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Cooking (with Intention) My Way Out of 2006.

I know the tradition is to eat hoppin' johns to start the year / I decided kidney beans a day early would work just as well. Cornbread for sides, and monkeybread for dessert. Several pleased customers and lots of beer and conversation and one of my all-time favorite movies (dude. the subtitle is "a rock and roll fable". it's that fucking awesome.), before we headed out to hear the Hold Steady (busy concert week: last night saw the Raconteurs -- will write both up on Snip tomorrow or so).

On to the food:

There's really nothing bad to be said about cornbread, particularly when it's made with actual corn.

Country Cornbread from Sheila Lukins' USA Cookbook.

400-degree oven. Greased 8-inch sq pan. Mix 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal, 1/2 cup flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl mix 1/2 cup mimlk, 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 large eggs lightly beaten. Add to cornmeal mixture, stir until just combined. Then stir in 1 cup creamed corn. Pour into greased pan, bake until top is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean - 45 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 15-20. Then remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Monday Red Beans and Rice from Sheila Lukins' USA Cookbook

1 cup kidney beans (dried/soaked overnight (or do a quick-soak method) or use canned, whichever)
1 3/4 cups beef or chicken broth (she calls for unsalted, i don't think it mattered)
3/4 cup water
1 cup canned tomatoes, drained & crushed (i didn't bother with much crushin')
1 teaspoon tabasco
2 bay leaves
1/2 lb. slab bacon, rind removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (i could only find already sliced up bacon with no rind on it anyway, i don't think it matters)
2 carrots, peeled & cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 ribs celery (I used two sticks. same thing? who knows), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. smoked sausage (she calls for andouille, my choices were either just smoked or smoked kielbasa. i'm a polack, so i went for the kielbasa, yo)
and cooked white rice for serving with.

350 oven. In ovenproof pot, combine (on burner) broth, water, tomatoes, basaco, and bay leaves. bring to boil then remove from heat. stir in beans. stir in bacon, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. bury sausage in the center, cover and bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and cook 30 minutes more. remove/discard bay leaf. Serve over rice.

I think I might have had a tiny bit more broth than it called for / it seemed a tiny bit runny, but not in any way that made it any less yummalicious. but it may have been the rice because I think that could have used a minute longer but we were all mighty hungry and not about to wait.

And for dessert:

MONKEY BREAD!!!!

As usual, I forgot to take a photo until we had all started greedily digging in. And you know, I'd love to tell you how to make it, but I have no clue. Someone gave me this mix as a gift a long time ago and I finally got around to making it.

Here's what the recipe looks like:

You added water to mix 1 to make dough. Rolled it in little balls, then rolled it in mix 2 to coat it. You melted a stick of butter and mixed that with mix 3. Then poured it over the little balls that had been coated in mix 2. And then you baked it. Yummy yummy yummy in my motherfucking tummy.

Now finally I must try and get a few wee hours of beauty sleep before I head out to what has been advertised as a "Hunger-Busting, Hangover-Curing, Yumina-Yumina New Year's Day Brunch". This does not look to be a week full of low-calorie-count days, does it?

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