I almost always make my cornbread with whole wheat PASTRY flour, because I LIKE it, I like the "rustic" texture it adds to things. You can sub splenda for sugar in cornbread, that's what I do if I know I'm going to eat it up relatively quickly. I'm one of those people who thinks splenda is best in things that get eaten right way because if not I think it develops a chemical taste in foods over time. I have never made cornbread with applesauce, but that's a way to add the moistness sugar adds to things but less sweet. But still sweet. I like a middle of the road type cornbread, not sweet but not completely sugarless either, so I would probably like it with applesauce. My recipe calls for sour cream except I use non-fat plain yogurt with just as good results. I also use two egg whites instead of one egg. Sourcream (or yogurt) Cornmeal muffins 1 cup unbleached white flour 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour 3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal 1/8 cup Splenda baking mix (or 1/4 cup sugar) 3 tsp. baking powder scant 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt 1/2 tsp. baking soda added to yogurt 2 egg whites I entered this recipe in my recipe box on "SparkPeople" (check it out, it is GREAT for recipe and meal planning ideas). It's OK to join, they won't send you a bunch of junk mail. The stats on it are: Amount Per Serving Calories: 91.9 Total Fat: 0.5 g Cholesterol: 0.3 mg Sodium: 23.8 mg Total Carbs: 18.2 g Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g Protein: 3.0 Kinda low on fiber and high on carbs so you could improve it by subbing whole wheat flour for all or some of the white flour. I'd start out with half and half and move up as my tastebuds adjusted. Also could possibly reduce salt, but I can't vouch for that part since I have never made it that way. I've done it with at least half WWH flour though. I eat these muffins with spreadable "lite" butter, which you might want to look into since it is a mix of sat. and unsat. fat. Also, here's my recipe for lima beans, which I have served at a couple of potlucks and people have said they liked them. Elegant Lima Beans 4 cups cooked lima beans (I use the green baby limas, the frozen ones, but I'll bet this would be good with the white butter bean limas too. I've seen both green limas and butter beans sold canned some places. I just cooked up a batch of dry limas for the first time last year and I really liked them. I make my beans in the crockpot.) 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce 4 oz. shredded lowfat, lowsalt swiss cheese. Frankly I actually use jarlsburg swiss for this, or kasseri cheese, but both of those are high salt high fat cheeses. 1 - 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I use the lower amount, walnuts are high in calories and fat. I'll bet you could even go down to 2/3 cup on those.) 1/4 tsp. dried basil, crumbled, (or maybe a little more, depends on how you feel about basil, I love it) 1 green pepper, diced (I also sometimes add a small diced zuchinni, which you can also add or sub. for the green pepper since some people don't like peppers. Can also use celery if you like it. Start with what you know you will like though. The additional veggies add more good fiber but I guess you could leave them out if you hate those green veggies.) 3/4 cup water or veg. broth, unsalted if possible 1/2 tsp. salt (you could experiment with less, I almost always use less than the recipe calls for, or even omit because canned tomato sauce has salt in it. I get unsalted veg. broth bouillon cubes in the health food section of Wegman's, but if you can't find unsalted broth, then use water or leave out additional salt.) 1/4 tsp. pepper minced parsley to garnish Combine cooked or defrosted limas, vegetables, tomato sauce and water or broth. Simmer 10-15 min. until vegetables are just starting to get tender. Mix in shredded cheese and walnuts, and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 min. Notes: You can toast the walnuts in the oven as it is preheating before adding them to the casserole, but watch them carefully so they don't burn. Usually about 8 min. in the oven at 300 is enough to toast. I hardly ever had fresh parsley so I stir in about 1-2 tsp. dried parsley to the stew before putting it in the oven.

Lisa, bread baking is addictive although I don't do it as much anymore because we don't eat a ton of bread. Just wait until you decide you want to try a sourdough starter-I become completely obsessed and even asked my friend to "babysit" it when I went out of town. As far as baking it free form, I don't see any differences in instructions except scoring the loaf right before baking. There are instructions for hearth baking which include using a steam pan and baking stones/tiles. I don't have the patience for that so what I would probably do would be to place it on a baking stone covered with parchment and mist it lightly with water before baking. More experienced bakers will probably have better suggestions. Lisa, Instant yeast vs. regular yeast from the book: "instant yeast is recommended because it can be added directly to the dough. Active dry yeast will also work, but it must be hydrated in warm water before it is added." I believe instant yeast is the same thing as bread machine yeast. I buy my instant yeast in bulk packages from Sam's club. As for the water, I think the chlorine can be a factor so that's why they say to use spring or filtered water. Please let me know how yours turns out! It really was good bread-it's a little crumbly but not dry if that makes any sense and the flavor is awesome. No bitterness or heavy wheat taste. I don't know how much it affected the final flavor but I did use white wheat flour which is a lighter flour than traditional whole wheat. I really hope some of you guys try this and let us know how it turns out! Tracey

Pumpkin Quick Bread 2/3 cup butter or margarine 2 cups dark brown sugar 4 eggs 1 can (1 lb.) or 2 cups mashed squash or pumpkin 2/3 cup water or milk 2 3/4 cups rice flour 1/4 cup soy or gram flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. cloves 2/3 cup chopped nuts 1/3 cup golden raisins 1/3 cup raisins --Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, pumpkin, and water (or milk). In another bowl mix flours, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices. Add to pumpkin mix. Stir in nuts and raisins. --Pour into 2 greased 9x5" loaf pans. --Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean. Not as fattening - Pumpkin Spice Bread 1/4 cup Oleo 1/2 cup sugar 4 eggs (or substitute) 1/2 cup milk (skim is OK) 1/4 cup Dark Molasses 2 Tbs Dark Rum 1 cup Pumpkin, cooked 1 tsp Baking powder 1 tsp Baking soda 2/3 cup Sweet rice flour 1-2/3 cup brown rice flour 1/2 tsp each, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, cinnemon Cream oleo and sugar together in bowl (or food processor), add eggs one at a time and mix till fluffy. Add milk, molasses, rum and pumpkin. Mix well. Sift all dry ingredients except spices, into a large bowl. Add spices and egg mixture and mix on med speed 2-3 minutes. Pam 3 mini loaf pans, 1 8" loaf pan or bundt pan and pour mix in. Bake 1 hr and 10 minutes for bundt or single loaf, 40 minutes for small mini loaf pans.

Try looking on Celiac.com. Lots of recipes, helps and a place to order items also. As far as flour, buckwheat is fine, as it belongs to the rhubarb family. Do a search on grains, or gluten.