Jalapeno Cornbread

Happy Valentine's Day! We're trying to decide what we're going to cook for dinner. We weren't too psyched about fighting the crowds and figured we could make something just as delicious at home. I'm thinking of perhaps a chocolate lava cake for dessert. We've never made them before, but how can you go wrong with a melted chocolate surprise?! We'll keep ya posted about that. .

As for this post, we made a shrimp & grits meal a while ago and decided to try some homemade cornbread to go with it. This was our first attempt and we looked at several different recipes for the main ingredients. The rest we just kind of threw together and got lucky because it was delicious! It's definitely got a kick, so feel free to cut down on the number of jalapenos you use. We'll be posting the shrimp & grits recipe soon so be on the look-out!

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups well-shaken low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) salted butter
• 1 2 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained
• 1/3 cup jarred jalapeno slices

Directions

1. Put rack in middle of oven. Preheat to 425F. Spray a 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add to dry mixture and stir batter just until combined.
4. Put baking pan in oven for 5 minutes to heat. Remove with hot-pad and pour in cornbread mixture.
   
5. Bake until golden and sides slightly pull away from edges of pan, about 35-40 minutes.