Corn Bread

This side dish was born of desperation because I got home from a dentist appointment with one of the kids too late to make yeast bread. Corn bread is something that can be made quickly. It proved a wonderful change of pace. And, since this is a Marie Callendar-style corn bread (meaning it's quite sweet, almost more of a corn cake than a corn bread), it put smiles on faces all around the table. It's also heavy enough to fill everyone up on soup night.

Corn Bread
2 cups flour
2 cups corn meal
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2/3 cup oil

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until they are thoroughly combined. Pour in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

David chose chocolate pecan pie for his birthday dessert. He is old enough now that we can't afford a candle for every year. One candle also looked much prettier than 19.

Previously, I did not have a chocolate pecan pie recipe. Bob and I had eaten it a few times at Mimis, and it's one of the desserts that he seems to get cravings for. My dad requested a pecan pie for Thanksgiving dinner, so I made one using this recipe, which I discovered on my friend Kip's blog. (I tried the Dear Abby's version because I didn't plan ahead very well and wasn't sure I had a full pound of brown sugar). I actually think it is the best-tasting pecan pie I've ever had.

Every time I've made the pie since then, Bob has magically appeared at the perfect time to drop in a handfull of chocolate chips. This seemed to delight everyone, so last night I carefully placed the chips on the bottom of the pie. You can't see them, but they're there and they are delicious. I recommend warming the pie and putting vanilla ice cream on top.

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
9-inch unbaked pie crust
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 heaping cup pecan halves

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Place pie crust in a pie plate and scatter chocolate chips on top of the pie crust. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust; sprinkle with pecan halves. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set. If crust or pie gets too brown, cover with foil for remaining baking time.

Carne Asada Salad

As with many salads, this is more of a salad idea than a recipe.

Another favorite family meal is carne asada burritos. This meal has been made possible by the proliferation of Mexican markets in our area. It is also enabled at our house by my Spanish-speaking husband, who has thoroughly interviewed each of the butchers at the three stores nearest our home. But never fear. I don't speak Spanish and have successfully ordered the meat from the aforementioned butchers on numerous occasions with no problem. It does help to have the advance information, though.

We made carne asada burritos for our dinner group last weekend. I'll post a photo with instructions as soon as I get a good photo to post with it. A couple of days later, Bob and I used the leftover meat to make carne asada salads for lunch.

The easiest way to make carne asada is to buy the pre-seasoned meat at the market. Then you just have to grill it. We've used both diez millo preparada and ranchera preparada. Diez millo is less expensive; ranchera is a much nicer cut of meat (Bob suspects that it is very thinly sliced ribeye steak). But the diez millo is also quite tasty. Both cuts of meat are also sold without seasoning (simply diez millo or ranchera), which we use for beef teriyaki.

Carne Asada Salad
1 head romaine lettuce, cut in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup carne asada, heated
1-2 Tablespoons green enchilada sauce
diced tomatoes or pico de gallo
Sliced avocados or guacamole
Fresh ranch dressing

Arrange salad ingredients in the order they are given. Top with ranch dressing. A word about the green enchilada sauce: we also used leftovers for this particular salad. After searching high and low for the perfect enchilada sauce, we've actually found that we like the store brands the best (Western Family, Kroger, etc.) If you look for sales, you can usually buy it for about 50 cents per can.