A Little
Celebration for a Very Big Boy
My little boy has
just turned one years old (gasp! It still feels like yesterday when I brought
him home all pink and chubby from the hospital, only two days old). And, being
my second child, with time at a minimum, I organized a very small celebration
for my favourite moms-in-crime and their four little ones to come and play (or
in Junior’s case, four little rivals to smack and try bite if they touched his
favourite toy car).
The party, in the
middle of a Cape winter downpour, was relaxed and chilled with lots of nibbling and
giggling - a totally stress-free party. Stress-free because I knew I had chosen
really easy, throw-together food… that was also allergy friendly.
(I now stand up
and declare…“Hi, my name is Caghrey, and I’m Wheat and Dairy Intolerant!”
There, I said it, feeling good about it for a change, and rather chuffed for
standing up and ‘owning it’. No more whining about what I can’t eat anymore because I have an arsenal of
fabulous recipes at my fingertips for every occasion, and now want to share
them with all of you - how nice am I?)
In my house I am
The Big-Chief-Main-Cook! In other words, if I’m doing the cooking, you’re going
to be eating My Type of Food. My husband can tolerate anything and everything
(it's beyond annoying), my five year old daughter is like me and can only
handle small amounts of wheat and dairy, and my little boy seems, so far, to be
ok with most foods (yes the men have it easier - again annoying - but I’m not
whining anymore, remember?).
So to balance out
the family meals to suite all of us I follow some basic rules. My Way of Eating
is this: It has to be wheat free, as often as possible, lets say 90% of the
time, very little dairy, hopefully wholegrain and healthy, and definitely
delicious (don’t you just love alliteration?).
Keeping these
rules in mind I put together a table of sweet and savoury treats for the moms, and littlies alike, that tasted as delectable as
they looked. Bearing in mind that nobody else at the party had allergies
so the food had to pass as being as good as the ‘normal’ stuff that they were
used to.
I lovingly baked:
- individual savoury tarts
with bacon and goat’s cheese using shop-bought puff pastry
- gluten free cheese & onion corn bread, with spinach, served
with low-fat hummus
- gluten free chocolate cupcakes, instead of a big birthday cake,
which were topped with chocolate ganache and little sugar
toppings,
- my favourite gluten free baked frosties which taste just like
cinnamon doughnuts,
- and the prettiest gluten free cake pops (now my hubby’s favourite)…
But the recipe I
was most pestered for (yes, even by ‘normal wheat eating folk’) was the gluten
free corn bread. It’s a kind-of focaccia-cross-corn bread. It is heavenly
served with a braai, cooked in a cast iron skillet, although I usually leave out the
spinach then. But when eating it focaccia style, it is perfect to add extras
like spinach or even feta and olives (yum). Oh, and these also make a great school
lunchbox filler (as long as it’s the version, I've been instructed, without any
‘green bits’ in).
So here it is,
especially for my ‘pests’.
Try it and let
me know what you think. I’m dying to hear your thoughts.
Good luck and happy nibbling
xOx
GLUTEN FREE CHEESE & ONION CORN BREAD
(with spinach)
Butter & Oil for frying
3 Red Onions, large, chopped (you could substitute ½ with
red peppers)
1 tsp Crushed Garlic
180g Rice Flour
80g Potato Flour
30g Tapioca Flour
175g Polenta
1 Tbsp Mustard Powder
½ tsp Cayenne pepper (optional and to
taste)
1 Tbsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan gum
2 tsp Salt
130g /1 cup Grated Gruyere or
Cheddar Cheese
Herbs of choice (parsley,
thyme, coriander)
3 Eggs
500ml Buttermilk
Mustard Seeds, poppy seeds or
black sesame seeds for sprinkling on top
Optional Extras
250g
baby spinach finely chopped (optional)
1 C
Olives, pitted and chopped (optional)
½ C Feta
cheese cut into little pieces
Fry onions and garlic in butter
and oil, slowly over low heat, until very soft about 20minutes, then leave to
cool.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Grease a 25cm cast-iron skillet with oven proof handle (or two brownie pans for
little squares of bread)
Combine flours, polenta,
mustard powder, cayenne pepper, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt. Stir in
grated cheese and herbs.
In a jug, lightly whisk eggs
and buttermilk then add to flour mixture.
Add cooled onions, and Optional
Extras if using, and stir until combined, adding a little water if too thick.
Spoon mixture into skillet, or
brownie pans, and smooth the top. Sprinkle with seeds.
Bake for 45min.
Should sound hollow when tapped
underneath and well browned on top.
Delicious served warm straight
from the oven, or sliced and toasted with home-made anchovy butter. Num num!
Storage:
Can be
frozen, in slices or squares, and refreshed in the oven or microwave as needed.
The ‘But-I-Can-Eat-Wheat’
Version:
The
Rice, Potato and Tapioca flours mixed together makes about two cups of flour.
Although I haven’t tried it, you should be able to substitute with two cups of
wheat flour. This is a very forgiving recipe (just my kind) so be bold and
brazen and give it a bash! I double-donut-dare you…
PS. Thank you to my special friend, Bev, for taking these pics and making my nibbles look so num num xxx
Comments
Lovies
Collette