I’m lying in bed the morning of the dinner marshalling my forces for what is sure to be a very long day when my five year old daughter comes bounding into the bedroom and says, “Mommy, there are ants in the kitchen.” I lie there with my eyes still closed thinking, “So what else is new. It’s the end of the summer so they need food and water because there’s nothing left outside… No big deal. I’ll wipe them up when I get out of bed, later…” And then I realize, “ANTS!!! I have spent the past three days prepping food for a five-course-sit-down-fundraiser-dinner for 27 people! ANTS!!!”

I dash into the kitchen and sure enough there is a foot wide path of ants heading right for the 48 individual Indian corn puddings I had made the night before. Luckily the Indian corn puddings are filled with onion and Tabasco so the ants didn’t like them. I quickly dispatched the scouts from the puddings with tweezers and cleaned the rest with dish soap and wet towels (we try not to use pesticides at our house). My better half snored through this entire adventure…

Here is one of the most delicious recipes you will ever find:

Indigo Grill's Indian Corn Pudding

Makes about 12 servings

1 package Jiffy corn-bread mix
1/4 cup plus 11/2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 cup creamed corn
1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 white onion, thinly sliced

Butter 12 muffin tins or line them with paper liners. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine corn-bread mix, milk, melted butter, Tabasco and creamed corn. Mix well. Fill muffin tins half full with this mixture.
In another bowl, thoroughly combine cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise and white onion. Top each muffin with cheese mixture to fill tin. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

(From Chef Deborah Scott of Indigo Grill)

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