Pete's Cornbread Recipe

1 c white flour 1 c corn meal 1/4 c sugar 1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt 2 eggs? (maybe only 1 - it's no big deal) 1 1/2 c milk or buttermilk (not for me) 1/2 cup oil (caution, don't use motor oil)

Mix and thorougly stir the dry ingredients together. Gently scaping the powder up the sides of the bowl, make a crater as deep as you can. Pour the milk into the crater [from this point you may add the eggs and oil whenever you like - now or later after you have stirred the milk and powdered stuff into a batter]. GENTLY stir the sides of the crater into the milk [vigorous stirring will leave you confronting great lumps to break up]. Continue to stir until the mixture is a (lump-free) batter. If you haven't done so yet, go ahead and add in the eggs and oil and stir it thoroughly. The batter should be kind of liquid, so you don't want it stiff like bread dough. Pour it into a greased (or PAM'd) square or rectangular casserole pan, leaviang some space at the top for it to rise. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then bake the cornbread for about 40-50 minutes at 325-350 degrees. When it begins to separate from the sides of the pan, it is ready to escape the oven. You can test the center with a toothpick - slide the stick into the cornbread and pull it out; if it wears a few crumbs, it isn't ready yet - put it back in the oven for a few minutes more; if it comes out, clean, it's ready to eat. But really, I would let it cool on a rack for about 5 minutes first.

Variations:

* Grandpa Nunley was a Dixie purist: no sugar - THAT's yankee cornbread! doo wa diddy, Daddy. * Myself, I usually substitute honey for sugar. If I've made it the same way several times lately, I'll use molasses in place of the sugar. * I also usually use 1 1/2 c corn meal or all corn meal. [Corn meal not being especially glutenous, the white flour provides the gluten to bind it; the eggs serve a like purpose.] * I typically use Egg Beaters in lieu of eggs. * Although I use olive oil, any veg oil is OK, just not as free of trans-fatty acids [stuff that glumps in your blood - if you like your blood glumpy, then hey, knock yourself out]. If you like it really luxurious, use liquified or softened butter instead of oil; liquified shortening is OK too, just full of trans-fatty acids, just like "hydrogenated" veg oils.

ANN'S 4-LAYER DESERT

This one came to Ann from a shipmate's wife long ago when we danced to Fleetwood Mac, Creedence,  and the BeeGees, when we sang along with Peter Paul and Mary, Dylan, Judy Collins and Joannie Mitchel.

1st Layer:        Blend together 1 C flour,  1 stick butter,  1/2 C chopped nuts and press in the bottom of a rectangular 9" X 13" pan or baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min or until light brown.  Let it cool. 2nd Layer:      Beat 8 oz softened cream cheeze and 1 C powdered sugar until smooth.  Fold in 8 oz Cool Whip (or whipped cream if you want to get real 'pinkie up').  Spread it over the cooled 1st Layer crust. 3rd Layer:      Mix up 24 oz pudding [2 12-oz boxes or 3 8-oz boxes of instant pudding works really easily - dark chocolate has a preference in this household, although milk chocolate, lemon, vanilla, butterscotch, coconut, banana would do just as well according to your preference]  Follow directions on the box(es) and adjust per your desires (3/4 C milk makes thicker pudding than a whole C), or just scoop out of one of those mongo cans from the big box warehouse store.  Pour it over the 2nd layer. 4th Layer:      Shortly before serving cover all of it with 8 oz Cool Whip (or whipped cream) and 1/2 C chopped nuts. Pig out, go back for more, belch, fall asleep, wake up and have sex.  It's really THAT good.

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