Cornbread

My only cornbread experience was in 5th grade, and they were serving corndogs for lunch. I`m sure part of it was cafeteria food, but it was horrible. Anything that said cornbread, I stayed away from.  Until last night. We had our Thanksgiving a day late as it`s not a holiday here, and I tried to make some things that my husband`s family would eat, as well as my own. This was my first attempt at cornbread, and so of course, I asked my MIL for her recipe. I really have no idea where it came from, but I can tell you, that from someone who didn`t think they liked it, it was delicious.

 This is a slightly sweetened version. I know you can make it unsweetened as well. Also, I poured a bit of gravy on mine as it was a bit dry/crumbly - compared to normal bread. Not dry like you had to guzzle a glass of water after each bite :). Apparently it was supposed to be. Hubby used butter and honey. Enjoy with your favorite topping!

What you need:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of fine grain polenta
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1/4 cup butter (53g)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder (1 sachet of backpulver)
1 egg





First, mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Mix the liquid ingredients.

In a heavy pan (iron skillet, etc, something that you can bake it in as well as use on the stove), melt the butter.

Add the dry ingredients to the liquid, and mix well. Add the melted butter. Mix thoroughly and pour back into the pan. Bake in a 220 C oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Can`t have Thanksgiving without it.  At least I can`t :)  It was so wonderful being home last year and having all the goodies that go with Thanksgiving. Makes it harder to be away from home though when there is a special occasion that you are used to having certain things. No harder really than being married to someone who likes the opposite of what you do for Thanksgiving. Luckily my mom and mom in law both have given me great recipes, so my hubby and I can both be happy. Means more cooking, but only one person eating certain things means Thanksgiving lasts for more days. And that`s a good thing.

We always had jellied cranberry sauce. Out of the can. My favorite thing do do was open it and upend it, hoping to keep it all in one piece before I could knock it over. Of course, this was many many years ago (or maybe last year. ha.) I would always have my mom send me some over here. Hubby`s family preferred the whole berry kind. <Shudder>. Luckily my awesome MIL always provided both so everyone was happy.

This year, I didn`t have my precious can. So I scoured the internet biting my nails in anticipation of all the strange things I would need as I expected anything I made would end up as cranberry juice. So I embarked on an adventure today. I put it off because I was afraid it wouldn`t work. Now I`m worried I won`t be able to wait as I had to try a teeny tiny bite. It`s fantastic. All the goodness of a can, yet better. Oh, and you can make it whatever shape you want. I just used a tuperware container as I need to wait 2 days and wanted it sealed.

What you need:

 340 g cranberries (about 12 oz, or one bag) - I bought mine at Migros. Coop usually has Ocean Spray bags.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
metal sieve for straining










Put the water and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil (about 5 minutes)

Add the cranberries and turn down the heat to a gentle boil. They will start to make popping sounds (I put a top on as I didn`t want cranberry juice everywhere). Mix gently frequently.

Put the strainer over a bowl and pour in the cranberry mixture. Gently press down with a spoon till you get as much of the juice into the bowl as possible, constantly moving the spoon in different directions.

Pour into whatever mold you would like - a bowl, a silicon shape pan, whatever. Let it cool and then put it in the fridge and hope you can stay away until you are ready to use it. :)

And done...seems to be a bit thicker than the canned kind, but still really good. Enjoy!