Double the Butter, Double the Whoops

There are several absolute truths in life.

1. If I can screw up a recipe, I will.
2. All good church potlucks have jello-salad-marshmallow-what-am-I-chewing-on fluff.
3.When either of my brothers visits my house, my parents' house, the random neighbor's house... the decor magically moves to the most obscure? hilarious? philosophical? places.

My favorite annual redecoration happens during Easter season. My mom has ceramic bunnies. One is doing a handstand. One is laying on his tummy, legs kicking, head in his hands as he lovingly gazes up. Let me just stop. Visit my parents' house at Easter to witness it yourself. And to eat ribbon salad. Because ribbon salad IS better than potluck jello salad.

But you can always count on church potlucks to have the best home cooking. And that when I contribute a dish, I mess up the recipe.

By doubling the butter called for.

"Well, let's hope it turns out."

Yes. That's what my husband said too.

(It did. It's butter. Where were you born? A dairy-free barn?!)

You should know by now I don't measure. (That's 1/2 teaspoon salt, in case you didn't know.)

You should also know I hate doing dishes. And I will take whatever means necessary do dirty one fewer dish. Even mixing Sweet Corn Spoonbread Casserole in the baking dish.

Can we take a minute to discuss "spoonbread?" Bread so soft...creamy...indulgent...buttery...you can literally spoon it out.

Yeah. You had me at butter. See the recipe below.
*Please note that I doubled the butter called for. And did not measure the sour cream. It still got gobbled up at our church potluck.


Anyway, back to the blocks.

My brother and his wife babysat Peter so the hubs and I could go out to celebrate our anniversary.

We came home to this message.

I came.
I saw.
I ate.

And while this does accurately describe his evening, it had me thinking how often we fall into the trap of just running through the motions. Or rather, just running. Running into church late because Baby spat up all over...everything. Running out of church early because it's nap time.

Coming. Seeing. Eating. Leaving.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. What I love most about food is that it brings people together. It makes us slow down to eat a meal together around the kitchen table, on the patio over a beer, on the living room floor with paper plates and pizza, in the fellowship hall with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ fighting over the last spoonful of bread and jello salad for a church potluck.

We are united and forgiven at the foot of the cross.

And, you know. Over buttery cornbread. That we devour for hours in good company.

Sweet Corn Spoon Bread

Ingredients:

1 (8.5-ounce) package Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

1 (14.75-ounce) can cream style corn

1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted*

1 cup sour cream**

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

*I used 2 sticks. Whoops.

**I didn't measure. Double whoops.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and grease 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl (or in the casserole dish), combine the ingredients and mix well. Pour mixture into casserole dish. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until set.

DEVOUR. (At the church potluck.)

Naked Lemons: Starring in Cheesecake!

My favorite time to bake is right before I clean the house so I can make a complete disaster of the  kitchen.

I'm so good at making messes that one time I was grounded from eating in the living room...when I was in high school. My mom had one too many pillows turn red from spaghetti sauce, salsa, SpaghettiOs...

Yes, Peter. That's exactly what my mom thought too.

My other favorite time to bake is when we are having company. Have you read The Five Love Languages ? I'm a huge fan. Except Mr. Gary forgot to add baking as a love language.

Growing up, my Grandma Heins had a huuuuuuuge garden. Huge as in Donald Trump "huge." We frequently received more zucchinis than we could make zucchini bread. Truth be told, there were times we were frustrated. HOW can we possibly eat any more tomato, tomato, tomato sandwiches?! We don't need (want) more potatoes.

And then my cousin came to the realization that gifting food was my grandma's love language. It made her happy to make our fridges bountiful.

And one of the ways to love those we love, is to allow them to love us.

One of the traits I received from my Grandma Heins is the love to bake for those I love. (Along with never following a recipe...)

And when your Grandma Loeber is celebrating her 81st birthday - there is no better reason to bake!

Disclaimer: Your legs will likely turn this chunky if you make the following recipe.

I can always count on my friend Sally for some thigh-chunking-recipes.

But if you need to cut in cold butter, you'll burn all the calories.

Or at the very least you'll need a forearm massage.

I started with this Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake. I have just a teensy bit of Type A in me. So I started with this beautiful swirl of blueberries. Evenly spaced. Blueberries in the windows of the cheesecake. You could have measured that distance with a .1% error.

And then I had way too many blueberries left. So I started to add more, and my beautiful picture became a hodge podge of blueberries.

I actually consider digging out the blueberries to keep my pretty picture. Lie. I actually did dig out some blueberries. And then it looked even worse, so I just smooshed more in that cheesecake.

Despite it coming out like cheesecake mush, it was delicious.

Did I mention my favorite time to bake new recipes is for company? Then, if it doesn't turn out at least you have stomachs to eat it up.

Really though, my biggest critique of this recipe was shaming the lemons.

I feel so ashamed having naked lemons. Poor guys. They just look so pitiful.

My favorite memory of this recipe was getting to share it with my grandma for her birthday.

And that's what I love about food and recipes: It brings people together. It creates memories and traditions.

And it's a way to love others.

What are you baking for those you love today?