Creamed Corn / Corn Pudding

I'm terrible at measuring when I'm tossing things together in the kitchen, so this is just a guestimate on the amounts here but after the first time I made this it's been often requested.  It's so easy and it can be converted to a good rib-stickin' breakfast on cold mornings, so I don't complain about it.  Back when we lived in Tennesucky I could get fresh corn from an Amish fruit & veggie stand for almost nothing and it was SO amazing that I would buy up tons of it, roast it, but it off the cobs and freeze it for later use.  When I got up to about 12 gallon size freezer bags I decided I needed to come up with something to do with all of it, so voila! Creamed corn that turns into corn pudding for breakfast.  As I said earlier, I'm horrible at measuring on the fly, I'd use about 2/3 of the bag - probably about the equivalent of about 4 drained cans of whole kernel corn.  If you're going with canned get the yellow and white mixed vateity, it has the best flavoring of all the canned corns in my opinion.

3-4 cans of whole kernel corn, drained
3 Tbsp butter (or non-dairy equivalent)
3 Tbsp GF all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (I use one can of Pet milk and 1/2 cup of regular milk.  I've used almond milk to make sausage gravy before and it worked like a champ so I'm sure it'd work well for this as well.
1/2 tsp of honey
salt and pepper to taste.  I find that a dash of cayenne pepper, dash of white pepper and a dash of Worcestershire black pepper

1.  Melt butter in saucepan, stir in flour and blend well.
2.  Add milk, about 1/2 cup at a time, and blend with whisk.
3.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.
4.  Stir in sugar, salt and pepper.
5.  Add cooked, drained corn.
6.  Stir together and let cool before serving.

To turn this tasty dish into an even tastier breakfast the next day it's quite simple.  There are no set measurements since there is no way to determine how much left over there will be so I'm going to guess this for having half the recipe left over from the night before.

Put cold cream corn in deep skillet, add 2 Tbsp of brown sugar (I prefer dark, but light works just as well) 1/2 - 3/4 tsp Saigon cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp of ground cloves.  Mix together while warming corn, serve when brown sugar has dissolved.  Since the amount of leftover corn is always unknown these are just suggestions and should be adjusted to your tastes.  

Baked Autumn

Oven roasted miniature pumpkins stuffed with a squash, potato and cheese mixture make a gorgeous thanksgiving side dish that will make everyone think you're a genius chef! =)
This is a terrible picture, I'll have to get a new one in a couple of days when I make these again.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 mini pumpkins
• 2 white potatoes
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin or squash (roasted butternut squash works quite well)
• 1-2 cups honey (maple syrup is traditionally called for, but I hate maple anything - feel free to use it if that's your thing)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• Gruyère, Jarlsberg, Fontina, Chevre, Provolone or even feta cheese to put on top before serving (just one of those, not all of them!)

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Roasting the Pumpkin

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
    
2. Hollow out mini pumpkins being careful not to puncture the bottoms.
    
3. Pour 1/4 cup honey (or less if pumpkins are smaller) in each.
    
4. Oven roast the pumpkins on a cookie sheet lined with foil for about 20min or until slightly tender (the honey may bubble up so the foil will save you some clean up later).
    
5. When finished allow the pumpkins to cool for about 10 minutes then pour the syrup into a small bowl and reserve for later.

Step 2: The Filling

1. Peel and cut potatoes into large pieces, place in a sauce pan of cold water and simmer till tender. (Essentially as if you are making mashed potatoes)
    
2. Remove from heat and drain potatoes
   
3. If using roasted butternut squash remove seeds and scoop out squash meat, add to potatoes.  If using canned pumpkin, add pumpkin to potatoes.
   
4. With a hand mixer, blend the warm ingredients and add butter, salt and pepper.
    
5. Add a bit of the pumpkin honey from the earlier roasting. I use a very small amount, it's really about your taste at this point.
    
6. Scoop the filling into the baked pumpkin and return to the oven
   
7. Place a bit of cheese of your choice on top of each pumpkin, then warm up the filled pumpkins for approximately 10 minutes prior to serving.

Light and Fluffy Gluten-Free Pancakes! (no lie, light & fluffy!)

Light and fluffy gluten-free bread products - impossible, right?  WRONG!  With enough determination and a lot of trial & error you CAN achieve light, fluffy, super-tasty, gluten-free yummies!  One word of warning, don't taste the batter and decide that it's going to be nasty.  Gluten-free flour blends are often made from beans, which means your batter is going to taste like - well, nasty bean sauce.  This recipe is the result of reading many, many pancake recipes and taking what I thought would work best.

See that??  Actual fluff bubbles!! ----->

1 1/3 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Mix
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4-1/2 tsp of Saigon cinnamon (you can use regular, but I truly believe that Saigon cinnamon is the best seasoning ever made)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves (or less, a little clove goes a long, long way!)
dash of Stevia
2 eggs (room temperature is always best when using eggs to bake - if you forget to let them warm up put the needed amount of eggs in a container of hot tap water for a few minutes)
1/2 Cup Milk (ANY kind of milk - dairy, nut, soy... Doesn't matter)
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil (a light, extra virgin olive would work as well)
1 tsp Pure Almond extract
1 tsp Pure Vanilla or Chocolate extract
(you can use any combination of extracts you choose, I find that almond mixes well with all flavors and almond kicks that bean smell and taste completely out)


Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, salt, stevia and seasonings) in main mixing bowl, set aside.

In separate bowl whisk together liquids (eggs, milk, oil, extracts) till completely blended.  Using whisk pour liquids into dry ingredients and mix till smooth.  Allow mixture to sit for a few minutes while griddle heats (I use a cast iron griddle skillet - works like a champ) then ladle apx 1/3 cup of batter at a time on to hot griddle.  Flip once it starts to bubble and the edges are set.

This batter is very close to traditional pancake batter, possibly even a touch thinner.  All the GF pancakes I've tinkered with until this one have been VERY thick and goopy, and frankly were so dense I could only eat 1-2 small bites.  These are not too dense and even tho the batter is slightly thinner than traditional batter it is not runny at all - just make them, you'll understand. =)

The easiest way to ruin pancakes is to have the heat too high when cooking.  If you use cast iron, like I do, remember that the iron will retain heat and get hotter the longer you cook so after the first pancake is done you'll need to turn the heat down.  By the time I pour the 3rd one I usually have the heat all the way down to the lowest setting.  Also, as with anything you're going to bake, NEVER mix in anything but glass or stainless steel bowls.  Plastic bowls absorb all sorts of things that can cause your batter to not come out as is should.