Brought to You by the Letter C, as in Caramel Coffee and Corn Cakes!

...and Cold. Short post today since I've caught the cold my dad has had for the past few days, so I didn't do any major cooking this week. Monday was National Crab Meat Day, and I intended to make some crab salad and Cheddar Bay biscuits, but that was the day the cold hit me, so it didn't happen. I did however fry up some corn cakes for a simple breakfast with some Folgers Caramel Swirl Coffee, so I will share that learning experience.

I used Granny's Fried Cornbread.

2 c cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c self-rising flour

*record scratch*

Do I HAVE self rising flour?? Whoops. Quick jump over to allrecipes.com for a self-rising flour recipe!

Self-Rising Flour:
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Stir or sift together.

Back to the main recipe!

1 c water
1/4 c bacon drippings or cooking oil. I used canola oil.
1/2 c milk or buttermilk. I used buttermilk.
1 egg

Gently stir all ingredients together in a bowl. Drop batter with a large spoon onto a hot, well-greased griddle. I greased my griddle with butter but in hindsight, I think I'd rather fry them in a skillet of bacon grease. I think it would add more flavor, cook more evenly, and hey you now have bacon for breakfast with your corn cakes! Cook as you would for pancakes, turning to cook both sides. Serve with butter. I drizzled syrup over mine. My preference is for real maple syrup, but all we had in the house was low-calorie "breakfast syrup." (I obviously did not plan this ahead of time.)

They were passable, but they seemed to cook a little funny. Comments on the recipe suggested adding sugar, and butter to thin them out, and I think I'll try both next time. I put the leftovers on a plate and covered them with tinfoil, but I had to put the plate in the safety of the microwave because my carb-fiend cat tried to get to them! My cat is just like me: carbs, carbs, carbs! I can leave a burger, salmon filet, crab cakes, etc. unattended and he has no interest in them. But if I sit down with a pastry, he is right in my face trying to steal it!

"Just stretching. Not trying to get apple turnover. Nope."

In other news, I got accepted to both our local community college and the college about 40 minutes away that has a Culinary Arts and Hospitality program! I would like to get my gen eds out of the way at the local college so I don't have to commute for class while juggling a full-time night shift job, but it may take less time to just jump into the CA program at the farther school. So, deep breath, I'll talk to advisers at both schools and go from there!