Corn Bread Girl in a Gluten Free World

That's me.  I grew up in the country where everyone had a garden and my grandma made the best cornbread out there.  Cornbread and beans... cornbread and milk... cornbread and Sunday dinner.... cornbread and homemade soup....

Forget yeast rolls baby, there is nothing like warm cornbread out of the oven with a slab of butter on it.  Better than dessert.  The only thing that could hold a candle to my grandma's cornbread was her "cat-head" biscuts!  Of course, we all had to learn to make them.  Mama made cornbread... I made cornbread [and biscuts]....

I think one of the reasons my Honey married me was for my biscuits and cornbread. Then it happened!  My Honey went and "got sick."  Cornbread and biscuits went out the window for a long time. 

Oh, I tried.... tried to make those yummy breads by altering those recipes... but, alas... unless you like sandpaper, you would have never eaten those culinary offerings.  All those years of training in my grandmother's kitchen learning to perfect the art of southern bread gone to waste.

Until now....

I've discovered buckwheat and sorghum baby!  Woohoo!!!

I made some cornbread to go with our soup the other rainy night.  It disappeared faster than the steam rolling off it from the oven.

Quick Corn Muffins
1 c. sorghum or buckwheat flour
1 c. corn meal (or corn flour if you like it more "cakey")
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix these together in a bowl.

1 tbsp. milled flax seed
hot water

Place the milled flax seed in a measuring cup.  Add enough hot water to it to fill up the cup the the 1/4 cup line.  Stir this and let it sit a bit.  Then stir again.  It will become gel-like.  (This is your egg replacer.)

1 c. rice milk

Add the flax gel mixture and rice milk into the dry ingredients until well blended and not lumpy.  Corn bread is a bit thicker than cake mix... but you don't want it too dry. 

Spray your muffin tins with some oil and pour the mix in.  Bake for about 20 minutes in an oven at 375 degrees.  This makes about 12+ corn muffins.  If you have kids... go ahead a make a double batch.

Serve these with butter or soup... or just slap some jelly/jam on them and make them dessert.  MMmmmm....

Grandma would be proud!

Allergy definitions...

Have you ever been told your child (or yourself) doesn't have a "real allergy"??   Ummmm... define "real". Funny thing is, when you are sick, who cares what it is called?!

Anyway, as my dear husband's doc said to him one day... "Man, it doesn't matter what the label is.. YOU can't eat it!" Nuff' said.

I was surfing and found these great definitions from a website in Canada (here).  So maybe when someone tells you that your food issues aren't "real"... you can give them a little medical lingo to explain.  [Oh!  And don't forget, this website isn't a medical one... you still need to talk with your doc about food issues.]

Food Intolerance definition: Intolerance refers to the absence of specific chemicals or enzymes needed to digest a food substance. Intolerance is not a disease or an allergy as it does not trigger an immune response involving antibodies.

Sensitivity definition: Food and environmental sensitivities refer to an adverse reaction when the body is exposed to a sensitizing factor in the environment or in food. It does not involve antibodies, but may involve other aspects of the immune system (increased intestinal permeability or a leaky gut). Most food and chemical reactions are considered sensitivities.

Allergy definition: Allergy refers to the immune system's hypersensitivity to an offending substance involving elevation of specific antibodies due to antigen stimulus. It is an immune system reaction to a substance that other people find harmless. Allergic reactions are classified into two categories, immediate and delayed, up to 72 hours. They can range from mild to severe which can cause anaphylactic shock.

Eat healthy, live well....
The Cornbread Girl

Apple Pie !!! Yea Baby!

So my Honey had a hankering for some REAL pie.  You know, the kind made from apples from the orchard (not a can).  I was busy... but my 12 year old volunteered for the task (anything for sugar in his life).

Let me tell you... there is no faster way to teach your pre-teen age child to cook than to set them onto making dessert.  Now that I know he can cook (and follow directions)... guess who I'll expect more cooking from.

Pie, baby...Pie!!!

The Crust:

1 2/3 c. brown rice flour

1 2/3 c. sorghum flour

1 tsp salt

1 tblsp + 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 lb. butter (or 1/2 butter & 1/2 coconut shortening/oil)

1/2 c. chilled water

Combine flours, xanthan gum and salt.  Cut in shortening/butter until you get those little small balls of dough.  Then add in the chilled water to dampen the mixture.  We just put the entire bowl in the refrigerator to chill the dough.  (If you are a professional chef there are more professional ways to do this.  Alas, with four kids... we "git'er done" anyway we can.)

I have not had great success in rolling out gluten free pie crusts.  If any of you have, please feel free to leave me your tips.  We just oil our pans and "hand press" the flour right into the pie pan.  This dough will make you 3-4 crusts.

The filling:

4 medium apples peeled (or not) and sliced

1 c. sugar

2/3 c. brown sugar

4 tblsp. sorghum flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 tblsp. butter

Mix everthing in the bowl.  Place filling in crusts.  Place top crusts on if you like.  Bake for about 45 minutes.

Then go jog for that 45 minutes to work off what you are about to eat. Can you smell it.  Hmmmmm......

Note: you can make this diary free if you substitute the butter with coconut oil/shortening or margerine in the crust.  Substitute oil in the filling for the butter.  We just never touch margerine.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!! 

Love, The Cornbread Girl

Tomato Free "Tomato Sauce" and Spaghetti!

Looky-looky!!! My boy is happy! He has his favorite dish... SPAGHETTI!


Gluten-free noodles and Tomato FREE "tomato" sauce!!!

I have tried tomato free sauce for my sweetie before. They are usually beet based, really sweet..., and really purple! Just not quite... "tomato saucy" enough for my taste.

So tonight, I had this wild hair..... I see the sweet potato just innocently sitting in the veggie drawer.... I wonder????

Here is my latest concoction! According to my dear son... "It's PERFECT MOM!" So, I am a happy woman.


Tomato Free Spaghetti Sauce

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped (or canned)

1 handful of carrot, peeled and chopped (or canned)

1 beets, cleaned and slice (or canned)
1/2 lb. ground beef, browned
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parley
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. garlic

You can do these two ways: faster or slower

Faster: open those bad boy cans up and throw them all in the food processor, puree your frustrations away. Then dump them all in a saucepan on the stove with the ground beef (cooked) and seasonings. Simmer on low until your sauce is not so purple and the seasonings have time to flavor the veggies. (10-20 minutes)

Slower: peel and chop those fresh veggies, then process them in a Cuisinart (with some added water as needed) until you have a nice mush. Dump this in the saucepan with the beef and seasoning (and a little extra water if needed), stir together. Simmer until you have a nice yummy smelling sauce (apprx. 20-25 minutes).

What I actually did tonight: It was a combo. I do not tend to have beets lying around in my fridge. Therefore, I slurried up my carrots and sweet potatoes and added them in with the canned beets in the pan. It really gave the sauce a "thickness" that just canned veggies do not give. Know what I mean? You could even just steam your veggies in the microwave to soften them up first. Lots of options. Fun! Fun!

Serve over gluten free noodles or spaghetti squash and watch your kid's face light up!

Servings: I do not know... we never seem to have leftovers no matter how much I fix.

Hint: Make your kids eat their salad while waiting for the sauce to finish cooking. In addition, make sure you fix yourself a plate before you let them serve themselves! I tend to make a big pot of sauce and freeze some back for another meal or two (saving much time in the future).

Great Northerns!

I have discovered a new thing. Yep... yet another "new" thing. White beans.


I suppose that growing up in the South influenced my genre of edible beans. I can smell them now, those beans in a big pot simmering on the cast iron stove. We did not use humidifiers in the wintertime, we just cooked a pot of beans and the steam “humidified” the house in the process. We had lima beans, butter beans, butter peas, pinto beans. Of course, the beans were always served with corn bread [buttermilk cornbread at grandma’s house]. Ah, those were the days.

My honey, on the other hand, grew up in the North. His favorite beans seem so foreign to me - lentils, split peas, etc. I am not sure I had ever tried a lentil before I married. I am not sure he had ever learned to eat cornbread with beans for a meal before we married.  Marriage can be such a good thing.
In addition, I never knew what a “great northern” bean was. I never even realized that white beans were the main ingredient used to make all those tons of baked beans eaten at every church gathering and picnic. In my mind, the color of a bean ranged from green to brown or purple. Funny what we seem to overlook in life.

Alas, in our multiple-allergies world, I have rediscovered white beans. They have a mild flavor that just picks up the seasoning of whatever you are cooking them with. Alone in a bowl, the kids will not touch them. However, mix them in with some seasonings and maybe some protein and there are no leftovers to be found after a meal. You can even use the dry beans and throw those babies in a coffee grinder to make some “bean flour” for instant thickener or for high protein flour. My favorite thing has been to make “cream of bean” soup… replaces the dairy and wheat laden “cream of mushroom/chicken/celery” soups in so many recipes. A little water, bean flour and your favorite seasonings and “Viola’!” you have soup!

So dearies…tonight’s offering was made because I had left over chicken in the fridge along with a mess of great northerns. I threw a salad and apple slices in to round things out. I then had to make a plate for my honey before the kids licked the skillet clean. Enjoy!

Great Northern Quick Skillet Chicken
2 cooked chicken breast (or used canned gluten free)
½ white onion
1 tsp. dried Garlic
1 tsp. Salt
Cooked Great Northern Beans (about 2 cans)
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Parsley

In a skillet, throw in your chicken, onion garlic and salt. Sauté it a bit. Then add in the beans and other seasonings. Simmer for about 10 minutes. (I added a little water while simmering…. Because my beans needed it.)

Serve with a salad, rolls or rice.

Serves 4 (if you have hollow-legged growing children)
Serves 6 (if you eat normal portions)