Creativity in the Kitchen

The other day my husband and I bought some garlic marinated mushrooms at the grocery store that were delicious, but we didn't want to just eat them alone.  We bought this amazing local wine over the weekend, and today I decided that I wanted to do something a little special with it all.

I took a loaf of Italian bread that I'd bought & drizzled some garlic oil on it.  Then I sprinkled garlic powder & some Italian seasoning, and lastly added a bit of shredded cheddar cheese.  Baked it about 15-20 minutes at 350 and voila!  Served with the mushrooms (we used the juice it was marinated in to dip a bit too) and some wine and we had the perfect snack.

It was nothing really fancy or difficult, just something new & a little different that I made up.  But I love doing on the spot snacks and I'm glad this one was so yummy.

Mexican Cornbread

I didn't actually follow this recipe exactly, but it was my basis.

Mexican Cornbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in cream corn, chiles, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to corn mixture; stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of the pan comes out clean.

My Changes

• I didn't have all of the necessary ingredients, so I just used the cornmeal that I had on hand.  I mixed it per instructions on the bag and then added whole kernel corn (creamed freaks me out), chili peppers, & cheese as per the above recipe.   Then I cooked it for about 40 minutes.
• I think creamed corn might have been okay in this, because it was a tad bit dry.  But still freakin' delicious.
• If you make this recipe, please be sure to read the reviews because most people cut the butter & sugar in half, which can make a BIG difference.