LUCY BURDETTE: First things first--congrats to Daryl Wood Gerber and Peg Cochran for their new books this week--can't wait to dig into those!
Readers of this blog may not realize what goes on behind the scenes in this blog--maybe it's like sausage-making, right? Better not to know too much:). But my pals at Mystery Lovers Kitchen had a funny chat online last week--we thought you'd like hearing a little of it...the wacky minds of mystery-writing foodies. We're always thinking of you!
SHEILA: I'm still taking pix for this Friday's post. Do we all just take pix at every meal? I took a picture of my drink at a restaurant last night. Weird.
MARY JANE aka VICTORIA: Pix all the time! Not even the vegetables have any privacy, Sheila.
LUCY: Definitely no privacy for YOUR vegetables MJ! My husband gets alarmed if I don't take pix--he thinks the meal will surely be sub-par:)
KRISTA: LOL. I take pics of other things, too. Snowy limbs, flowers, birds, funny stuff I see. You just never know what you’re going to need.
MARY JANE: Right now there are guys trimming branches around our Hydro lines (as electric lines are called up here in Ontario.) I'm taking pictures. They are waving--probably dangerous. Not sure how to make this into a blog unless it's I'm Sure Glad I Have My Job.
SHEILA: Did you take them snacks? How about a post on what linemen eat?
Okay, back to the business of recipes. I'm a few months late with this cornbread recipe--you could have used it last fall when you were making your stuffed pumpkins and cornbread-sausage Thanksgiving stuffing! But after the winter most of the country has had, I decided to jazz it up with a go-away winter zippiness that comes from mangos and jalapenos. 
We've had some fabulous mango bread from our local bakery, Cole's Peace in Key West, and I thought, why not cornbread?INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup cornmeal3/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups milk, plus 1 Tbsp white vinegar
3-4 Tbsp butter
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 ripe mango, chopped
Mix the dry ingredients. Add the vinegar to the milk and wait a bit for it to thicken. (I've given up buying buttermilk, as I wasted too much of it.) Beat the eggs into the milk, add this to the dry mixture and stir until combined. Then stir in the mango and pepper.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Drop the butter into the 8x8 inch pan you will use to bake, and melt it by popping the pan into the oven for a few minutes. Pour the cornbread batter into the prepared pan and bake 15 to 20 minutes until slightly brown. Serve hot, with more butter if desired. (We found we didn't need it.)
It was wonderful with chili, but I bet it would be delicious with eggs or all by itself as a mid-afternoon snack. Heated up with a little honey slathered on?
Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. MURDER WITH GANACHE is in stores now!
Follow Lucy on Facebook, or Twitter, or Pinterest! She loves it when you pin her stuff:)
PS I should warn you all that I'm taking a two-day class in
iPhonography--that is how to take better photos with my iphone. Snapseed, Hipstamatic, Dynamic Light, Image Blender...oh my poor brain is spinning...See what you think about this piece of mango cornbread, compared to the one above...I'm going to try some things out on you, and hopefully the photos will get better, not worse!
