Perfect Sweet Cornbread

I don't know about you, but I think that people have a reallllyyyyy weird thing with cornbread.  I lived in Texas for a while, and it seems that the South as a whole would be shocked and appalled at a sweet cornbread.  Their cornbread is crumbly and savory.  Hey, I like that too ... but there's something about cornbread that's moist with just a touch of sugar that gets me excited.

That's the saddest realization I've ever come to on this blog.

Anyway .. say what you will, this cornbread is really delicious.  Put away your Jiffy mix, and get out the butter and honey.

You'll need.... (this is for a TON of cornbread, like a 9x13 pan full)

1 cup of yellow cornmeal

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/3 cups of sugar

2 Tablespoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cups of vegetable oil

1/3 cup of melted butter

2 tablespoons of honey

4 eggs, beaten (be gentle)

2 1/2 cups of whole milk

Optional: some diced pickled jalapenos or a can of green chilies would be great in this.  You can also add some cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese ... lots of tasty options.  

Alrighty, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  

In a large mixing bowl, put in your flour, salt, sugar, cornmeal, and baking powder.  

Mix until just combined.

In a separate bowl, add your eggs, vegetable oil, melted butter, honey, and milk.  Whisk together. 

Add the egg mixture to your batter, and stir until just combined.

That's it for the batter!  At this point I would add in any cheese or peppers if you want to spruce this recipe up a bit.  I didn't think about it until later... it was still delicious on it's own!

Add the batter to your greased baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes until it starts to turn golden and shows a few cracks on the top.

Let it cool for a bit, then slice it up and serve warm with some melted butter and honey.  Ohhhh man.  I ended up serving this with my chicken tortilla soup ... keep an eye out for my next post for that recipe!

Hope you enjoy, even if you like the crumbly stuff.

Courtzilla

Roasted Broccoli and Carrots

This one is short and sweet.  It's one of my new favorite side dishes.  The other day my mom was making the standard steamed broccoli when I suggested we roast it.  "Roasted broccoli!??" was the reaction I got.  As incredulous as she was at first, she's now made it 3 times for dinner.  I think I won that debate.

You'll need:

- 1 head of broccoli
- about 10 baby carrots
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- a teaspoon of seasoned salt
- a dash of pepper
- zest from one lemon, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice
- grated parmesan cheese (too taste)

Ok! Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cut up your carrots into fourths lengthwise, and break apart your broccoli until you have decent sized florets.  Should look like this.

Place onto a cookie sheet and drizzle with your olive oil, and salt and pepper.  I've also added some parsley here because I am a rebel, feel free to experiment!  Toss everything together and spread everything out so it's in one layer.  Throw it in the oven for approximately 25 minutes.

While the veggies are roasting, I get prepared with the cheese, and zest the lemon ahead of time.  Make sure not to grate your thumb while zesting like I did.  Courtzilla STRIKES AGAIN.

After 25 minutes or until the broccoli has started to brown up at the edges, remove and grate the fresh parmesan over the warm broccoli and carrots.  Add the zest and lemon juice at this time as well, and give it a toss.  Serve with your favorite comfort food!

Meatloaf meatball recipe is coming up next.... EVERYONE IS EXCITED.

Enjoy!

Courtzilla

Spring Cranberry Salad

Want to impress your friends?  Want to say, "Yo, check out this complicated and fancy lookin' salad?"  I mean, who doesn't want to say that, really.  This is your salad.  It's deceivingly simple, but your friends will think you're a bona fide Martha Stewart.

You'll need:

- 1 head of romaine, or a spring greens mix
- a handful of dried cranberries
- some chopped up celery, about 1 or 2 stalks
- 2 shallots
- some crumbled goat cheese
- poppy seed dressing, the creamier, the better

First, wash and tear up your romaine into bite sized pieces.  Or dump a bag of spring mix in a bowl.  Do you enjoy how I give you options?

Now we want to caramelize the shallots to make them really sweet.  Saute them up into smallish pieces, and put them in a saute pan over medium heat.  They don't need any oil or anything, their natural sugars will start to sweat out and make everything realll tasty like.

While those are browning up nicely, we can start assembling the salad.  You'll want to add the celery, and the goat cheese for some tang.

Couple of handfuls of cranberries right on top...

And now add the caramelized shallots...

If you want at this point you can add some DELICIOUS candied walnuts or pecans, but who has time to candy their own pecans?  Plus, those suckers are EXPENSIVE.

Pour on some scrumptious poppy seed dressing...

And bada boom bada bing you're in business.  Not too shabby for about 10 minutes work, eh?

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Easy Parmesan Rolls

First off, let me apologize for my absence. In the beginning I was saving money for Australia, then I was in Australia for three weeks, then I was in Canada for a week, then I was broke off of Australia and the holidays in Canada. In a nutshell, I'm still broke, but I'm starting to get sick of sandwiches so I've been cooking again! Quite a bit actually. I've got a few posts planned out, so no extended breaks are in my future. I know, you are SO lucky.

Have you ever wanted to show off in front of your friends? Make them think you've been slaving over a stove all day making artisan rolls? Well I would recommend these suckers. Knotted parmesan rolls. Great in soups or with a hearty salad! Check out how easy these are.

Let me go ahead now and apologize, I forgot to take pictures of the first couple steps. I could have SWORN I had... I will blame Roommate Rob. I don't know how he's to blame, but I'm sure it's his fault.

So, you will need:
- 1 can of 8 grands biscuits (not the flaky kind)
- about 2 tablespoons of melted margarine or butter
- about 4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

Yup, that's it.

First, get all the biscuits out of the container and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You'll want to roll the buscuits on a flat surface or cutting board, so they look like a long rope, about 6-8 inches long.

Then, just pretend you're working at Annie's Pretzels and tie them in a basic knot. They should look kinda like this.


Skillz my friends, skillz. Mad shoe tying skillz.

Plop the buns onto a pan, no need to spray it or anything.


Now, brush your melted butter over the buns. I don't have a brush, so I poured.




And by poured, I mean got crazy with the butter. What? It's winter, sue me.

Go ahead and sprinkle the butter loaded buns with your parmesan cheese.


Hello, lover.

You'll want to put these in the oven until they get browned on top, about 15 minutes or so. Keep your eye on them though, my oven likes to play with my head sometimes. You should have seen the angel food cake disaster of '10.

They should look something like this:


Hello, lover. Come closer. Come swim in my pool. What pool you ask? This pool.



AKA My next post. You really ARE so lucky.

Then, should you feel inclined, gang up on the only other girl roommate and electric tape her ankles together Dexter style.



Troublemakers.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Greek Panzanella

So... this name is a bit misleading. Greek panzanella. Panzanella is traditionally an Italian bread salad - usually made with croutons and various Italian veggies. I had a bag of Stacy's pita chips on hand that I stole from after hours at a wedding I was at... (thanks Josh!) and decided to go Greek! This is super delicious and refreshing. Great for a light dinner.

You'll need:
- chips or croutons
- tomatoes
- cucumbers
- red onions
- salt and pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- parmesan cheese (feta would be luffly too.)

First, dump the chips in the bottom of a bowl. This recipe is easy to make for 1, or for 100, so I didn't provide measurements...seeing as I didn't actually take any while making it.


Then, chop up your veggies into bite-sized chunks. Add your cucumbers....



Tomatoes....


And red onions. Feel free to add the red onions just raw as they are... or use this trick. I personally don't like the taste of raw onions. It's way too strong for me. What you can do is give the onions an ice bath. I'm not even kidding.


Let them sit there while you're putting together the salad. It helps take the bite out of the onion. Sounds weird, but it works!

Go ahead and add the cheese at this point too.


I use fresh grated parmesan...but that's because I'm a snob.

While your onions are bathing, we can get the "dressing" ready. I use dressing in quotation marks because I hesitate to call it anything, since it's so easy.

So here's what you do. Pour extra virgin olive oil in a bowl. Add balsamic vinegar. It's about a 3:1 ratio.



Isn't that a sweet picture?

After you're done admiring (take your time), stir.



Now, add your onions, salt and pepper, and stir in dressing.


Cover and let sit in the fridge for a half hour. When you bring it out, it'll look like this!


All the dressing and tomato juices soak into the chips. It's so good. The chips are hearty enough that they don't get all soggy. Make sure you eat it that day though... once it's sat over night it definitely gets that gross mushy quality. I was very upset at lunch the next day.

That's it! Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Fluffity Stuffity Potatoes

Ever had twice baked potatoes?

No?

Then I would argue you haven't lived. These things are potatoes made from little fluffy pieces of heaven. They are argueably not healthy for you...they are also arguably some of the best potatoes ever. Read on if your waistline can handle it. If not, wait about half an hour and I'll post my summer vegetable salad recipe!

You'll need:
- 5 - 10 yellow potatoes. Not the huge ones, the mid-sized ones. Make however many you need/want for lunch the next day.
- a smidge of cream cheese
- couple spoonfuls of sour cream
- a sprinkle of cheese (I think I used Monterrey Jack cheese, but you can use cheddar or whatever you've got)
- couple tablespoons of chopped chives
- garlic
- bacon bits? peas and carrots? onions? peppers? Let's be honest... this is a good way to use up your veggies.
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Ok! First, you want to preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then, rinse and scrub your potatoes. Throw them on a baking sheet, and drizzle some olive oil on them. You can also add some salt and pepper right now.



Let them bake along all honky dory in the oven for about 45 minutes.


Toasty.

Now, once they've cooled a bit you want to scoop out their souls, so they become shells of their former selves. Like this!


Now, you definitely don't want the souls to go to waste... so mash them up with the cream cheese, cheese, sour cream, garlic, and chives! Plus... any of the extras like bacon bits etc.




Doesn't THAT look appetizing.

Now, take scoops of the stuff, and load them into the potato boats you made earlier.


Now, you just want to stick them back in the oven for about 15 ish minutes!


VOILA!!


Delicious.


My roommate Rob is as happy as a clam. What a lucky guy.

Next up! The corn salad you see pictured.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla

Drunk Potato Wedges

So, last night I had a random Courtzilla Cooks moment at a friends place at around 2am. What we had - potatoes. What we wanted - drunk food. Solution?

Drunk Potato Wedges.

Recipe... ehhh.... photos of me making it... ehhh... these important things become irrelevant at that hour. But here's a basic break down of what I did.

- Washed potatoes.
- Preheat oven to 425
- Cut potatoes into wedges.
- Drizzle wedges with olive oil.
- Sprinkle on seasonings... in this case, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a bit of cayenne.
- Put in oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until browned.

Make sure you toss it up once about 20 minutes into baking so they don't stick to your pan.

Then, you end up with this!





My friend Ian, enjoying his drunk wedges. Note - the disaster of a kitchen and the naked lady cup he's holding. NSFW kids.



You also end up with a fantastic invention.... we called it, "Ranch-up". Or maybe it was "Ketchanch". I can't say I clearly recall.



Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla