Just a lazy summer Saturday...

Our week ended with quite the bang.  At about 6:45 in the morning on Friday, the dogs got into a massive fight over a butcher bone that resulted in Moose having to get stitches to repair the tear in his ear caused by Dixie.  There was blood ALL OVER OUR YARD!  It looked like a crime scene, not to mention the steady trickle coming off poor Moose's ear.  Twenty stitches, pain meds, and a $450 vet bill later, we brought Moose home on Friday night.  We decided to keep our weekend low key in order to monitor Moose and relax from Friday's traumatizing and messy events. 

Of course, a relaxing day cannot be complete without delicious food.  The weather in Tehachapi today has been glorious, low seventies with a beautiful breeze and lots of sun.  Kenneth decided to smoke some chicken drumsticks and wings on our new grill and I made homemade Jack Daniels barbecue sauce for them!  On Thursday I bought some locally grown (Tangleweed Farms) rainbow Swiss chard so I decided to saute that too.  I completed the meal with some cornbread that I baked in our cast iron skillet.  If you have never baked anything in a cast iron skillet then you are missing out.  The seasoning on the skillet that makes meats and sides so tasty also gives the bread a real depth of flavor.  This recipe takes about five minutes to pull together, twenty to bake, and tastes delicious!  I will never go back to baking my cornbread in a Pyrex dish!

Southern Cornbread

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking.  This recipe is more on the savory side.  Serve warm with honey and/or butter.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon fat (butter, bacon grease, lard, etc.)

1 cup stone ground cornmeal

¾ cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Melt the the tablespoon of fat in the cast iron skillet.  Whisk the buttermilk and the eggs together in one bowl.  In another bowl whisk all of the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined.  Pour the batter into the skillet and bake in the oven until the top is browned and a cake tester comes out of the center clean, about twenty to twenty five minutes.  

Pre-Op Moose

Kenneth and his new grill, a lovely birthday present from Grandma Jeanne.

Post-Op Moose.

Nothing says love like a Man and his Dog.

Swiss chard!  Yum!

About to go in the oven...

twenty minutes later it comes out browned, yummy, and super moist!