Recipe Redux Sponsored Contest: Libby’s Starter and Sides Contest
Savory Corn Cakes

So, one of the perks of writing a food blog is getting opportunities to try out fun, new food products, sometimes even before they hit the store shelves. A perfect example of this happened just this very week when I received a few samples of Libby’s new Vegetable Pouches in the mail to test out in my kitchen.

Packed in adorable, easy to open, shelf-stable pouches, these veggies can even be heated in the microwave right in their own packaging in less than a minute (please, don’t try this with your canned veggies!) The pouch containers are more environmentally friendly than canned counterparts, as they take 75% less energy to produce. Libby’s Vegetable Pouches come in Sliced Carrot, Sweet Corn, Green bean, Sweet Pea and Mixed Vegetable varieties.

Now the challenge posed to all of us Recipe Reduxers was to develop a recipe for a side dish that could be made in ten minutes or less. The first quick food item that popped in my head was pancakes. I went with the Sweet Corn and came up with these delicious, savory Corn Cakes.  The Batter is super easy to prepare and you can  mix it in advance and then store in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Or, you can cook some up now, some later if you are feeding a small group.

I used cheese with jalapeno to save myself the time and trouble of chopping up a hot pepper. The heat from the jalapeno-spiced Monterey Jack cheese is mild enough to still make this dish kid-friendly. If you want extra heat you can add additional fresh, chopped jalapeno into the batter too. And mix the batter as much and as fast as you like; since there’s no gluten there’s no worry of over-stirring and  toughening up your cake batter.

These corn cakes pair great with anything southwestern- chicken, pork or seafood, as well as black beans, salsa, sliced avocado and/or sour cream.

Happy Healthy Eating!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Cornmeal, stone ground
1/2 cup Potato starch flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon each Salt & Black Pepper
1 tablespoon Olive oil
2 large Eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
1 package (1 1/2 cups) Libby’s Sweet Corn Kernels, drained
1/2 cup Scallions, chopped
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese with Jalapeno, shredded

PREPARATION
In a medium bowl, mix together the cornmeal, potato starch, baking soda, sugar, salt and pepper.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg and buttermilk. Stir in the Libby’s sweet corn, scallions and cheese. Add the cornmeal mix and stir together well so that batter is fully combined.

On a heated griddle lightly sprayed with olive oil over medium-high heat, drop the batter in 1/4 cup measures onto griddle. Let batter lightly spread to for 3 – 4 inch cakes. Cook corn cakes about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes per side, or until golden.

Serve cakes warm.

Makes about 18 Corn Cakes.
Serving size: 2 Cakes.

I received free samples of Libby’s new Vegetable Pouches mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Libby’s and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.