Easy Cornbread

Can you make cornbread? I love cornbread? Can you please make cornbread? Can we go to Montana's? They have cornbread. This is the echo of my husband's voice and what I've been hearing for the past little while... So tonight with our BBQ pork chops, I decided to make some corn bread. It turned out perfect... I think the key is in the buttermilk.

Ingredients

1 cup of yellow cornmeal
1 cup of flour
2 tbsp. of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking soda 
1/2 tsp of salt 
6 Tbsp of butter (I used Becel) 
1 cup of buttermilk 
2 eggs 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8x8 inch baking pan. Mix together the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until particles are fine.

In a medium bowl, beat the buttermilk and the eggs together until the mixture is blended. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended and you can't see the flour or cornmeal. This doesn't take long and don't overbeat the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 23-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Serve hot.

Cornbread love! 

Mediterranean Barley Rice Salad

My lovely father-in-law purchased the latest and greatest Canadian Living, Special Cookbook Edition for me the other day... Lucky me! I must say there are quite a few good recipes in it and worth the buy!
This salad is delicious... The texture is fantastic and the ingredients are so fresh. This is a great salad to pack for lunches, serve at a BBQ or just have around the house during the summer. Delicious!!

Ingredients 

1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 cup brown basmati rice, rinsed
3 cups cherry tomatoes
Half of a large red onion
1 sweet red pepper
1 english cucumber
4 cups of baby spinach, chopped
1 pkg of feta cheese (200g), crumbled

Dressing 

1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 tsp each of dried oregano and salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

In a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook barley until tender for about 20 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain well. Let stand for 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, in separate saucepan, bring 1-1/2 cups of salted water to a boil. Add rice; cover, reduce heat and simmer until tender and no liquid remains, about 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add to barley mixture; let cool.

Cut tomatoes in half; add to barley mixture. Cut onion, red pepper and cucumber into 1-inch chunks; add to barley mixture, tossing to combine.

Dressing: Whisk together oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper; pour over salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. To serve, stir in the spinach and feta cheese.


Delicious!!! Summer Fresh!