Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

Today you get a bit of a history lesson along with the recipe.

The sodbusters couldn't run down to the local mini-market or grocery store. They had to rely on what they could grow or what they bought in town on their once a month trips. White sugar was a luxury so sorghum molasses was used as a sweetener. How do I know? NO! I'm not that old. But here is what my grandfather wrote about food in 1880-1890s when he was a kid.

I do not remember ever having to go to bed hungry... It is true that we often longed for pie and cake, and other fancy foods, when we had only cornbread and sorghum molasses. But there was always fine country butter to go with the cornbread, and plenty of good rich milk to drink – and what drink can be better for children than good fresh milk. Mother was a wonderful cook, and could get up a good meal from the nearest nothing ... Her butter was the best and always brought the top price at the store. There was nearly always flour in the flour box, but the necessary frugality forbade it being used all the time... In summer there was no refrigeration in those days, so the only fresh meat was chicken or wild game. Cottontail rabbits were plentiful, and made a fine meal. Then there was fish in the creek that run close by – sun perch, blue-gills, and some catfish; brook trout occasionally, but hard to find.

I have a cookbook from 1892, The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes. Its recipe for corn bread follows:

Sift three quarts of corn meal, add a tablespoonful of salt, one teaspoonful baking powder, and mix sufficient water wit it to make a thin batter. Cover it with a bread-cloth and set it to rise. When ready to bake stir it well, pour it into a baking-pan, and bake slowly. Use cold water in summer and hot water in winter.

I didn't think this would work for us so here is my recipe for Molasses Cornbread
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons oil or melted butter
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round pan or 8-inch cast iron skillet*.

Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until well blended. Pour the batter into the greased pan.

Bake for 15* to 25 minutes, until golden.

Cut into wedges. Serve with fresh butter, molasses and a glass of cold milk.

Makes 6 to 8 wedges.

*I melted the butter in my cast iron skillet so didn't need to grease it. Because the skillet was still warm, the corn bread was done in 15 minutes.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

I found this recipe at Enriching Your Kid blog. It was easy to make, especially when I put my son-in-law in charge of cooking. Although the recipe suggested eating the crepes with cream, we ate them with butter, plain, or rolled around bits of chicken and vegetables. I bet these would be great with maple syrup for breakfast.

The original recipe called for jaggery, a sweetener. Jaggery is made from unrefined cane juice or palm sap. My son-in-law is very particular about his jaggery. It has to be from palms. I read that panela from Mexico and South America is similar to jaggery. I had neither so used brown sugar.

Keep little fingers busy making Parmesan Cheese Toast Fingers. Then snuggle up to read Busy Fingers by C.W. Bowie. C.W. Bowie is a team of writers made up of Wendie Old, Mary Bowman-Kruhm, and Claudine Wirths.

Parmesan Cheese Toast Fingers
Ingredients
1 slice of sandwich bread or gluten free bread
Soft tub margarine
Grated Parmesan cheese

Toast the bread. Let it stand until it is cool enough for a child to handle. Let the child spread a thin layer of tub margarine on the bread using a table knife or a plastic picnic knife. Shake, shake, shake some grated Parmesan cheese over the top. Then gently pat, pat, pat the cheese onto the toast so it doesn’t fall off.

Using a table knife or a plastic picnic knife, an adult or a child under adult supervision can cut the toast into “fingers.”

© Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD 2010

To Think About for Kids of All Ages
When would you eat these? They would be yummy as a snack. I dip them into Vegetable Soup. What kind of soup would you dip them into? What else would these taste good with?

My solution was to make gluten-free Leftover Banana Squash Quick Bread inspired by Carol Fenster’s Banana Bread from Cooking Free. I used banana squash which had been baked with no spices or sugar. You may need to decrease the sugar and/or spices in the following recipe if you are using squash leftovers which are sweet and/or spicy.

Leftover Banana Squash Quick Bread
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 tablespoons brown rice flour
10 tablespoons potato starch
5 tablespoons tapioca flour
3 tablespoons bean flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoon garam masala or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 ½ cup mashed cooked banana squash
½ cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350oF. Grease three 5x3-inch loaf pans.

Combine sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in medium mixing bowl; cream.

Mix together dry ingredients. Add to egg mixture, alternating with mashed squash. Stir well to combine. Mix in dates.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes.

Cool on wire rack for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Makes 3 5x3-inch loaf pans.

2009 © Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD