When You Can't Have Your Mommy: Homemade Chicken Rice Soup & Buttermilk Cornbread

**WARNING:  This blog contains explicitly self-absorbed and whiny material.  While the author fully understands the concept of 'starving children in Africa' and 'people worse off than you,' she has taken the creative license to b*tch, moan & complain with the best of them.  Don't judge her too harshly-- she did just get her hair butchered at SuperCuts.  It looks like this except BIGGER.  Now back to our previously scheduled bloggraming...



The Sweet Lovin' Man & I have had a WEEK!

For the SLM, it's been an ongoing battle of dental work to end all dental work.  For me, it started with the Topsy Turvy Cake & zero sleep.  Then my delightful and delicious friend Brandy (aka: B. McKay) visited me from Los Angeles, we 'partied hard,' and then the following two days I drove out to Arlington Heights (a good hour & a half) at the buttcrack of dawn to earn my Illinois Food & Sanitation Certificate.  The results haven't come in yet on my exam but one official result from this lack of sleep? A COLD.

Needless to say, my honey & I were sore, whiny, sniffly, loopy, whiny and stir crazy.

I wanted my mommy but she's in New York!!!  So instead I made some homemade chicken rice soup (we had a bird in the fridge-- how could I not?) & also this amazing buttermilk cornbread I got from All Recipes.

I'd never made homemade chicken rice soup before with an entire chicken.  I looked at A LOT of recipes-- some called for cooking up the bird & then using the bones.  Others called for chopping up the bird & browning it in butter.  I opted for the 'throw everything in the pot, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for an hour method."

There's Helga the chicken.... lots of onion, celery, rice, carrots... for seasoning-- thyme, sage, bay leaves, salt & pepper.  It was pretty tasty!

But the real star of the show was this cornbread.  The Sweet Lovin' Man thought it was the best thing I'd ever made.  Another reason I like my men drugged.

So here she is!  A delightfully moist & delicious cornbread that was like a hug from mom.

MOMMY!!!!  :)

BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

• Preheat the oven to 375.  Grease an 8in round cake pan.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar.  
• Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended.  
• Combine buttermilk with baking soda & stir into butter sugar egg mixture.
• Stir in cornmeal, flour & salt until well blended and a few lumps remain.  
• Pour batter into greased pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.  

Enjoy!!!

Sniffles & whimpers,
Miss Mandi *cough* Crocker *whine*