The Best Cornbread Recipe Ever
Since healthy living starts with healthy eating, here's a recipe I think you'll like
We humans are omnivores, I think, and it seems to me that humans can and do thrive on all sorts of different diets.
My father, who’s a spry 86, disagrees. “I don’t think what you eat matters at all,” he said to me recently.
Maybe he’s right.
But I know that when I eat food that’s healthy for my body, I have more energy, my mind feels sharper, and I don’t get low blood sugar. In contrast, when I eat junk food or a lot of highly processed or fried foods or refined wheat products, I feel sluggish and foggy. And a few hours after I indulge in chips or sugary snacks, I often feel depressed.
I also know that radical dietary changes can stop cancer cells from proliferating or even from developing in the first place.
(If you’re my dad feeling skeptical and shaking your head, read Dr. Max Gershon’s daughter Charlotte’s fascinating book The Gershon Protocol: The Proven Nutritional Program to Fight Cancer and Other Illnesses and Chris Work’s excellent book, Chris Beat Cancer.)
Also consider this: Japan has one of the lowest rates of cancer among countries in the industrialized world. Many longevity researchers believe this is because the Japanese eat seasonally, include lots of vegetables in their diet, and drink several cups of green tea throughout the day. As I’ve written about before, green tea is known to have a variety of health benefits.
My dad is a chemist. My mom was a microbiologist. I understand that science is a process of questioning and that what we know today may be disproven tomorrow. So I’m open to the idea that the researchers could be wrong and Japan’s lower cancer rates have nothing to do with the Japanese way of eating … but the bottom line is I am healthier, happier, more optimistic, and more energetic when I eat well.
For my body eating well means eating healthy, fresh, organic whole foods that are locally grown whenever possible; lots of green vegetables and fresh fruits; a raw organic lemon, peel and all, every day or as often as I remember; a half a cup of beans a day whenever possible; some red meat, chicken, or fish maybe once or twice a week; and rice. It also means not eating refined sugar and eating sweat treats sparingly. These days I usually only eat bread that I bake myself. And I indulge in healthy, homemade desserts as often as I’m motivated to make them.
My favorite healthy chocolate mocha cake is easy to make and utterly delicious. (Ask my friend Janice, as I just baked her one for her 76th birthday.)
I also love this recipe for agave-sweetened orange cake that includes an entire orange in it. You can use honey if you’re not a fan of agave. And it’s the perfect recipe when you’re in the mood for muffins.
And my kids are super stoked when I make Norwegian flatbread for breakfast.
In the meantime, I’ve been working on perfecting a healthy cornbread recipe. I don’t know if it’s completely there yet. If you decide to make this healthy cornbread, check back and let me know what you think.
Note that this cornbread is moister and a little denser than traditional southern-style cornbread.
Equipment needed:
A food processor (aka a Cuisinart) with an S-shaped blade* (*these are kind of pricey but I found a brand-new one at a church sale for $5; so check your local thrift stores first)
Large bowl
Wooden spoon
Rubber spatula
Measuring cups
1 8-inch square cake pan (a round one works fine too)
Ingredients for healthy cornbread:
4 tablespoons (half a stick) of butter
1/2 cup organic corn kernels. Frozen corn works great
1/2 cup organic yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup organic whole-grain flour of your choice (I usually use whole wheat flour but you can also use einkorn in this recipe, oat flour, or a gluten-free flour of your choice. You can also substitute ground flax or hemp for part of the flour)
1/2 cup of organic white flour
1 scant tsp salt
1 generous tsp baking powder
1 generous tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of honey, agave, pitted dates—soak them in filtered water if they’re dried out—or a combination of all three, or the sweetener of your choice. Half a cup of sweetener yields a pretty sweet cornbread to my palate but you can use more sweetener if you like your cornbread sweet or short the sweetener if you prefer savory cornbread
1 large egg from a pasture-raised hen
1/2 cup of organic milk (I usually use almond or oat or homemade walnut mylk)
1/2 cup of organic plain whole milk yogurt
Directions:
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Put the 1/2 stick of butter in the square cake pan and let it melt while the oven is preheating
Step 2:
Put all the dry ingredients plus the corn kernels in a food processor with an S-shaped blade. Process on high for 1.5 minutes. Your combined dry ingredients should be yolk-yellow and have a texture akin to fine grits. Empty into a large bowl and set aside
Step 3:
Combine all the wet ingredient except the melted butter in the same food processor
Process on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute
Step 4:
Stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients
Add the wet ingredients from the food processor to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined
Pour the batter into the 8-inch square pan, using the rubber spatula to scrape out any remaining batter
Step 5:
Bake in the preheated oven at 400 (or 375 if your oven tends to run hot like mine does) for about 23 to 25 minutes. The cornbread is done when the top is golden brown and the center springs back when lightly pressed and/or a butter knife or toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. This recipe yields a moist cornbread. If you can help it, do not overcook.
Especially delicious when served warm with melted organic butter and local honey.
Enjoy!
About the author: Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist and book author.
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Love your work, Jennifer; I used to drive your mom, often, when I worked for Valley Transporter in Amherst, MA. When I was diagnosed with UPSC, ten years ago, I went on the Gerson protocol, and it saved me; I'm seventy five now, and still follow many of its principles. Max Gerson was a guest on "Long John" Nebel's "Party Line," in 1957, which was a late-night, NYC (radio) talk show my mother adored. I was only eight at the time; my mom always remembered that incredibly insightful doctor, and was (later) instrumental in pointing me to his protocol. My mom went on to live until age ninety eight, after having been a widow since age thirty three, and raising me alone. My dad died of alcoholism, and I hardly remember him; my mom was the example to whom I looked for guidance.
The Japanese also have a very iodine-rich diet. I stopped feeling like death all the time when I finally listened to a wise-one and read a couple books about iodine. Long story short: shocking and criminal.