Honey Vanillla Cornbread with Balsamic Berry Compote

I was going to make a corn pancake, but I don't have a cast iron skillet. Now I know this is silly. Food blogger without essential cooking tools...

Anyway, since the recipe for corn pancakes and cornbread is extremely similar...cornbread for breakfast!

Honey Vanilla Cornbread

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Vermont Maple Sea Salt
2 eggs
1 cup water or milk
1/4 cup Vanilla Olive Oil
1/4 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x9 pan for thicker cornbread, you can use a 9x13 if you want it nice and thin.

Stir together the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. When the oven has come to temperature, stir the dry ingredient mixture into the wet slowly. Mix gently to just combine. Do not over mix the batter, it should be just moistened and still a little lumpy.

Turn the batter into your pan and bake immediately 20-40 minutes. Shorter time for a larger pan, longer for the smaller. The very edges should start to pull away from the pan and be browning. A toothpick inserted in the center of the pan should come out clean.


Balsamic Berry Compote

1 1/2 cup mixed berries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp Raspberry Balsamic
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp water

Place all the ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer together to reduce about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep it from burning. You can serve this right out of the pan, or toss in the fridge overnight and it will gel up a bit more like a loose jam. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Raspberry Bars

I made oatmeal cookies for dessert on Christmas. Since they had to be vegan and I wasn't prepared, they spread an awful lot. I thought it would've been easier to have just made oatmeal bars and that would have been that. So that got me in the mood to make oatmeal bars, with a nice thick jam layer on top...

Of course, I've been busy and I have only just gotten around to making them. Two months too late. Or you could argue that I've got great timing since raspberries are perfect for Valentines Day!

Whichever it is, Happy Valentine's Day!

Oatmeal Bars with Raspberry Balsamic Jam

3/4 cup Vanilla Olive Oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole wheat flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350degrees. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper, or use a pan with a lift out bottom.

Combine the sugar, olive oil and the egg in a large bowl. Stir until smooth.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. I like to start with the spices and baking soda and end with the oats.

Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake. About 25 minutes.

Cool slightly then remove from the pan. Spread the Raspberry Balsamic Jam over the top and cut into squares.

Raspberry Balsamic Jam

3/4 cup raspberry jam, seedless
2 tbsp Raspberry Balsamic

Warm the jam slightly in the microwave or over the stove top. When you can stir it, it's ready.

Pour in the Balsamic and stir well to combine.

You can always make extra of this, I love it on toast!

Cranberry Tart

Cranberry Tart

1 prebaked tart shell (10 1/2 inches)
3/4 cup cranberries
3/4 cup raspberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 - 1/4 cup raw sugar for garnish
3 tbsp Raspberry Balsamic

If you have a prebaked tart shell, good. If not graham cracker crusts are good for this, or the Vanilla Pie Crust from Thanksgiving's Pumpkin Pie would be perfect here.

Press your crust into the pan and bake at 350 for no more than 10 minutes. Crust should be starting to brown.

Heat a pan to medium high. Use a non-stick or give the pan a light wipe with olive oil. For flavor, I'd prefer Vanilla, Meyer Lemon or Blood Orange. Add in the cranberries, raspberries, brown sugar and balsamic. Cook, stirring well, for around 5-7 minutes. Pour immediately into your prebaked shell and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Finish this off in the oven. 5 - 10 minutes should be fine. Just watch the crust for burning. It only took 6 minutes for the raw sugar to caramelize in my oven.

Balsamic Chicken Fake-out

Balsamic Chicken Fake-Out, with Lemon Stuffing and Lemon- Walnut Green Beans

This is the easiest chicken dish ever. So perfect for when you are on the run, or just don't really want to cook. Grab these items from the grocery store:

1 rotisserie chicken, plain or herb is best

1 bag, steam in bag green beans
1 can instant stuffing

Cut your chicken into quarters with your kitchen shears. Place in an oven safe dish. Using a pastry brush, coat with balsamic vinegar. I usually choose Zesty Lemon, but I also love it with Raspberry, Black Walnut, Juniper Berry and Fig. Place in an oven heated to 350degrees and bake 10 minutes.

Steam your green beans. Place in a large bowl, sprinkle with walnuts and drizzle on about 2 Tbsp of Meyer Lemon Olive Oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with Sun-Ripened Tomato Sea Salt.

For the stuffing, replace the butter in the instructions with Meyer Lemon Olive Oil but make no other changes to their recipe.

Make sure to hide all the packaging because no one should know how easy this is!

2 Kinds of Balsamic with Brownies!

None of my recipes turn out pretty! I am upset with that. But I hope the tastiness makes up for that.

Balsamic Brownies

1 Box of your favorite brownie mix. I like what-ever-is-on-sale-this-week fudge.

1 pint fresh berries

2 Tbs Espresso Balsamic

Raspberry Balsamic for drizzling

Make your brownies according to the directions. As a last step, add the Espresso Balsamic. Bake.

Serve warm with berries on top and drizzled with Raspberry Balsamic.