Breakfast on a Budget – Cream of Corn Cereal

Mary Frances — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:29:49 +0000

The theme for January’s posts is Kitchen Management – things like gluten free grocery shopping on a budget, stocking a gluten free pantry, and how to clean a messy kitchen. The posts will be shorter and more frequent than normal (since I won’t have to multi-test as many recipes) and there will be several chances for you to chime in with questions, opinions, and tips.

Yesterday we made a short trip to Whole Foods for fresh produce and soymilk (we’re going through fruit like crazy since John got a juicer for Christmas) and I ended up talking to another couple that looking at the gluten free cereals. They were trying to decide if a small bag of granola was worth $5.

And while I have paid more than that for the same brand of granola (what can I say, I’m pregnant and I was craving granola), we usually don’t by packaged cereal at all. The gluten free cold cereals are expensive, and I don’t think that they are worth the price. Instead we rotate through a pretty extensive selection of hot cereals: grits, oatmeal, kasha, cream of corn, cream of rice. We add a variety of spices and dried fruits to the cereal to provide even more variety.

Here is the recipe for Cream of Corn (or Corn Mush if you have kids that are Goodnight Moon fans). What do you eat for breakfast?

Cream of Corn (aka Corn Mush)
(yields: 4 c. or 4 servings)

1 c. corn meal (we use Hodgson Mill**)
2 c. milk (we use plain soymilk)
2 c. water

Cooking Instructions:
1. Bring 1 c. milk and 2 c. water to boil in a medium saucepan.
2. While the water is heating, mix the remaining 1 c. milk with the cornmeal. 3. When the milk/water mixture is boiling, turn the heat to low and slowly pour in the wet cornmeal. Whisk the mixture continuously while you add the cornmeal to prevent lumps.
4. Cook the cereal over low heat for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so to prevent scorching. The cereal is ready when it has thickened to the consistency of cream of wheat.
5. Serve in large bowls and top with butter (or CF sub) and salt, and your choice of sweetener. (I’m partial to maple syrup)

Change it Up: If you want to add some variety, try adding 1/2 – 1 c. dried fruit to the liquid mixture in Step 1. Or top the cereal with sliced fruit after serving. We really like sliced bananas on our Cream of Corn, and I think that fresh peaches would be delicious in the summer.

** If you’re tired of looking at the label of every single brand of cornmeal trying to find one that is gluten free, then I would suggest that you buy The Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide. I refer to it regularly and its a great help in quickly identifying the brands/items that are gluten free.

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Breakfast on a Budget – Cream of Corn Cereal

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