Breakfast for Lunch

Jo Firey...

Mom was from Paw Paw WVa and we all looked forward to the cold winter days
when she made corm meal mush after school. I was amazed as an adult to see
how popular polenta has become. I still can't believe they sell plastic
tubes of the stuff in the grocery store. Just how hard is it to throw a
handful of cornmeal into some cold water and cook it?

jmcquown...

And have you seen the price of it?! But then again, we're talking about a
society where you can buy frozen hot dogs already in a bun. Lazy society.

The corn meal they sell for polenta is a bit more coarsely ground than the
stuff you use for cornbread though.

jmcquown...

Not by much, though. Regular cornmeal works for polenta just as well.

Mom was shocked when polenta got popular too. I mean when we were kids she
was a little concerned that the neighbors might get the idea we were poor
because we ate things like that.

She also lived from when baking your own bread was a necessity to when it
was a status thing. That was cool.

Early this morning I baked an entire 12 oz. package of bacon on the rack
over my broiler pan. 400F, 10-15 minutes, watch it closely after 10
minutes. No, I'm not planning to eat all that bacon at once! much as I love
bacon :)

I didn't make it to have for breakfast. A short while ago I made a batch of
biscuits - yes, I'll admit, using Bisquick because my biscuits just don't
come out nice and light anymore. Meanwhile I heated up a little of the
bacon grease from the broiler pan and scrambled a couple of eggs (these eggs
were on the small side) seasoned lightly with a little pepper and some of
Penzey's Parisienne Bonnes Herbs. When the eggs were almost set but still
fluffy-ish (I believe that's a technical cooking term LOL) I removed the pan
from the heat, continuing to stir the eggs for a minute off the heat.

I'd removed the biscuits from the oven about 5 minutes earlier; they were
still nice and hot. I sliced open two of the biscuits and placed a couple
of slices of bacon, folded over, on each biscuit base. I spooned the hot
set eggs on top of the bacon and added a half a slice of American cheese
(the real deal, not "cheese-food") on top. Put the tops back on the
biscuits.

Voila! Two breakfast biscuit sandwiches for lunch :)

Joy...

jmcquown...

My grandma Mac baked 7 (why 7? I don't know) loaves of bread every Tuesday.
Years after her kids were grown and gone she continued to do so. She'd
always take a loaf next door to my maternal grandparents and then give the
other loaves away to various neighbors, keeping one for herself. That was
some goooooood bread! No KitchenAid mixer with dough hooks, no bread
machine. She was almost 75 when she died but she continued baking real
hand-made bread until she was at least 70.

CATherine...

Nothing beats homemade bread the old-fashioned way. There are many
factors to consider that a bread machine can't do. The hands-on way of
kneading bread is best. That is how you decide how much flour is
necessary for kneading according to the humidity and temperature. A
humid day really needs more flour for kneading. And the amount of
kneading can vary; and only your experienced hands can tell you when
it is enough. Rising depends on temperature of the day. And high
altitude has more adjustments. I made my own bread for many years.
Where i live is 6300 feet high. I learned to let the dough "rest" for
15 minutes before kneading. And then I punched down and kneaded three
times before baking. And it was good. I know, because every one told
me so! ;-)

Sounds yummy!