Granny Smith Green

Our Great Western Adventure, Part 2

(all of these photos are courtesy of Hubby)

If you remember from before, we recently took a trip out west in our renovated 1955 Silver Streak camper.

It took us about 36 hours to drive from our hometown in Southern Illinois to Glacier National Park, since we stopped at a rest area and slept a little while and also drove through The Badlands...

 

 

Stopped by Mount Rushmore...

And Devil's Tower.

I love Devil's Tower. It reminds me of watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind with my dad when I was little.

I really wanted some mashed potatoes while we were there.

(How many of you know why?)

There's a prairie dog town at the base of the tower and we saw THE CUTEST little wild creatures I've ever seen.

Sometimes they would play...

and play...

and then all of a sudden...one of them would pop straight up in the air and make the cutest little squeak.

I wanted to get a video of it, but Hubby took these photos with the really huge zoom lens and there's no way we could have gotten close enough to capture the sound.

But I did find this clip from Animal Planet on YouTube:

 

(What did we do before YouTube?)

That clip shows the inhabitants of a prairie dog town warning each other when a predator was nearby. It truly is amazing! We saw it firsthand!

I love prairie dogs.

But don't worry, I'm not going to look for one to turn into a pet.

(our dogs and cats would eat it)

Cornbread...and Cornbread Salad

Something else I brought to Aunt Di's cookout was cornbread salad. There are lots of ways to make it - you can personalize it to suit your tastes.

But the most important part is the cornbread.

And today I'm going to share my dad's cornbread recipe with you! Aren't you lucky?!?

Yup, you sure are!

This cornbread recipe is a fantastic, savory, crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-and-crumbly-on-the-inside.

Some people like a soft, sweet, cake-like cornbread.

This is not one of those recipes. But it is the best type of cornbread to make cornbread salad with (or to serve alongside a bowl of beans that have simmered on the stove all day long. Damn, it's been a while since I made some of those...might be time again soon...)

The most important element of this recipe is making sure you cook it in a cast iron skillet.

My Dad's Cornbread

1/2 cup vegetable oil or bacon drippings

3 cups Aunt Jemima Self-Rising White Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/4 cups milk

3 eggs

First, put the vegetable oil or bacon drippings in the skillet and put it in the oven so it will heat up as the oven does.

Turn the oven to 425. Once the oven is heated, then begin to mix up your batter. That way, by the time you take the skillet out of the oven, it and the oil/drippings will be SUPER HOT --- this is what gives this recipe a great, crispy crust.

Stir all of the dry ingredients together. Next, add the milk and eggs and mix until combined. It's ok if it looks a little lumpy.

Be very careful taking the hot skillet with the hot grease out of the oven.

Pour the batter into the skillet. You should hear a nice sizzle (this tells you that you'll get that nice crispy edge).

Bake for 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Ooooooooohh YUM! You must make this ASAP!

When it comes out of the oven, make sure you have a piece while it's hot!

Come back tomorrow for the cornbread salad recipe!

 

Cookout 4th of July Weekend

Aunt Di had the family over to celebrate the 4th with some good food and swimming.

 I brought fireworks cookies.

I used my great-grandma's sour cream sugar cookie recipe for the dough and followed the directions for the icing from Martha Stewart Living.

They look complicated, but they're super easy and gorgeous!

Aunt Di made a couple of pies...

They were strawberry jello pies and I don't have her recipe, but if you'd like it, leave me a comment and I'll be sure and get it for you!

(3 swimming cousins)

(this photo courtesy of Hubby)

(this one, too)