quite expensive, but people love them to use as decorations, especially tourists. Red chile can also be purchased crushed or powdered.

When we speak of chile-with-an-E powder, it is pure dried red chiles. Chili powder most commonly sold in stores is chile plus other spices such as cominos (cumin), oregano, garlic, and salt. It is often used to make chili con carne (like Hormel or Wolf) with or without beans. Aficionados of Texas chili con carne says beans or tomatoes are not to be included. To my mother, enchiladas are covered with chili con carne. Not here. We top them with the red sauce made from the red chiles.

This recipe is not my own, but it is the one I use. It comes from a little booklet called License to Cook New Mexico Style and is "collected by the members of the New Mexico Federation of Business and Professional Women" from across New Mexico.

Red Chile  Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

3 TBS olive oil or lard

2 TBS flour

1/2 cup ground red chile

2 cups water

about 1/4 tsp salt

Saute garlic in oil. Blend in flour; add chile powder and blend. (Don't let pan get too hot as chile will burn.) Blend in water and cook to desired consistency. Add salt to taste. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Disfrute de su comida

Note: all photos are slurped from the internet