BEAUTIFUL COOKING WATCH ONLINE

CORNBREAD RECIPE

Dry Ingredients:
*1 & 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
*1/2 cup whole wheat flour
*1/2 cup unbleached white flour
*4 tsp. sodium-free, aluminum-free baking powder
*1/4 tsp. baking soda
*1 Tbs. nutritional yeast
*3/4 tsp. iodized sea salt (or to taste)
*1/2 tsp. potassium salt (or to taste)
*1Tbs. sugar

Wet Ingredients:
*Approx. 3/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce
*Enough water to make 1.56 cups of total liquid ingredients when mixed with the applesauce

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and them mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Bake at about 325 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until it tests done, in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper.
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SUCCOTASH RECIPE
(A slow cooker recipe that takes about 5 hours, or a little longer, on the high setting.)

The ingredients in order added…..

Place in a 6-qt, slow cooker and turn it on high…..
*1 (29 ounce) can of concentrated crushed tomatoes -- salt-free
*1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes -- either salt-free or not salt-free
*3 cups frozen corn kernels (thawed)
*3 cups frozen green lima beans (thawed)
*2 cups water

After the above gets almost to the boiling point, stir in…..
*2 bay leaves
*1 & 1/2 Tbs. fresh thyme leaves
*1/2 Tbs. garlic powder
*1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
*1/2 tsp. hot sauce or a pinch of cayenne pepper
*2 cups diced onions -- micro-waved until almost totally cooked and still hot
*1 cup diced celery -- micro-waved until almost totally cooked and still hot
*1 small sweet red bell pepper (raw) -- diced -- (about a 1/3 cup -- but you can use much more than this amount, if you want)
*2 cups chopped fresh collard greens (raw)

After the succotash comes to a boil, stir it and then let it simmer until it is almost done. When it is almost done, stir in and then let simmer until done…..
*1/2 tsp. iodized sea salt (or more to taste)
*1/2 tsp. potassium salt (or more to taste)

The succotash is served in a baked pumpkin bowl.

Capri Lemon Pasta with Peas, Lima Beans and Asparagus. Adapted from recipe in The Modern Vegetarian: Food Adventures for the Contemporary Palate by Maria Elia. For four servings the recipe called for the juice and zest of two lemons.

Don't you just hate when it says that? Large lemons, small lemons? I want to know how many ounces of lemon juice, how many teaspoons of zest.

All of us agreed the lemon flavor was too strong. But otherwise it was great. I couldn't find the fava beans, fresh or frozen, at Whole Foods or the Fresh Market, so I used lima beans.

Served with spinach-avocado salad with carmelized pecans, currants and dried cranberries.

To carmelize the pecans:
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small skillet. Add half a cup of pecan halves and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir and cook two or three minutes till the pecans are carmelized. I found this recipe on the internet. We liked the results, but a lot of the brown sugar and butter were not incorporated. I think maybe the heat was too low. I will try this again.

Blenheim ginger ale is a local favorite, produced in Marlboro County, South Carolina. Really good!