Sunday, June 27, 2010

Mimi's Cornbread Recipe

Mimi was my husband's grandmother and everyone loved her cornbread. I can't use her trick with wheat flour but I can and do use her cooking technique. She would always heat a tablespoon or two of bacon grease in a cast iron skillet until sizzling hot then add the cornbread batter before placing it in the oven to bake. Those few seconds on the stove would produce a flavorful, crispy brown bottom and the aroma - mouthwatering, belly growling, can't wait to eat!


Preheat oven to 350°

1 C Mesa Flour
1/2 C Cornmeal
1/2 C Flour Pamela’s Pancake Mix
2 t Baking Powder
2 T Sugar
1 t Kosher Salt
2 Eggs – lightly beaten
1/4 C Buttermilk or enough to moisten into a thick batter

  • Combine dry ingredients making a well in the center
  • Add eggs and ¼ cup of buttermilk and mix thoroughly
  • Add additional milk if needed until it forms a very thick batter
  • Pour into oven-safe skillet or baking pan and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch  


      


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Small steps and a Gluten-free BLT



Lest you think this Celebration took place with a perpetual smile and a continual skip in my step - it did not!  There were compromises and adjustments to be made and finally I came up with a list of requirements that I thought would be essential to the "success" of this new lifestyle-
  • vital that meals could be prepared with virtually the same speed as BC (before Celiac)
  • no compromises on taste
  • important that guests dining with us didn't automatically start bracing themselves to eat "Susan's diet stuff", if they were going to think it was "special" then I wanted it to be because it was scrumptious and satisfying
  • the ability to obtain the majority of ingredients with ease and without doubling my grocery bill
  • comfort foods! - the foods I grew up eating, that made me feel good , the ones I craved whenever I was under the weather or had the blues
Comfort Foods! Summertime! BLT sandwiches!  Celebrate!  This is the time of year when the classic bacon sandwich tastes the very best.  Fresh, ripe, juicy, red tomatoes. Curling, crunchy, green lettuce leaves.  Lean, brown, crispy bacon.  Stacked together between two lightly toasted pieces of bread brushed with a rich and creamy mayonnaise.  Heaven on earth and totally gluten-free!  The farmers market, Boar's Head bacon, Udi's Bread and Hellmans mayonnaise - the road to success is made up of small, delicious steps.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Celebrate Gluten-free First Day


Today is my first day as a Blogger!!! The last two years have been filled with "firsts" for me ... FIRST - I found a doctor that listened to my myriad of complaints and didn't immediately say "Well, I really don't see how ALL those symptoms are related"
FIRST - I received a diagnosis that did not require drugs or surgery
FIRST - I joyfully started a new diet
FIRST - I wrote a book - a cookbook CELEBRATE Gluten-free Everyday due early August


Let's go back - ten whole years - that's how long I had been telling doctors that something was wrong before I finally self-diagnosed a rare, very hard to find colon tumor and resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never live long enough for a physician to find it and start treatment. You see where I'm going here - to finally be told that I had Celiac and the "cure" was to give up gluten, well let me tell you that was definitely cause to
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or so I thought. Now granted I had very little idea of what gluten was exactly. Bread? Right? If I gave up bread all would be fine - NOT! Little did I know that this, whatever it was, would show up in virtually everything in my diet from my morning cereal to my makeup to my daughter's Play Doh. My celebration was getting rained on big time! After a couple of what my granny used to call cry pies (whining, groaning, etc.) reality came back and as they say the truth shall set you free - all I had to do was remember how scared, mad and frustrated I was before the diagnosis and it was once again time to
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I started hanging out at my library and favorite book store along with lengthy trips cruising down the Route 66 of cyber space and discovered lots of gluten-free recipes that called for 2 or more times the ingredients, considerable more prep time and the cost was often not justifiable. Pollyanna's smile was slipping. My lifestyle, like most of us, made time a highly prized commodity - this was not good! I love my family and I like to cook but I certainly didn't plan on preparing two different meals every time we sat down to eat. Somehow, some way I would cook one meal and dad gum it we would all enjoy it! Transform Pollyanna into Sherlock Holmes and here we go again - I wasn't dying -
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An adventure to the nth degree with a lifestyle change and a new diet -
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I wasn't dying (worth saying twice) -
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Jump on the band wagon and CELEBRATE CELEBRATE CELEBRATE CELEBRATE CELEBRATE good food, good times, good friends - old and new!