Hello...Have been off computer for a bit due to breakdowns, internet supplier
problems,
and vacation. Am working my way through 612 letters from just the last 10 days!
I am enjoying the cornbread/deviled egg/relish letters. We don't use eggs as all
so for
a substitute for the deviled eggs we fill short sections of celery and cherry
tomatoes
with hummus. I like someone else wrote, add that little bit of tahini too.
We don't use relish...I guess I always thought it was just chopped pickles either
sweet
or dill, so just chopped accordingly to the taste I wanted. Am learning about
relish now!
We like bread and butter pickles chopped and added to out tuna-less sald...shell
macaroni,
onion, peas, celery, ff mayo, chopped canned artichoke hearts and bits of orange
cheese...
we use a soy version. Let marinate...make day ahead of time.
We make a see-food salad with chopped dill pickles added to shell macaroni,
onions,
celery, canned drained black-eye peas, ff mayo. Add shredded carrots for the
pink "crab"
color. Let marinate. When I take this to a pot luck it looks extra nice with
thinly sliced
black olives stirred in. As with the tuna-less salad, make a day ahead of time
for
best flavors.
When we make our pseudo-Vienna red hots, we again chop up bread and butter
pickles
to top our veggie dog, add onion, tomato, mustard, hot peppers, sauerkraut, AND a
big
slice of a kosher dill pickle on top. Serve with lots of napkins.
We make an acceptable cornbread, meaning no leftovers, just by substituting like
crazy
with a regular recipe. I have had luck replacing the oil/fat with smooth (as
opposed to
chunky) applesauce. I also use Ener-G egg replacer in place of the eggs and ff
soy milk
in stead of milk. Yes, I do add sugar, but I think I will not now that I have
read about
real cornbread. And I have always wanted one of those cast iron shape pan
thingies
to cook the cornbread in...someday. I increase the baking powder, by the way, up
to
5 teaspoons (Rumford brand). I ordered a bag of blue cornmeal a couple months
ago and am looking forward to trying it soon.
Thanks again for all the anecdotes and info. We just came back from Easter
vacation
in Virginia. The children tried grits for the first time, along with okra.
They also had
sweet potato french-fries...I don't know it that is Southern or just
imaginative?!
Bye...Elizabeth
Riki Darling wrote:
> Oh I can't tell you how wonderful it *was*! Now I know better and only dream
> about it! (Cornbread, fried eggs, bacon gravy....oh sob sob...I apologize to
> you all.)
>
> Ah now this is a whole can of wo**s...well maybe I won't say that in this
> context :) But cornbread can be about a dozen different dishes, depending on
> who you ask. *My* cornbread in the old days had no flour, no sugar, only
> cornmeal, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, sour milk, and the very essential
> (whispering here) bacon fat. This is really southern style (my grandmother's
> from Tennessee). We call that stuff with sugar in it cooked by the
> Northerners (like you, Christine) "johnny cake" which is the *proper* name for
> sweet cornbread <g>.
>
> Unfortunately I had to compromise my principles slightly to make good non-fat
> cornbread. Adding a little flour compensates for the loss in texture due to
> lack of fat. It's not sweet, though, and it's really good, although I am
> still experimenting to make it moister. I imagine yellow cornmeal would be
> moister but I prefer blue. Since John also asked for the recipe, I'll post it
> here:
>
> This recipe is a modification of one offered by Bob Simmons (thanks, Bob):
>
> FAT FREE BLUE CORNBREAD
>
> 1 cup blue cornmeal
> 1/2 cup flour (whole wheat is healthiest but any kind works)
> 1 TB baking powder
> 1/2 tsp salt
> 1 TB Smucker's Baking Healthy (fruit puree fat-substitute that comes in a
> nifty squeeze bottle)
> 3/4 C milk
> 2 oz egg substitute
>
> Preheat oven to 425F. Spray pan with Pam and put in oven to preheat. Mix all
> ingredients, pour into pan, and bake for about 20 minutes if loaf pan, 15
> minutes if segmented pan (see note). Test for doneness by inserting a
> toothpick which should come out clean.
>
> Note: Using segmented pans for cornbread is a lot of fun. Usually the pans
> are made of cast iron. I have one which has 6 piece-of-pie shaped segments
> and have seen those with 6 or 8 segments shaped like ears of corn. Of course
> a loaf pan or an iron skillet works well too but needs a little longer to
> cook.
>
> The fat-free archives also have about 20 cornbread recipes!!! Take a look at
> http://www.fatfree.com.
>
> P.S. Humor is good, Jan (who relishes relish) and Christine (who doesn't)!
> Most of us will "get it"! Just keep adding lots of smiley faces :) :) :) for
> those who can't read between the lines! I *loved* the relish thread!
>