BLUE MONDAY and Blue Corn Flapjacks

 It’s Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally, and I hope you will join me to see what’s on everyone’s mind today.

My first experience with blue cornmeal was many years ago while on a church ski trip to Glorieta and Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Can you believe that we made that trip with 63 kiddos ranging in age from 6 to 16???  We WERE much younger then.

One evening we ventured into Santa Fe with many of the group and headed to a recommended restaurant for some local flavor.  High on the list of specialty dishes was blue cornmeal enchiladas.  Typical in appearance of most enchiladas but with just a slight blue cast to the tortillas, they smelled phenomenally good.  And they were.  And they were so spicy hot that my mouth burned for hours!  I should have heeded the heat warning on the menu, but noooooooo, not me!

Since then, I've tried several recipes using blue cornmeal one of which comes from this cookbook written by the owners of Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.  Blake Spaulding and Jen Castle.  They have such an interesting story.  You can read all about them on their web site Hell’s Backbone Grill: Where Food is Heavenly.  I hope to be fortunate enough to eat at their place one day.

Until then, I will continue to make and enjoy their blue cornmeal flapjacks.  I will add blueberries to mine since I happen to have lots of those in the freezer right now.  Sometimes I also add toasted walnuts or pecans.  You should give them a try.

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (I use a little less.)
1 cup blue cornmeal
4 eggs
3 cups milk
½ cup oil (I use canola oil.)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberries (my addition, more or less)
Canola oil for greasing griddle
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal. In another bowl, lightly mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine well.  Preheat griddle to medium-hot. A drop of water will bounce over the griddle when it is ready. Grease by spreading 2 tablespoons oil on it and spread around with a folded paper towel. Keep the towel around to use for the next batch of cakes.  Pour from a pitcher or use a ladle to make standard round cakes. Turn pancakes when edges are set and small bubbles form and pop on the surface. (Don’t make the mistake of turning them too soon.)  The batter will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  However, I usually make them all up and freeze individually.  Hubby prepares breakfast during the school year (sweet thing that he is), so this makes it an easy start to the morning. 

I hope you will join me for Crock Pot Wednesday this week.