Johnny Cake

Eva's Johnny Cake (like cornbread, but not as dry)

1/2 c. margarine[3 T. coconut oil + 1/4 c. + 1 T. canola oil ]
1/3 c. sugar
2 eggs[1 T. gelatin mixed with 2 T. water- mix just before using; and 1/4 c. coconut yogurt-no sugar]
1 3/4 c. buttermilk[rice milk + 1 T. lemon juice]

1 c. cornmeal[together substituted 1 3/4 c. flour mix with millet in it- 4 Rice, 4 Oat, 3 Millet, 1   Cornstarch; and then added 1/4 cup millet more coarse ground- used VitaMix] more like 1/3 c. millet
1 c. flour[see above under cornmeal]
1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda[used 1/2 t]
3/4 t. salt

Cream margarine and sugar; add eggs and milk. Add dry ingredients. Pour into greased and floured    8 X 8 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

[My adaptation- in liquid measuring glass, combine rice milk and lemon juice, then oil. Let sit 5-10 min. Cream coconut oil and sugar. Mix gelatin and water from tap. Add to oil and sugar. Add coconut yogurt and combine. Stir together dry ingredients, then add to creamed mixture. Coat glass pan with oil, and pour batter. Mine was thicker than cake batter but more thin than quick bread.]

notes: used combo of coconut and rice because it makes taste creamy, buttery. Friend shared how half and half rice milk coconut milk tastes like dairy. In cooking pancakes and muffins, I have found it tastes buttery. Yum!

using coconut oil allowed me to cream sugar a bit- added canola oil to the liquids and creamed only sugar and coconut oil. Could do same thing with shortening instead of coconut oil- would cream even more.


11/19/15  excellent!  check ++

1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 c. sugar
1 T. ground flaxseed meal
1/2 c. coconut milk(Thai Kitchen) + coconut dream beverage to equal 1 1/3 cups with flaxseed
 [total about 1 1/4 cup liquid, but coconut milk is thick]  + lemon juice 1 T.

1 c. cornmeal(used 1/3 cup Bob's mill corn flour and 2/3 cup fine white cornmeal instead)
1 c. flour(white/brown rice, garbanzo bean, cornstarch)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt

batter seemed too thick(expected more like cake batter) but turned out light and tender!


Note:
We like using Fine White Corn Meal instead of regular cornmeal. I know cornbread is gritty, and people like that, but we prefer this fine meal instead! No need to get the Bob's mill corn flour in addition, I just had some to use. Really could use either one instead of course ground corn meal, if you like your cornbread to be more smooth.

Our family's Thanksgiving Meal

Ok, this is a funny time for posting about Thanksgiving, but I thought I ought to follow up the last post with what I ended up fixing for the holiday. It turned out very well- relatively simple, filling, and good.

I prepared the day before a coconut chocolate pie(see another post) and also tried a sweet potato pie, using my mom's pumpkin pie recipe and just substituting coconut milk for evaporated milk, sweet potato puree for pumpkin(just cause I had a bunch of sweet potatoes in the house I had gotten on a really good sale), and I'm thinking I may have substituted gelatin for the eggs(see egg substitution). The crust was a pat-in-the pan experiment, where I substituted oat flour for wheat flour. You can look for a pat in the pan pie crust recipe and then substitute the things you need to. I think my recipe was basically just oat flour and shortening. It turned out, though it is much more rich than I'm used to (I grew up on low-fat, whole wheat pie crusts). The pies were good, but after the yummy and filling meal, I was thinking, why do we even have dessert? Of course, some may not ever wonder that : )

The meal ended up including: a turkey, which I just rubbed some seasonings on and let bake while we were out hiking. Mashed potatoes, which, instead of adding butter/milk/ and that sort of thing, I added some coconut cream(I keep little ice cubes of it in the freezer). I used some of the potato water the potatoes cooked in when I whipped the potatoes, too- just to get a good consistency.

The gravy turned out really flavorful- really, it was the best dairy-free gravy I had made before. My sister was impressed at how good it could be. It was made from some of the turkey drippings, some drippings from a steak my husband had recently cooked with onions and soy sauce/and/or worcestershire sauce), and some vegetable water I had saved in the freezer. (Sorry I have no recipe, but you can get the hang of the concepts. Vegetable water makes more flavorful gravy than plain water. So when you boil potatoes, or steam or blanch broccoli, or boil drumsticks, save the water and freeze in containers. You can also make chicken/beef/or vegetable broth/stock in large batches and freeze that. I think I've done that once; I just find it convenient to save vegetable water or meat drippings when I have them as a part of my cooking meals. When I have flavorful meat drippings, I sometimes pour them into a glass jar in the fridge, scrape off the fat when it's solidified, and then freeze the drippings for later use.

Back to the meal- so, turkey, gravy, potatoes, green beans, I think I had, and that's all I remember. I may have add apple slices or something. But, we all really enjoyed it and filled ourselves, so that we had to wait until later for dessert.

This was my first Thanksgiving meal that was made without any of my girls' allergens in it. It was neat to see how we could have a meal that everyone really enjoyed, without using dairy, wheat, eggs, or nuts! Of course, at the times our family joins with many other family members, we expect to just bring separate food for the girls. But when we have our own small family gatherings, we know we can prepare the food so we all can enjoy it all!

Thanksgiving meal ideas

Check out LivingWithout.com for Thanksgiving ideas. Sometime I'm going to try out their pumpkin-coconut pie, or make my own variation. Sounds good to me!

For my Thanksgiving meal, I plan to make it nice and basic- Turkey, just rubbed with spices from home and baked. The gravy for the turkey I will make with dairy for those of us who can have, because my girls just haven't been interested in gravy anyway, even when I make it so they can have it. They'd rather just have season-all, or soy sauce or barbecue or ketchup. : ) In addition to turkey, I'll fix mashed potatoes, with either oil and salt added or maybe a bit of coconut cream. Green beans. A baked sweet potato for the girls(baked in the microwave - I like simple baked sweet potatoes much better than sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar). I'm doing an experiment to see if it's worth having stuffing this year- my husband and daughters aren't stuffing fans anyway, just me). I have crumbs from a gluten-free bread I made and didn't like very well, and I'm soaking just a few crumbs in some seasoned meat juice from cooking chicken thighs. I'll try a couple bites and see how flavors mesh. I have a chocolate coconut pie recipe on this blog, which I'll make again this year. I might try making some oat-rice rolls from my favorite yeast bread recipe. I think I'll either have fresh apple slices or a simple juice mixed from concentrate. Wouldn't cranberry-raspberry go well with the meal? So that's my Thanksgiving meal! And maybe one pumpkin-coconut pie as well. I really like simplicity. Especially so I can enjoy more time with my family. And have less stress so I can feel more grateful for my family and my other blessings!

Now I'm reading through the list, and it doesn't sound so simple if I do all of it! : ) Hmmm...
I know there are a lot of things I can do ahead of time. And I really don't need to mess with the stuffing, or the rolls, or the pumpkin pie if I don't think it's worth the stress and time away from my family...(my husband and kids aren't pumpkin pie fans anyway, and chocolate really can suit everyone just fine- the pumpkin pie is more for me if I make it). And who says you need stuffing and rolls in a meal where you already have potatoes and sweet potatoes? Talk about duplication of complex carbs! : ) I do want the meal to be special in some way, though.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

At Thanksgiving time last year, I told my 3 year old that she could have pie of her very own. (With no wheat, dairy, egg, or nuts). My sister adapted a coconut cream pie recipe by America's Test Kitchen. It was really good! Look below for the original recipe, and then the adapted recipe, so you too can learn how you can alter a recipe for your needs!

Original America's Test Kitchen recipe:

1 can coconut milk
1 c whole milk
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
2/3 c sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 c cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
crust: coconut-graham cracker crust


Our dairy-free, egg-free, wheat-free version:


Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

(recipe is half the amount of the original recipe)

1 can coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 T cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon non-dairy margarine or spread(opt, we just omitted this)

*about 1/8 teaspoon molasses

3 T. chocolate chips

Add enough of the coconut milk to the cornstarch to create a paste. Stir remaining coconut milk, sugar, and salt over medium heat until very hot. Pour some hot mixture into cornstarch paste, stir, then add cornstarch paste to mixture in pan. Stir to boiling, until 3-4 bubbles burst and thick. (About 30 seconds). Remove from heat, add vanilla, molasses, and, if desired, non-dairy marg. Heat 3 tablespoons chocolate chips in microwave(maybe 15 seconds), stir until melted, then stir into pie filling. Pour filling into crust.


Explanation: What we wanted in our coconut cream pie filling was 1) for it to be flavorful and creamy, 2) for it to be able to set up, to be thick enough to be a cream pie filling. We omitted egg yolks, which add richness and also add to the thickness. So we added 1 T extra cornstarch to the recipe(thus 3 T.) : 1/4 cup original recipe cut in half equals 2T. , then + 1 T. to account for omitted egg yolks), and added chocolate for richness. My sister was happy with the recipe, but I being picky, mentioned the flavor was still a little flat. So my sister added a quick drizzle of molasses(maybe 1/8 tsp.). Wow! It added the dimension I was looking for! The pie tasted great!

*we didn't measure the molasses, just added a quick drizzle- I estimate it was maybe 1/8 tsp)

Oat Pie Crust (found online, I think in a magazine that posted online)
note: You can go to livingwithout.com if you want some pie crust recipe that don't use oats or wheat.

1 3/4 cups oats
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In blender or food processor, finely grind.
Then pulse in 3 1/2 tablespoons cold butter(chopped into pieces), until combined. (I don't remember what we used instead of dairy- try shortening instead, or soy margarine, or even coconut oil that's cold enough to be solid).
Add 1 tablespoon ice water, and pulse until combined.
Press into pie pan. Bake 400 15 min until lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes before filling.

Note: Go to livingwithout.com for pie crust recipes that do not contain oats.