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In the late ’80s — a few years after my mom had crossed the river –my dad, then in his early 80s, began to date his school sweetheart. While it felt just a wee bit odd, I wasn’t unhappy about it; the company was good for him and he seemed much happier. Maudell was a talented traditional southern Louisiana cook who was content to stir up bayou favorites but had no trouble jumping on the convenience food wagon as necessary. As my dad was also quite a cook (though you never knew what was in that soup pot), they sometimes each cooked a dish and ate together; that worked out well for them. When I’d visit, though, it was up to me to feed all of us and let the “old folks” have a break from the kitchen. One meal, when I’d thrown a pan of Jiffy cornbread (Lord) in the oven to round out the menu, Maudell was quick to ask me, “Why didn’t you make broccoli cornbread?” I’d never heard of broccoli cornbread but she, sparing no detail about the deliciousness of said bread, promptly wrote the recipe down for me, since she had it memorized! I did, for quite a while, then make broccoli cornbread many times. Who wouldn’t? It was good. It was fast. Easily stirred together with lots of butter, cottage cheese, and eggs, broccoli cornbread wasn’t as healthy as it sounds but there was never any left either. It’s been a minute or two since I opened up a box of Jiffy cornbread mix or made broccoli cornbread but I thought about it often as I worked on the recipe for ZUCCHINI CORN MUFFINS these last couple of weeks. Vegetables in bread; it’s a tasty thought!

I’m a sucker for cornbread and make corn muffins just as often as I make cornbread, I’d say. If there’s a pot of beans bubbling on my stove or in my slow cooker, one of the two will soon be in the oven. Peruse the blog, and you’ll see Peaches and Sour Cream Corn Muffins not too awfully far from Apple-Cheddar Corn Muffins, for instance. Turns out that cornmeal, which I sometimes add to a variety of baked goods for texture, is happy to be in the pan with a lot of different ingredients. And, you know, corn is a whole grain food and not too expensive, to boot. One of the other wonderful things about corn meal is: It’s gluten free. An all-cornmeal bread is an easy and fresh baked good for you to make when your gluten-free friend comes to Thanksgiving. You might even make my gluten-free muffins–shown below. (Do, however, make sure and buy cornmeal labeled “gluten-free” if you’re baking for someone with celiac disease versus someone who simply avoids gluten, for instance.)

Baking muffins isn’t time consuming–they are, after all, a quick bread, which we’ve discussed in other posts– and it makes most people pretty happy to have fresh, hot bread. That makes them worth making often. Once you get the knack of preparation, you’ll soon be able to bake them in the flashiest of flashes. Here’s the basic order of prep for almost any muffin:

• Preheat the oven. About 400 F.
• Grease the tin. Lots. Or give in to the paper liners.
• Mix up the wet ingredients. (This includes sugar because sugar melts.)
• Stir together the dry ingredients.
• Mix the wet and dry ingredients together along with any other ingredients like fruit, nuts, or grated zucchini.
• Divide the mixture into the muffin cups.
• Bake about 15 minutes. Et voilà: BREAD.

Muffins make soup seem like a meal; they go well with an omelet at breakfast or a salad for lunch; they’re lovely for midnight munchies or car trips; and they keep the kids coming home for an after-school snack. If they’re a day or two old, split in half, butter, and grill in a little grill pan or skillet over medium-high flame until grill marks show or they’re toasty brown. All yummy again! You can also top the grilled muffins with eggs (I sometimes cut them into thirds to grill for that). Look at the next photo. What do you think? There’s breakfast.

If twelve seems like too many, share a few and freeze a few. I often just store them in a gallon resealable bag for freezing if I’ll use them soon. To keep them longer, wrap each muffin in plastic wrap before storing in a resealable bag or a freezer-safe glass or plastic container. To thaw, take out the amount you need and leave them wrapped on the counter to thaw overnight.

If you’ve still a little garden zucchini to use, grate up just a cup—about half a medium-sized zucchini– to make my muffins, and try this:

TIPS:

1. While many cornbread aficionados swear by coarsely ground cornmeal, I prefer a finely ground white cornmeal here — such as the cornmeal made by Quaker. It has sadly gone up in price but you’ll get a lot of cornbread out of one container. However you make it, you’ll save a ton of money as I looked today in the grocery and 4 corn muffins were 4.59! Quaker’s cornmeal is $4.99 for 24 ounces.

2. “You may freeze grated zucchini without blanching. You may absolutely put grated zucchini into a freezer bag or other freezer-safe containers, mark the amount to track volume, and freeze it. Thaw to use. Your zucchini will retain most of its volume when thawed, and you may use any liquid formed in your recipes.” (This is information courtesy OLD FARMER’S ALMANAC.)

New to muffin baking or just want to make a better muffin? Read up here for Alyce’s Tips for Baking Your Best Muffins.

If you like these, you might also like my recipes for:

• Blueberry-Peach Muffins with Ginger
• Black Pepper-Parmesan Corn Muffins
• Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins
• Pumpkin-Pepita Muffins
• Upside Down Apple-Spice Muffins
• Banana-Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips (a more typical, sweet-style quick bread)

LIFE GOES ON:

The last nights of eating on our eastern deck, which overlooks the city of Colorado Springs, are upon us. Some summers, we spend a lot of time out here. Others, such as this one, the weather — heat, wind, rain, etc. — keeps us housebound at dinner time. Lunch is another story and we are often outdoors midday well into October despite knowing our first snow comes any time.

We had dinner in Denver last Friday night with some of our local family. SIL, Carolyn at left and our youngest, daughter Emily at right. Carolyn and Bill, husband and best sous Dave’s brother, are moving part-time to Florida this week and we’ll miss them. Christmas will be here when we are next together. This means a lot of our family is now in Florida but I think we’re sticking it out in Colorado.

Below: I’ve been serving the easiest of Burrata Salads this week to make the best use of the last our tomatoes and basil before the first freeze. Want to try? Layer seasoned greens, quartered and seasoned tomatoes, torn burrata, fresh basil and basil flowers if you have them, and lots of lemon zest. Sprinkle with a bit more fresh ground black peppe and crushed red pepper. Drizzle generously with Balsamic vinegar and with only a little olive oil. Done. Need more? Add grilled, seasoned shrimp. Burrata, by the way, keeps just a day or two after opening-so buy only what you’ll need.

Enjoy the last days of summer. Watch that harvest moon! Try and not spend too much time worrying about the election.

Thanks for keeping me company baking more (and more) muffins,

Alyce