Chicken Chilli For These Chilly Days With Gluten-free Cornbread

The overnight low forecast for tonight is 5 degrees. Five. Y'all, I don't "do" five degrees.

I know, I know. My northern friends are scoffing at me, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. Some of them are digging themselves out of ridiculous amounts of snow and heading to work. "It's -21 degrees, and we are going out to build a snowman!"

You know what I do outside when it is -21 degrees? Not a dang thing.

What I do inside, however, is make a huge pot of chili and gluten-free cornbread (along with ample servings of hot tea and chocolate).

I'd love to give you a recipe for my chili (I'm told it is quite good), but I don't think I've ever actually used a recipe. This time I put two cups dried kidney beans in the slow-cooker along with water, crushed tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes, diced onion, chili powder, salt, pepper, and three chicken breasts. Don't measure - just use lots of everything! Then I cooked it on low forever. Eventually I used a sturdy pastry cutter to press the chicken until shredded.

 

But, I DO have a recipe for the cornbread. You don't *have* to use a skillet for this cornbread, but nothing cooks up cornbread like an old fashioned iron skillet.

Skillet Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup sweet (glutinous) white rice flour 1/4 cup tapioca or corn starch
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1-1/4 cups buttermilk or almond milk 1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, add cornmeal, sweet (glutinous) rice flour, tapioca or corn starch, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Stir with a wire whisk to combine. Add buttermilk, vegetable oil, and eggs. Mix well. Pour into a greased iron skillet or 9-inch baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is slightly browned and firm when touched and the bread begins to pull away from the side of the pan. Turn out onto a serving dish and cut into wedges.