Jalapeno Cornbread

Two things I love are being Southern and pretending to be more Southern than I really am. The truth is, I am Southern mostly only geographically speaking. I was born in Alabama (can't get much more 'neck than that...) then lived briefly in North Carolina and the rest of my years in Florida. Despite being born in the one of the more camo states of our union, somewhere along the way I lost all hopes of being a real Southern girl. I love all things Southern, but if you gave me a Southerner litmus test, I would fail. Let's try and think of 5 things that all true Southerners can do and see which of them I can check off:

1) hunt - no way, I cried over a dead lizard on our sidewalk last year
2) speak with twang - I fake it occasionally, but it's not that believable. I can say y'all though!
3) have a confederate flag - this is just a can of worms here...
4) make cornbread - this is one I am working on to increase my Southern-ness and I will give you the recipe to help YOU increase YOUR Southern-ness too!
5) love sweet tea - okay this one I can check off, but only with a little check mark. Of course I love sweet tea but I always order it "half and half", half sweet, half unsweet. That's basically half northern which is mostly half treason...

So I can check off 3/4 of 1 and 1/2 of another, which makes me...lemme do the math...3/4 + 1/2  = 6/8 + 4/8 = 10/8 = 1 2/8 = 1 1/4 out of 5 =  5/4 x 1/5 = 1/4 soo I'm 25% Southern and 100% annoying teacher. Yikes.


Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Honestly, I have no idea where the pock marks came from...but I didn't want to waste a perfectly good picture over a couple of dents! Yours should be smooth on top...oh well! Like I said, it's not Food Network :o)

This is for your 10 or 12 inch skillet.

1 cup Finely Ground Yellow Cornmeal
1 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tblsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Chili Powder (remember it is very spicy!)
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Half & Half
6 Tblsp. Melted Butter
2/3 cup Fresh or Frozen Corn (to thaw frozen corn, put in a colander and run cool water over it for a couple minutes)
1-2 Tblsp. Jarred or Fresh Jalapeno, diced
2/3 cup Cheddar or Mexican Cheese (also known as a handful or two)

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Butter the sides and bottom of your skillet. Get your fingers involved so you don't miss a spot. I rub the stick all over and then smear it around.

2) In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking soda and powder, sugar, salt, and chili powder) with a whisk. Set aside.

3) In a medium bowl, combine your wet ingredients (eggs, sour cream, half and half, and about 4 Tblsp of the melted butter). Stir all that up and then throw in the corn, jalapeno, and cheese. Oh yum.

4) Add the wet mix to the dry and stir until everything is just moist. Don't overmix it, and you know, don't undermix it either. Once I was pouring in the batter and a huge chunk of the dry ingredients fell out. Whoops.

5) Heat your skillet in the oven for a few minutes or on the stove-this helps get the crust crispy. Pour in your batter and makes sure it's all nice and level.

6) Bake for 10 minutes, then pull it out and drizzle 2 Tblsp. (the rest) of your melted butter on top. Return to the oven and bake about 10 more minutes or until it's golden brown. Careful not to overcook it though, or else it gets crumbly.

Enjoy, y'all!! 

My piece is a little puny compared to yours because I actually halved to recipe and used my 8" skillet. Still delicious!

*adapted from The Cast Iron Skillet cookbook...oh! does owning a cast iron skillet make me more Southern?? Because I have 7. Literally. I should get about 5 percentage points per skillet, so 35 points plus the 25...I'm half way there! I'm practically Paula Deen already!!



Bonus! Get to know your host day! 
Here are 10 Southern things that I do know a little something about:
1) making biscuits from scratch
2) country music
3) FSU football
4) being wife-ly
5) family
6) front porches
7) magnolias
8) ante-bellum mansions
9) seersucker
10) church on Sundays