Receta Corn Flour as Social Media.
The term “social media”
designates sites on the internet (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter to name a few)
where people could keep in touch with friends, family, business associates, and
even make new found friends. It is a way
to keep up with the latest news on the home front, as well as around this vast
world; a way to learn about other cultures and places to explore. The term “social media” has now become an
oxymoron; a rhetorical device that uses a self-contradiction to illustrate a
rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox; sometimes used to create some sort of
drama. Don’t understand what I’m
referring to? Think about it, while
cooing over the latest baby photos, how many friends and/or family members were
horribly bashed, then unfriended and blocked, because they didn’t agree over
some political event? Maybe it was a
negative life experience, someone needed to be blamed; easy targets are those
people who are nothing more than a name on a computer screen.
Hark, not all is lost on
social media; there are havens of sanctuary called “groups”; where folks of
like mind can gather, talk, share and not have to put up with the
negativity. One such group I joined is
“Navajo and Pueblo Cooking” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1545140772414467/), administrated by Pauline Haines who runs her own
bakery in New Mexico. The members of
this group are mainly Navajo, but anyone can join, so long as they have a love
for cooking, and learning about new recipes and techniques. This group is a good example of what social
media should be, but we humans simply love the drama; sorry, not in this
group. Recently I learned about blue
cornbread and a video on YouTube from “Navajo in the City” was featured; many
gave their own take on the recipe, but overall it was met favorably. I haven’t played with any Native American
recipes lately, so here was my inspiration.
First the recipe:
Blue Cornbread
From Navajo in the City
Ingredients:
1 and ½ cups blue cornmeal
(roasted is best)
½ cup white flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
½ cup melted butter
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F. The cook used a 9 x 13 baking dish, but
didn’t mention if it was pre-greased.
With cornbread, usually a smear of butter or baking spray is used to
keep it from sticking to the pan. Place all the dry
ingredients into a large bowl (I sifted them).
Whisk together the wet ingredients in a small bowl, then pour into the
dry ingredients; mix as you pour. Place
batter into baking dish, bake for 25 minutes.
However, and you know I do
this from reading my articles, doing something different was in my plans. After creating the batter, I divided it in
half; the first half was spooned into a muffin tin with paper liners. Into the second half of batter I added 1/2
cup of blueberries carefully folded in, so as to not break them. Into another muffin tin with paper liners
this went into; use an ice cream scoop as it gives the perfect portion for
muffin batter. Again, 400F for 25
minutes for 12 muffins, and a toothpick inserted into the center came out
perfectly clean. By the way, many don’t
like baking with blueberries as they have a tendency to be too juicy, and their
blue color leaks. Not with this recipe,
it’s already blue!
Pink liners get the batter with blueberries included.
Now for the taste testing
(it was just hubby and myself), as is, the muffins weren’t anything to write
home about, a bit bland, moist and not too crumbly. The cook on the video said
she was primarily making the cornbread to create a “stuffing” later on. However, she also stated this recipe is
similar to making blue corn pancakes, just add vanilla. Let’s
try out some typical muffin fixings: Cream Cheese – No; Butter – Meh; Honey –
Yuck; Cactus Jelly – To Die For! We both
tried the cactus jelly combined with each of the other ingredients; while an
improvement, the jelly alone was the huge winner. Another item we both agreed on was the
blueberry addition as a nice touch, but next time add more (2 cups for 12
muffins should do the trick).
There you have it, next
time you’re on a social media site, and not feeling very social, learn to bake
or cook something. Challenge yourself,
not antagonize others.
Mary Cokenour