Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

Gluten-free cornbread stuffing in maple roasted acorn squash.

While we're all adjusting to turning the clocks back (yawn), I thought I'd reprise two Thanksgiving friendly recipes today. Both recipes are redolent with old fashioned autumnal goodness. Warm and subtle spices. Maple. Apple. It doesn't get any comfy-cozier.


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Baked Grape Tomatoes with Basil and Gluten-Free Cornbread Crumbs

Got tomatoes? Bake them with gluten-free cornbread crumbs.

One more favorite recipe from the archives as we unpack and set up a blogging friendly kitchen in our West Hollywood apartment. Deliciousness will soon ensue. I promise. xox Karina

As soon as I saw the recipe for Baked Cherry Tomatoes over at The Perfect Pantry I knew I would love it. Tiny tomatoes, fresh garlic, Italian herbs, olive oil, breadcrumbs. What's not to love? It's Mediterranean cooking at it's simplest and most sublime. I've tweaked the recipe (adapted from Faith Heller Willinger's Adventures of an Italian Food Lover according to Lydia, one of the best cooks I know, by the way) to make it gluten-free, of course. There's not a speck of gluten in my version. But you'd never guess. Which makes this easy-to-create side dish an instant top ten favorite for pot lucks and picnics and any number of anxiety inducing gatherings we gluten-free goddesses fret about.

Seriously. Serve this heavenly dish without a whisker of apology. Don't even bother mentioning its gluten-free and vegan status. These Italian baked tomatoes are so tasty you'll be asked for the recipe. By gluten eaters. By carnivores. I promise.

In place of plain bread crumbs (a definite no-no for gluten-free folks) I used a wedge of my Yeasted Quinoa Cornbread to make tender golden crumbs that taste like polenta. For the tomatoes I used both yellow and red organic grape tomatoes (to me they're slightly sweeter than cherry tomatoes; but use what you can get; both are delicious baked). And for the oregano I used basil. Just because.

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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cornbread Recipe

A wedge of vanilla cornbread. Gluten-free vegan yum.

This is not your average weeknight cornbread. You know, the one you toss together from a gluten-free mix to serve with a bowl of chili as you gear up for the final season of Lost. Nope. This tender cake-like cornbread is a pinch more elegant. A treat you might serve at tea with a bunch of girlfriends- fresh cut flowers on the table, glasses filled with berries, Earl Grey and organic Chamomile steeping. The sort of cornbread that begs to be served with style. That longs to be gussied up. The kind of cornbread you eat with a fork.

A cornbread that secretly dreams of being cake.

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Yeasted Cornbread

Tender gluten-free yeasted cornbread baked in a skillet.

The pairing of a tender, grainy bread (freshly baked, still warm) with a bowl of soul-fortifying soup or stew is a favorite combo for winter comfort around here. Steve and I are big fans. We slow-cook a lot of soup. And we bake a different cornbread every week. So today I'm posting such a pairing. Two recipes- a new yeasted cornbread I am crazy about, and a New Mexican Stew that will chase away the January back-to-reality blues and blahs and whatever else may ail you, Dear Reader.

When all else fails, a simple earthy meal of hot soup and rustic bread can soothe the crankiest of beasts. Especially when that beast happens to be my mood, infused with cabin fever.

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Cornbread Recipe with Green Chiles + Cinnamon

Tender moist gluten-free cornbread you can bake in a skillet or a cake pan.

One of the first recipe conversions I attempted in my brand spanking new gluten-free life (begun six short years ago, December 19th, 2001) was my tired-and-true favorite cornbread recipe. Lucky for me, it converted to gluten-free rather easily. As a tender, fragile newbie to life sans gluten it gave me hope. The will to live. After all, when your beloved world of cooking, baking- and eating- is flipped upside down, a modest success in the kitchen can perk up your day. Maybe even, your week.

So when I recently discovered I needed to give up dairy and eggs as well, I flipped through recipes once again and decided to reprise my skillet cornbread- this time as an egg-free vegan version. And wouldn't you know it?

It worked.

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Sweet Potato Cornbread- A Gluten-Free Favorite

Scrumptious sweet potato cornbread- and it's gluten-free.

It's all about taste. Good taste and bad taste. You want the good first? This recipe for sweet potato cornbread. It rocks. Seriously. The bad? Yesterday we decided to go to the movies with Joey and Will (those two totally fab rockin' guacamole styling hunks). We chose The Departed, Scorsese's new flick (it's been garnering rave reviews); and met at the theater.

Well, Babycakes, in all gut wrenching honesty (I won’t speak for the three men who apparently liked it more than I did) I could barely sit through it. I felt as if I was being beat up. Run over by a Zamboni. I mean how much misogyny and homophobia and execution-style murders can a tenderhearted sensory sensitive girl like me take? 

Not this much it turns out.

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Easy Green Chile Cornbread- from a gluten-free mix

Green Chile Cornbread

I happened to have a Gluten Free Pantry Yankee Cornbread Mix on hand, so I thought I would try it, and add my favorite cornbread additions - chopped green chiles, cheese and spices. I also added plain yogurt, lime juice and honey to make it moist, and spices to liven up the flavor. It turned out well. We grilled halved squares of it in a little bit of olive oil to accompany our Mexican Pumpkin Soup last night. Babycakes - this was too easy!


1 package Gluten Free Pantry Yankee Cornbread Mix
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
2/3 cup milk
1 squeeze fresh lime juice or lemon juice
1/4 cup light olive oil
3 tablespoons honey or brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped green chiles
2 large organic free-range eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
Pinch or two of cayenne pepper or chili powder, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with foil and lightly oil the bottom and sides.

Dump the contents of the cornbread mix into a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well by hand. Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean. Cool on a wire rack. 

 

Serve warm.