Cheesy Pimiento Cornbread



We were expecting a storm one night and my husband said I should start dinner prep early in case the power went out. I started pretty much straightaway after we got home from school. First I made the chili and as it was simmering, I got started on the cornbread.




I always have at least one box of Jiffy in my pantry because it reminds me to make cornbread when there's a dish on tap that I know will go well with it. I never prepare it as the basic cornbread that's written on the box though. At the very least, I toss in some corn kernels and a little shredded cheese like in the picture above. Last night I thought I'd kick it up a notch and make something that I felt would complement the chili very well. I diced one red pepper from a jar of fancy pimiento and added that to the mixture. To make the cornbread moist, I also tossed in a dollop of the plain Greek yogurt that I was using to top the chili and I added about 2T of this low fat fat butter that I had in the fridge.

This butter is a strange thing. Flavor-wise, it does taste like butter but when I'm trying to cook with it, it doesn't behave like butter. It's a little crumbly and when I use it to grease a pan for cooking eggs, the eggs always stick. I know it's the butter because when I use the regular butter that we buy, this doesn't happen. I realized that putting it in the cornbread makes good use of the fact that you can easily crumble it up into little pieces (with a knife or even with a spoon, I just hacked at it after dumping it in the mixture LOL) so it is not necessary to melt it in the microwave.




Anyway, I made the cornbread on an 8x8 Pyrex dish and cut it up into 6 bars to serve. It was moist and delicious! Of course, I have only ever made cornbread from scratch a couple of times and I can't even remember what that tasted like. But I'm all for convenience here. Jiffy does the job. My daughter thought that the addition of pimiento was a little off but I think that's just her not being used to the cornbread being a little savory. My husband said it had a little kick too but I was pretty sure that the pimiento I used was mild. Of course, if you like it spicy, you could get something with more heat or simply add a dash of chili powder to it. My husband would always splash the chili with sriracha. He probably got some sriracha on the cornbread and that's why he thought it had a spiciness to it. Either way, this complemented the chili very well. I will definitely be making this again. (And if you don't want the pimiento, just don't add it. It will be a simple cheesy cornbread like in the second picture and it is also really good.)



print recipe

Cheesy Pimiento Cornbread
by Mylinda at Pondering Food


Ingredients:
  • 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
  • 1 egg 
  • 1/3 cup milk 
  • 1 red pimiento, diced (I used Goya Fancy Pimiento)
  • 1/2 cup frozen yellow corn
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • cooking spray 
  • 2T low fat butter
  • 1T nonfat plain Greek yogurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8x8 Pyrex dish with cooking spray.

 2. Lightly beat one egg in mixing bowl. Add milk, swirl gently and add corn muffin mix.

 3. Dice one pimiento from a jar of fancy pimientos. You can also buy them already diced and add to the batter as little or as much as you want. Add corn kernels. It is not necessary to thaw frozen corn but you can use frozen or canned if desired. Add shredded cheese. I like to use cheddar but have also tried Colby Jack and Mexican blend cheeses.

 4. Add dollop of nonfat Greek yogurt and butter. Land o Lakes low fat butter crumbles easily with a wooden spoon but if using other kinds of butter, it may be necessary to melt it or to leave it out for a period to soften. Give batter a quick stir and let rest for a couple of minutes before pouring into Pyrex dish.

 5. Bake 20-22 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting up to serve.



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