Gluten Free Menu Swap - April 14 Cornmeal

Corn is such a versatile food that it wasn't hard to think of things to make. I tried to re-use things from one meal to the next because I hate to let leftovers go to waste, it saves prep time and reduces how many items must be purchased for the week.

Gluten-Free Menu - Corn

Monday
Sweet Corn and Red Pepper Salad with Wild Rice
(Use leftovers Wednesday night.)
Gluten-Free Corn Cakes
(Use leftovers Tuesday night.)

Tuesday
Black Bean Soup
Corn Cakes with Sliced Oranges

Wednesday
Tamale Pie
(Use ingredients again Friday night.)
Green Salad

Thursday
Super Nachos with Guacamole
Green Salad

Friday
Polenta with Puttanesca Sauce
Spinach Salad with Walnuts

Recipes
These recipes are general outlines and can be adjusted to suit taste and quantity.

Monday

Sweet Corn and Red Pepper Salad with Wild Rice
Make this Sunday night and store in the fridge so the flavors will have a chance to be absorbed. Add other vegetables such as carrot or zucchini, if you wish.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn
2 bell peppers, chopped finely
1 small bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 cans black beans, drained (15 oz)
2 cups cooked wild rice
Vinaigrette of your choice

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except for the rice and vinaigrette. Set aside half of the vegetable and bean mixture to use in the tamale pie on Wednesday. Add vinaigrette to vegetables and bean mixture. Stir to incorporate and chill until ready to serve.

Makes 3-4 servings plus leftovers.


Tuesday

Gluten-Free Corn Cakes Adapted from Deborah Madison's Lacy Buttermilk Corn Cakes (page 630) in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Use any leftovers for dessert tomorrow night.

Ingredients:
1 C cornmeal
1 C boiling water
3/4 C frozen corn
1/2 C GF flour mix
1/4 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 eggs
3 T brown sugar (optional)

Directions: In large bowl, stir together cornmeal and boiling water until smooth. Add frozen corn and dry ingredients. When mixture is cooled, add eggs. Cook as you would pancakes. Spoon approximately 1/4 C of batter on to hot griddle. When edges appear cooked and bubbles have appeared on the top of the cake, turn over. Cook until brown on both sides.


Wednesday

Tamale Pie
The ingredients for the filling of this pie are flexible. Add or subtract vegetables and beans as you wish. The more vegetables you add to your leftovers from the night before, the more spices you should add. Recommended spices include cumin, chile pepper, paprika and of course salt. You can use the rest of the purchased polenta for dinner on Friday night.

Ingredients:
Reserved vegetable and bean mixture from Monday's salad
1 cup uncooked spinach or 1/2 C frozen spinach
Additional cooked vegetables such as zucchini, bell peppers or potatoes
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked (optional)
1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
1/2 roll purchased polenta

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Mix vegetables, beans, spinach and ground beef in 2 quart casserole dish. Top with slices of polenta. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole.

Makes 4-5 servings.


Corncakes with Sliced Oranges
This recipe uses cornbread leftover from Tuesday night.

Before dinner, slice the oranges over a bowl to collect the juice. Drizzle oranges and juice with honey or agave nectar. Let the fruit sit during dinner and serve over toasted corncakes, allowing the cakes to soak up the syrup. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream or plain yogurt mixed with brown sugar.

Makes about 16 corncakes.


Thursday

Super Nachos with Guacamole
Layer warm refried beans or meat, corn chips, black olives and grated cheese on an oven proof pan. Broil in oven until cheese is melted. To make guacamole, mash ripe avocado with lime juice and salt.


Friday
Use the polenta and spinach from Wednesday night to put this meal together. Also, if you made ground beef for Wednesday or Thursday and it was not seasoned, it can be used in the pasta sauce.