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I wanted to go back over to Harbaugh Farm today and get some more green beans to go in my freezer, but in order to have room for any more vegetables in the freezer I had to get rid of some stuff that was in there.

I had been keeping half a loaf of corn bread in the freezer for a couple of months, thinking that I would make some dressing with it. So, today was the day. For dinner I made roasted chicken, cornbread dressing, green beans, baked butternut squash, and some giblet gravy.

This is the first time since I started eating gluten free that I have attempted to make gravy, and I know that I will definitely be making it different next time, but it was not that bad.

Gluten Free Cornbread Dressing
Make your favorite gluten free cornbread. I make this using the cornbread made in a small iron skillet, about 8 inches in diameter. Let it cool, put half of it in the freezer. Crumble up the other half in a large mixing bowl. Next, crumble up two or three slices of your favorite gluten free sandwich bread into the bowl. Add a cup of chopped celery, a chopped large onion, and 4 tablespoons of poultry seasoning. Add four eggs, and three cups of chicken broth. Mix well, pour into a greased baking dish or pan. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Take it out of the oven, stir well, making sure you mix the cooked parts on the sides with the uncooked parts in the center. Place back in the oven and cook another 20 minutes.

Giblet Gravy

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
cooked chicken giblets (liver, neck, gizzard) diced up

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add cornstarch and mix well. Add the chicken broth and stir until thickened. Add the salt and pepper and the giblets. You can also chop up a boiled egg in this.

Baked Butternut Saquash

I have never cooked or eaten a butternut squash before, ever, so this was just how I cooked it today.

Cut the squash in half and scrape out the seed and “stuff” that is inside. Spray with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. I put them in the same baking dish as the chicken I was roasting, and cooked them until the chicken was done. When it was about half way, I sprayed the squash with olive oil again, and put a little pat of butter in each half.

No, this was not a low calorie dinner, and probably not a low cholesterol one either, but it was yummy.

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I am still trying to create the perfect gluten free cornbread. This is the version I tried last night, and Jim gave it two thumbs up:

Buckwheat Cornbread

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 egg
1/3 cup powdered buttermilk
1 cup water

Mix all ingredients well, and pour into an iron skillet that has been heating on the stove with olive oil. Bake in 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.

This was very good served with butter, along with yet another version of bean soup.

Today’s Bean Soup:

1 bag dried baby lima beans
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 fresh tomatoes, skinned and diced
8 oz frozen shoepeg corn
1 smoked ham hock, skin removed, and meat cut up in chunks
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Place dried beans in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil for five minutes. Meanwhile, place all other ingredients in crock pot and turn on high. Pour hot beans and water into crock pot and cook for several hours.

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Being a girl from the south, I grew up eating cornbread. The cornbread I always made before I started eating gluten-free was made with this recipe:

1 cup self rising corn meal mix
1 cup self rising flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
enough buttermilk or 2% milk to make a thick, pourable batter.

Mix well and pour into an iron skillet that has been on an eye on top of the stove heating up the oil, so that when you pour in the batter it sizzles. Bake in a 420 degree oven until golden brown.

I loved that cake like corn bread, so much that at times I made it every night for dinner, and ate a piece with butter and white Karo syrup for desert.

Now that I can not eat the wheat flour, I have had to rethink the recipe. Tonight I decided to make some cornbread with some fresh blueberries in it because I had too many blueberries in the refrigerator.

Here is the new and improved, gluten-free corn bread:

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup white rice flour
1/8 cup powdered buttermilk
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon xanthan gum
1/8 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup 2% milk or water
1 cup fresh blueberries

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add egg and liquid, and stir until mixed well. Stir in blueberries. Pour into iron skillet that has been heating up on top of the stove with some olive oil in it, then bake in a 425 degree oven about 30 minutes, until browned on top. Serve with butter.

This version was pretty good. I think next time I will add a little salt to the batter, though, and see how that works.