Cornbread

I made this cornbread the other day, and the next morning when my kids said "I wish I could have cornbread every day so we can have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner" I knew I had to share it with you.
This is a sweet cornbread, perfect with salty, melted butter. The only ingredient you may not keep on hand is flax meal...

A Word on Flax: A lot of people swear by flax because of all the health benefits that I wont go into right now, but I like it for baking. Flax meal (or ground flax) can replace eggs 1TB flax meal & 3TB water, boiled until thick and egg like. It's the best thing, i've found, to replace an egg when baking, so I try to keep some on hand. The best way to keep it is to buy the whole seed and grind it as necessary and stored in the freezer. But I'm lazy and don't own a grinder so I buy the flax meal in the refrigerated health section at my grocery store. I've probably had mine longer than I should, but it smells fine and still works well.

Cornbread
2 TB Ground Flax
6 TB Water
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Cornmeal
1/4 Cup Sugar
4 te Baking Powder
3/4 te Salt
1 Cup Soy Milk
1/4 Cup Canola Oil

• Preheat the oven to 425º
• Bring water to a boil
• Add flax meal to the boiling water then reduce the heat to simmer for 3-5 min or until thick
• Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt
• Add in the soy milk, oil, and flax/water mixture
• Mix until smooth, don't over work it.
• Lightly oil an 8x8 glass, metal, or cast-iron pan
• Bake for 20-25 min. Let cool for 10 min.

Tips: 

- I replace 1 tablespoon of flour with vital wheat gluten to cut down on the crumbling.

- After 20 min, I rub the cornbread with some butter and let it melt over the top, then cook it an additional 5 mins. to make the top a golden brown.

- A single batch turned out perfect, no crumbling, but when I doubled the batch in a 9x13 casserole dish, it was good, but fell apart easier than I would like.

My Husband's Favorite Meal: Philly Cheese Steak

The cheese steak starts with the bun, I hit up the bakery/deli part of my grocery store and find a hardy bun. I try to get hot dog/sub type buns, but I've used hamburger style in a pinch.

1 LB Bulk seitan

2 Bell peppers (red is best but get whatever's in season)

1 Sweet onion

6 buns

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I use Daiya)

Mustard

Mayonaise

1TB Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

• Butterfly the buns (or cut in half if you get hamburger style) 
• Spread mayo on one side and mustard on the other.
• Thinly slice your bulk meat so it's roughly 3in long and 1in wide.
• Cut peppers and onion into thick strips
• Heat a pan with oil on med-high then add meat, peppers, and onion. Cook until seitan starts to brown and veggies just start to soften.
• Add the salt and pepper last so the salt wont draw out the water from the veg and the pepper wont burn.
• Add the meat and veggie mix to your buns, top with cheese, then place on foil under the broiler just until the cheese melts and starts to brown

*ALWAYS keep an eye on the broiler, your bread will blacken in a matter of seconds if you're not careful. The broiler needs to warm up, just like when you normally use the stove, don't be like me and start with a cold stove then base my cooking times off that 1st sandwich ;)

Pair the sandwich with a side of hot wings and ranch and there you'll have, My Husband's Favorite Meal.

Out of the Darkness Community Walk

A good friend of mine for a long time recently lost her brother to suicide. She is participating in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks to help raise money for awareness and prevention. This is something that is very important to her and I wanted to help by putting the link to her American Foundation of Suicide Prevention donation page on my blog. At the very least, I ask that you check out her page and read her story. Thank you for your help and support.

Click here if you wish to help