Honey Butter Cornbread – Another local recipe from my friend Amy

2 1/3 cups flour |||| 1 cup cornmeal |||| 1 cup honey |||| 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder |||| 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature |||| 3 eggs |||| 1 teaspoon salt |||| 1 2/3 cups 2% milk

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Add honey, butter, eggs, and milk in a blender. Blend until ingredients are evenly combined.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

3. Then slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, using a whisk to blend completely.

4. Pour batter evenly into a greased 16×9 glass baking pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Amy says: I used honey for this recipe because its the only sugar source produced naturally in Upstate NY. Also, I did not use salt but if your able to get a hold of salt in your local region, I would definitely recommend.

BastaPasta says: I had a taste of this sticky cornbread last Saturday night. It was a crazy night made better by the addition of local cornbread. Mad good son.

(This is the first contribution from Amy, a good friend of mine and now a locavore!)

4 beet stalks |||| 1 large carrot |||| 2 cloves of garlic |||| 1/2 of a red onion |||| few slabs o’ butter |||| dollop of honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut stalks off the beets; put the greens aside but do not throw away. Wash the beets and put in oven safe baking pan, sprinkling a nice portion of water over the beets. Put foil over the pan and toss in the oven. Set timer for 30 minutes.

2. Wait about 20 minutes until starting the next steps. Mince garlic and chop onion to your preference. Chop carrot into thin slices. In a pan melt butter, throw in garlic, onion, and carrot. Flame is high; let this stir-fry until carrots are browned. Wash the beet greens (that you set aside before) and begin to tear away into bite sized pieces, throwing into the stir-fry pan. If needed, add more butter. Set the flame to a lower setting and let the greens mix and cook into everything in the pan.

3. Take the beets out of the oven (they are ready when you can easily slide a knife though the heart of a beet). Run each beet under cool water, the skins should slide right off. Chop the beets into quarters, then add to the stir-fry pan. Grab your dollop of honey and toss in the pan, now raising the flame. Let all the ingredients mix well and when they look evenly combined, turn off the heat and enjoy!

To read Amy’s tips and review, click here…

This recipe was made from all locally grown vegetables available in Upstate New York in the month of October. Since becoming a ‘locavore,’ I have gotten quite creative in the kitchen. This meal was filling, tasty, and easy on the wallet. Find any of the local ingredients at the local farmers market, co-op or grow on your own! Also, because I am strictly eating only things grown within 100 miles of Syracuse, I am confined to use butter instead of olive oil and a few other things. Feel free to put this over brown rice, add different veggies (ginger would be great!) or use olive oil instead of butter.

The total cooking time for this recipe was 35 minutes. This recipe is only for one, but it can be easily doubled, tripled or whatevered to satisfy more mouths.