After 3 or 4 days of 90+ temps and yesterday’s awesome thunderstorms (yes, I love thunderstorms) Monday has dawned cool and crisp. Not all that sunny yet (I’m typing this at 8:30am, been up since 5:30am),  but the sky is a light blue with streaks of light clouds – 

Just a heavenly day – if only every day could be like this – weatherwise. I could just sit here and look out the window all day. The trees are crazy full and lush, swaying in a light breeze and the birds are very, very chatty. Usually they are off to “work” by this time of the day but they seem to have decided to stay home and hang out.

I’ve already done the laundry so aside from some cooking in the middle of the day, I’m free and clear. It’s a good day to make cornbread. This will be the fourth week in a row and I finally figured out why the first two batches were not all that they should have been. 

First time not only was my baking powder old but I had bought the wrong corn meal (white instead of yellow and some weird brand – my grocery store is still low on stock of everything – that’s been going on now for two years *sigh*). And one other thing.

Second time out I had the good corn meal, fresh baking powder but still – not the best result. Then I had my aha moment. Salt! I was using the wrong salt. 

“How could salt be wrong” you say. Well, I’ll tell ya. 

I’m not a big salt user, I don’t like it and it’s bad for my blood pressure. I switched to coarse Kosher salt some time ago. When I was making the cornbread the first time around I wondered if Kosher salt would work in baking. 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt weighs less than an equal amount of regular table salt. Also Kosher salt is less salty. I had that in the back of my mind and used a bit more but still. 

Last batch of cornbread I had the good cornmeal, the fresh baking powder and regular table salt and voilà – perfect cornbread!

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of what’s distracting me this morning –