Crock pot pinto beans and whole wheat cornbread muffins

My people call it maize.

Cornbread is comfort food to me.  It reminds me of my Dad because he liked it and he would tell us about when all he had to eat was "cornbread mush".  I normally use a mix like Jiffy when I make cornbread but it is on the sweet side so I wanted to find something more savory.  My daughters are also starting to cook on their own and thought cornbread would be a good recipe for them to know.

This recipe from Keeper of the Home came out really nice (http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2013/05/homemade-jiffy-corn-muffin-mix-simple-healthier-cornbread-with-three-variations.html).  It made 12 medium size muffins easily.  I like the texture of the whole wheat flour with the cornmeal, it was hearty but still tender.  The only substitutions I did was to use coconut oil instead of palm oil and I used regular baking powder, but I am going to purchase aluminum-free in the future.  I also did the white vinegar in milk to make buttermilk trick.

Once the muffins were totally cooled I froze them on a cookie sheet and then put in a gallon freezer bag so they can be used one at a time.  Perfect to pack for lunch for the girls or to defrost and drop into a bowl of pinto beans.

You can find my pinto beans recipe from this previous post (http://sayamouthful.blogspot.com/2012/01/1512-chicken-tacos-with-pinto-beans-and.html)