Gluten Free Cheesy Corn Bread

My parents were up last weekend and I’ve been craving corn bread so I decided it would be a good side with our chili. I’ve been battling a sinus infection, like everyone else it seems, so my motivation level was low and I didn’t feel like looking up an already GF recipe online. Instead I grabbed my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and decided to modify their recipe to GF. I’m happy to report it was a success. The corn bread was light and fluffy and didn’t start to dry for two days. My dad asked if he could safely eat it, habit for a long time Celiac I’m sure, and he couldn’t believe it was GF. He commented that it was the best GF corn bread he’s had and loved that it wasn’t hard. It’s a winner in my book!

Cheesy Corn Bread
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 C GF flour blend (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Almond blend)
1 C cornmeal
4 T sugar
1 T baking powder
½ t salt
2 beaten eggs
1 C milk*
¼ C olive oil
½ C shredded cheddar cheese*

Grease a 9x9x2 baking dish and set aside. Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Stir together the GF flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture.

Combine the eggs, milk, olive oil, and cheese then pour into the well in the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened then spoon into the baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean.

Let it cool before cutting into square and serve with honey butter.

If you like to add corn to your corn bread you can add a drained can of corn with the wet ingredients.

*For dairy free rice milk and Daiya work as great substitutes.

Children's Museum in Bozeman Update

I just wanted to update the safe status of the Children's Museum in Bozeman. Their March Newsletter states that they have lentils at the sensory table so it is again safe for us GFer's to visit the Museum. Yeah!

Gluten Free Play dough

My boy knows he can’t have play dough because it has wheat in it, he points this out to me whenever we see a play dough commercial or see toys for it at Target. I’ve been telling him that we can make some that’s safe and I finally came through with my promise. The recipe is really easy and it’s quick to make. I felt like it wasn’t going to work at first but just keep stirring and you’ll get there. We were able to play with it right away and my girl thought it was good enough to eat, blech. We’ll build up our color options over time but this is a fantastic alternative for him.

Gluten Free Play Dough
From Celiac Sprue Association

½ C rice flour
½ C cornstarch
½ C salt
2 t cream of tartar
1 C water
1 t cooking oil
Food coloring

Mix the ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir on low for 5 minutes or until it starts to thicken and clump together. After cooled store in an airtight container or plastic bag.

If you don’t want to make your own you can purchase some pre-made GF play dough. Here’s the link for Aroma Dough and Colorations Wheat & Gluten Free Dough.

M&M Pancakes

With Valentine’s Day coming up I’m in the mood to do some cooking that is tied into the day of love. Hubby and I never celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s just too gimmicky for me and I don’t need a designated day to let him know that I love him. I do like to make a nice dinner if we’re home and now that we have kids we buy them some Valentine’s treats because I can’t stop spoiling them. I picked up a bag of Valentine’s M&M’s with the plan to make M&M pancakes. It was going to be a few days before I made them until Hubby found out about my plan. This changed our dinner for the night to make them then, it’s easy enough so I agreed to make him happy. If you haven’t had them before they’re really yummy and kids (the big ones also) get excited about them. We served them with our normal butter and maple syrup and my boy pouted while he had to wait for more to finish cooking, it’s a hard life for him.

M&M Pancakes

GF Pancake Batter (I use Gluten Free Mama’s)*
M&M’s, several handfuls
Butter
Maple Syrup

Pour the pancake batter on a hot skillet. If I had planned ahead I would have made heart shaped pancakes, you can put the batter in a large Ziploc bag, cut the corner and pipe a heart shape on the skillet with the batter. Top the batter with M&M’s. Flip when the bottom is lightly browned and the top is starting to bubble a bit. Serve with butter and maple syrup though peanut butter would be delicious on top also.

*I like to let my batter sit for a minimum of 5 min and up to 30 min, it makes the pancakes fluff when they bake.

Fruit Salad

I stumbled upon this recipe last summer and fell in love. It’s quick, tastes great, and kids love it! What more could you ask for? It’s a nice recipe to adjust to what is in season, what you have on hand, or what your taste buds prefer. My kids will happily eat this morning, noon, and night. It's not surprising since it's filled with their favorite things.

Fruit Salad in Seconds
Adapted from Allrecipes

2 apples, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces*
1 pound seedless grapes
3 bananas, sliced
8 oz French vanilla yogurt

In a large bowl mix together the fruit and yogurt. Serve immediately.

*I peel my apples because my girl doesn’t like the skins, you can leave it on if you prefer

If you make this a couple hours ahead of time do everything but the bananas, they get too mushy if they sit too long.

Add any fruits or flavored yogurt you prefer, it’s nice to play around with the flavors and mixes. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and pears would all be delicious.

Cinnamon Chex and Trix Swirls

I have found Cinnamon Chex in Bozeman, ah sweet cereal! If you haven't tried them already they have a nice sweetness to them with a great cinnamon flavor. You can get them at Van's IGA located at 912 Nth 7th Ave.

Picture is courtesy of Amazon.com.

I've also discovered that Trix Swirls don't have any gluten containing ingredients and is also free of HFCS. My boy has really been enjoying them for breakfast.

Picture is courtesy of General Mills.

It's nice to have different options for cereal to give my kids, I'm so glad they can still enjoy the fun cereals and not feel like they're left out for being GF. Always be sure to read the ingredients list if it doesn't state GF on the box, better to be safe than sorry.

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

I’m on a Brussels sprouts roll, well I just needed to use up the second half of my bag. The other weekend my IL’s were visiting and we had a roast so I decided to make Brussels sprouts for a side, there were already potatoes, carrots, etc with the roast so if someone didn’t want to try them they still had vegetable options. This was a really easy dish to throw together and I made it ahead of time and put it in the fridge until I was ready to bake it. The dish wasn’t bitter at all (I think boiling them helped with this) and had a nice flavor. My FIL said he hasn’t had Brussels sprouts since he was 6 and he really liked them, even told my MIL that he’d eat them if she made them like that. Hubby ate his standard 1 and the kids swapped rolls on me. My boy ate all of his and asked what they were saying he liked them but my girl wouldn’t touch hers. I just can’t win but I won’t give up!

Brussels Sprouts Gratin
Adapted from All Recipes

1 pound Brussels sprouts, cleaned, trimmed and cut in half
3 slices bacon
Salt & pepper to taste
½ C heavy cream
¼ C shredded cheddar cheese
¼ C GF bread crumbs
¼ C grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F and lightly grease an 11”x7” baking dish, or just use a 2 quart dish.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the Brussels sprouts. Cook uncovered until tender, about 10 minutes, then drain. Immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes until cold then drain well.

While the sprouts are boiling fry the bacon in a skillet until crisp then break into small pieces. Add the sprouts to the bacon grease and season with pepper while tossing to evenly coat. Put the sprouts in the baking dish and pour the cream evenly over them (I did add a little bit more cream than it called for). Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top then top with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven until heated through, about 25 minutes, top with bacon crumbs and serve.