This month, I was challenge by The Recipe Redux to make a lucky food. The idea that food can be lucky and that people specifically make lucky foods to start their new year was completely foreign to me, but I could definitely use some luck in my life. I’ve had an all around challenging year with my house, my health, and my kitties, so I’m hoping a little bit of lucky food can help turn it around for next year.
Because I didn’t know foods could be lucky, I had to do a little research. There are lots of Asian foods tied with luck, but that’s a little out of my comfort zone, and I really just want comfort this time of year. Apparently, round foods and golden foods are lucky, so I settled on cornbread baked in a pie dish. Adding bits of corn to the batter can also symbolize finding little gold nuggets, as well as be incredibly delicious.
I had some ulterior motives in choosing to make cornbread. A big piece of cornbread just begs for a huge bowl of chili. I make my chili with a crazy amount of veggies which is not only delicious but entirely necessary the week before I eat nothing but cookies and cheese and butter. I prefer a crumbly cornbread and Josh prefers cakier, so I went with something in the middle. This bread is mildly sweet, but you can increase or decrease sweetness to suit your tastes and your meal.
¼ c pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie) or unsweetened apple sauce
½ c fat free Greek yogurt (Vegan: use vegan Greek yogurt or vegan sour cream)
½ c maple syrup, agave, honey, or liquid sweetener of choice
1 c carbonated water
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 c corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a 9″ pie pan or 8 to 9″ square casserole dish by spritzing with nonstick spray.
Whisk together the flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients except for corn.
Add wet to dry and stir until almost combined. Add corn and stir until even distributed.
Pour into pie pan. Your pan will be VERY full.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. If necessary, cover with aluminum foil to prevent over browning in the last 5 – 10 minutes.
Cool and cut into 8 slices.
Notes
The vinegar reacts with the yogurt replace an egg in this recipe. The vinegar can be subbed out for another type of vinegar, but do not omit entirely. If making vegan, note that not all vegans consume honey. Opt for agave or pure maple syrup as sweeteners. This cornbread with be a good compromise between crumbly and cake and is mildly sweet. To increase or decrease liquid sweetener, remove or add carbonated water as appropriate.
I’m so excited that you put pumpkin puree in your cornbread. Love that idea. I am with you – cornbread and chili go together. Funnily enough I love to put pumpkin puree in my chili.
I love this! totally pinning it for later. I haven’t tried a vegan yogurt yet, but need to since I can’t do dairy. I”ve been avoiding a lot of recipes because of that, time to broaden the horizons!
Thanks , Amanda. Also, So Delicious makes great vegan yogurts if you’re looking for one! You can strain it using cheesecloth to make it thick like Greek yogurt (If you google it, you’ll find lots of tutorials). If you haven’t tried Tofutti sour cream, that’s super delicious, too.
I love the ingredient list-so creative and healthified! Looks amazing
OK – now I’m in the mood for some turkey chili and a big ole hunk of this cornbread. Making as soon as the holidays are over!
I’m so excited that you put pumpkin puree in your cornbread. Love that idea. I am with you – cornbread and chili go together. Funnily enough I love to put pumpkin puree in my chili.
I love this! totally pinning it for later. I haven’t tried a vegan yogurt yet, but need to since I can’t do dairy. I”ve been avoiding a lot of recipes because of that, time to broaden the horizons!
Thanks , Amanda. Also, So Delicious makes great vegan yogurts if you’re looking for one! You can strain it using cheesecloth to make it thick like Greek yogurt (If you google it, you’ll find lots of tutorials). If you haven’t tried Tofutti sour cream, that’s super delicious, too.