Gluten-Free Cottage Cheese Cornbread

Our family loves a good vegetarian soup, stew or chili accompanied by cornbread, especially when it's cold outside. Here's a quick and easy recipe for cornbread that is almost a meal in itself - nutritious, moist and gluten-free.



Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk*
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1/4 cup oil or butter
1 cup corn

* If you don't have buttermilk on hand, pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup, top measuring cup with milk, and let stand for 5 minutes before adding to the other ingredients.

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Mix the cornmeal, gluten-free flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-size bowl.
3. Whisk the sugar, oil, buttermilk and cottage cheese in a larger bowl.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then fold in the corn.
5. Pour mixture into a greased 8-inch square baking pan.
6. Bake 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
7. Let cool slightly before cutting; serve warm with butter, honey....
8. Another option is to place each serving of the cornbread in the bottom of individual bowls, ladle stew or chili over the top, and garnish with grated cheese.
   

Serves 8-10

Best Ever Gluten-Free Buttermilk Cornmeal Waffles

Waffles at one. I woke up hungry, which is unusual for me. The morning clicked along, then about lunch time realized I was starving. As I checked into Facebook to see what was going on, my friend Kate, of Kate in the Kitchen food blog, posted a comment about waffles that was so good it inspired her cleaning crew to work. When I requested her superpower-waffle-recipe to kick start my weekend of cleaning, she promptly sent me the link. Within an hour, I was eating the best waffle I have ever eaten and I mean ever. Great texture, light and crisp. I finished my 8-inch waffle before my husband did, then I waffle-ironed us a second batch.

I adjusted the ingredients to create a gluten-free waffle. My gluten-free variation goes like this, and it's GOOD!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 cup polenta (stone-ground cornmeal)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 large farm fresh eggs
2 cups of buttermilk substitute: 1 cup Half&Half, 1 cup 2-percent milk, plus 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (shaken until foamy and set a side for 5-minutes)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus a little oil for basting the waffle iron

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and polenta baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In another bowl or large jar, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk or buttermilk substitute and the oil.
3. Add the liquid mixture all at once to the large bowl with the mixed dry ingredients and whisk until well-combined.
4. Preheat waffle iron, and if you want to cook all the waffles and keep them warm until you serve them - preheat your oven to 200-degrees.
5. Brush waffle iron lightly with a little oil.
6. Ladle 1/2 cup of the waffle batter into an 8-inch waffle iron (1/4 cup for a 4-inch).
7. The batter is thin enough it should quickly spread toward the edge. Cook according to the manufacturer's directions and how crisp you want your waffle. I like mine crispy (4.5).
8. Transfer waffles to a baking sheet and keep warm on the middle rack, uncovered until ready to serve.
9. Serve with butter or water-basted eggs and warm syrup.
   

Makes 6-8 8-inch waffles or 14-16 4-inch waffles.

For Christmas, we gave our daughter and granddaughter matching Mother & Daughter aprons. Here they are in our kitchen making waffle batter for our family breakfast together.

Polenta Stuffed Peppers with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I love stuffed peppers. Our family recipe was my grandmother's, but this is not my grandmother's stuffed bell peppers. This vegetarian recipe is just as good, but meatless, takes less time to prepare and takes only 30 minutes to bake. I doubled the recipe for 4 large bell peppers and had only a cup of the creamy polenta mixture left over, which I can easily incorporate into another meal.

The recipe comes from my cooking course challenge cookbook The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen by Donna Klein, on page114.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 tablespoon marinate reserved, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup polenta
1-3/4 cups (14-ounce) can of low-sodium vegetable broth, gluten-free
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, gluten-free
4 large bell peppers (about 8-ounces each), with the tops cut off, seeds and membranes removed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees
2. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat and saute the onion until soft.
3. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute, then stir in the sun-dried tomatoes.
4. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. I added Mount Rose Herbs Mexican Seasoning to taste.
5. In a medium stockpot, bring the broth and water to a boil over high heat.
6. Slowly stir in the polenta with a long-handled wooden spoon.
7. Reduce heat to low and stir in the tomato mixture.
8. Cover and cook until the polenta is tender (about 15-minutes).
9. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.
10. Pack the bell peppers with the polenta mixture.
11. Place in a shallow glass baking dish and add enough water to the dish to measure 1/2 inch.
12. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until set.
13. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese the last five minutes of cooking or when ready to serve.

Serves 4

Next time I make this dish, I think I will add browned, sliced mushrooms and corn kernels (or adjust the liquids to add creamed corn).

Gluten-Free, Cottage Cheese-Jalapeño Cornbread

I love homemade cornbread made from scratch and have a great recipe. My only problem today, was that I didn't have enough rice flour nor did I have any buttermilk. My solution was to mix a variety of flours I had on hand and make a buttermilk substitute. It still turned out moist and delicious - a double batch to enjoy this morning hot out of the oven with butter, to serve it tonight with our salmon dinner, with homemade vegetarian chili tomorrow! This cornbread freezes well.

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (gluten-free: try a mix of corn, rice, almond...)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk*
1 cup cottage cheese, small curd
1-7 ounce can of diced green chilies
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)

Ingredients:

1. Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking power and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, cottage cheese in a bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Stir in the corn and the diced green chilies.
5. Pour mixture into a greased 8-inch glass baking dish.
6. Bake in a pre-heated 375-degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
   

*Buttermilk Substitute:

1. Place a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup.
2. Add milk to the one-cup line.
3. Let mixture stand for 5-minutes.

Serves 8-10

Option: Serve honey-butter or syrup when you serve this cornbread at breakfast.

Creamy Polenta

Polenta is a very versatile staple to incorporate into your meals. Depending on what you add to it, you can dish up a tasty sweet or savory accompaniment to any breakfast, lunch or dinner meal or serve as a dessert.

Ingredients:

Salt, to taste
5 cups chicken stock or water
1⁄4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper or cayenne, to taste
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
4 ounces cream cheese, mascarpone or ricotta, at room temperature
Milk or water, for the consistency you desire
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
Herbs (optional), season to taste

Directions:

In a large, heavy saucepan, bring 5 cups of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the butter, cream, salt and pepper. Whisking constantly, pour the cornmeal into the water in a steady stream until all is combined. Continue to whisk until you are sure there are no lumps of unincorporated cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook 20 minutes, uncovering frequently to stir.

Stir the mixture until thick and creamy, with no taste of rawness, an additional 20 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the Parmesan, cream cheese and serve, garnished with the grated cheese.

To Serve Bolognese: stir in leftovers and top with one of your favorite sauces.

To Serve as Dessert: instead of adding cheese cheese, add cinnamon and vanilla for a rice pudding taste. Serve warm topped with ice cream or fruit (fresh or compote).

Notes: Cornmeal: Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits. Cooking Directions from: Emeril Lagasse.

A Spoon Full Of...

I had some extra corn grits left over from making polenta the other night, so I whipped up a batch of some good old-fashioned spoon bread and let it bake while I was working late from my home office. It turned out light, fluffy and was incredibly delicious, especially serving it up hot right out of the oven dripping with butter. Here's the recipe I used:

Good Old-Fashioned Spoon Bread


Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 

Directions:

Combine cornmeal and sea salt in a mixing bowl. Stirring constantly, gradually add the boiling water, and keeping smooth, stir in the melted butter. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs until pale in color and thick. Add the milk and beat to combine. Add the milk and egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture along with the baking powder. With an electric hand-held mixer or whisk beat to blend thoroughly. Turn the mixture into a generously greased 8-inch square glass baking dish or 1-1/2-quart round or oval casserole or oven proof bowl. Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes, until it is set and lightly browned. Serve the spoon bread hot, with plenty of real butter. Serves 4 to 6. Gluten-Free!

Cook Around the Block Tip:

Let's say you are somewhere without access to measuring cups for some reason, like backpacking with limited cooking equipment, but you have measuring spoons or a tablespoon or teaspoon-size eating utensil. Here are the cooking measurement equivalents for following a recipe calling for cup-size portions of ingredients. Print this out, laminate it and store it in your travel gear or with your camping supplies:

• 16 tablespoons = 1 cup
  
• 12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup
  
• 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 2/3 cup
  
• 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
  
• 6 tablespoons = 3/8 cup
  
• 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
  
• 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
  
• 2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup
  
• 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 1/6 cup
  
• 1 tablespoon = 1/16 cup
  
• 2 cups = 1 pint
  
• 2 pints = 1 quart
  
• 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
  
• 48 teaspoons = 1 cup

Celebrating Columbus Day with Polenta

I ask, what is more appropriate than to cook polenta on Columbus Day?

Excerpted from the Light and the Glory - Did God have a Plan for America? by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, we read:

"Columbus and his men were enjoying the fruit of this bountiful Eden, to which a merciful Creator had led them. They ate food that no white man had ever tasted before - sweet, juice-giving fruit, corn, and a pulpy bread made from cassavas - and they drank water purer than any they had ever known." - page 43

I follow Bob's Red Mill recipe for Basic Italian Polenta, except that I add Italian or Mexican Seasoning from Mountain Rose Herbs. I add the cheese to the polenta mixture, and I decorate the top with fresh basil leaves and garnish with a thin slice of cucumber from the garden.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits
• 3 Tsp. butter
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  

Directions:

1. Grate or shred 1/2 cup cheese, either Parmesan, Romano, Fontina or Monterey Jack.
2. In a deep pan, over high heat, bring water and sea salt to a boil.
3. Gradually stir in the corn grits (polenta) using a long-handled spoon.
   
4. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes until the water is absorbed.
5. Stir frequently to prevent mixture from sticking to the pan.
6. Stir in the butter, cheese, herbs and more salt to taste.
7. Oil a deep, medium-sized bowl.
8. If you want to decorate the top as I do, lay your garnish in the oiled bowl and gently spoon the polenta into the bowl over the top of the basil, or garnish of choice. Let set for 10 minutes.
9. Invert the bowl of polenta onto a plate; mixture will unmold and hold its shape.
10. Cut polenta into thick slices and serve hot.
11. Ladle over the top a homemade vegetarian or meat marinara sauce that is intended to serve with pasta and top with grated cheese.
    

Serves 6-8. Gluten-Free!