Although I was born and raised in Miami, Florida…
…I always considered myself a country girl at heart. Maybe I’m just rebelling against the bright art deco lights on my hometown. But I’m betting it has a lot to do with my mom’s Southern roots.
My mom grew up in Tennessee and now lives in a small town near Knoxville in a quintessential country home. Her Southern charm and mannerisms always influenced me, I suppose.
My mom doesn’t cook a lot, but there are a few things that she can cook very, very well. The #1 item on mom’s menu? Cornbread! My mom makes the best cornbread – you know, the gritty, buttery kind that cracks along the top as it bakes in a 20-odd year old cast iron skillet? Yes, that kind.
Tonight’s dinner was definitely Tennessee-inspired:
Unfortunately, I don’t have my mom’s recipe for cornbread (but this reminds me to hound her!), but I did have this gluten-free cornbread mix courtesy of MamboSprouts.com. I was skeptical that a gluten-free mix could be as good as mom’s.
I followed the recipe on back, but reduced the sugar from 1/2 cup to 3 tablespoons and the butter from 8 tablespoons to 3. The result: a perfectly moist, gritty, delicious cornbread that was ALMOST as good as mom’s (she adds love to her cornbread, obviously).
I ended up eating two slices of cornbread with honey alongside pinto beans:
And roasted asparagus and mushrooms.
In other news…
My suitcase is now unpacked and repacked for another weekend trip (but blogging shall resume as normal!). Wish I could bring Maggie and James with me.
And I ran a 5K this afternoon in about 31:00. I gave myself 48 hours to rest following my Century, and since I felt so great, I figured I’d be fine to run. Not so! About 2 miles in, my legs started to whimper. I wrapped it up as fast as I could and then called it a night. Need more stretching + rest, I suppose!
Pre-run snack was a strawberry breakfast bar (the photograph must’ve been delicious, because my camera ate it) and and post-run snack was a bowl of cherries:
What’s your favorite ‘American’ dish? I used to LOVE Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh – they made the city’s mascot sammie: meat, coleslaw (the oil kind, not mayo), cheese, and big, thick fries in between two slices of French bread. Mmm. If that’s not American, I’m not sure what is!
As one southern girl to another, that cornbread looks amazing!!! Cornbread with honey is seriously the best.. plus pinto beans? Girl, it doesn’t get much better than that!! Add some turnip greens or collard greens and it would be perfect!