Tag: cream cheese

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Cheesy Cornbread Muffins (gluten free)

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We all know those people that won’t touch anything that says healthy in any of it’s conjugations, and since these days gluten free is in the news a lot, that get’s lumped into that same ‘healthy’ category and they won’t touch it. In their minds for some reason, healthy equals not tasty. But let’s face it, just because you have to adjust your diet, or want to change the way you eat, you do not have to go without and you certainly don’t have to deprive your self. You’re not going to last in your new healthy lifestyle, if you constantly feel that you are forced to live on dungeon food of moldy bread and water. But I digress, we were talking gluten free, which for some can be a healthy choice  for others it is a must (due to various digestion and auto-immune response issues).

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When people first transition from a SAD (Standard American Diet, funny how that works out) to a gluten free life, it can be confusing and disheartening. And let’s take kids for example, they often refuse things that taste different from what they are used to or have a different texture. And frankly some of those gluten free products out there taste just a little better than saw dust, and probably just as good for you. Not that I would know what saw dust tastes like, but I imagine it to be pretty close to that. But trust me you can live a full and healthy life without gluten, without having to go buy the saw dust bread that the grocery store carries or for that matter even set foot into that section of the store.

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Yes, you may have to eat different things, but you certainly have a whole host of choices out there, especially if you are a bit more open minded about what you put in your mouth. For one, there are numerous other cuisines out there that do not rely as heavily on wheat and wheat products as the western diet does. In many Asian countries you could eat all day without running into gluten, many Mexican dishes are gluten free. Many dinners you make at home are already gluten free. And, as I always repeat, make it yourself and you control what goes in it. Some unexpected items have wheat derived gluten ingredients, some salad dressings for example, so read the labels or make it yourself. And if you make corn bread or corn muffins, you get to decide what flour and how much butter you will put in. Gluten free baking can be a bit tricky at first since gluten is what makes the bread have the characteristic holes, well to be exact the gluten forms a sort of ‘web’ that traps the gas and creates the holes. So gluten free flours just don’t do that. And the texture often suffers accordingly, which brings me back to the picky eaters… Well you’re in luck, you can now have corn bread to have with your chili! The texture when they come out of the oven is so light and airy I almost called them corn souffle muffins. Trust me, no one will be able to tell they are gluten free!

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Ingredients

  • 6 oz Neufchatel Cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese) softened
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup potato flour ( or use your gluten free flour mix of choice)
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour ( or gluten free flour mix)
  • 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup grated Mexican cheese mix or cheddar
  • 1 or 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp salt

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Directions

  1. Pre heat oven to 375ºF and prepare muffin tins (line with paper or grease well)
  2. Stir the softened cream cheese until smooth, then add the sour cream, milk, egg and sugar and stir to combine.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients, cornmeal through baking soda, add the salt then add everything to the bowl with the cream cheese mixture. Stir until blended, adding a little more milk if dough is too thick.
  4. Last mix in the cheese.
  5. Fill your muffin cups (makes about 12 standard size) and bake in the pre heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and tester comes out clean.
  6. Have them with campfire chili , snowstorm venison chili or as snacks anytime

imageOh and  Remember this? I finished it! Finished and ready for gifting! On to new shores…

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

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Mango Cheesecake

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All Mangoes are not created equal.

What I am trying to get at here is, this is a very seasonal dish, not all mangoes will be up for the task at hand, and the kind you need for this cheesecake are not always readily available. First, the common grocery store variety, you know the big green and red ones are NOT going to work. I know. I speak from experience, I had to find out the hard way, as I happily agreed to bring a cheesecake to a good friend’s birthday party. Even blending cannot get rid of the stringy fibers inside that fruit and unless you’re a cat and you don’t mind getting hair between your teeth or you like getting hairballs…(And juuust on the off chance that you are, I bet your dinner guests might not )

The Mighty Mango, an infographic← Just to give you an idea, the Mango varieties out there are in the hundreds, if not thousands. Over 500 varieties are known in India, the largest producer of mango in the world.

Okay, so now that we know what not to do, let’s get to what you do need 😉 There’s a variety called Champagne or Ataulfo Mango, it’s smaller, flatter and oblong in shape and yellow. Indian grocers might be a good source, they also carry a shortcut item I’ll cover a bit later here. If you live in other parts of the world, you might be lucky and get your fingers on any number of varieties of tasty mangoes that would work, but in the US there seems to be not that much choice. So after you got yourself the perfect mango to make the cake, you will need to start the day before you want to eat this, since it requires to get chilled and set in the fridge overnight.

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Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

  • 3 packets of cream cheese (8oz each), softened and brought to room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar*
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups pureed mango (from 4-5 Champagne Mangoes)*

*lazy version/or when the proper mango cannot be found: Get Kesar Mango pulp from an Indian Grocer, omit the sugar in the filling, since the canned Mango pulp is sweetened already. Works great and is less messy. Get 1 mango to decorate the top of the cake

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325°F.
  • Butter a 9″ Ø Spring form pan.
  • To make the crust,  stir together crumbs and the 2 tbsp sugar. Add the melted butter and mix until evenly moistened. Then press crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan (only bottom, not up the sides)

imageMake sure you pack the crumb crust down firmly. Push progressively more as the crust starts to hold together

  • Bake until set, 12 minutes, then cool completely
  • For filling, peel and chop mango, then blend until smooth
  • (If you turned off the oven and did this in two steps, preheat the oven to 325°F again.)
  • Mix softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until completely creamy and no little chunks remain.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition.
  • Add the mango puree, beat until well blended, then pour filling over crust into springform. Wrap bottom of springform pan in a layer of aluminum foil. Then bake until the edges are golden and puffed and the cake is set (it should only move very slightly when the pan is shaken gently, if the whole thing jiggles, it’s not set yet) about 1 hour and 25 minutes
  • Cool cake one hour. Refrigerate uncovered overnight.
  • Before serving, run a sharp thin knife around the edges of the pan to loosen cake. Remove ring. Transfer cake to serving dish and garnish with additional sliced magoes

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