cornholio

(picture thanks to Gluten Free Portland Oregon)

it's that time again, time for anther nail biting, earth shattering GLUTEN FREE FOOD REVIEW. this time we can thank the upcoming holiday for inspiration. as you may or may not know reader, i am having my fam and the bf's fam over to our house this year for turkey day. the meeting of the minds as i like to call it.

bf and i are making the turkey, mashed pot, stuffing and some libations. cooking is tops on list so as you can imagine, this g-free BS is really bringing me down. it's just not fun. i bought two loaves of rosemary sourdough @ costco to use for gluten cool people's stuffing. damn that sounds so good.

today while driving around, it occured to me i could make g-free cornbread stuffing. cornbread stuffing is not tops on my list but damnet, i'm going to make it good if it kills me...primairly because i'll be the only one eating it. (unless i succeed in my hidden g-free cooking).

so Bob's Red Mill cornbread (g-free and original) are on sale right now @ WF's- 2/$5. i bought two packages and took them home to try. one for now (test kitchen) one for later...maybe. i also bought some frozen sweet corn kernels to add to the mix. if i'm doing cornbread, i'm doing CORNBREAD!

i also decided to use my cast iron cornbread mold i bought at ye ol' thrift store. (first time)

so far, so good.

they rose much more than i thought, which is pretty key in the g-free world so these don't turn out to be corn bricks.

#1, when using a cast iron mold, you have to make sure to really grease that sucker. i did and they were still a bitch to get out. letting them cool was key.

as you can see, this mold is pretty much good for one use only other wise you'd have to wash and re-grease in between each batch. too much work for this girl! but aren't my corn muffins cute?!

so now on to the real deal: taste. they taste GREAT! texture is on point, flavor tastes like good cornbread should (thank you very much) and not g-free reminiscent at all! success. now it's off to find a good cornbread stuffing i can tweak to make my own. stay tuned.....

G-FREE cooking

me! gluten free?! yeah, it's true. and i haven't been too happy about it lately. i'm a die hard sf sourdough fan, love me some sweet baked treats, cereal, BEER, the gluten works. well i was recently diagnosed as being allergic to wheat (go figure!) which explains a lot on a digestive level. (i'll save you the details). so of course when you can't have something, you want it even more.

i made my first mistake of buying Food For Life Brown Rice Bread from trader joes. this lovely little item should only be used as a home security device if a robber breaks in. the weight and density will surely knock him out. or maybe as a replacement brick for that wall you've been meaning to fix. regardless, pass go and never come back! YUCK.

So after that little disaster buy, i had given up all hope (and $6.20!!) of ever having a sandwich or piece of toast again. then my lovely bf reminded me he has a bread maker! an old gf bought it for him as a "take me back" move. strange present for a guy that had never made bread in his life. luckily he ditched the girl and her gift has become my saving grace.

whole foods has an amazing selection (most stores) of g-free products. bread mixes in particular. you can get dizzy looking at all the options. i knew to be hesitant from my last purchase. i first experimented with Bob's Red Mill since it was a well known alternative flour brand.

it was good. better than that nasty rice bread, but not 100% legit either. i was just happy toast came back into my life. my first batch's texture was a bit off so i gave it one more try. much better texture round two. then i decided to try another flavor mixture of Bob's....

mummmm, cinnamon raisin bread. i used to love that stuff back in my G-BINGE days. the texture of this one came out on point. i was so proud of my 1.5lb loaf. i felt like a real baker (even though the machine did the hard part). flavor scale, 4 out of 5. not too shabby.

i found this sweet G-Free food reviews website that really got me hyped. no more guesswork. they do it for me. so today i ventured off back to my local wf's and bought two new bread mixes to sample. today's is:

Pamela's Gluten Free Bread Mix (like my table and nails? i thought so.) this loaf came out a little softer than Bob's. i let it cool and sliced that puppy open to see my work in depth.

nice air pockets. got some dense zones in there but how does it taste? at first un-adorned bite, it was good flavor wise. a little sweeter than Bob's and a little chewier that BRM. but how did it toast? oh sweet jesus!!! the best toast by far. who needs gluten bread when you have this?! i ate it so quick i couldn't snap a pic of the golden Buddha. but i did snap a pic of my late afternoon snack, G-free Sam Smith's Organic Cider and a slice of wheatless wonder.

more reviews to come as my adventures continue. cheers!