Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Soups and Stews I

The fantastic thing about soups, is that they freeze quite well, with a few exceptions to the rule of course. Another wonderful thing about freezer meal soups? They are SUPER easy to prepare. Usually, I take the soup I want out about 30 minutes to an hour before I want to eat, place it in an appropriate sized pot and let thaw out a little before I turn on the element. If I have the stove on already for something else I'm preparing, it's doubly easy. I put the pot with the frozen soup over the element that vents the heat from the oven (on my stove, it's the top right element that has the oven heat vent) to help the soup to thaw out at a faster rate before I turn on the element to actually reheat the soup. If I'm in a rush, I skip thawing and jump straight to reheating the soup to hot - starting at a low heat and gradually turning up the heat as the soup is thawed and becoming hot.

My freezing method for stocks and soups is the "muffin tin method". I spoon whatever soup/stock into my muffin tins. I know that my muffin tins can hold up to 1/4 cup of whatever I want to freeze, which makes thawing easier than if I freeze in a jar or other larger container. It also allows me to take out single serve portions.

Once whatever I'm freezing is frozen and ready to be packaged, I take out my tins and place them on the counter for a few minutes for things to loosen (If I'm in a rush, I'll put some warm water in the bottom of my kitchen sink to encourage quicker loosening - although, I'd make sure to have the extra few minutes for blended/smooth soups, since they loosen pretty quickly and if you place the tin in warm water, even for a few seconds too long, things can get messy and your soup moulds could end up frozen together once they're packaged and refrozen)

Once things are loose and I can turn the mould around while it's inside the tin, I know it's ready to come out. You can take the moulds out a few ways, I usually opt for grabbing a butter knife and popping each one out - but be careful, if you have really nice tins, you can scratch the sides and/or bottoms and they can rust if you let them air dry. Or, you can flip the whole tin over and let them fall out onto your counter or a big cookie sheet.

Then I toss my prepared frozen moulds into a freezer bag, labelled with the contents, cooking directions, the date it was packaged. If I'm giving packaged freezer meals to a friend, I will include a list of ingredients in case they have an allergy I forgot about and I might include the website or the written out recipe in case they like it and want to make it themselves.

Butternut Beet Soup

I liked the idea of this soup. I really like beets quite a bit and I've wanted to start cooking with squash more often.Once I had all the ingredients though, I started to wonder how well all of the flavours would interact with each other. I have to say, I was not disappointed. I think this might be my all time favourite soup - for now that is.

Ingredients:
3 medium beets
4 medium carrots
1 medium butternut squash
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 14oz can unsweetened coconut milk
2 onions, chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled
4 oz fresh ginger (I used a little less, about 3 oz maybe)
2 bay leaves

2 limes
2 cups fresh cilantro (loose with stems cut off)
1 tsp sriracha - thai chili vinegar hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot Sauce as I didn't have this and didn't have the money in our food budget to buy any)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:Clean and peel carrots, beet and squash. Chop into sections less than 4 inches long. They just need to fit into the pot, don't worry about how big they are, you will puree them once they are cooked.

In a large pot (I ended up having to use two pots, I once everything was pureed, I just mixed all the pureed soup together so there would be no chance of inconsistant taste) over medium heat add the carrots, squash, beets, broth, coconut milk and bay leaves. Cover and allow to come to a boil.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Mince the garlic and ginger. Once onion is translucent add garlic and ginger. Saute for an additional minute then add the onion mixture to the pot of stewing vegetables. When the soup pot starts to boil, reduce heat and simmer. Simmer covered for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

While soup is simmering, make the lime cilantro yogurt sauce. In your food processor add the juice of two limes, yogurt, cilantro and hot sauce. Puree until smooth. Pour into a small serving bowl and refrigerate until you are ready to serve the soup.

When the veggies are soft, you are ready to remove the bay leaves and puree the soup. Then use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. If you don't have an immersion blender, puree the soup  in batches through a blender or food processor.

To serve soup fresh, pour into bowls and top with a dollop of yogurt sauce. You can make a design if you like using simple tools like a spoon and chopsticks. If you are freezing the soup, add all the yogurt sauce and blend.

Do you have a favourite freezer meal soup?

Preggo Lady Survey - 41 weeks

How far along: 41 weeks. On Thursday I had a biophysical ultrasound to see how Victoria is doing. She got 8/8! They checked her muscle tone, movement, weight etc. Annnnnd drum roll... they estimate that she weighs about 10 lbs. I also got a no stress test and she's doing fantastic according to that as well. Today, I had a midwife appointment and I got a membrane sweep. As of this morning, I was 50% effaced and dialated. This girl is on the way soon!

Weight gain: From 175 - 212 - 37 lbs

Innie or outtie: It's more of an outtie now, but it's not super popped out.

Are you buying any "post pregnancy" clothes yet? I've just bought some new tops... pants are definitely going to have to wait until after baby makes her appearance.

Sleep: Still doing pretty well. I still only get up once, maybe twice a night to pee. Some nights I don't even get up to pee at all.

Pregnancy Perks: Being rushed to the front of the public washrooom line, people tend to move out of your way in a crowded area and having doors opened for you.


I can still paint my toe nails! This weeks
accomplishment!

Any downsides? People you know are constantly asking you if the baby is here yet. Yes, it's an easy way to open a conversation, but when so many people are asking, it starts to get irritating. I made a Facebook status that said, 'Thank you everyone for taking an interest how Victoria and I are doing. - Yes, I am overdue. Yes, one of us will get a hold of people once she makes her arrival. If we somehow forget to get a hold of anyone, you can be sure that there will be about a million pictures uploaded - trust me, you wouldn't be able to miss it, even if you wanted to. So... no need to ask every day if we've had the baby yet, okay? Okay! That's all!"

Come on people, it's not like I'm a celebrity or anything - I'm not going to keep it on the down low!

Any random strangers come up out of nowhere and touch your belly? No, thank God. I have people I know (or kind of know) touch my belly, which isn't a big deal to me. It wouldn't be a huge deal to me if another preggo came up and touched my belly. But if anyone else came up and touched my belly, I'm not sure how I would handle it.

Embarrassing Pregnant Moment: Still don't have one. I'm sure if my water broke in public, that would totally be on the list.

Lastest Baby Purchases: Hmm, it's been a while since I bought anything.

Latest Baby Gift: We received a package in the mail from a family friend! Shoes, the best softest blanket EVER, toys, clothes and more :) Love it! <3

Movement: She's REALLY changed in this area. She doesn't move as much and she doesn't do her big rolls anymore. She's just getting big and running out of room in there.

Anything going on 'down there'? Yup! My cervix is thinning out and I've started to dialate. I can also feel Victoria pressing down on my cervix A LOT more. Hoping for this weekend! I'm ready to meet my little girl! (And I know for sure it's a girl, I had them double check when I got my ultrasound done. *update on date of publishing* I woke up and found my mucous plug in my underwear... and I've started having contractions since I woke up, but I haven't bothered timing them to determine if I'm actually in labour or not since just a little earlier... so we'll see! I might have a 'May the 4th baby' and then she can have at least one Star Wars themed birthday party. :)

Food Cravings: Hmmm. Nope.

Food Aversions: Not really.

How's Mama? Still super comfortable. A little tired, but I'm still doing fantastic.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Meeting my little girl, being able to sleep/lay down on my tummy again, be able to see if I have anything anywhere on my shirt. I am hoping that labour and delivery will be easy for me.

My Baby in Veg/Fruit Terms: A watermelon!

What Do I Think My Baby Will Look Like? Blonde/light brown hair, greenish-blue eyes, chubby little cheeks but a long/lean little body.

Natural/C-Section/Drugs? Natural with a midwife, baby. (Although if I have to, I will do whatever it takes to get Victoria out safely. And if I have a LONG and hard delivery and I need relief, I am open to taking drugs... I've made it very clear that I'd rather be encouraged to do without rather than have my support group just agree with me that I need the drugs)

Signed up for any classes? I've done quite a few classes - now the ladies from my prenatal nutrition class are starting to joke that there needs to be a book (or a class) entitled, "what the eff do I do now that I've had my baby"!!!???"


Stretch Marks? I have some on my bum, some on the very tops of my thighs where my legs meet my torso, and on the bottom of my belly. And they are getting bigger and spreading to surrounding areas. Am I ashamed or will I cover them up at the beach this year? No way. My body is doing something awesome.

Are you ready for it to be over? I'm ready to meet her, time is ticking little girl.

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Banana Nut Bread Muffins (Nuts Optional)

Is it a surprise that I'm going to be talking about a recipe from one of my favourite recipes books? The Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking has a great banana bread recipe, and it's quickly become a Go-To for me. It doesn't give instructions or timing adjustments in the book if you want to make muffins instead of a full loaf, so I took the liberty of testing it out. If you choose to make muffins with this recipe, it takes 25-30 minutes until they are done, depending on the climate and region you live in, of course.

 

Now, the reason I have the '(Nuts Optional)' in the posts title, is because I don't often care for nuts in my banana bread - I usually replace the nuts with chocolate chips.

 

Delving a little deeper into why I absolutely <3 LOVE <3 this recipe, is because it's SO versatile! I've subsituted the nuts with so many different ingredients it's ridiculous - and I've loved all of the variations I've tried to date. Below, is a list of substitutions that I've tried and loved.

• Fresh peaches (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Fresh Nectarines (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Chocolate chips, obviously
• Fresh cranberries (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Apple

In the future, I would love to try blueberries (thankfully, we have a blueberry farm in the local area, which I plan to visit in the summer) dried cherries and I think it would be interesting to try this recipe with pumpkin. I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin, but I'd like to start experimenting.

To freeze these muffins, I wait until they are completely cooled and then simply toss them into a freezer bag.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe for the:
Williams-Sonoma Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients:
2 large bananas
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I don't often have whole wheat flour, so I just add more all purpose flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (For those of you who know me, know that I skip adding salt to most recipes)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (I add more but I don't measure it out, I also add cinnamon and ground ginger. For these spices, I go by the fragrance they make together rather than measuring)
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or whatever you'd like to substitute)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 tbsp unsalted melted butter
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees, butter and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan - if making muffins, generously butter the muffin tin. I prefer not to flour the muffin tin.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas. You should have 1 1/3 cups. In a seperate bowl, stir together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt (if using) nutmeg (cinnamon and ginger if using), orange zest, and nuts - or chocolate chips. If you are going to use a dried fruit, add it now as well. If you are using fresh fruit, either add it in with the mashed banana or after the batter is formed.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended and stir in the brown sugar, butter and milk. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternately with the bananas and stir with a rubber spatula unitl just the batter is moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with the rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 50-60 minutes for a loaf, 25-30 minutes for muffins. If the surface starts to brown too much (I haven't had this problem with the muffins), cover with a sheet of aluminum foil for the last 15 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack and cool completely. For the muffins, they should come out rather easily, but if they don't you may want to leave them in the tin for just a little longer, but don't be afraid to sacrifice one muffin to see if they are ready to come out.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or freeze up to one month.

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Pancakes

When I was in the early stages of making my Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal Plan, I have to admit, I completely forgot about breakfasts. It was all thanks (again) to Pinterest for reminding me that first thing in the morning with a new baby, the only thing I might actually want to make from scratch - is coffee.

 

As I've noted before, in my family, we never did freezer meals, so like with all the other recipes I chose, I didn't know what would work well for breakfasts. All I knew was that I didn't like the idea of frozen breakfast borritos. Reason one: I've turned off eggs for the most part since being pregnant. Reason two: I'm not a fan of omlettes - and to me, a breakfast borrito is just an omlette that's rolled up.

 

Thankfully! I LOVE pancakes! I wanted to make waffles as well, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to buying a waffle maker yet - and for something as awesome as waffles, I want to get a decent model. So, so far, for freezer meal breakfasts, I've just got pancakes. The freezing method I used for these, once they were cooled, was to wrap each individual pancake in aluminum foil and then toss them into a freezer bag. I've noticed that many people like to put their freezer pancakes in an old bread bag, but without thinking, I recycled mine prior to making the pancakes. To prepare, I take as many I want out of the packaging, put them in the microwave on a plate in a single layer, turning occassionally until they are fully thawed, hot and ready for toppings.

 
I have two recipes that I've made so far, one Martha Stewart recipes that I've liked for ages that you can make with an orange maple butter (the orange maple butter is pretty good from what I remember, but it wasn't earth shattering enough that I have to make it everytime I make pancakes).
The second recipe, which I just found recently, is made with ricotta cheese. I actually looked for a recipe that contains ricotta cheese because for my baked penne with sausage and creamy ricotta (entry to be added) - I actually forgot to add the ricotta to a few of the single serve meals, so I had extra. I still haven't tried this recipe fresh or frozen yet, since ricotta isn't a pasturized cheese and I'm restricted from it for now. I'm also not sure how these pancakes will freeze, but, I decided that I was willing to test it out.

 

ALL that being said, here are my pancake recipes for you.

 
 Martha Stewarts Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp coarse salt (I usually leave out salt recommended in recipes)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk

1/4 cup whole milk

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for griddle

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cups blueberries

 

*Note: If I don't have buttermilk, I have used just the cream in the amount needed for both the buttermilk as well as the cream (or vise versa if I don't have the cream)

Directions:
Whisk together flour, cornmeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, salt (if using) and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).
 
Heat a griddle or a large nonstick skillet over med heat. Toss blueberries with 2 tbsp sugar. Brush griddle with melted butter and spoon batter into griddle 1/3 cup at a time. Sprinkle with sugared blueberries, about 2 tbsp per pancake. Cook until edges are set, 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and blueberries, adding more butter to griddle and keeping prepared pancakes warm on a baking shee in the oven. Serve with orange maple butter and maple syrup. http://www.marthastewart.com/350631/orange-maple-butter

 

Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes 
 

Ingredients:

15 ounces low fat ricotta cheese

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 cup blueberries

cooking spray

confectioners' sugar or maple syrup, for serving (optional)

 

Directions:
In a medium bowl. whisk together ricotta cheese, sugar, eggs, grated lemon zest and vanilla extract. Fold in flour until just combined; add blueberries, gently mixing until combined. Spray large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-low heat. Add batter, using a scant 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer pancakes to a paper towel-lined plate.

Serve hot, with confectioners' sugar or maple syrup, if desired.

Life Lessons I Hope To Pass On To My kids - Part IV

1. Learn how to say 'No'. You don't have to say 'Yes' to everything and everyone, you aren't responsible for pleasing everyone. Make sure that you have time left for yourself. Often, we don’t always feel like we have the right to say NO, or not now, or I just can’t do this or that – so we say YES and end up feeling overwhelmed.  Don't cause yourself suffering from the resentment that comes from overfilling your plate. I want for you to be able to say (with confidence) NO! To me, to their friends, boyfriends – to anyone or anything that doesn’t feel right to them.  It's Okay to say no.
2. Trust your gut and intuition. When you aren’t sure of something, ask yourself, "How do I feel about this?" instead of "What do I think?" More often than not, you will know the answer.
3. You don't need to be in a relationship to be happy. Find ways and things that you can do that make you happy and fulfill you. You aren't a loser if you don't have a significant other in your life. A relationship doesn’t validate you.
4. Know how to take care of yourself. Know how to make yourself happy. And, find what you need to develop your spirit, passion and satisfaction in life. When I talk about independence, I don’t necessarily mean, you need to be able to stay home all alone and do everything without me. I mean you need to learn WHO they are, and know how to take care of youself emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
5. Love your body. Beauty doesn’t come in a specific package, size, shape, or form. I want you to feel beautiful - not in spite of what they may see as flaws, or what society says are flaws – but including these things.
6. You are never too old to dream or to follow your dreams. And more importantly, if you can dream it – you can do it.
7. If there is something you want in life, you need to learn to work hard to get it. I don’t want you to think that everything in this world will be handed to you on a silver platter. I expect you to work hard and contribute around the house. Your work ethic will get you far in life and you will be recognized for it.
8. Learn how to say you're sorry. Not just to other people, but to yourself as well. If you can say you are sorry, you can admit when you are wrong, then you can grow from those mistakes. And even more important,you can learn to forgive yourself (and others) along the way. 
9. Have a grateful heart.  You learn gratitude, not by being told to say ‘thank you,’ but by truly appreciating things in their own way. Try to stop and smell the roses along life’s path.
10. Don’t take life for granted. This doesn’t mean that I want you to feel like the end is near, but the reality is time is short. Much shorter than we think it is at times. LIVE every day of your life. Don't hold onto to regrets or losses, or anger or resentment. Laugh as much as possible (even at yourself), love as often as you can – and make positivity a part of your life. “Life is too short to sulk."

Preggo Lady Survey - 40 Weeks

How far along: 40 weeks! Today is my due date. On Thursday I have an appointment for a biophysical profile ultrasound to make sure that her nice and cozy home is still, well, nice and cozy. They'll check the amount of amniotic fluid still available for her, the placenta etc just to be sure that we're both well and that it's still a safe option to have her naturally, if I need to be induced or if a C-Section is in order.

Weight gain: From 175 - 212 - 37 lbs

Innie or outtie: It's started to pop out just a little bit this past week

Are you buying any "post pregnancy" clothes yet? I've just bought some new tops... pants are definitely going to have to wait until after baby makes her appearance.

Sleep: Still doing pretty well. I still only get up once, maybe twice a night to pee. Some nights I don't even get up to pee at all.

Pregnancy Perks: Being rushed to the front of the public washrooom line, people tend to move out of your way in a crowded area and having doors opened for you.


Any downsides? Sales clerks don't help you in regular stores when you are visibly the size of a house... I went shopping for some new tops yesterday that I'm hoping will work for my body, (Assuming my tits don't grow bigger than I actually expect - I did make sure that there would be extra boob room) and the sales clerks in all of the stores pretty much just said 'hi' and that's it. I'm not scared to ask for help when I want it and they are avoiding customers, but yesterday I just didn't feel like asking.

Any random strangers come up out of nowhere and touch your belly? No, thank God. I have people I know (or kind of know) touch my belly, which isn't a big deal to me. It wouldn't be a huge deal to me if another preggo came up and touched my belly. But if anyone else came up and touched my belly, I'm not sure how I would handle it.

Embarrassing Pregnant Moment: Still don't have one.

Lastest Baby Purchases: Still the same as last week, crib sheets and a playpen. Although, yesterday when I was at Value Village, I managed to score a toy bin (which I will have to repaint) and some other random kid stuff for my favourite price - FREE! from another mom just about to donate her stuff.

Latest Baby Gift: Sadly, we haven't been sent anything recently.

Movement: Big rolls and jabs. Most of the time she doesn't hurt me though. I keep thinking that I should grab my camera and roll tape before she's born so I have something to look back on.

Anything going on 'down there'? Nope. I had my midwife appointment on Thursday. Not dialated. No effacement. She's locked in like a prisoner in Alcatraz. For now anyway...

Food Cravings: Hmmm. Nope.

Food Aversions: I haven't really wanted to eat pork. Or eggs for most of my pregnancy now that I think about it. But someone who loves me an awful lot made me an omlette yesterday. They are the only person who can make an omlette that I actually enjoy.

How's Mama? Still super comfortable. A little tired, but I'm still doing fantastic.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Meeting my little girl, being able to sleep/lay down on my tummy again, be able to see if I have anything anywhere on my shirt. I am hoping that labour and delivery will be easy for me.

My Baby in Veg/Fruit Terms: A watermelon!

What Do I Think My Baby Will Look Like? Blonde/light brown hair, greenish-blue eyes, chubby little cheeks but a long/lean little body.

Natural/C-Section/Drugs? Natural with a midwife, baby. (Although if I have to, I will do whatever it takes to get Victoria out safely. And if I have a LONG and hard delivery and I need relief, I am open to taking drugs... I've made it very clear that I'd rather be encouraged to do without rather than have my support group just agree with me that I need the drugs)

Signed up for any classes? I've done quite a few classes - now the ladies from my prenatal nutrition class are starting to joke that there needs to be a book (or a class) entitled, "what the eff do I do now that I've had my baby"!!!???"


Stretch Marks? I have some on my bum, some on the very tops of my thighs where my legs meet my torso, and on the bottom of my belly. And they are getting bigger and spreading to surrounding areas. Am I ashamed or will I cover them up at the beach this year? No way. My body is doing something awesome.

Are you ready for it to be over? I'm ready to meet her, but she can come whenever she wants.

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Cornbread & Buttermilk Clover Rolls

Ahhhh, breads! How I love bread! For both of these recipes, once they are finished and cooled, I just toss them into a large freezer bag and take out just as many as I need at the time. I usually take them out about an hour before I want to eat, let them thaw for a while, and toss them in the microwave so they are warm when I eat them. I do flip them over so they are heated evenly.

I am a HUGE fan of cornbread. My favourite meal when I went to summer camp was when chili night finally came - and it always came - because it was always served with cornbread. LOTS of cornbread.

The recipe I use is from one of my favourite cookbooks, which I received as a gift from someone who loves me very much. <3

I have to say, some of my favourite recipes are from this book.

The Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking Classic Corn Bread recipe has the option to add fresh corn kernels, as well gives you a few flavour variations. Although I haven't tried the variations yet, I have to say, Red Pepper and Jack Cheese Cornbread sounds yummy - I'm not too sure about the Sun-Dried Tomato and Pistachio Cornbread.

I did manage to find the exact same recipe on someone else's blog, because well, I didn't want to have to type the whole recipe and directions out - but I really dislike when I am checking out recipes on blogs and get redirected to another blog - I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and write my blog to my standards and my (blog follower/reading) preferences. You lucky bugger you...
Williams-Sonoma Classic Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh corn kernels (Optional, and I left them out)
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey or firmly packed brown sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 1/3 cups buttermilk (If you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and then enough milk to equal 1 cup, then let sit for 5 minutes)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Butter an 8 inch cast iron frying pan or an 8 inch square baking pan. (For the last batch I made, I double the recipe, so I had to use a bigger baking pan)

In a bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soday, salt and the corn kernels (if using). Set aside.

In a large bowl, which the eggs until blended. Add the honey (or brown sugar), buttermilk and butter. Whisk until blended. Add the dry ingredients and stir until evenly moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let the bread cool slightly in the pan on a wire rack. Serve warm. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days or freeze up to 1 month.

Buttermilk Rolls

I found the buttermilk rolls online, and I have to say, I love, love, LOVE this recipe! The rolls are tasty, have few ingredients that you probably already have in your house and are quick and easy to make. With this recipe, you don't have to let the dough rise for very long - and you don't have to punch down and let rise for a second time.

If you had to have fresh rolls and have them done for company coming over in a couple hours, this would be the recipe you are looking for.

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 (0.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 tablespoon honey

5 tablespoons butter, melted and divided

1 egg

Method:
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the flour, salt and yeast until well combined; set aside. In a small pot, heat buttermilk until warm to the touch (about 115°F). (Be careful not to overheat the milk since it may cook the egg.) Remove pot from heat and whisk in honey, 3 tablespoons of the butter and egg. Pour buttermilk mixture into bowl with flour mixture and whisk until a thick batter is formed. Stir in remaining 1 3/4 cups flour until a soft dough is formed.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting dough with more flour as needed to keep it from sticking, until smooth and no longer sticky, 7 to 8 minutes.

For cloverleaf rolls, divide dough into 36 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Arrange 3 balls of dough in each cup of a greased 12-muffin tin. For large pull apart rolls, divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a small ball. Arrange balls of dough snugly in a greased 9-inch round cake pan. Brush rolls with a bit of the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, then cover loosely and set aside in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush rolls with remaining butter and bake until deep golden brown and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot, spread with butter, if you like.