Chile cheese cornbread (with beer)

I'd been wanting to try making beer bread for some time when I stumbled across this recipe for chile cheese beer bread. Last weekend I made that version, and while it was pretty good, I could help thinking that I'd love it with cornmeal in, so I've gone ahead and created a new version, which is made with completely whole grain flour, no eggs or butter and is still somehow the moistest little bread I've had in ages.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal (fine grind, though you can add a little bit of coarse for texture)
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 cups shredded cheese
1 cup frozen corn (still frozen is fine)
2 fresh chillies, chopped
12 ounces beer (I prefer dark, but light is fine)
Seeds (poppy, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, caraway etc) for the top

Preheat the oven to 400 Fahreinheit (200 Celsius).
Mix/Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and mustard
Add the cheese, chillies and corn
Measure the beer (allow foam to settle) and add it, mixing as little as possible

Pour into a greased cake tin or muffin tins, sprinkle seeds over and bake 45minutes for a loaf, about 20 for muffins, or until the middle is just set.

Apple mash, red cabbage casserole, sausage and onion gravy

I bought a 5kg scale yesterday, so that after living in Europe for nearly four years, I can finally begin to use these metric measurements. The cabbage recipe came from a seasonal recipe calender which was a brilliant Christmas present. Cabbage is apparently seasonal, which must be true, and seeing as how there's nothing else in the shops at the moment, there's no excuse not to try it. Well, that, and it's incredibly delicious. Who knew that cabbage could be so sophisticated?

I don't really have my shit together about the photography aspect of this blog yet, so expect photos in the future. 

Apple mash; rinse, chop and boil 1kg potatoes. Chop two apples and saute in as much butter as you can possibly squeeze into a 6-inch pan. When the potatoes are soft, add the apples and butter and mash, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Red cabbage casserole; thinly chop 70grams (about half a medium) red cabbage and two onions. Place half in the bottom of a lidded casserole dish. sprinkle over cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, 2 teaspoons sugar, a good splash of red wine and about 2 knuckles of butter in nubs. Repeat this procedure, topping with 12 or more prunes. Place in a 200-degree centigrade oven for 3 hours.

Sausage and onion gravy; chop 4 kielbasa-style sausages into rounds and brown in a pan. Add a little oil and one onion, chopped. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour and add about 1 1/2-2 cups broth slowly, stirring until the gravy has thickened.