Buttermilk Corn Bread Waffles

I'd been thinking about corn bread several times over the last few weeks, but hadn't really had anything lined up in the menu that sounded good with corn bread.  But when Justin took all of the Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits to work with him this morning, it didn't leave us with anything to eat with our leftover chicken pot pie filling.   My first instinct was to just bake some corn bread, but as I was whipping up a batter, I decided some crispy waffles sounded way better.

VERY COOL NOTE:  I actually learned something cool and healthy as I was making these - you can use ground up flax seeds mixed with water to substitute eggs!  My recipe requires 2 eggs and of course, midway through making the recipe with all my dry ingredients mixed, I realized I only had 1 egg in the fridge.  I figured I could use a little extra butter to kind of substitute it, and after Googling, that is an option, but another option I found sounded way cooler.  1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water substitutes 1 egg... thank you very much, vegans!  It's probably not a good substitute for most people because I imagine most people don't keep flax seeds on hand.  We, however, often have some in our freezer for making granola.
(This site I found has a list of 5 Egg Substitutes - great resource!)

I also recognize that most people don't keep buttermilk in their fridge like we do.  You could make this recipe with whole milk, but you have to do a little more adjusting than just that.  Do not use baking soda, but instead add 2 additional teaspoons of baking powder for a total of 3 teaspoons.  Buttermilk has a higher acid content and needs the baking soda in baking applications.  It's science... you heard?

I'm listening to Lagwagon's "Razor Burn" as I am typing this sentence, so that's the rock I'm going with.  -jen

BUTTERMILK CORN BREAD WAFFLES
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  25-30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  5-6 waffles

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar (2 tbsp if you like your corn bread less sweet)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten (or 2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tbsp water)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.  Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients all at once.  Mix just until all dry ingredients are combined.  Spoon into waffle maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.  (Mine cooked in 5 minutes.)

Note:  If you wanted to just bake corn bread using this recipe, just grease a square (9"x9") baking dish, pour in batter and bake in an oven preheated to 400 F for 15-20 minutes.

Served with chicken pot pie filling

Buttermilk Biscuit Chicken Pot Pies

Crossing biscuits and gravy with chicken pot pies!  Our deconstructed pot pie?  Or our open-faced pot pie?  Whatever it is, it's freaking delicious.

Justin had been wanting to do pot pies recently; the traditional kind with a pie crust.  We even bought a perfect sized ramekin to make a family-size one in.  But... he's been on another Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuit kick and made such a perfect, huge batch.  We'd recently seen some traveling food show where a restaurant was known for their chicken pot pie biscuits and gravy and we both drooled on ourselves a little when we saw it.  We had the biscuits, we had the chicken, we had most of the vegetables... it was on!

I just roasted some seasoned chicken thighs at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes.  I leave the skin on while cooking and it comes out ridiculously crispy, like cracklins or chicharrones.  Then I removed it before pulling the meat off the bone.  I'm not going to lie... I ate 2 of the skins straight up and felt guilt.  Massive, delicious guilt.  I just threw the remaining skins into our freezer bag of broth-makin' scraps, but I kind of wish I'd kept one of the super crispy ones to chop up and sprinkle on top of the plated biscuit pot pies.

The potatoes I cooked real quick while I was chopping up and sauteing the veggies, it doesn't take too long to cook them.  The instructions are below.

This recipe makes a large amount of gravy/pot pie filling.  If it's more than you want, you can always freeze it.  Or just cut the recipe in half.  Or make somebody's day by sharing it with them... that's what we did.  Justin took most of the batch to work to share with his coworkers since it's just the two of us at home.

Going back a little ways with some Stiff Little Fingers doing "Straw Dogs".

BUTTERMILK BISCUIT CHICKEN POT PIES
Time:  about 35 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 10 cups (10 servings - large batch!)

• 12 tablespoons butter (1.5 sticks)
• 2 cups carrots, diced 1/2" (about 3 medium)
• 1.5 cup celery, diced 1/2" (about 2 stalks)
• 1.5 cup onion, diced 1/2" (about 1 medium)
• 1.5 cups crimini mushrooms, diced 
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (optional for colour)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups potatoes (about 1 medium), diced 1/2" and cooked (see How To below)
• 1 cup peas, frozen
• 3 cups cooked chicken, cubed 1/2" (about 4 thighs or 3 breasts)
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/4 cup packed basil, chopped
• salt to taste
• Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits (see recipe here)

In a large skillet or stock pot (that holds at least 4 quarts), melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add carrots and celery, cook about 5 minutes.  Add onion and mushrooms, cook 3-4 minutes until onions are translucent.  Add sage, black pepper and turmeric, cook 1 minute.  Add flour and stir until incorporated, cook 3-4 minutes.  Pour in chicken broth and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Turn heat to medium and stir in heavy cream, potatoes, peas, chicken, hot sauce and basil.  Add salt to taste and serve over Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits.

How To Boil Potatoes
Dice potato into 1/2" cubes.  Place potatoes in a large pot.  Add cold water to cover 1" above the potatoes.  Add a generous amount of salt.  Bring to a boil and cook about 6 minutes.  Potatoes should be cooked through but still firm.

Buttermilk Pumpkin and Oat Muffins

I don't have anything to intro with.  I had pumpkin puree in the freezer from last fall when we got a ton of sugar pumpkins from a friend.  I knew I'd be home today.  I felt like making muffins.  They were awesome.  There's not much else to say.

It's St. Patrick's Day... and there's really nothing Irish about these muffins.  I mean, I'm sure they have pumpkins and muffins in Ireland, so they could be Irish.  But that wasn't really my intention or anything.  I'm just going to use it as an excuse for an Irish tune.  Justin had Dropkick Murphys' "Good Rats" on today, so that's what I'm using.  -jen

BUTTERMILK PUMPKIN AND OAT MUFFINS
Prep Time:  20 minutes
Cook Time:  22-25 minutes
Makes:  12 muffins

Topping:

• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats, uncooked
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Muffins:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats, uncooked
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup raisins or cranberries
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 orange (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups.

In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients, mix and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans, raisins, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger,  baking soda, salt and orange zest.  Mix to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together just until dry ingredients are moist.  (Do not over-mix.)

Spoon evenly into paper cups.  Sprinkle with topping and bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool for 5 minutes.