Cornbread and Chili

Fact: The last time I blogged about something that I actually cooked (not Darrell) was back at the end of July (Grandma's Monster Cookies). And they were so delicious that I made them a second time a few weeks later. But then pregnancy hit--and not only did I have no desire to do any baking or cooking, but eating also became a low priority (especially things like oatmeal and peanut butter and nuts and other things that dried my mouth out. Basically everything in monster cookies). So poor Darrell got stuck finishing off most of the batch.

Thankfully, that phase has passed. And just in time for holiday baking (you can bet I have a lot of pent-up baking energy, so I might just go a little overboard this year). But first--fall. And with fall comes soup season. And you can't talk about fall comfort soups without talking about chili, and nothing goes better with chili than some cornbread. Drowned in honey. Mmm....

Cornbread Muffins
(found on the back of the cornmeal box--a surefire place to find great recipes!)
Yields 12 muffins

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
2-4 tbsp sugar (I only used 2 tbsp since I knew I would be drowning the final product in honey)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425*. Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk, egg, and oil; beat until fairly smooth, about one minute. Pour into greased or paper-lined muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Can also be baked in greased 8x8 pan; increase baking time to 20-25 minutes.

Darrell thought these were a little dry, but I contend that he just didn't use enough honey. Matter of opinion :)