Plantain Hoecake Recipe

I am a Southern woman born and bred. There are few things I love more than salty pork chops and tomato gravy rice. However, one must deviate from those tried and true recipes sometimes for... something a bit different.

Figures that I'd latch onto yet another Southern tradition to fall in love with. My two children as well.

The recipe I'm about to share with you is not only Southern it has it's roots in the Caribbean island slaves' kitchens. And with the price of plantains(ugly/green bananas) right now ($.38 per!!) I'd be an idiot not to enjoy these with my family while we can.

Plantain Hoecakes/Johnny-cakes

Serves 4

You need:

• Two plantains, the uglier the better. If you buy them while they're still pretty and unbruised then let them sit out on your kitchen counter for a few days until they're good and ugly. They'll be a bit soft to the touch usually, when they're ripe.
• 1 cup of cornmeal.
• Vegetable oil.
  
• 1 large round skillet for the stove top + 1 glass pan for the oven.

1. Cut the tips off the plantains. Then, take the pointy tip of a knife and make several long but shallow cuts down the length of the plantain, all the way around it. Peel the strips of skin off. This is the only easy way to do so.
2. Slice plantains into quarter inch rounds and place them in the glass pan after it has been coated with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
3. Bake in oven on 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and poke with a fork. The slices should be softer and have a brownish swirly pattern to them.
5. After the plantain slices have cooled for about five minutes dump them into a bowl and using a fork, mash them up very fine. It takes some work but by cooking them in the oven your job is made much easier.
   
6. Once your plantains are thoroughly mashed begin adding the cornmeal to it about an eighth of a cup at a time. Make sure you are mixing well. The more you add the thicker in consistency the mash becomes. The goal is to create a mash which you can form with your fingers into a patty. One cup of cornmeal generally does the trick for two plantains. Don't add too much more than that otherwise it'll make the cake crumble apart in the pan.
7. Warm up your skillet just below medium heat. Add a quarter inch of vegetable oil to the pan.
8. When oil is hot then you can start forming your cakes. One heaping tablespoon equals one cake. Scoop up some mash on your spoon and then roll it into a ball. Mash it flat and put it into pan oil. Make each cake between a quarter inch and a half an inch thick.
9. The easiest way I've found to turn them over is with a spoon and a fork. The fork grabs and the spoon cradles it so it doesn't fall apart. Fill your pan up with little cakes and then begin turning them over. Generally it's about four minutes before the first side is done. Cook until both sides are golden brown.
10. Gently transfer your golden brown hoecakes onto a plate which has been lined with paper towels to sop up the oil. Lightly salt the hoecakes before the oil dries.
11. Let cool for five minutes and then... enjoy!

I think plantain hoecakes are a wonderful marriage of salty and sweet flavors. My two kids adore them and instead of considering them a side dish to the entree of the evening they really think they're dessert. Sometimes they like to put a drizzle of honey on them. It satisfies their sweet tooth and still gives them some healthy fiber. Plantains have a much lower sugar content than your average yellow bananas and yet when they are cooked they have a taste very similar to them.

Shea Butter & Eczema

Summeresque wrote, "I left feedback but I just wanted to personally thank you for such an amazing product. I have never seen anything work so well(Boo-Boo Cream) on my sons eczema. I am so glad I decided to search etsy for something better than big corporations were putting out. I have tried so many things and nothing truly helped the itch or helped him heal. This cream does both! Amazing! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

****************

Admittedly, I do get a lot of rave reviews for my Boo-Boo Cream. And I certainly don't mind talking about how the ingredients work- but I'm going to do you one better. I'm going to talk a bit about how to stop eczema rashes in their tracks. This is a preventative measure.

Summeresque, I know exactly what you mean by 'nothing really helped the itch or helped it to heal' all too well. That stuff made by pharmaceutical companies is full of steroids or synthetic "moisturizers" and quite honestly, the skin knows what's fake and what's natural. Our body craves natural ingredients. The steroid creams are the worst, in my experience. You might as well be coating the skin with Vaseline with a little colony of ants mixed in. Once you stop using the cream your skin freaks out and then you've got a problem that's become worse than it was before. And it doesn't ever really HEAL the skin to begin with, and that's the biggest problem with eczema. If you've still got those cracks and fissures you're never going to be able to stop the itch.

Ever tried Lachydren(can't remember exactly how to spell it. It's Lack-Hye-Dren) on your boy? Don't. Stuff's $45 a bottle, smells like butt, you can only get it from a dermatologist(usually), and it makes the skin feel like it's been slathered with so many vitamins it's about to start growing things. Fake pharmaceutical moisturizers. That was the last product I tried before I screamed ENOUGH.

Here's a helpful tip to keep your boy's skin super supple and to help stop eczema flares. He may balk at it, being a boy, but if he becomes accustomed to just doing it every day it will save him from having to use the Boo-Boo Cream so much. Over time it gradually reduces flares and then... the skin is a peace. It's amazing, really. And so simple I wanted to bang my head against my desk when I discovered it.

Shea butter. That's it. I'm not kidding. PURE shea butter. I have a little Pyrex bowl with a rubber lid of the stuff in my bathroom. After I shower I smear a bit of the shea butter into my hands, rub until it's warmed and turns into an oil, then pat it all over the body parts that flare the worst(my legs). Shea warms to the touch so it's especially nice in the winter. Less than a 1/4 of a teaspoon is enough to do one adult sized leg. Very cost effective. A small smear is all it takes.

Here's my recipe:

1 cup pure shea butter.

In a glass bowl, heat the shea butter until it's melted. Make sure your bowl is big enough to contain any possible bubbles. Leave out in the open for about an hour to naturally cool. After an hour or two it will be safe to add a 5-10 drops of scent if you want to and stir with a butter knife. Pour liquid shea into an air tight container and let cool for two days in the refrigerator.

The result is something which looks like alien cauliflower. Don't let that scare you away from it. Shea butter has a naturally lumpy appearance. It's a pure complex fat and therefore it ain't too pretty. Cocoa butter is pretty. Shea isn't. Cocoa butter is a 10 on the butter/oil hardness scale and shea is around a 6 or 7 depending on the location of the trees where it's harvested. I do use a lot of shea butter in Boo-Boo Cream but I'm quite sure you don't want him to run around reeking of neem and tea tree oil all the time.

Well, keep in touch and let me know how it goes! And thanks again for the rave feedback on the Cream. Mother Nature loves us.


All the best,

Angel

Demure

Meet Demure. She is a super sexy shade of neutral green with a subdued silver/gray sheen. Paired up with Black Steele as a wet eye liner she rocks!!

Thanks, Doree! The first eye shadow for my PinkQuartzMinerals six month subscription is fantastic!!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

lolcats would like to go trick-or-treating at your house... Be scared. Be very scared.

PQM's Eye Shadow Of The Month

PinkQuartzMinerals is my absolute favorite makeup seller. Anywhere. Period. I love writing about her. I love talking about her. My hair stylist hits me up for information on her new colors every time I get a trim. Because, naturally, I'm wearing different colors on my eyes every time I go. Everything Doree makes is one-of-a-kind. She specializes in custom foundations, blushes, bronzers, lipsticks, and of course eye shadows.

Although she constantly tells me that she needs to stay away from the micas, lest she mix like a madwoman and hours go by... she still does it. Over two hundred shades and counting now.

I purchased some large jars of my three most recently named "Faves" and received the package yesterday. I bought:

Wrap: a more subdued version of gold, meant to be an 'everyday' type shimmer and shine. A neutral sort of peachy gold with pale green sparkles.
(<----Pandysmonium: A funkadelic brown/green holographic effect shadow. I always get a lot of double takes with this shade. It is truly stunning. But very wearable.
Garland: a slightly more bold peachy gold shimmer and sparkle. Not 1,000 watt gold, more neutral and blends in with pale skin well.

Besides these three jars I got a new eyeliner brush and a flat/rounded eye shadow brush- YAY! I needed new brushes. Doree also sent me samples of her NEW unreleased shades and upon close inspection I saw that some envelopes had numbers on them like, #101. #102.. etc. Ok, so she needs help naming them. I'll bite.

I smeared some of the shadows on the back of my hand and looked at them in bright light individually, promptly deciding right then and there that I hate her. I mean, how is it that a person can whip micas and minerals together and create something so completely indescribable?!!!! Just when you think you have a color pinned down you shift your eye a bit to the side and BAM! you see another hue that jumps out at you. Or another layer of sparkle in a different color. It's not that she just dumps micas together and it looks like a jumbled mess- it's that she mixes so strategically that you can't tell where one color begins and another ends. They flow together seamlessly until a mirage effect is created. Thus, the problems of naming her creations.

I think I'll leave her with that headache for now. My brain is still buzzing trying to decide which one of my new lovelies I'm going to wear today for a party I'm attending.

Because I am consistently amazed at her mica mixing prowess I have have decided to give her Eye Shadow of the Month a try. I'm purchasing her six-month subscription.


The three month subscription is $23, six months is $45, and a full year is $78. And that's already including shipping. The way I figure it, I already get samples galore from her because I bat my eye lashes in front of my camera. But I want full sized jars, darn it!! Mine. All MINE! No samples. (I use up the samples, get pissed when I run out, and then beg for more. I'm so pathetic.) Big beautiful jars of colors made just for me. Greed concerning makeup is one personality flaw I plan to work on in the New Year. But not just yet. *grin*

Here's my eye with PinkQuartzMineral's Peachblow eye shadow and Jet Black eyeliner, used wet. Classic and sexy, yes? I plan to take pics of myself with the eye shadow I receive every month so keep checking back for updates!

(The first pic above is Hazelnut + Charcoal eye liner.)

Sweet Holiday Deals

My Coconut Cookie Scrub has always been a favorite. I've even had customers track me down from one store incarnation to the next, begging, PLEADING with me to make them a few jars of it. (One woman wanted me to fill a gallon milk jug of the stuff and mail it to her. No joke.) No more! I've finally had my fill. It will be stocked permanently in the shop. No begging necessary.

To celebrate the occasion I have decided to offer a nice holiday gift pack. Two 7oz jars of Coconut Cookie Scrub for only $15 -- smooth skin for that great price, you gasp? Heck yeah, two whole jars of it. Pamper yourself. Pamper a friend, even.

I'm contemplating putting together a Pina Colada and Mojito themed ladies' night next week with some friends. Foot scrub? Check. Toenail polish... still shopping for that perfect shade.

For The Hunters

Deer Hunter Helpers are fully stocked in the store!


A single Hunter Helper is available as is a Three Pack or a Six Pack. They make fantastic stocking stuffer gifts for the hunters in your life, or if you simply like a rustic decor ornament to liven up the area with assorted scents.

What exactly are Hunters Helpers? They are pure terra cotta disks which are hung by sisal twine(included) from trees and bushes around the hunter's stand. These disks are infused with doe urine(not included) in order to attract the bucks in the area.

Teflon Mishap

Teflon isn't supposed to chip off your pans the first time you wash them... is it??


Needless to say, this whole set was returned.

Win Free Makeup!

~~~~~~NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS~~~~~~~~

PinkQuartzMinerals, who I model makeup for, is holding a drawing for $100 worth of FREE makeup! Go to her blog to learn more: www.pinkquartzminerals.blogspot.com

Unusual Custom Paintings

Here's me going out on a cliff: I moved from painting on canvas and paper to painting on plastic.


Yes. You read correctly. I've begun painting custom Transformers. The demand is surprisingly high. It is certainly a specialized niche, however if you're good at it you can be quite successful.