Recipe: Quinoa Cornbread

This tasty cornbread recipe combines the rich sweet taste of corn and cream with herbs and the crunchy texture of quinoa for a unique and delicious bread you'll want to make again and again. Cooking this in a cast iron skillet will give the outside that delicious golden-brown crust you love! It's also great left over for breakfast with butter and a bit of jam.

Quinoa Cornbread

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter, to grease pan
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs (your choice)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
3 tbsp unsalted butter, just melted and cooled
3 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp sea salt (fine)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butter a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or baking dish. 
• Preheat skillet in oven for about 10 minutes before baking cornbread. 
• Stir together cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and dried herbs in a large bowl.
• Blend beaten eggs, melted butter, and quinoa in a separate bowl until well-blended. 
• Stir in salt, vinegar, sugar, and milk. 
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until batter just comes together. Batter will be thin. 
• Pour batter into heated skillet, then pour heavy cream into the center of the batter. 
• Do not stir the mixture, it will form as it bakes. 
• Place in the oven and check after 45 minutes. 
• Cornbread is done when the top is light brown and the center just sets. If necessary, cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
• If desired, place under broiler for a minute to brown the top of the bread.

Recipe - Vegan Cornbread

If you're looking for vegan recipe ideas, here's a delicious idea for cornbread. This goes great with the Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup recipe from Wednesday, or try it with vegetarian chili for a tasty bowl of comfort food!

Vegan Cornbread

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups soy milk (unsweetened)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose pastry flour
1 ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
1 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp honey
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425°Fahrenheit and lightly grease a 9" square baking dish.
• In a small bowl, combine vinegar and soy milk and allow to sit for a few minutes. 
• Meanwhile, sift flour into a medium-size mixing bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Add the soy milk/vinegar mixture and the oil and combine until just blended.
• Spoon the dough into the baking dish and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until cooked through. 
• Serve with soup or chili!

Video - Ancho Chile Cornbread Stuffing

Here is a good one to bookmark and save for Thanksgiving. As someone who's really not a big stuffing fan overall, this stuffing looks amazing! Of course, I would recommend making the cornbread from scratch - that way you can control the sugar and salt content, and despite what she says, it's really not much more difficult to make from scratch - all you need is about 2 minutes to measure out the ingredients, and then mix in the liquid (which you would have to do with a mix anyway). Cornbread uses baking powder and/or soda - not yeast - so you won't need to wait for anything to rise or do any kneading - etc. Just mix and pop in the oven - it's very easy. (See below for some helpful resources for making great cornbread.)

Then check out this video to see what an amazing dish you can make with it:

SG Cooking With Pleasure
Ancho Chili Sausage Cornbread Stuffing


Resources for Making Awesome Homemade Cornbread: