·:[ Jason On A Shtick ]:·
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1,330 calories, 86 grams of fat, 3,150 milligrams of sodium.  Welcome to America!

My scurvy mates next door had this melon ship at their son’s pirate themed birthday party.  Ahoy!

One of the nice things about getting older is that you start to have an appreciation for the little details that you didn’t pay much attention to when you were younger.  Case in point: my mom’s delicious fried cornbread.  I’ve had this stuff many times, but only in recent years have I come to truly enjoy it.  There’s nothing like going home to visit mom and dad and being treated to some real down home cooking.

I gave mom’s cornbread recipe a shot this weekend and it turned out pretty good.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• One and a half cups of Quaker white corn meal
• Half a cup of flour
• One egg
• One cup of buttermilk
• Two teaspoons of baking powder
• One teaspoon of salt

In a bowl, mix everything with a whisk to a consistency a little thicker than pancake batter.  Heat a skillet to medium heat and melt Crisco to cover the bottom – yes, Crisco!  I started with half of a one cup shortening stick.

Scoop two or three tablespoons (I used one large serving spoon) of the batter into the skillet to make one cornbread patty.  You can probably cook four at a time and this recipe makes eight patties.  Watch for the bottom of the patties to start getting brown – it only takes a few minutes.  As they brown up, flip each patty one time with a spatula.  As the second side gets brown, remove each patty and place it on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb a little of the grease – hey, we’ve gotta draw the line somewhere!

Melt the other half of the Crisco stick for the second set of four patties.  Rinse and repeat the scooping and flipping process.

I made them a little big in the first batch, but you can’t argue with the results!  Thanks mom!

A couple of points that folks have made to me after reading this one:

• You don’t have to use Crisco; I have followed my mom’s recipe and she has tried other things, but they just didn’t taste the same to her.
• The importance of a cast iron skillet cannot be understated – it spreads heat evenly and of course can be “seasoned” for flavor!

For this year’s OctChiliFest, I decided to do a little experimenting.  I am old fashioned when it comes to chili and I don’t like it to get too far away from traditional ingredients.  Still, I thought that I could hit a sweet spot somewhere between traditional and fancy.  I decided to try something with a Cajun flair using some stock Cajun items, namely sausage and okra.  Here is what I came up with:

• One pound of ground Italian sausage
• One pack of Brooks “Secret” chili seasoning – Original flavor
• One can of Brooks Chili Beans – Hot
• One can of Brooks Chili Beans – Hot & Spicy
• Two cans of Margaret Holmes Tomatoes, Okra and Corn
• One jar of Muir Glen organic salsa – Medium Chipotle
• Just a touch of Mccormick’s Cajun Seasoning

As you can tell, this recipe still contains several of the stock items from my Frito Pie chili and is prepared in the same way (the kidney beans are left out, so there’s nothing to drain from the cans – just put everything in, juices and all).  I was looking for canned okra on its own, but ran into the Margaret Holmes mix and decided that would work in place of the Del Monte diced tomatoes.  The result was a more spicy chili with an interesting taste from the sausage.

I actually put more than just a touch of the Cajun seasoning in at the end, and it ended up changing the flavor of the chili by the time it had simmered a while.  I think I would go very light with this seasoning next time or leave it out entirely.  Or, it might be worth a try to leave out the chili seasoning pack and use only the Cajun spices on the meat.  I’m guessing this would really spice the chili up with a different flavor, but you know I am old fashioned.

We finally got our first good snow since Lindsay has been old enough to appreciate it. We went out in the morning, played in the snow and had a good time. When it was time to come in, Jenny had hot cocoa ready for us. I asked her for a bowl so that I could bring in some snow to make snow cream. She looked at me strangely and asked “For what?” as if I were speaking some other language. I was shocked that she didn’t know what I was talking about. I thought snow cream was a Kentucky tradition, but I guess those folks in the “deep south” around Bowling Green don’t get enough snow to enjoy this delicacy. Just in case you were robbed of it in your youth, too, here’s how to make it.

You need:

• a bowl of unsoiled snow
• sugar
• vanilla extract
• milk

Start by taking a bowl outside and skimming the edge of it along the top of some fresh snow. Obviously, the snow has to be deep enough so that you don’t pick up any grass or muck. Next, add some sugar. I’d guess I put about three quarters of a cup into a medium sized bowl of snow, though I never measure exactly. Same goes with the vanilla extract – I probably use about two tablespoons of it.  You just have to experiment and figure out your particular taste.

Finally, add in milk and stir everything together. You want your snow cream to have a consistency similar to a milkshake, but don’t add too much or it will be too runny. You can even store the extra snow cream in the refrigerator (best to use a stainless steel bowl to help it stay cold enough), but it won’t last for very long. Now, pour out a cereal bowl portion of snow cream for everyone and slurp up this delicious winter treat along side your hot cocoa!