Corn bread!!!

Hello again :) this is kind of exciting! lol- also! i realized what i wanted to say with the title of my blog. you cant learn to do things in your brain and then say you know how... what i mean is, you cant read everything about cooking and then know how to cook. you have to cook to learn. and thats what im doing! cooking to learn!... to cook. lol

aaand ive been cooking for about a month now. at the beginning of the month i was content making food that didnt poison us. now i want a little more...

at first.. and still actually, when im looking for a recipe, i look for the MOST simple recipe possible. unless its like my favorite thing on earth, then ill go through the trouble. otherwise, forget it. the thing that intimidates me still is scanning the ingredients and seeing something ive never heard of before! and that happens to me.... um.... on a daily basis lol. corn starch? what is that? shortening?? i was looking for it next to the sugar. i dont know the difference between parsley and cilantro.. still dont. OR if i see directions that i dont understand.. i didnt know what "mincing" was. i do now. it means cut it up real small! lol - i wish theyd just say that! or "poach"- i still dont really know what that means.. im pretty sure it means boil. ? i dunno. im still learning.

anyway, the first thing i made with JUST ingredients was corn bread! it made me SO happy that it turned out the right color lol..  so, i want to tell you how to make it. its super easy and SO good with butter :) :)

the ingredients are:

1/2 stick of butter (salted i think- i still dont know how different they make the food ?)
2/3 cup of sugar (then i add 2 more tbsp at the end)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (which is curdled milk btw!! i didnt know. and yes. its gross. but trust me)
1/2 tsp baking soda (apparently, even tho it looks inedible its not. in small doses. i still dont know why this is different than baking powder? but for now, whatever.)
1 and 1/4 cups cornmeal (i got the finely ground meal.. there are different kinds, i guess it depends on how grainy you like your corn bread.. i dont like grainy)
1 cup all purpose flour (and from now on ill just say "flour" and if the purpose of it isnt "all" THEN ill specify.. otherwise i dont get the point)
1/2 tsp salt

so first, our oven takes approximately 78 minutes to heat up to a usable temperature lol.. so BEGIN by preheating the oven to 375.

put your stick of butter in a glass bowl and put it in the microwave for like 15 seconds.. or until its soupy but dont nuke it! pour your melted butter into your mixing bowl and mix in the sugar. whisk together quickly then add your eggs. BEAT WELL! at this point i feel like it looks like the inside of a bear claw :) mmm -- but dont eat it. this batter is gross at all points!

then when you pour your buttermilk into a measuring cup, also toss in your baking soda. mix them together in the measuring cup and THEN pour them into your other mixture.

now add your cornmeal, flour and salt. mix them up until theyre well blended (you can leave some lumps.. i dont like lumps. but some people do... im assuming the same people who get grainy cornmeal lol) - OH also! if your batter is too watery, you can add a tbsp of flour.. stir and see if its better. keep adding flour until its the consistency of a thick cake batter.

pour your batter into a cake pan or a muffin pan (dont forget to oil the pan.. i use PAM. verrrry convenient) and bake for 30 minutes. then check on it... and the trick is to stick a toothpick into the cake part to see if its done. if the toothpick comes out clean, no goop or crumbs on it, then the cake is done! (THAT trick i knew from my previous obsession with funfetti cakes lol) 

so try it out and let me know how yours tastes!