I almost always make my cornbread with whole wheat PASTRY flour, because I LIKE it, I like the "rustic" texture it adds to things. You can sub splenda for sugar in cornbread, that's what I do if I know I'm going to eat it up relatively quickly. I'm one of those people who thinks splenda is best in things that get eaten right way because if not I think it develops a chemical taste in foods over time. I have never made cornbread with applesauce, but that's a way to add the moistness sugar adds to things but less sweet. But still sweet. I like a middle of the road type cornbread, not sweet but not completely sugarless either, so I would probably like it with applesauce. My recipe calls for sour cream except I use non-fat plain yogurt with just as good results. I also use two egg whites instead of one egg. Sourcream (or yogurt) Cornmeal muffins 1 cup unbleached white flour 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour 3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal 1/8 cup Splenda baking mix (or 1/4 cup sugar) 3 tsp. baking powder scant 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt 1/2 tsp. baking soda added to yogurt 2 egg whites I entered this recipe in my recipe box on "SparkPeople" (check it out, it is GREAT for recipe and meal planning ideas). It's OK to join, they won't send you a bunch of junk mail. The stats on it are: Amount Per Serving Calories: 91.9 Total Fat: 0.5 g Cholesterol: 0.3 mg Sodium: 23.8 mg Total Carbs: 18.2 g Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g Protein: 3.0 Kinda low on fiber and high on carbs so you could improve it by subbing whole wheat flour for all or some of the white flour. I'd start out with half and half and move up as my tastebuds adjusted. Also could possibly reduce salt, but I can't vouch for that part since I have never made it that way. I've done it with at least half WWH flour though. I eat these muffins with spreadable "lite" butter, which you might want to look into since it is a mix of sat. and unsat. fat. Also, here's my recipe for lima beans, which I have served at a couple of potlucks and people have said they liked them. Elegant Lima Beans 4 cups cooked lima beans (I use the green baby limas, the frozen ones, but I'll bet this would be good with the white butter bean limas too. I've seen both green limas and butter beans sold canned some places. I just cooked up a batch of dry limas for the first time last year and I really liked them. I make my beans in the crockpot.) 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce 4 oz. shredded lowfat, lowsalt swiss cheese. Frankly I actually use jarlsburg swiss for this, or kasseri cheese, but both of those are high salt high fat cheeses. 1 - 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I use the lower amount, walnuts are high in calories and fat. I'll bet you could even go down to 2/3 cup on those.) 1/4 tsp. dried basil, crumbled, (or maybe a little more, depends on how you feel about basil, I love it) 1 green pepper, diced (I also sometimes add a small diced zuchinni, which you can also add or sub. for the green pepper since some people don't like peppers. Can also use celery if you like it. Start with what you know you will like though. The additional veggies add more good fiber but I guess you could leave them out if you hate those green veggies.) 3/4 cup water or veg. broth, unsalted if possible 1/2 tsp. salt (you could experiment with less, I almost always use less than the recipe calls for, or even omit because canned tomato sauce has salt in it. I get unsalted veg. broth bouillon cubes in the health food section of Wegman's, but if you can't find unsalted broth, then use water or leave out additional salt.) 1/4 tsp. pepper minced parsley to garnish Combine cooked or defrosted limas, vegetables, tomato sauce and water or broth. Simmer 10-15 min. until vegetables are just starting to get tender. Mix in shredded cheese and walnuts, and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 min. Notes: You can toast the walnuts in the oven as it is preheating before adding them to the casserole, but watch them carefully so they don't burn. Usually about 8 min. in the oven at 300 is enough to toast. I hardly ever had fresh parsley so I stir in about 1-2 tsp. dried parsley to the stew before putting it in the oven.

Frankly, I like it all. For breakfast I like a sweeter corn muffin, with butter and honey or jam, or just by itself. For eating with beans I like a savory cornbread with no sugar better, but I'll use whatever is available.. I don't really care whether it's white or yellow but Elery's sister lives in Tennessee and tells me emphatically that if it's not made with white cornmeal, it is NOT cornbread. I live in Michigan, home of Jiffy Mix, so I just smile. I always bake mine in my cast iron skillet, because the crust gets so nice and crunchy. I think cornmeal has changed, though, or is different depending on brands. The cornbread recipe I used for years suddenly started turning out dry, crumbly, just not right. I've been "playing" with recipes for a while now, adding cheese, bacon, jalapenos, creamed corn, sour cream, whatever suits my fancy. A mildly sweet corn muffin with bacon and jalapenos goes really well with chili, and I'm as likely to sop up pot likker with Jiffy muffins as I am with Elery's white savory cornbread. Lately my favorite has been this recipe from Ellie Krieger's "Comfort Food Fix", although it's a spoon bread, not your typical corn bread. It has all corn, no flour. Corn and Cheddar Spoon Bread 2 cups 1% milk 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen thawed corn kernels 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese 2 large eggs, yolks and white separated 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. 2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, corn, cornmeal, and salt over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the mixture thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Add the egg yolks to the cornmeal mixture and stir until well combined. 3. In a stand mixer or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks are formed, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold the egg whites into the corn mixture until just incorporated and pour into the prepared dish. Bake until browned on top and set but still slightly loose in the center, 40 to 45 minutes. Serves 6 Per Serving (3/4 cup) Calories 180; Total Fat 7 g (Sat Fat 3 g, Mono Fat 2g, Poly Fat 0.8 g); Protein 10 g; Carb 22 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 85 mg; Sodium 320 mg This is Elery's recipe, handed down from his mother. She always used white cornmeal (self-rising was preferred), bacon grease or lard and always cooked in a hot cast iron skillet. If it stuck at all, it didn't get turned over and it was still fine, but if you turn it over the top gets a bit more crunchy. Corn Bread 2 cups white cornmeal (use yellow if that's what you have on hand) 2/3 cup flour 1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (omit if you use regular milk rather than buttermilk) 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash of black pepper 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (more or less) 3 to 4 tablespoons of bacon drippings, lard or cooking oi Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Placing the bacon drippings in the skillet and place the skillet in the oven while preparing the batter. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk and stir. Remove skillet from oven and slowly add about 1 or 2 tablespoon of the hot oil (bacon grease) from the skillet into the batter, stirring well. The skillet and bacon grease should be very hot but not smoking. Sprinkle the inside of the skillet with (dry) cornmeal and return to oven. Add rest of buttermilk to batter a bit at a time while stirring. The consistency of the cornbread batter should look like a thick pancake mix. This may require a little more or less of the remaining buttermilk. If the mix is too thick, add more buttermilk. If the mixture is too thin, add more cornmeal. Remove the skillet from oven and pour the batter in the skillet. Return the skillet to the pre-heated oven and bake until the top begins to brown, approximately 25 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the oven and flip the cornbread over in the skillet then continue baking another 5 minutes to brown the top. Annie

This is a good recipe, if you don't like sweet cornbread, leave out the sugar. Corn Bread 1 cup flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon Tony�s or salt 4 tablespoons oil 1 1/3 cup milk 2 large eggs, beaten Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a 10" round cast iron skillet in oven. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Make a well in center, add the oil, milk and egg. Mix well. Put enough oil in the hot skillet to coat the bottom, tilt or brush to coat the pan. Spread the batter in the pan, and bake 25-30 minutes--until risen, golden and cornbread tests done with a toothpick.

There are many variations to traditional Hoppin’ John. Some cook the black-eyed peas and rice in one pot, while others insist on simmering them separately. Some also like to add the collard greens in the pot. The favorite way to eat a Hoppin’ John meal is with collard greens and corn bread. Each item on the plate has symbolic meaning for the New Year. Black-eyed Peas represent “coins,” collard greens represent money or “green backs”, corn bread represents “gold,” and if tomatoes are added to Hoppin’ John it symbolizes “health”. I've used this recipe many years! 1 large onion chopped 2 large garlic cloves 2 16 oz can drained black-eyed peas 2 cups chick broth 1 cup uncooked reg rice 1 tsp salt 2 Tbl butter Saute onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add rest of ingredients - cook 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender