Superb Skillet Corn Bread

A perfect side dish for many meals, corn bread is quick and easy to make if you know how. We like to eat it with our chile or soup but it goes well with so many things! Here's our favorite recipe. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 C Yellow Corn Meal
• 2 C Flour
• 1/2 C Sugar
• 6 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 2 C Milk
• 1/2 C Melted Butter (1 stick) 

Optional Ingredients for an Added Twist:

• Rosemary
• Cumin
• Hot Chiles

DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Prepare a 10.5 inch cast iron skillet, grease well (we use coconut oil!). If you don't have a skillet, a medium casserole dish will work as well.

In a large bowl mix together the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Set aside. 

Lightly beat both eggs in a small bowl. Add the two cups of milk and melted butter to the beaten eggs and stir until they are well blended. 

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Mix well until all lumps are gone and the batter is smooth but not too thick. 

Bake on the top oven rack for 25 minutes or until gold brown. 

Makes enough for 10-12 servings. 

A Small Word On the Amazing Skillet:

Due to its versatility, the skillet is a favorite in our kitchen. It has been a favorite in millions of kitchens for hundreds and hundreds of years. It can go from the stove top right into the oven and then onto the table. The wonder of a cast iron skillet is its ability to seep dietary iron into the food that is cooked within. The iron in cornbread is increased by 28% when baked in cast iron. 

Every kitchen needs a good black skillet!   

Other Skillet favorites: 

• Focaccia Bread
• Eggs and Bacon
• Upside Down Cake 

Start Your Day the Citrus Way

Start Your Day the Citrus Way

Here at the Lion Potter our mornings go something like this. Slowly but surely everyone rolls out of bed. It shouldn’t really be that difficult to wake up to “breakfast is served!” but a morning is still a morning after all. We gather around the table and acclimate to the day over coffee and eggs. Usually no one is loud. Hopefully, no one is rowdy.

We are all familiar with the hardship of morning. Wake up wrong and the whole day is shot. Someone mentions we “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” and our attitude for the rest of the day has been shifted that way as well.

Sometimes that veil of grogginess from the morning lasts all day. Many days we’re ready for a nap by noon. Unfortunately, there is no fix-all solution. From our kitchen to yours, however, we send a little wisdom for your ante-meridiem. This method will at least improve your chances of a more productive day. It certainly will aid the journey to a healthy, grateful body.

The not-so-confidential secret?

 Lemon juice.

How do we use it? 

Juice half of a lemon into your favorite morning mug and add boiling water. It may be a little sour but it sure will make you sweet!

Why does it help? 

There are enzymes from your stomach and enzymes from your liver, both spinning opposite directions. When they meet, they create friction, which in turn produces energy. The enzymes in fresh lemon juice spin the same way as the enzymes from your liver. This helps increase friction and ultimately provides your body with more energy.

Other helpful benefits of lemon water? 

It is a natural detox. Take lemon water in the morning to flush out your system and get your gears in order. (Okay, we don’t have gears but it does wonders on your liver!) 

Some added wisdom: 

If you are looking to cleanse with lemon juice a better alternative to boiled tap water is steamed distilled water. Imagine a person coming in to bail the water out of your basement but their bucket is already a third of the way full. The job would go much quicker with an empty bucket! The same goes for your body. If you use the steamed distilled or “hungry” water, it works like an empty bucket, bailing out the toxins inside.   

A little side note for any history lovers:

 Ever heard the rather derogatory term “Limeys” referring to the British? It first came from sailors in the Royal Navy who would drink watered down limejuice in their rum (called “grog”) to prevent scurvy. It didn’t help them much, however, since the citrus has to be fresh to protect against the foul disease. Although the right idea of using citrus was around for a while, it wasn’t until the chairman of the Royal Navy’s “Sick and Hurt Board”, Gilbert Blane, implemented the use of fresh citrus that the health of sailors notably increased. This health advantage may have helped them win the battle of Trafalgar. Just drinking fresh lemon juice may have altered the course of history, imagine what it can do for your day!