Keller Family Blog

Our favorite allergen free food shop has disappeared. Their online site www.allergyblock.com.au has gone offline and their physical storefront closed for a move but no signs of where they went. And we need some products. Ughh. Anyone know?

In lieu of blogging I have been posting things on my Facebook account. I really should start posting things on our http://kellerville.com/ blog.
We have a couple of new recipes and other thoughts.
But know that this blog is not dead yet.

We made cornbread similar to how my wife grew up eating it in West Virginia. A good cast iron skillet bread with hearty crust. The other obstacle we faced was that the only type of cornmeal here in Australia we have found is Polenta which is a slightly grainier grade of Cornmeal and we have found NO Self-Rising Cornmeal.  However last nights pan turned out very well. So here is our Australia made USA Southern Cornbread Sans Dairy. Here is instructions/recipe. First you need a seasoned cast iron skillet.

We set our oven to it’s MAX temperature which is only 250C (482F) and let it preheat.

Mix up 1 1/2 cup Darifree Buttermilk and let set on table.

Place 1 heaping Tablespoon of Lard / Solidified Animal Fat in large Cast Iron Skillet (Frying Pan) and place in oven to heat.

While skillet is heating measure and mix the following:

2 cups of Polenta
2 1/2 (2.5) t Baking Powder
1/2 (.5) t Salt
1/2 (.5) cup Orgran Self-Rising All Purpose Flour (which primary ingredient is corn)

When the Skillet is sufficiently hot which takes about 10 minutes, using just a fork or wooden spoon to mix, pour in the Darifree Buttermilk until right consistency. If necessary add a little more Darifree to get right consistency. (This is really where Art comes in instead of science. It may take a couple of tries to get it right.)

IMMEDIATELY pour into the HOT cast iron skillet. You should hear a pleasant sizzle and see it bubbling/frying all around the sides. Place back into oven on lower rack and bake for 15 minutes until the outer edge looks a little browned, the top is dry and has a crack.

Then open the oven move the skillet to the top rack and change the oven to Grill / Broil (ie heat only from top element), leave the oven door cracked open and let it sit in there for 1 to 2 minutes until the top is browned a little more and pull out.  Then within another minute invert the pan over a large plate and the cornbread should fall out easily to the plate. Immediately and carefully cut the bread into pie shaped sections and place on table to eat.

Serving suggestions: Topped with Apple Butter, Eat with a bean Soup, Put Nuttelex or other Dairy Free Margarine on it, Crumble left overs the next moring and top with Darifree Milk like a breakfast porriage

When the skillet has cooled, just wipe it out and put it away. The Lard keeps it seasoned. My mother-in-law and my wife, keep 1 cast iron skillet for cornbread and NOTHING else is ever allowed to be made in it or face a stiff penalty.

I realized I made a mistake on my Darifree Buttermilk recipe. I had put in 1 t / teaspoon instead of 1 T / Tablespoon on the Vinegar as called for in normal Sour Milk recipes.  So I amended it today: http://kellerville.com/2009/02/15/dairy-free-buttermilk/ I just corrected the original entry.

My alma mater is bringing back the University Choir!  That is wonderful. I have great memories and think of many of my friends from U-Choir over the years. And to make things better the come back page has a picture of one of the choir years I was in.  Of course it is so small it is hard to see all of the people in it to identify everyone.  Anyway congratulations Purdue Musical Organization on bringing back the U-Choir.  http://www.pmojo.com/uchoir/

To bad I am no where near them to come and see a performance.

We are excited to shop at the new Costco in Australia. It will be the first one built in Australia though it will be a half hour drive from our house. Anyway they are now taking membership applications and the Grand Opening will be in July I think.  Hope we can make it. This is one of our favorite stores in the USA. Has saved us a lot of money over the years.

You can see pictures of the construction (until they go live with shopping on their website) at http://www.costco.com.au/.

We went to the Royal Botanical Gardens today with Rachael and Nate and her parents.  As we were re-entering the park after a bit of morning tea, Rachel noted a little boy crying as he came out of the park. As he was walking through the crowd, Rachael wondered if he was lost. We kept an eye as he passed several families that could have been his. Rachael and Karlissa then took off toward him as he was getting to the road. I headed into the edge of the park with Jaden looking to see if we saw anyone frantically looking for a child.

Crystal and the girls followed as they crossed the street and headed to the memorial monument. The boy looked to be about 5 and they didn’t know how his english skills were when they tried to ask him about his family and stuff. (He was of Asian descent). They found some guards that the monument and a park employee who had a radio.

Meanwhile Jaden and I watched the park. I prayed that we could find his family. Crystal and Shay did too. I approached one Asian lady who told me that she wasn’t looking for anyone. I spotted a lady talking on a mobile phone walk toward me and then then look back and walk away. I spotted her a few minutes later talking to some older ladies and one walked away saying something over her shoulder in . I approached the lady and asked her if she was looking for a little boy. She said “YES” and confirmed he was wearing a blue shirt. I said he was with a friend and my family. Since we saw him leave the park alone. I called Crystal to let her know I had the mum and to ask where they were.

Rachel said as he was walking to the memorial that he kept saying “Mum here” something so she assumes that they were at the war memorial earlier in the day.  They with the park employees started walking toward us and we walked toward them. We were probably about 500m apart when we started toward each other. Needless to say there was quite a joyful reunion for the mum. The boy looked scared still. (Probably wondering if he was in trouble) We let them hug and we left. I had hoped for more conversation but knew that we had fulfilled the part God wanted us to in the reunion bit.

This season in Australia as far as food is concerned seems to be all about Chocolate  with the occasional hot cross buns. The stores are loaded with lots and lots of Chocolate. And NONE of it is safe for Jaden. The only one that attempts to be Allergy Friendly has Soy in it. Anyway the girls went to Church yesterday and made Hot Cross Buns and Chocolate molds. Well we did the Jaden-safe Hot Cross Buns yesterday. Today I attempted to make some Jaden-safe Allergy Friendly “milk” Chocolate.  Unfortunately I don’t have a full recipe as I didn’t measure pretty much anything, but here is what I did.

I started out with an Artisse Dark Chocolate bar. I melted it in a double boiler (Pryex bowl over a sauce pan with water in it). I added about 3 Tablespoons of Prepared Darifree and at least 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar and another 1/2 tablespoon of Darifree powder and stirred with a small wisk. I had added a little Olive Oil but it needed something that would be solid at room temp in it like Cocoa Butter, Palm Oil, or Lard. We had the Lard in the house so I added it after the first pour turned out to be a failure.  We also dipped some gluten-free marshmallows in the chocolate to use it up. I did swipe a little Olive Oil on a paper towel and lightly swiped the oil in the mold before the successful pours. So the first pour needed more solid fat and some Olive Oil on the molds. The first pour is the “failure” pic below. Pour is a strong word, I actually spooned it in then tapped them on the counter. I would have made different shapes, but this was the only mold we had and we had borrowed it from someone else. I am considering wrapping the eggs in aluminium foil for presentation to Jaden so it looks more “normal”.

Successful Eggs

Failed to set well. Used spoon to remove which ruined the shape.

Hot Cross Buns cooling

Jaden and I baked Hot Cross Buns….We used Gluten-Free Flour and more or less followed the recipe at http://www.everydaywithallergies.com/2009/03/hot-cross-buns.html. We substituted 1/4 tsp Nutmeg for the 1 tsp Cinnamon. Best thing is that Jaden likes it.

Well, I started an upgrade. As you can see from our  blog that it looks a little bit different.  I need to get the image of us (or an updated one) back on the top, but too tired to finish that now.