I was raised on beans and cornbread. It remains a comfort food to this day. Long-cooked, whole pintos topped with a square of buttered corn bread and maybe a bit of cheese. Mmmm!
Beans with cornbread is filling and cheap making it a great choice for a big family mom on a budget which is probably why we ate it so often. Raising a big family on a single income was a challenge even then, but I wasn’t aware of those details at the time. I was just glad it wasn’t liver. 🙂
Mom always served the left over cornbread the next morning with milk. (Which I think is — what’s the opposite of “Mmmm”?) I guess it’s a southern thing?
Twenty years later, as a mom of a growing family, beans once again became a staple, but never in the same way as my family growing up. Don is not a big fan of beans as a meal. And, while he doesn’t complain, I choose not to serve it often. For this reason, my kids did not come to love it as I do. So, it’s usually chili now or goulash that gets served with cornbread. But somehow the southern gene skipped a generation and my kids adore cornbread with milk. So we always make a double batch for the breakfast leftovers.
When James was diagnosed with many food allergies as a baby, I got a crash course in allergy friendly cooking and baking. I adapted this recipe to be gluten and dairy free. Even my people who don’t have to eat gluten free love it. In fact, they prefer it to the regular version. It is moist and delicious.
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup brown rice flour (white rice flour works OK if that is all you have)
½ cup tapioca starch
½ cup potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
½ cup sugar
2 T baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 cups milk*
⅔ cup oil (use something that is mild in flavor)
2 eggs
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a 4 cup glass measure, whisk the milk, oil and eggs.
Pour milk mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. No flour remains, but don’t over mix. Pour into a greased (sprayed with cooking spray is fine) 9″ x 13″ pan. Bake at 400° F for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center is clean or shows only crumbs.
Cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving.
* We currently use goat milk from our own does, but cow milk works. If you need to eat dairy free, I highly recommend using one 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk plus water to equal 2 cups. Other dairy free milks will be OK, but you really need a little bit of fat in the milk to get the moist result.
Enjoy!
PS If you don’t have to eat gluten free, you can eliminate the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xanthan gum and simply use two cups of all purpose flour instead. But, like I said, my family all prefers the gluten free version. 🙂
so can you just substitute an all purpose GF flour for the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xanthan gum? I use King Arthur’s
Yes, that works too!