The Mailbox: Teri Watson
No-wheat recipes
I am 88 and just in the last few years have become allergic to wheat. I am sure there are others like me. I’d like to have recipes for baked goods that do not contain wheat. Thank you.
– Lillian Recktenwald, Murphys
Chicken salad goes Greek
I have lost my favorite recipe for Greek chicken salad and hope someone can help. The ingredients I remember are: cooked chicken breast cut into chunks, aioli, olive oil, feta cheese and black olives. I’m sure there are more ingredients. Can someone help? Thank you.
– Barbara Bell, Des Moines, Iowa
Disneyland’s corn chowder
We recently returned from Disneyland, where we had lunch at the Storyteller Café at the Grand Californian Hotel. We enjoyed the most amazing charred Nebraska corn chowder we’ve ever had. It was a cream-based soup with corn, potato, bacon and cilantro. It was so wonderful, I’d like to re-create it at home. If anyone could provide this recipe or one like it, it would be appreciated.
– Holly Bellamy, Rocklin
Double-layer pumpkin pie
Prep time: 20 minutes
Chill time: at least 4 hours
Serves 8
Tina Wilson of Citrus Heights doesn’t usually like pumpkin pie, but she enjoys the harvest pie served at Coco’s restaurant. It has two layers, one like pumpkin pie, the other like pumpkin mousse.
This recipe comes from Sue Bear of Citrus Heights, who suggests adding some pumpkin (from a second can) to the first cream cheese layer to make it more like a mousse.
INGREDIENTS
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon milk or half and half
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ cups thawed Cool Whip
1 Keebler Ready Graham Cracker Crust
1 cup cold milk
2 boxes (4-serving size each) instant vanilla pudding
1 16-ounce can pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
INSTRUCTIONS
Beat cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of milk (or half and half) and sugar in a large bowl with a wire whisk until smooth. Gently stir in Cool Whip. (Add a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin from a second can to this mixture if you’d like a more mousselike layer.) Spread on bottom of pie crust.
Pour 1 cup of milk into bowl. Add 2 boxes of pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk for one to two minutes. Mixture will be thick. Stir in one 16-ounce can of pumpkin. Add all the spices with a wire whisk. Mix well. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or until set. Garnish as desired. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.
Per serving: 319 cal.; 4 g pro.; 40 g carb.; 15 g fat (8 sat., 5 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 20 mg chol.; 380 mg sod.; 3 g fiber; 29 g sugar; 44 percent calories from fat.
Sweet potato biscuits
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 14 minutes
Makes 10 to 12
Malda Martinez of Granite Bay enjoys the Louisiana sweet potato biscuits served at Fresh Choice. She was hoping for that recipe or one similar. Although Fresh Choice was unable to share its recipe, we did feature a sweet potato biscuit recipe in an August Mailbox.
Bill Primrose of Caldwell, Idaho, shares this biscuit recipe that is credited to Meghan Pembleton, special for the Arizona Republic, Nov. 21, 2007.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut in small pieces
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (plain or mashed with butter, milk and/or seasoning)
2 to 4 tablespoons low-fat milk (or other type)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Use a pastry blender or 2 knives to make slicing motions through the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 3 minutes. With a fork, stir in sweet potatoes. Add just enough milk to make a ball of dough. Turn dough onto a flour-covered cutting board. Roll about ¾ inch thick.
With a 2 ½-inch round cutter (or a wine glass), cut as many biscuits as you can. Place them on an ungreased baking sheet, gather up the dough and repeat until dough is used up.
Bake for 14 minutes. Let cool in pan for 1 minute, then move to wire racks to cool completely.
Per serving, approximately: 125 cal.; 2 g pro.; 16 g carb.; 6 g fat; 16g chol.; 275 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 43 percent calories from fat.