Recipe: Cheddar Bacon Cornbread

We finally got some cold weather this week! Yahoo!

Of course it's going to be back in the 80's by this weekend, but for now, I'm taking every second to enjoy the chill in the air.

And nothing makes me want to bake more than cold weather.

I'm not sure if it's just the time of year, or truly the dropping temps, but I always feel more inclined to bake during the fall/winter months.

One of my favorite quick meals to make during a chilly day, is... chili! (Sorry for the bad pun).

I typically make my chili the traditional way with ground beef (grass-fed, pasture raised beef), canned kidney beans, a can of tomato sauce and the pre-packaged chili seasoning. It just doesn't get any simpler than that!

I cook up the beef and then throw everything in the Crock Pot so it bubbles and simmers all day. And while I'm messin up the kitchen, I go ahead and grate the cheese, cut up jalapenos, or anything else I'm serving as toppings and put them in the fridge for later.

Then, when the "witching hour" hits and everyone is hungry, there's nothing for me to do except pour a glass of wine and dish out the chili. Voila!

This last particular time I made chili, it was quite rainy out and a cold front was moving through so I decided to make corn bread. But I'm never happy with the way the boxed cornbread mix turns out - it's always kinda dry and tasteless.

So I went on a hunt for a fairly simple cornbread recipe that sounded good.

Let me tell you, I'll never buy the store-bought packages of cornbread mix again!

To be fair, I did combine a couple of recipes.

This recipe and blog post from "Not Just Baked," gives great information on how to keep your cornbread fluffy and moist. She seemed like she really knew what she was talking about so I went with it. And it turned out excellent!

However, I wanted to give mine a little extra "Oomph" so I added a 1/2 cup of grated extra sharp cheddar cheese and a healthy handful of cooked, crumbled bacon (my mouth is watering just thinking about it).

The result... the most delicious, moist cornbread I've ever made. It had so much flavor between the sweetness of the cornbread, the saltiness of the bacon and the sharpness of the cheese... perfection.

So, the next time you make chili (or anything Southwestern-y) I highly recommend trying out this recipe. You will not be disappointed!