I didn’t have the closest relationship with my mom’s mother, grandma Cates. I would see her in Arkansas during the summers I spent with my Aunt Sue-Sue, but I was too young to see her as a real person. To me, she was my grandma. A cute older lady I respected and loved because she was family, but I didn’t really know her at all. Of course, now that I’m older, I wish I knew her better and I also feel my connection to her in small ways.
Tonight, I planned to make Black-eyed Peas for dinner to ring in the new year. All I wanted to go with it was my Grandma Cates’ favorite Mexican Cornbread. I didn’t want to bug my mom for the recipe so I planned to approximate it with recipes I found online, but when I was doing research for the recipe nothing felt like it was going to hold a candle to grandma’s. I decided to try my mom and see if she could give me a little guidance.
When I called my mom, she was knee-deep in a home improvement project applying a decal to a dresser, but she hopped up off the floor to take a picture of the recipe and send it to me. She’s amazing like that, always giving to others and so, so creative. I know she passed some of those qualities to me and I’m sure she got at least some of that from my grandma. We had such a lovely little chat while she was sending me the recipe, catching up on each other’s lives since we last talked a couple of days ago. She let me know that she’d found the link to this blog on instagram and she encouraged me to continue writing and sharing, which brought me to tears. Having her endorsement on this space means the world to me. I’m so happy she’s reading and that she’s proud of what I’m creating. That conversation is something I’ll hold in my mind forever. I know I’ll return to it when the doubt creeps up on me and I start to think that I’m never going to make my dreams come true.
How cool is it that my grandma created that connection between my mom and I tonight? My grandma’s Mexican Cornbread recipe is a family treasure and now I get to pass it along to you, my friends on the internet. If you make it, you’ll be connected to us too and my grandma will have a role in helping this space grow and fulfill my dream of being a writer and blogger, a dream I’m sure she would support. It gives me chills just to think about the connections that define our lives.
Now, onto the recipe. I’ve said this already, but this is some GOOD STUFF friends. It’s super easy, but it takes cornbread to new places. It’s perfect with soups, chili or as a carb-y accompaniment to your Sunday dinner. Please let me know if you make it and what you think of it. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Cornmeal
- 1 Cup Flour
- 4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Cream of Corn or Fresh/Canned Corn
- 1 1/2 Cups Grated Cheese (I used Sharp Cheddar)
- 1 Large Onion, finely chopped
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 Cup Milk or Buttermilk
- Diced Jalapenos to taste. If using pickled jalapenos, use about a Tablespoon. I used an entire large, fresh deseeded jalapeno and it was delicious, but not too hot. I’ll probably keep a few seeds in next time because I’m wild like that.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 415 degrees.
- Mix all ingredients together until just combined, being careful not to overmix batter so that it stays fluffy.
- My grandma’s original recipe said to heat 1/4 cup of oil in a skillet and then put half of it into the raw ingredients and then add a bit of cornmeal to the rest of the oil in the skillet to prevent sticking. I misread the recipe, but I think it led to a very happy accident. I melted 1/2 of a stick of butter in my skillet, allowing it to turn brown and get nice and nutty. I then stirred in some cornmeal and made sure it hit all of edges of the skillet. Then, I poured the batter in the skillet and baked. It led to a delightful. buttery edge and I’d highly recommend it.
- Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes or so.
Enjoy! Please let me know if you try it. Do you have any special family recipes? I’d love it if you’d share.
