Mild Corn Salsa

We had a birthday party here today and I had several requests for this recipe, children and adults all doing the requesting.

Mild Corn Salsa

1/2 a medium red onion diced

2-4 jalapeno peppers diced, depending on size and desired favor.(2 is quite mild, 4 has a little heat.)

Kernels from 4 ears of corn, cooked or raw is fine

1/2 a bell pepper chopped, (yellow adds a beautiful color)

juice of 3 small or 1 large lime

4 tomatillos husked, cored and chopped

3-4 tbsp water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat cook the onions, jalapenos, water and corn until the jalapenos are soft and onions translucent. Add lime juice and bell pepper, bring to a boil, then cover, turn down and simmer 5 minutes more. Cool completely in the fridge. Serve with tortilla chips. The traditional type such as Garcia's brand are nice and strong to hold lots of salsa.

Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins

This is a yummy recipe my sons helped create. It has no sugar, using agave nectar for the sweetener so it has a low glycemic effect. Using sorghum and garfava flours as well as flax seed these are very nutritious. This also uses Donna Washburn and Heather Butts' technique of using of using heavier flours but letting the batter stand for 30 minutes to soften the grains.

Sugar Free Pumpkin Muffins

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup garfava flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped dates(be sure that the dates are not floured)

1/4 cup flax seed

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup prepared pumpkin canned or fresh

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

1/2 cup agave nectar

Spray oil in a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl combine the sorghum flour, garfava flour, xanthan gum, salt, dates, seeds, baking powder,baking soda, and spices. Mix well.

In separate bowl mix liquid ingredients.

Add wet to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Full muffin cups with batter, dividing evenly. Let batter stand 30 minutes in pan and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bake 20-22 minutes until muffin springs back when touched and toothpick comes out clean.

Remove muffins from pan to cooling rack and let cool completely.

Dairy Free Seafood Chowder

About Milk Substitutes

Once you decide to go dairy free you are confronted with a huge variety of choices for alternatives. As you start to cook dairy free you discover that no one milk substitute is the right choice for everything. If I look in our fridge I will find 5 different types of milk all of the time and various others at other times. My kids drink almond milk(based on taste alone), a mix of 3/4 unsweetened chocolate and 1/4 sweetened original. I drink vanilla hemp milk, and we cook most often with vanilla or plain rice milk. Also in my cabinet I have canned and dried coconut milk, and dried potato milk(darifree) as well as canned coconut cream. As you cook you find that different milks lend themselves to different recipes or tastes better. That is the case with the Darifree potato milk we use here and for most cream soups.

Dairy Free Seafood Chowder

This recipe was part of a quest for summer comfort food. Growing up in New England we ate clam chowder all year long but in the summer my brothers dove for fresh clams and the chowder was the best. Here I have recaptured the essence the tastes in a form we all can eat.

1 lb. scallops, I usually use bay scallops. If you use sea scallops you will have to chop them.

1 lb. shrimp, cleaned, all shells removed but raw

1 lb. firm white fish, cubed, I have used haddock and cod

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups water

2 vegetarian boullion cubes(each makes 2 cups)

1 large yellow onion minced(it is important to use a sharp yellow onion. Others tend to leave the chowder too sweet.)

4 large stalks celery minced

2/3 cup darifree potato milk powder

1 bay leaf

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tbsp canola oil

In a large stock pot cook the onions and celery in canola oil until onions are translucent. Add the water, bay leaf, boullion cubes and potatoes. Boil until the potatoes are just starting to soften. Remove 1 cup liquid to mix with potato milk powder. Turn down to simmer, add all the seafood, spices and potato milk. Cook until shrimp turns just pink. This got rave reviews here and from all who sampled it. Enjoy!

Chicken Fricasee

Chicken Fricassee

This one was a favorite from childhood that I found myself craving this year while I was pregnant. It is now a Padgett family favorite and was just devoured by all at a Padgett/Dickerson dinner. This version is for a family of 4 but can be easily doubled with no difference in taste.

1 4+ lb fryer chicken

1 large onion

4 large stalks celery with leaves

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups water

1/4 cup allergy free foods expandex modified tapioca starch( this stuff is the no-fail sauce thickener, no more waiting to see if it will thicken, no more funny taste because you had to keep adding to get it right, and no corn)

Cut the chicken in parts, removing skin and as much fat as practicable. Put chicken and chopped celery and onion in a large stock pot with water, salt and pepper. bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 45 min. Or until chicken is tender and easy to remove from bones. Pull out the meat and set aside to cool. Skim as much fat as possible from the broth. strain vegetables out and save. measure broth and add water until you have 4 cups of liquid. press vegetables through a strainer into broth. remove about 1/2 cup of the liquid to a small bowl and add tapioca starch. whisk together until completely mixed. Bring the rest of the broth to a boil and as soon as boiling add the tapioca mixture. It should thicken up immediately. As soon as it is reasonably thick shut the heat off and cover. Pull all of the chicken from the bones and add to broth mixture, being sure to pick it over carefully to get all of the bones and yucky bits. When I was a child we served this over mashed potatoes which is still the favorite here but we have also found it works quite well over cooked brown rice( we always use short grain brown rice) when I don't have time to make potatoes as well.

Peanut Butter Fingers

About Oats

As I understand it conventional oats are grown in crop rotations with wheat which means that the principle weed on an oat year is wheat. A certain amount of cross contamination is inevitable. How much ends up in the milled oats can vary widely. Gluten free oats have recently become available. If you are gluten free and going to use oats that is the type you should use. Chemically, the principle protein in oats is very similar to gluten, and my children are so allergic to gluten it takes months to get their systems back to normal after an exposure that we just don't take the chance of it causing a problem. It helps that we have found a workable substitute. We have found that quinoa flakes work well particularly in place of quick oats. The following recipe is one of the old favorites from my childhood converted to be gluten, dairy and soy free but still delicious. Beth P.

Peanut Butter Fingers

1/2 cup margarine( we use Eden passover margarine)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup Bob's all purpose baking mix

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup quinoa flakes

1cup semisweet chocolate bits

for glaze

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-4 Tbsp rice milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13" x 9" pan. Cream sugars with margarine. Mix in egg, peanut butter, salt, and baking soda. When well mixed add baking mix and quinoa flakes. Mix all together. Press mixture into pan bake 20-15 min. until light brown. Melt chocolate and spread in pan. Let cool until hard. Mix glaze ingredients together and drizzle over chocolate topped bars. Let harden and cut. These are just as yummy as I remember.