Weekly Family Photo #5

Cornbread

Growing up we sometimes had cornbread, made from a Marie Callender's mix.  Though I love their pies (miss those!!), I sure hated that cornbread.

A few years ago I had an odd craving for cornbread and learned to make it from scratch.  I adore freshly made, hot-from-the-oven cornbread.

Last week, I finally got up the gumption to make a gluten free version.  We had some neighbors over for dinner and, without even telling them it was gluten free, their teenage kids said, "Wow!  This is the best cornbread we've ever had!"  Now, maybe their parents told them they had to compliment the cooking no matter what, but it sure made my heart soar.

This recipe makes a 9" cake pan of cornbread and it made me wonder: how do most people cut their cornbread when it's in a 9" round?  Historically I've cut it like a pie, but last week I cut it into squares (with some fun little triangle pieces that I, of course, had to taste test before plating the rest) and I think I might prefer it that way.  What do you do?

Cornbread - Gluten Free

Yield: makes one 9" round pan 

Adapted from Allrecipes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup cornstarch 
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1/4 cup gluten free flour blend
• 1/8 cup almond flour
• 1/8 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon xantham gum
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal (make sure it's gluten free)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk (I used original, unsweetened almond milk to keep it dairy free)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl mix together all your dry ingredients.  Stir in the egg, milk, and vegetable oil until well mixed.  Pour batter into the pan.  
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes (I did about 22 and it was practically perfect), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  

I suggest you eat it warm - in the shape of your choice - with butter.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes: I changed the flours to gluten free and switched to almond milk to make it dairy free.  

A Tennis Match

Randomly, I texted my sister yesterday to ask if my niece had any tennis matches this week.  Imagine my delight to find out she'd be playing three miles from our house that very day!  TJ was able to leave work early and meet us there.  I even changed Reed's shirt so he'd be in maroon, one of her school colors.  :)  It had been a rainy, windy morning but the sun came out and made for a perfect afternoon watching tennis.

Her actual match was on the center court of three, so I didn't get any shots during that, but I took about a billion pictures of her warming up.  I'm pretty excited that some of them actually turned out!

I know I'm biased, but doesn't she just shine?

There were several times during her match when TJ and I would say "Yowzers" or "I would hate to receive that" or "What a hit!"  This girl is small but she is tough!  She's spent many, many hours practicing and it sure shows.

Because I'm her aunt I can boast that this girl is pretty darn amazing at tennis.  Last weekend she played singles against the top ranked girl in the state (who is ranked #20 in the nation) and she beat her.  Boy, was I excited to hear that!

Her school has a strong tennis program so she doesn't get to regularly play varsity (yet!), but she played second varsity singles for her match yesterday and took the first set 6-0 and the second set 6-1.  Loved watching her play, seeing her applaud great hits by her opponent, and hearing her be so kind.  I found out a few years ago (maybe the wrong way?) that you're not supposed to yell or cheer or clap at matches, so yesterday I kept doing our family whistle, which I figured was innocent enough not to bother anyone.  Every time she heard it she looked up with a big smile on her face.  She knew we were there.  I'm so glad we could go watch her. Sure adore this girl.

 

Weekly Family Photo #4

Weekly Family Photo #3

At Rainbow Bridge!

Weekly Family Photo #2