Baked Beans, Crispy Cornbread

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: A sampling of Southern stick-to-your-ribs standards including sweet-and-savory hot water cornbread, baked beans and kabocha squash slathered in barbecue sauce, a fresh, crunchy cucumber, onion, and carrot tossed with Annie's Goddess dressing, and a batch of Abby's signature fluffy biscuits.

The Goods: Supplies in the VNHQ kitchen are running a bit low, but luckily Abby is an expert at throwing together a fabulous meal with only a few items. While her standby recipe for hot water cornbread is a gem, she switched things up today and used the hot water cornbread recipe appearing in VN's fantastic July+August Anniversary issue Soul Food Feast feature. These crunchy cakes were perfectly complemented with savory barbecue sauce, sweet maple syrup, and agave. Oh, and did we mention that Abby also made biscuits? We did? Sorry, it's just kind of a big deal. Biscuits aren't the only exciting thing happening around these here offices, as tomorrow marks the final proof day for our July+August issue. This means two things: We'll be having burritos for lunch per VN tradition, and after the magazine officially goes to press we will be drinking champagne at our desks.