Cornbread

Some people have only ever had "Southern" cornbread, which is dry, dry, DRY, and kind of tasteless. This cornbread is nothing like that! This recipe is for "Northern" cornbread, and is moist, sweet, and delicious. It's wonderful plain, and even better when topped with butter, honey, or jam. Or you can mix it into your bowl of chili, which is what my husband likes to do! This recipe has been passed down from my grandma.

---Cornbread---

Ingredients:
-1 and 1/4 cup and 1 Tbsp flour
-1 and 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
-1 and 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
-1 and 1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp sugar
-1 and 1/2 cup milk
-1/4 cup and 1 and 1/2 tsp honey
-1/4 cup and 1 and 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:
Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar together, then add the milk, honey, and oil and mix well. Quickly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until there are no lumps. Bake at 400 degrees in a greased 9 x 13 pan for 20 minutes. Or you can make cornbread muffins- bake those at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or less.

Chicken Fajitas

This is a wonderful, low-fuss way to make scrumptious chicken fajitas! Comes from a cookbook from West Huntsville Church of Christ that we received as a wedding present. Feel free to improvise and add your own flavors to the recipe! We generally add more (fresh) garlic, some cumin, and sometimes jalapenos. The original recipe calls for diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (listed as optional) and cooked rice or pasta to put it over. We put ours in tortillas, of course.

---Chicken Fajitas---

Ingredients:
-2 Tbsp lime juice
-1/4 cup oil
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-2 skinless chicken breasts
-1 medium onion, chopped (I usually use half an onion, we get BIG onions)
-1 green pepper, seeded and chopped

Directions:
Mix the lime juice, oil, garlic powder, and chili powder together in a flat glass container. Chop the chicken into small strips and put into the mixture. Add the onion and green pepper to the mixture as well. Marinade for 1 hour at room temperature. Stick it all in a pan and cook it up until the chicken is done!

Poppyseed Chicken

This is pretty much the easiest, fastest, yummiest recipe evar. I don't know why this wasn't up here before! (Especially since I am such a fan of recipes that are easy, fast, and yummy)
Would rave more about this but fussy teething baby isn't taking his nap, gotta make this quick...

---Poppyseed Chicken---

Ingredients:
-Around 3 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces and boiled until done OR 4 cans drained canned chicken
-2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
-8 oz sour cream
-1+ Tbsp poppyseeds (I always +)
-2 sleeves Townhouse crackers (Ritz works well too)
-2 Tbsp melted butter (or more if needed)

Directions:
Mix soup, sour cream, and poppyseeds in a bowl until well mixed. Mix in chicken pieces. Smooth mixture out into a 9 x 13 pan. Crunch up the crackers and spread evenly over the top. Spoon the butter over the crackers. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Festival [Bread]

This goes really well with the Jerk Chicken, and is advertised as going well with any Jamaican dish. The first time I made this, I pretty much immediately had to make a second batch. They go like hotcakes! (Because they are a type of hotcake! Ha!) I think these would be good baked, but I haven't discovered the magic formula of time/heat yet.

---Festival---

Ingredients:
-1 and 1/2 c. flour
-3 Tbsp cornmeal
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 Tbsp sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-3/4 c. water
-3/4 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the water and vanilla, then gradually work the water mixture into the flour mixture until you have a slightly sticky dough (you may not have to use all of the water to achieve this). Let stand for 30 minutes, then knead and separate into 8 sausage shapes. Roll each sausage shape in a mixture of flour and cornmeal, then pan or deep fry until golden. NOM!

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Tim made the Jerk Chicken recipe recently for a group, and it was delectable! Grilled was better than baked, but baked was stll pretty awesome. Because it's a Jamaican recipe, Tim had me make the festival [bread] to go with it, which everyone also enjoyed muchly.
A warning about the chicken though: When it was baked, it infused the oven with its scent, which is now making my cookies taste weird. (Although apparently I'm the only one who can taste anything odd...)

---Jamaican Jerk Chicken---

Ingredients:
-One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred)
-6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (jalapenos may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable)
-2 Tbsp. thyme
-2 Tbsp. ground allspice
-8 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
-3 Medium onions, finely chopped
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-2 Tbsp. salt
-2 Tsp. ground black pepper

1 to 2 Tsp of the following (to taste)
-ground cinnamon
-nutmeg
-ginger

-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-Juice of one lime
-1 cup orange juice
-1 cup white vinegar

Directions:
Chop onions, garlic, and pepper. Throw them and everything else (except chicken) in the blender. Marinade for about a day. Grill or bake, with frequent intervals to baste with more marinade.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

For some reason I thought that I already had this recipe here (enough people have asked for it, that's for sure!) This is my favorite ever chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I think I've made it a billion or so times. Its a good recipe if you're wanting to substitute butterscotch chips or mint chocolate chips. I imagine nuts or candy sprinkles could be added as well. Its a very workable recipe, and so basic and easy to stuff in a mixer and prepare! They can be made soft and gooey (my favorite) or hard and crispy, or anywhere in between, depending on how long you bake them. I always pull my cookies out of the oven the instant before they're really done, and leave them on the hot pan a minute or two to let them finish baking, which gives them that soft, chewy, melt in your mouth texture. Mmm writing this is making me hungry for them now...

---Chocolate Chip Cookies---

Ingredients:
-3/4 c. butter
-3/4 c. sugar
-3/4 c. packed brown sugar
-2 eggs (large)
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-2 1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 12 oz package semisweet chocolate chips (or whatever type of chips you want)

Directions:
Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, and then gradually add to butter mixture while beating. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 14 minutes. Makes a whole bunch.


Added bonus I just thought of: it doesn't call for any grody shortening/lard!

A tip I just remembered: if you're out of vanilla extract, it doesn't actually taste all that great if you substitute lemon extract. Not that I thought it would, but it was worth a try...