Well, I did it. I actually made cornbread today that looks like cornbread, tastes like cornbread, and is the consistency of regular gluten-filled cornbread, but it is gluten-free. I was so excited. So, I want to Share this with all of you. The key to it was my homemade rice flour. I guess the third time really is the charm. Bailey liked the dressing I made from this last week. This week's version of Chicken and Dressing was spot on because I managed to make cornbread that was just like cornbread should be. I am enjoying creating gluten-free versions of some of our favorite southern foods.
One thing I have found discouraging is that when I have looked for gluten-free recipes, too often I find recipes of things that would naturally be gluten-free. I don't need recipes for things like fruit salad, sauteed vegetables, etc. I needed to find recipes for those traditionally southern foods that my daughter has grown to love. Chicken and Dressing happens to be one of those things which was why I was trying to perfect cornbread. By Thanksgiving, I should be able to fix that traditional Thanksgiving meal for Bailey, complete with stuffing, homemade rolls, and her favorite Pumpkin pie. But for now, I am just happy to have figured out cornbread.
One of our family favorites is the old fashioned Blackberry Wine Cake. However, there are many people who will not make it because of the wine part. Because of that, I am also including a recipe for gluten-free blackberry jello cake.
CORNBREAD
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup rice flour (I use my homemade version.)
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If using a cast iron skillet to bake your cornbread, spray it with non-stick gluten free cooking spray and place in oven to preheat as well.
Mix together all dry ingredient. Add milks, egg, and oil. Pour batter into preheated cast iron skillet. (regular baking pans do not need to be preheated.) Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Turn out on plate with a knife underneath to prevent it from sticking to plate.
BLACKBERRY JELLO CAKE
1 Pamela's Gluten-Free White Cake Mix (prepare according to package directions)
2 boxes Blackberry Fusion Jello
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 canister cream cheese frosting, whipped
Prepare cake mix according to package directions, except you need to add one box of the jello to the batter. After it is baked, cool it. While cooling, mix together remaining box of Jello with the boiling water. When disolved, add the cold waret. Once thr cake is cool, use a small dowel stick (or chop stick) to poke holes in the cake. Pour the liquid jello all over the cake, saturating it well. Place in refrigerator to completely cool. Once it is cold, frost with whipped cream cheese frosting. If you can't find the whipped type, use the regular, but whip it with electric mixer on high until light and fluffy. This cake flavor will remind you of the old Blackberry Wine Cake.
Enjoy, gluten-free southern cooks!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Gluten Free Cornbread
Every Southern cook knows that cornbread is an essential food to have on the table. It is also the base for good southern dressing, which is what I was needing to cook today. Don't expect a recipe for my dressing, though. I don't have one, because I just throw it all together. But in order to work my magic and make gluten free dressing, I first had to make a good gluten free cornbread. First try was ok, but too cake-like. Second try is much better, still not quite the same consistency as what I am accustomed, but it is pretty close. I am going to continue working on this in the hopes of hitting the exact same consistency we have had in the past. This looks and tastes like regular cornbread.
CORNBREAD
1 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup rice flour (I use my homemade version.)
1/3 cup gluten free baking flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup skim milk
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If using a cast iron skillet to bake your cornbread, spray it with non-stick gluten free cooking spray and place in oven to preheat as well.
Mix together all dry ingredient. Add milks, egg, and oil. Pour batter into preheated cast iron skillet. (regular baking pans do not need to be preheated.) Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Turn out on plate with a knife underneath to prevent it from sticking.
Enjoy Gluten-free southern cooks!
CORNBREAD
1 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup rice flour (I use my homemade version.)
1/3 cup gluten free baking flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup skim milk
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If using a cast iron skillet to bake your cornbread, spray it with non-stick gluten free cooking spray and place in oven to preheat as well.
Mix together all dry ingredient. Add milks, egg, and oil. Pour batter into preheated cast iron skillet. (regular baking pans do not need to be preheated.) Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Turn out on plate with a knife underneath to prevent it from sticking.
Enjoy Gluten-free southern cooks!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Gluten-Free Chocolate Melting Cake - Delicious!
I guess at this point it is obvious that I have had the day off since this is the third post of the day. However, this was one post that I just couldn't wait to share. I have just modified a recipe for Chocolate Melting Cake and added my own little twist to it. (We like dark chocolate in our house, so that is my twist.)
We have been on Carnival for two different cruises now. The first time, Bailey was not gluten intolerant. This last time, however, she was. The one disappointment she was facing was not being able to have any of their chocolate melting cake. What is really great about Carnival and other cruise lines is that they have anticipate dietary needs. They had a gluten-free chocolate melting cake. Needless to say, it was divine. So, I began my quest to find an equivalent recipe and modify it. I have done just that. So, if you are looking for a great dessert, especially a gluten-free one, this is perfect! (I will include directions to modify it to a non-gluten free recipe.) I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we did.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Melting Cake
7 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz. dark chocolate chips
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup gluten-free baking flour (1/2 cup all purpose flour for those who can have gluten)
1/4 tsp. guar gum (this is only needed for the gluten-free version)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt chocolate chips and butter together. Mix to blend. Set aside to cool.
While chocolate mixture is cooling, whisk 4 eggs together with the sugar. Add flour and guar gum. Whisk until smooth. Add remaining eggs. Whisk until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture.
Coat ramekins or individual baking dishes with a very light coat of oil. (I used olive oil.) Divide mixture between baking dishes. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until it looks done. Baking time will depend upon the size of your baking dishes. Ours are large, so it actually took 22 minutes. Remove from oven. The chocolate inside will be melted. Serve warm and enjoy.
You can dust this with powdered sugar and/or serve with vanilla ice cream as they do on the cruise ships.
We have been on Carnival for two different cruises now. The first time, Bailey was not gluten intolerant. This last time, however, she was. The one disappointment she was facing was not being able to have any of their chocolate melting cake. What is really great about Carnival and other cruise lines is that they have anticipate dietary needs. They had a gluten-free chocolate melting cake. Needless to say, it was divine. So, I began my quest to find an equivalent recipe and modify it. I have done just that. So, if you are looking for a great dessert, especially a gluten-free one, this is perfect! (I will include directions to modify it to a non-gluten free recipe.) I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we did.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Melting Cake
7 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz. dark chocolate chips
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup gluten-free baking flour (1/2 cup all purpose flour for those who can have gluten)
1/4 tsp. guar gum (this is only needed for the gluten-free version)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt chocolate chips and butter together. Mix to blend. Set aside to cool.
While chocolate mixture is cooling, whisk 4 eggs together with the sugar. Add flour and guar gum. Whisk until smooth. Add remaining eggs. Whisk until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture.
Coat ramekins or individual baking dishes with a very light coat of oil. (I used olive oil.) Divide mixture between baking dishes. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until it looks done. Baking time will depend upon the size of your baking dishes. Ours are large, so it actually took 22 minutes. Remove from oven. The chocolate inside will be melted. Serve warm and enjoy.
You can dust this with powdered sugar and/or serve with vanilla ice cream as they do on the cruise ships.
Best Gluten Free Breads
My daughter loves bread, especially homemade bread. Bread has been the most difficult thing to be able to find for her. Unfortunately, the bread she has found that she loved was on our Carnival Cruise. (Thank you, Carnival, for having gluten free options for your cruisers!)
I have gone through all kinds of bread mixes. I was going to make my own but hadn't ventured into it because I still needed to purchase guar gum or xantham gum, both of which I now have. However, after all the mixes and purchasing a variety of gluten free breads from the freezer section at two different stores, we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is fantastic. It is so good that my husband and I love it as well. You can't even tell it is gluten free.
Pamela's brand is by far the best mix we have found. Sure, it cost $5.99 a bag and is not even size loaf like most people get from the bread section of the grocery store, but it is fantastic. Who would have thought that something gluten free would taste so fantastic. It can be baked in the bread machine or in the oven. The directions suggestion is to bake it at a medium crust. The only problem we found when following the directions is that the top crust looks great but the sides and bottom seem to be overdone. I am about to make another loaf today and will set it to a light crust. I think this will take care of that problem. But even if it doesn't, the reality is this: we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is wonderful.
For those of you who don't want to make your own bread, there are numerous options out there for you. They can be found in the freezer section of some grocery stores (I went to Kroger) and health food stores. You will pay anywhere between $4.99 and $8.99 for the convenience. Of all of the brands we have tried, my daughter likes Udi's the best. Udi's has the best flavor and comes the closest to tasting like the regular gluten-filled bread that my daughter can't have. We have even had one bread from a local gluten-free home cottage bakery which my daughter didn't like because it didn't taste like bread and had a sponge-cake consistency.
There is one big catch with gluten-free bread, which I did find out from the owners of the gluten-free bakery. Bread that is gluten free really needs to be consumed within a day or two. Otherwise, it needs to be frozen. Putting it in the refrigerator does not actually extend the life of the bread. Instead, it dries it out. Have no fear though, there is a use for that bread or the bread that is about to be too old to keep. Croutons! I am used to making my own croutons from bread that is going stale and figured if I do it with regular bread, I can do it with gluten-free bread as well. I was right. I will close this post with my gluten-free crouton recipe.
Gluten-Free Croutons
slices of gluten-free bread
olive oil
garlic salt, to taste
Italian seasoning, to taste
Lay out gluten-free bread slices on baking sheet. Using either a spray bottle with olive oil (this is out new non-stick cooking spray) or a pastry brush, put a very light layer of olive oil on bread slices. Sprinkle with garlic salt and italian seasoning. Turn bread slices over and repeat process. Place on the bottom rack of oven under the broiler for 3 minutes. Turn and return to oven for another three minutes. Remove from oven. Cut into squares and place them back on the baking sheet. Change oven temperature to 275 degrees and return croutons to oven for 20 minutes. You can turn the croutons over during this process, if you like. Turn off oven and forget about them. This will give them time to finish drying out. (This entire process may sound odd, but gluten free bread can be very fragile. It is easier to get them lightly toasted and then cut them followed by the drying process.)
You may need to adjust the time based upon the type of bread you are using. Preslided bread browns slower than the sponge-cake type consistency. If using bread that you can slice yourself, you can have thinner slices which brown easier. Make sure you adjust your time for thinner slices when they are under the broiler.
You can actually use any kind of spice on these. I haven't tried yet, but I am guessing that you could even use some powdered ranch dressing mix to make ranch flavored croutons.
The great thing about these croutons, other than being gluten-free, is that you can't tell they are gluten-free.
I have gone through all kinds of bread mixes. I was going to make my own but hadn't ventured into it because I still needed to purchase guar gum or xantham gum, both of which I now have. However, after all the mixes and purchasing a variety of gluten free breads from the freezer section at two different stores, we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is fantastic. It is so good that my husband and I love it as well. You can't even tell it is gluten free.
Pamela's brand is by far the best mix we have found. Sure, it cost $5.99 a bag and is not even size loaf like most people get from the bread section of the grocery store, but it is fantastic. Who would have thought that something gluten free would taste so fantastic. It can be baked in the bread machine or in the oven. The directions suggestion is to bake it at a medium crust. The only problem we found when following the directions is that the top crust looks great but the sides and bottom seem to be overdone. I am about to make another loaf today and will set it to a light crust. I think this will take care of that problem. But even if it doesn't, the reality is this: we have finally found a bread mix for the bread machine that is wonderful.
For those of you who don't want to make your own bread, there are numerous options out there for you. They can be found in the freezer section of some grocery stores (I went to Kroger) and health food stores. You will pay anywhere between $4.99 and $8.99 for the convenience. Of all of the brands we have tried, my daughter likes Udi's the best. Udi's has the best flavor and comes the closest to tasting like the regular gluten-filled bread that my daughter can't have. We have even had one bread from a local gluten-free home cottage bakery which my daughter didn't like because it didn't taste like bread and had a sponge-cake consistency.
There is one big catch with gluten-free bread, which I did find out from the owners of the gluten-free bakery. Bread that is gluten free really needs to be consumed within a day or two. Otherwise, it needs to be frozen. Putting it in the refrigerator does not actually extend the life of the bread. Instead, it dries it out. Have no fear though, there is a use for that bread or the bread that is about to be too old to keep. Croutons! I am used to making my own croutons from bread that is going stale and figured if I do it with regular bread, I can do it with gluten-free bread as well. I was right. I will close this post with my gluten-free crouton recipe.
Gluten-Free Croutons
slices of gluten-free bread
olive oil
garlic salt, to taste
Italian seasoning, to taste
Lay out gluten-free bread slices on baking sheet. Using either a spray bottle with olive oil (this is out new non-stick cooking spray) or a pastry brush, put a very light layer of olive oil on bread slices. Sprinkle with garlic salt and italian seasoning. Turn bread slices over and repeat process. Place on the bottom rack of oven under the broiler for 3 minutes. Turn and return to oven for another three minutes. Remove from oven. Cut into squares and place them back on the baking sheet. Change oven temperature to 275 degrees and return croutons to oven for 20 minutes. You can turn the croutons over during this process, if you like. Turn off oven and forget about them. This will give them time to finish drying out. (This entire process may sound odd, but gluten free bread can be very fragile. It is easier to get them lightly toasted and then cut them followed by the drying process.)
You may need to adjust the time based upon the type of bread you are using. Preslided bread browns slower than the sponge-cake type consistency. If using bread that you can slice yourself, you can have thinner slices which brown easier. Make sure you adjust your time for thinner slices when they are under the broiler.
You can actually use any kind of spice on these. I haven't tried yet, but I am guessing that you could even use some powdered ranch dressing mix to make ranch flavored croutons.
The great thing about these croutons, other than being gluten-free, is that you can't tell they are gluten-free.
Gluten Free Rice Flour - from scratch
My daughter, who is 18, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 3-4 months ago. This means that all of my cooking had to change. Thank goodness I am someone who loves to cook, can follow a recipe, and can create something out of nothing. But, it was still a difficult thing to think about since I am also a southern cook. (thank goodness I don't make fried chicken.)
Over the last few months, I have Searched the Internet, read books, and experimented. While I am not an expert, I have been told that I should create a gluten free food blog. I am doing that because the one thing I seem to find is that ate majority of gluten free recipes do not even come close to the taste of the original food with gluten in it. So, my goal is to share some of the tricks I have found and recipes I have modified in order to get the flavor closest to the original.
For this first blog, I want to share a trick with you about making your own rice flour. I watched a video online and followed the directions as closely as possible by using my blender because I didn't have the $200 food processor or grain mill that the woman in the video had. I ended up with some pretty decent brown rice flour. For me, this is the flour that I want to use as the main flour whenever I am making anything breaded. The problem, my blender wasn't quite what I needed. The woman in the video took about 45 - 60 minutes to make the flour. It took longer with the blender. Next I tried a mini chopper. Ultimate failure.
I finally decided I was going to get the grain mill attachment for my kitchenaid mixer. It was going to cost $99.00. Lowes online said that it was in stock in our local store. It wasn't. Instead, what they had is nice Mr. Coffee coffee grinder for $29.95. When I got home, I tried it. I had it figured out quickly. It works. Set it to fine and only fill it up halfway. You can sift the flour after grinding to remove any large pieces that might have gotten through (something even the video lady with the fancy machine had to do). I use this mostly as breading flour. But I still kept one step from the woman in the video, I sifted the flour. It was pretty much just like when I used the blender and much faster. Thank you Mr. Coffee!
Some of my next blogs will have breads, crackers, cookies, corn dogs, Mac and cheese, and more!
Happy Gluten Free Living!
Over the last few months, I have Searched the Internet, read books, and experimented. While I am not an expert, I have been told that I should create a gluten free food blog. I am doing that because the one thing I seem to find is that ate majority of gluten free recipes do not even come close to the taste of the original food with gluten in it. So, my goal is to share some of the tricks I have found and recipes I have modified in order to get the flavor closest to the original.
For this first blog, I want to share a trick with you about making your own rice flour. I watched a video online and followed the directions as closely as possible by using my blender because I didn't have the $200 food processor or grain mill that the woman in the video had. I ended up with some pretty decent brown rice flour. For me, this is the flour that I want to use as the main flour whenever I am making anything breaded. The problem, my blender wasn't quite what I needed. The woman in the video took about 45 - 60 minutes to make the flour. It took longer with the blender. Next I tried a mini chopper. Ultimate failure.
I finally decided I was going to get the grain mill attachment for my kitchenaid mixer. It was going to cost $99.00. Lowes online said that it was in stock in our local store. It wasn't. Instead, what they had is nice Mr. Coffee coffee grinder for $29.95. When I got home, I tried it. I had it figured out quickly. It works. Set it to fine and only fill it up halfway. You can sift the flour after grinding to remove any large pieces that might have gotten through (something even the video lady with the fancy machine had to do). I use this mostly as breading flour. But I still kept one step from the woman in the video, I sifted the flour. It was pretty much just like when I used the blender and much faster. Thank you Mr. Coffee!
Some of my next blogs will have breads, crackers, cookies, corn dogs, Mac and cheese, and more!
Happy Gluten Free Living!
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