Gluten-free Cooking

   Yesterday, as I was in the Publix grocery store and struggling to read the signs posted above the aisles, a  woman came up beside me and grabbed my arm and exclaimed, " You MUST go and try the fish and grits, they're WONDERFUL!".  Although this startled me at first, I realized they must be pretty darn good to make someone do that, so I walked over to where the employee was handing out these small plates of food...

Now, you must understand, I don't usually pay much attention to most tastings like this...my husband has celiac disease (or coeliac, if you are in England) and must be on a gluten free diet.   He was diagnosed with this at the age of two (he was in London at the time) and has had to contend with this his whole life.
When we married in 1983, I can assure you that I didn't know one other person who had this, nor did I even know anyone else who even knew about it.  One of the recipes that saved me was a peanut butter cookie recipe that I found in a Southern Living cookbook (I think that is where I found it) and it was called Miracle Cookies.  They didn't mention that they were gluten free, but I knew that they were just from the few simple ingredients. I think that I could make this recipe with my eyes closed I have them so often. I sent this recipe to a friend in Germany and she did a post on her blog about these cookies. It is http://www.librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/ , she wrote about it on July 24th of this year if you are interested in it.  Honestly, even though she thought she burned them slightly, they still looked great to me. 

Okay, now let's get back to that Publix store with the lady standing there with the plate of food...
I tasted the food.  The woman who grabbed my arm was not kidding...it was heavenly.  "Oh, I wish my gluten free hubby could enjoy this", I thought to myself.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see a bag of Publix corn meal on the counter.   "What is the corn meal used for in this recipe?", I asked the lady.
"That is one of the ingredients for the grits.", she said.  HOORAY!  Publix corn meal is on the gluten free list!  Hastily, reading the rest of the recipe made me very happy.  Grits that you can buy in a bag, even though they are made from corn, are NOT gluten free but if I can make them with corn meal...that will be a very good thing!  Now, the fish recipe is NOT gluten free...but that's okay, I can even adapt that to gluten free but the grits recipe is so easy and so good, that I wanted to share it.  Here it is...

 Creamy Corn Grits:
1 can cream style corn
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup plain yellow corn meal (Publix is gluten free)
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (you can use more, you know I did)

Combine corn, water, butter, seasoned salt and pepper in saucepan, bring to boil.
Add cornmeal, whisking constantly, until blended. Reduce to low, cook 8-10 minutes, whisking often until thickened.
Stir in cheese until well blended.  It says it makes 8 servings.  Hey, I'm just telling you what it says!

There, don't you just love a recipe that is easy AND good!  You don't have to be on a gluten free diet to enjoy this.  When I informed the woman who made this that it was gluten free, she had no idea what I was talking about...it just so happens that it is!

If anyone makes this, I hope you will like it as much as I did,  and as much as the lady who insisted that I go and taste it!