"Little House" Cracklin' Cornbread

You may say crackling...I say cracklin'.
What are cracklin's anyway?
Plain, unadulterated pieces of crispy fried pig skin rendered from the lard making process.

So now that we have that all cleared up....
...IT'S THE FIRST FULL DAY OF FALL, Y'ALL!

Recently I shared that I was reading the book Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser. 

Although the book shed a lot of light on many things (and some I would really rather forget),

I was left wanting to know more and more about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'd never read her "Little House" books until recently...
I finished them just last week and now I want to read them all over again!

I only became familiar with the fictional Laura when Little House on the Prairie came to TV.
It has been a favorite show since the 70s and I still record and watch them regularly.
I never grow tired of these wonderful stories, even if I do know exactly what's going to happen next.

And the books are even better...how is it even possible that I hadn't read them all these years?
I especially enjoyed reading about all of the wonderful sounding food that Ma cooked daily.

That led me to finding and purchasing The Little House Cookbook.

Now that fall is really in the air, my thoughts go to making soup, specifically chili.
And what goes better with a steaming bowl of chili than cornbread?
So one recipe that sparked my interest right away was the one for Crackling (Cracklin') Cornbread.
I read about this first in Farmer Boy, book #2 in the series,
the story of Laura's own Almanzo Wilder when he was growing up.
This was a favorite thing that his mother made for him and so I decided to try my hand at it.
I am sure the cracklin's back in those day were somewhat different than what we get in stores today.

The ingredients and the recipe...

The recipe calls for stone ground cornmeal but I accidentally got self-rising stone ground...
I really don't think it made much of a difference but probably would not have needed the baking soda.

You add the melted butter to the batter right before placing it in the baking pan.
As you can see, I should have used my larger skillet...it was to.the.top!

I thought it might even out grow the pan...

Nope!

I couldn't wait to try it and I did...just a few minutes out of the oven.

The cracklin's had softened quite a bit but they gave it a really good flavor
and along with the dense, rough texture of the stone ground meal....m-m-m good!
I do believe the next time around I will use the cracklin's from the meat department...
rendered right off the pig, not processed...more authentic for this recipe.
If you are used to a sweet, cakey-like cornbread, this may not be for you though.
It reminded me very much of the cornbread that Mom used to make when I was a little girl...
and I didn't even like it back then...how our tastes can change, right?

So that little morsel that I sampled wasn't quite enough...
...and then a great idea popped into my head!



A couple of weeks ago, a sweet blogging friend sent me a little gift for my birthday...
...a jar of her yummy homemade raspberry jam.
Oh my goodness, can I just tell you what a wonderful combo this was?!
The salty cornbread...the sweetness of those berries...m-m-MMM!

That was yesterday and it was 86 degrees.
Last night, fall paid us a visit...today it hasn't gotten out of the 60s and it's cloudy and damp.
Perfect soup weather, I'd say...wouldn't you?
So here's my chili I just made this afternoon and here's Almanzo's cornbread.
No jam, just butter.

Pardon me while I dig in.

Have a wonderful first week of autumn,
 sweet friends!




Sharing at:
 Amaze Me Monday

A Hodgepodge and a Recipe 😋

Is it hot enough for you in your neck of the woods?
It wouldn't be that bad if we would only get some rain every now and then.
I have been watering my little garden morning and evening...
...it's about the only thing in my yard that is green.
Our small patches of grass and usual carpet of lush green moss is brown and crackly.
But I am thankful that my potted veggies are producing.
Here is one of the golden zucchinis......isn't it pretty?

 And I'm about ready to chop another lovely purple eggplant off the vine.



I took the first one to TN a couple of weeks ago and fixed it there.



Here's how I prepared it:

*cut eggplant into approx. 3/8" slices leaving peeling on (you can remove it if you prefer)

*salt both sides of slices and lay in colander for about 15 min. to let them sweat out the moisture

*pat dry with paper towels after the time is up

*combine panko bread crumbs, grated Parmesan and garlic powder and place in pie plate

*beat 2 eggs and place in shallow dish

*heat large skillet with a generous amount of oil of your choice (I used olive oil)

*dip slices in egg wash to coat and immediately dip in crumb mixture, pressing it in to both sides

(It's best to prepare enough so you can place them in the skillet to cook at the same time.)

*add prepared slices to skillet and fry until golden brown, turning half way

*add salt & pepper to taste, remove from pan and rest on paper towel-lined tray

It was delicious and I could have eaten the whole bunch of them!
Super good dipped in ranch dressing too!
~
So let's get on over to Joyce's Hodgepodge...

 ...where she asks the questions on her blog and we link up answer them on ours.

1. I feel most energized when I.....first get up in the morning. Remember that mini-trampoline? Every morning at 4:45 or so you will find me bouncing my little pea-pickin' heart out for about 15-20 minutes. It gets my blood a pumpin' and afterwards I am ready for some breakfast and my coffee. It's important to jump first, before you eat or drink...too much sloshing if you don't...and that's not a good thing.

But even before I started this regime, I have always been an early riser and if there is a big project on my agenda, I need to get started on it as early as I possibly can. Don't let me forget these words in mid-September when I take a week off to do nothing but BIG PROJECTS.

2. Where were you ten years ago?

Here, doing what I'm doing now. Jim was probably unemployed...the company he was employed by for 36 years moved to Mexico and he was unemployed for 18 months. It was also the year that a little girl was finally added to our family...our precious grand-daughter, Olivia was born that December of 2008. What a joy she has been! We were also still enjoying our cabin in VA as often as we could and the plans for moving to Tennessee didn't exist.

3. July 17th is World Emoji Day. Do you use emojis? Uhh...let me think...

Which one's your favorite?Your most used?

4. What song would you put on a wedding DO NOT PLAY list?

Basically, anything by George Jones or Tammy Wynette..."He Stopped Loving Her Today", "She Thinks I Still Care", "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", "I Don't Wanna Play House"...just to name a few.

 

5. What deserves less of your attention? More of your attention?

 

Well, let's see...there's social media, surfing the web, photo editing, Pinterest and did I mention social media? I'm probably making it sound as if that's all I do, which is really not the case...I'm just trying to be honest here. I could most definitely cut back on my time online, period. Lord knows how much time I waste some days. I am the procrastinator of all procrastinators unless I have a deadline, which I do...so I better get busy on this house of mine...again. But ultimately, I need to give less of my attention to me and more to others. Ouch.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

 

I have always been a fan of "Little House on the Prairie" and I record the reruns, always having some of the episodes on my "to watch" list. But believe me when I tell you, "Little House on the Prairie" this is not...I knew that going in.

 

I am only less than a third through the book (which is over 600 pages) and if you can get through the long two-part introduction, which is the history (a quite graphic description I might add) of what was going on in land at the time, you just may have trouble putting it down. I am truly amazed by this woman.

We'll be on the road again in a couple of days, this time to Ohio. Spending time with my brothers and sisters is always at the top of my list and there is never a dull moment.