This past weekend Houston was threatened by the prospect of wintry precipitation. So Houston did what it always does in these situations, and preemptively shut the city down. Personally, I didn’t mind a few days of hanging around with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Fortunately, it turned out to be a big old nothing burger, although it was pretty cold for these parts. Another hard freeze is predicted for this weekend, although there is no ice or snow in the forecast, so it’s bundled up business as usual.
In preparation for the freeze, while parts of the country were blanketed by snow, Houstonians blanketed their plants with freeze cloth, which as best as I can tell, does nothing. They also did panic shopping, myself included. Surprisingly, the grocery store was sold out of ground beef. That can only mean one thing — Chili! Fortunately, I had ground beef in my freezer, and made a big pot of chili with beans, which is always great on a cold evening. Interestingly, conservatives tend to make not very good chili — they have trouble being liberal with their spices.
To go with the chili I made this recipe for Golden Sweet Cornbread, a favorite of mine and my kids. The recipe is foolproof and delicious. If you are feeling fancy, whip up a little cinnamon honey butter to spread on the hot cornbread, which will make it next level.
(By the way, if you want to make a vegetarian chili, just stick her in the freezer.)
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk (can use low-fat)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add milk, oil, and egg to dry ingredients, and whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until cornbread is golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 20-25 minutes.
A-maize-ing