Corn Dog Muffins!

Laura (2 yrs old) has been becoming more and more picky.   She doesn't like any fruits, and eats very few vegetables.  I have started trying to figure out ways to 'hide' fruits and veggies.  Since she loves bread, and has been known to eat the occasional corn dog (and Aldi's had packs of hot dogs for a dollar) , I decided to make a homemade corn dog muffin.



First, prepared a cornbread batter.  I used a recipe from Crieve Hall Cooks a book made by the ladies of  Crieve  Hall Church of Christ.  My mother-in-law used to go to this church, and gave me this cookbook.
Here is the original recipe, but I do a couple of things differently for the muffins.  First,  I mix all my wet ingredients first in the bowl, to keep from having to use two bowls.  Also, since we are cooking this in muffin tins, instead of a cast iron skillet, I melted the bacon drippings in the microwave and added it to the batter.  I did NOT preheat my muffin tin.  Remember, we are using this recipe more or less just to get the batter.

Aunt Baddie's Cornbread

1/4 cup bacon drippings (or oil)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk

Put bacon drippings in cast iron skillet.  Preheat skillet  in 400 degree oven until drippings are melted.  Combine dry ingredients.  In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.  Add to dry mixture with bacon drippings; mix well.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.




Since the object of this is to get more veggies into Laura, I added about 1/2 cup of leftover corn to the batter. Since she ate this so well, I may try to add some finely grated carrot as well next time.


I greased my muffin tin with shortening, and added the batter (about 2/3 full for each muffin).  Then, I took two hot dogs, and cut each one into 6 pieces and dropped one piece into the center of each muffin.  Press it down lightly into the batter.  Once your oven is preheated (to 400, like the recipe), just pop them in the oven on a lower rack until they start to brown on top.  They took about 20 minutes.

This recipe made 12 corn dog muffins.  As you can see, by the time I could grab my camera, I only had 6 left!  I think that's safe to say they were a hit.  Laura ate three,  Mark had two, and I tried one.  Laura called them "hot dog birthday cakes" (I suppose since she thought they looked like cupcakes).   I put the leftovers in the fridge, since they have meat inside, and will have a ready snack for Laura for the next couple of days!

This recipe was really easy and cheap.  One pack of hot dogs cost one dollar, and I used two out of the pack.  So, twenty cents for the dogs, and probably another dollar in the other ingredients.   $1.20 for twelve corn dog muffins definately beats $4.00 for some frozen corn dogs at the store (plus there is corn hidden in mine) I will definitely be making these again, and trying to hide another veggie or two inside.

Homemade Sourdough Bread- Cheap and Delicious!

Last year for Christmas, I got a bread machine.  It was the best Christmas gift I had received in a long time, and it came from my mother-in-law.  Since then, pasta night has always included fresh bread that my husband and daughter love.  It has saved me a ton of money, since I was buying the pilsbury Italian bread dough (refrigerated section) for over $3.00 per loaf.

I had been eyeing the sourdough recipes in the machine's manual and on allrecipes.com, but was a little intimidated. Finally I looked up some recipes for the starter, and was amazed at how easy it is to make and keep your own sourdough starter.  I decided that I should just try it.  I started mine on Monday and after a week of feeding, it was finally time to see if my starter was a "working" starter.  Guess what?  It was the BEST bread I have made so far.

So here's how I did it:

On Monday, I stirred together 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water and put it in a large empty yogurt containers (I always save any containers like butter tubs, yogurt tubs, etc).   You can use any container that will hold about a quart that is plastic or glass (no metal).   Then I put it on top of the fridge.  On top of a fridge is supposed to have the most constant temperature of any place in your kitchen.  The idea is that you will cultivate your own 'crop' of the yeast that occurs naturally in both the flour and the air.  If you want to help the process along just a little ( I did), you can sprinkle a little commercial yeast into the mixture (when I say a little, I mean like 1/8 tsp or less).

Then, once a day for four more days, I "fed" my starter another half cup of flour and half cup of water and put it back on the fridge. No more commercial yeast is needed, since you are trying to get the natural yeast going. Think of it like a needy house plant during this week, needing daily attention.  On the sixth day (Saturday, in this case), you SHOULD be ready to bake with it.

Sounds easy so far, right?  It was even easier than it sounds!  I did set a reminder on my phone for the same time each day, since I didn't want to forget to feed it.  Now for the recipe I tried! Remember, this recipe is for a bread machine, but it could be done by hand.

    Basic Sourdough Bread    

    3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

    1 cup sourdough starter

    1 1/2 teaspoon salt

    2 2/3 cups bread flour

    1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Add all ingredients in order
2. Select dough setting, and push start
3. Bake in/on the greased pan of your choice at 365 degrees until golden.

I hardly ever bake the bread in the bread machine, but if you wanted to, you would select the white bread setting.

When you take the cup of starter out, you should replace it by adding 1/2 cup each of water and flour.  Now  you can put your starter in the fridge and you will only need to feed it every week or so.  Remember to always replace what you use.

Now that I know that I CAN make  sourdough bread, I am going to expand on it and try sourdough rolls and sourdough pizza crust.

I will update with some pictures soon, and I will let you know how my other sourdough experiments turn out.  
Until next time. . .

*NOTE*  It has been brought to my attention that I didn't specify whether the starter should be covered or uncovered.  It should indeed be covered.  Also, you want to make sure your container has plenty of room left in it when you 'feed' the starter.  If you need to, you can always discard a cup (or make more bread!)  before you feed.