Jack of Harts

Cornbread was one of those things Mom made at least once a week when I was young. Mom and Dad usually liked to add beans because it made a complete protein. I try to avoid beans because other people are allergic to my body’s reaction to beans. But I love cornbread. Mixed with syrup or honey, it is ambrosia of the gods. And I have been missing it.

So I went to the grocery store looking for cornbread mix. Found a box of Famous Dave’s cornbread and figured I’d kill two birds with one stone. We all know their cornbread muffins are the real reason to go to Famous Dave’s, right? So I checked the ingredients and it said to add milk and egg. I don’t typically have those in my fridge become I’m at best a cook, not a baker. If you know the difference, you know what I mean. So I went and got the best liquid eggs I could find and some buttermilk, because buttermilk is always better when cooking than any old skim milk.

I went home and decided it was time. Looked around and found one of Mom’s old Pampered Chef mixing bowls, an old whisk, and mixed the stuff up. Couldn’t find an 8 by 8 pan… but I found an old cake pan about the same size. Poured it in, put it in my countertop oven so I wouldn’t have to preheat the big old stove, and started it cooking. Slid in a tray of bacon at about 10 minutes and went about my time. The little oven dinged the end and I returned to the kitchen to the smell of warm cornbread and the sound sizzling bacon. Two of my favorite things in the world.

The final test was of course the taste test. The bacon was delicious. It’s hard to mess up bacon. And the cornbread… Mixed with honey… perfect. On its own… perfect. Just like my memory. I ended up eating that all weekend and loving it. It’s amazing how such a simple thing can be so amazing.

Cornbread is life.