Saving electricity: microwave baking -- cornbread

I was asked to post our cornbread recipe. So here it is.

This is one of my daughter's favorite foods, so we have it often.

It's baked in the microwave in 3  1/2 minutes, using a fraction of the electricity of a standard oven. There is no pre-heating of an oven, no heating the kitchen up, and I can think to add it to a lunch or dinner menu at the last minute, and have it on the table in 10 minutes, start to finish.

This cornbread comes out moist, which is what I think my daughter really enjoys about it. And because it's a cornmeal product, it already has "color", and doesn't look pale and pasty, as other microwaved breads often do.

I have these small Corningware casseroles. (I see them frequently at thrift shops and garage sales, btw.) They are the perfect size to microwave cornbread in, about 5 inches in diameter. I use 2 at a time, to bake 8 small wedges, which is just right for our family.

To make 2 of these small casseroles, I bake a half recipe. Baking just half works for us, as that's all we need at a time, and it bakes up so quickly.

Just an FYI, to halve a large egg, simply beat it well, and pour or scoop 2 tablespoons into your batter. Cover and save the other half-egg, in the fridge for up to 3 days, to use in cooking, or freeze.  To freeze half of an egg, beat in 1/16 teaspoon salt, or 3/8 teaspoon sugar, pour into a small freezer container and label (to use in your next half-batch, requiring 1/2 an egg).

Here's the full recipe.

My recipe calls for microwaving in a microwaveable 2-qt. ring mold. As other quick breads/coffee cakes can be microwaved in an 8-inch round or square. I would think that should also work for cornbread. But if you have a few small casserole dishes, as I do, then the microwave bake will take less time. You could also bake individual cornbreads, in custard cups.

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

optional: cheese for topping

• In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Beat together egg, milk and oil. Combine liquids with dry ingredients. 
• Pour into well-greased 2-qt. microwaveable casserole (or a couple of smaller casseroles).
• Microwave on MED-HI (70 % power) for 8-10 minutes.  (I microwave a half-batch, in two 5-inch casseroles, on HI for 3 & 1/2 minutes.)
• Your timing on the baking will likely differ from mine, slightly, as wattage varies among the different microwave ovens. If your microwave does not have a turntable, you will want to turn this, a quarter turn, half way through baking.
• Microwave baking takes a watchful eye. Watch the center of the item as it bakes. The center finishes baking last. When it looks set and dry in the center, as the edges do, press a finger into it. When done, it should feel firm.

• Remove from microwave. If topping with grated cheese, sprinkle on top of baked cornbread. 

• Place a dish or tray over the top, to hold in the heat while the cheese melts, about 3 minutes.

Customizing second-hand jeans for a teen girl

The problems we encounter, when shopping the second-hand market for teen-girl clothes are these:
when she finds the item that fits, it's not the style she wants, and, when she finds the style she wants, it's not the right size. Getting everything just right entails a bit of creativity, and some sewing skills.


My two daughters wear jeans every day to work. Jeans and a university provided t-shirt make up the required uniform. They each just have 1 pair of jeans. Work entails being on hands and knees scrubbing floors, toilets, tubs, and carpets, among other duties. Which means jeans are taking a beating this summer!

Sunday afternoon, I took both of them to St. Vincent de Paul's weekly "Sunday -- all clothing 99 cents". For our immediate area, 99 cents for thrift shop clothing is a spectacular price. I know some areas have much better pricing. But this is what we have available.

Each daughter has their own style preferences. One wanted skinny jeans, the other wanted flare leg jeans. The skinny jeans were actually easy to find this week. But the flare legs were either too worn or too big.

The daughter wanting flare-legged jeans is very petite. Our usual problem fitting her is finding pants with a small enough waist. We shop both the children's and juniors, hoping to find something that works. Here's how it went:

daughter -- "I found the perfect jeans!!!"

mom -- "Oh, that's wonderful! Let's see how they look!"

daughter comes out of dressing room -- "see, they fit perfectly"

mom -- "um, not exactly. But we'll take care of that."

daughter -- "they are exactly what I was looking for, except I wanted flair legs."

mom -- "I think that I can come up with something you might like"

daughter -- "I was really hoping to find some dark jeans. Can you do something about that too?"

mom -- "we can fix that"

daughter -- "these are exactly what I was looking for!!"

What she found, that she liked a lot, were too big in the waist, too long, had boot-cut legs (not as big a flare as she likes), and were paler blue than she was hoping for. But other than that, these were just perfect! LOL!

Standing in the dressing room area, I showed her that the waist could be taken in with 2 darts in the waist band in back, and 2 darts in front, and I could do a quick trick on the side seam to get a bit of the look of a flare to the hem. And of course, we could toss them in the next dark denim dye bath (later this summer). And then, the jeans would be "exactly what she was looking for".

Jeans made of a lighter weight denim can usually be taken in with darts in the waist. Fashion jeans tend to be made of the lighter weight denim, and are often light-colored denim. A good method for seeing if the denim will be light-weight enough to add darts to the waist band, is to pinch the waist band, and see if you can get a slim fold between your fingers.

Heavier weight denim, such as waist bands on Levi's, generally can't be machine stitched with darts (on most home-machines), to reduce a waist. When you pinch a Levi's type jean in the waist band, the fabric is too stiff and thick to get a slim fold. My daughter did choose a lighter weight denim (whew!), so taking in the waist should be easy enough.

To add darts, on the inside of the waist band, I pinch the back in two places, on either side of the center back seam, and stitch darts in a straight stitch. I do the same in the front, just above the pockets. I have my daughter try them on. If the darts need making larger (to take them in more), I sew each dart about 1/8th inch from the previous stitching, which with 4 darts will take the pants in another 1 inch total.

When we've got the right size in the waist. I trim the fold off the dart and then overcast the edges with a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.

On jeans that I have taken in this way in the past, we've never had an issue with the darts coming apart in any way. They have held up to many, many washings, and literally years of wear. The darts will be invisible, under a belt, should she want to wear a tucked-in shirt.

After taking in the waist, it was time to have her try them on for length-fitting. Because the hem was so deep, I decided it would just be easier to hand hem them. My rule of thumb on whether to machine or hand hem jeans, is about 1 inch. If the turned up portion will be more than 1 inch, I hand hem. If less than 1 inch, I use the machine. Machine hemming a really deep hem requires cutting off, and turning under some of the fabric (otherwise the stitching looks too high on the outside). A hand hem is much less visible, and quick to do.

These jeans have a straight seam up the side. This would be the seam that I would re-stitch, on the inside, just an 8-inch portion from mid-knee to mid-calf, to get a flared look to the hem.

I had my daughter try on the jeans with the better fitting waist and right length, and marked where to taper the knee area (to get the look of a flared bottom hem). I turned the jeans inside out, and redid the side seam with a tapering addition to the seam.

The taper area is marked with pins.

Stitching began right at mid-knee area, on the side seam, coming in 3/4 of an inch, then tapering back to the seam, on each leg, for about 8 inches down the seam. It's not a true flare, more like an exaggerated boot cut. But it satisfied my daughter.

By the way, you can turn flare or boot cut jeans into straight leg or skinny jeans, by stitching new side or inseams. Most jeans have 1 seam that is lapped, and 1 seam that is just a straight seam. Do the tapering along the straight seam, hemming afterwards, if the hem needs taking up. As styles can change drastically from one season to the next, I've turned many pairs of flared pants into straight leg for myself.

As these were paler than she really wanted, I mentioned the dye bath I have planned for September -- dark denim blue. My own jeans, a denim jacket, a light blue tee-shirt that looks faded, these jeans, and a denim skirt will go into that dye.


I have to say, my daughter is immensely happy with her new jeans. Total cost was 99 cents. I did the alterations in bits of time. But my guess is I spent no more than 2 hours, in total. If we had shopped retail at Old Navy or The Gap, we probably could have found some jeans to her liking for $20 to $30. I'd say for a $20-$30 savings, the extra work, to customize these jeans, was well worth it.

In the perfect world, both daughters would have found exactly what they wanted on that day. But life's not perfect, and we sometimes have to adapt, either our attitudes and wants, or what we've been provided with.