Gluten Free Mom

Two Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker Gluten Free Mix and a Streusel Cake You Will Love - Plus a giveaway!

Wow - what a title, but you have to read to the bottom for the giveaway.

First, I have to give Two Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker for their four new Gluten Free Mixes - a Yellow Cake Mix, Devil's Food Cake Mix, Brownies and Chocolate Chip cookies.  We have tried them all thanks to some samples received from MyBlogSpark and were very pleasantly pleased and surprised.

Honestly, I did not expect much out of these mixes.  We have all seen the proliferation in gluten free products and when I read Betty Crocker was getting into the picture I just figured it was a mainstream manufacturer throwing together some rice flour and calling it good.

I was wrong.

We tried them all and they are very tasty.  The Chocolate Chip cookies taste like, well Chocolate Chip cookies.  And have you tried making chocolate cookies from scratch?  It is not that easy.

The cake mixes are moist and pleasant. 

Really the only criticism we could offer is that the Brownie mix is a little light on ingredients - one box makes a very flat 9 x 9 brownie.  I will probably use two boxes next time around in the same 9 x 9 pan.  Maybe this is a further statement on how much we liked them.  One box was just not enough. 

All of the Betty Crocker mixes are made in a gluten free processing facility, so no need to worry about cross-contamination.  They are also easy to make casein free.  We just substituted our favorite dairy free products - Almond Milk and Earth Balance - but you can find butter free directions on the Betty Crocker website.

There has been a lot of buzz on the web about how much butter the mixes call for.  Of course you can try to cut back on the butter and replace it with other healthier options, but remember you are making cookies!  Plus this is mainstream manufacturing - Betty Crocker does not make any claims for organic ingredients or  non-GMOs which those of us in the gluten free world have grown to appreciate.  These mixes are what they are - great Gluten Free mixes, made by a major manufacturer for mass consumption through chain grocery stores at reasonable prices.

There has also been a lot of chatter about the need to continue to support those original gluten free "founding" companies such as Pamela's.  I say again these mixes are what they are.  In a side by side comparison with cookies made with Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix, Pamela's won hands down. We used the recipe right on the side of the bag. The Pamela's cookies were plumper, moister and just tasted better.   But wouldn't we expect that?   Pamela's has been perfecting gluten free mixes for years (and done a great job of it) and, of course, I would buy Pamela's brownie mix first.  But according to Betty Crocker one in nine US households watches, reduces or avoids consuming gluten - that is a lot of households and specialty products like Pamela's are just not available to all of those households yet.

So I say Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker - thank you for developing a safe, affordable, easily available GF product that is actually pretty darn tasty.

Shelly's Streusel Cake

Now to the Streusel Cake. First I have to introduce you to Shelly.  She is a gluten free mom from the south and my very dear cyber-friend.  Yes, we met on-line through my website and had shared much information together before I actually saw her face two years later when we became friends on Facebook.

I love Shelly - she is great Mom, working hard to advocate for the gluten free life and always seeking great gluten free products. She inspires me to keep going!

This is Shelly's Recipe for Streusel Cake using the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

1 pkg Betty Crocker Yellow GF cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 Cup Cooking Oil (Wesson/Crisco)

4 eggs

1 Cup GF buttermilk (for dairy free we used 1 cup soy milk with 1 T of lemon juice)

2 tsp GF Vanilla

2 Tbs Brown Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside. 　

Grease and flour a bundt pan. 

Combine remaining ingredients well and pour a little more than half into the bundt pan.  

Add the Brown Sugar/Cinnamon mix in a complete circle, careful not to touch the inside/outside of pan or it will burn. (We were not that careful with ours and it turned out just fine.)

Cover with the remaining batter.

Cook at 350 for about 55 minutes or until light golden brown on top.

Remove from pan and let cool. 

We topped ours with Vanilla Frosting.

Finally for the Give Away:

The first person who posts a comment with their review of the Betty Crocker GF mixes (and a recipe using one of them would be nice) will receive a Betty Crocker Sweet Moments prize pack complements of MyBlogSpark.com. 

Back to School Gluten Free

We are back -

Back from our summer travels,

back to school,

back to work, and

back to blogging.

While I missed the connection to the gluten free community during the summer (and had endless ideas on new things to post about), I had a splendid summer with the kids. 

Maybe it is their ages (all older than 6 now),

or the fact that we seem to have this diet at least somewhat under control,

or the long-warm days of summer that we were blessed with this year,

but we really had a better-than-ever summer. 

Okay, I am no saint - there were a few instances when "mommy could just use five minutes, please."  But I was met with mixed emotions on the day before school started. 

Honestly, my heart skipped-a-beat when I thought about the few hours of peace and quiet that awaited me.  But this brief sporadic moment of happiness occurred in the middle of when I was sitting at the gas pump waiting for the meter to read full, tears streaking down my face.  I am pretty sure it was the thought of summer ending that caused the emotional meltdown and not the thought of all of the hours I was going to have spend in the car driving my kids to soccer practice, ballet, piano . . ...  But I was actually sad, for awhile. 

This was on Monday, on Tuesday we went back to school and after dropping them off and reconnecting with the other somewhat haggard Moms, I actually came home and did a little dance while I unloaded the dishwasher.

I do have a lot to share - more on this later, but I learned to eat again this summer!  We also tried some fantastic new GF products and traveled to London and Paris.  I will write on all of the above, soon, but I received the following email today and thought it the perfect re-entry into the new school year. 

The following is from Joanne:

Hello, my daughter has Celiac Spru also, she's 16 and was diagnosed this past Feb. She has been sick for 3 years now and last year I put her in cyber school because of it. During the summer I had a few visits with the District Foods Superintendent and informed me that she would have alot of options that were gluten free in the school cafeteria. Today she went back to school and had a problem getting something she could have to eat. More or less a salad (lettuce only) and a drink. What can you pack a celiac kid for lunch? I'm clueless!!! Especially since the breads taste so terrible.

Thank you, Joanne

One of the things that I find most frustrating about the GF diet is the broken food promise.  We have all experienced it - you go out of your way to make sure there will be something to eat and then you arrive to find nothing safe or a bowl of plain lettuce, with some vinegar and oil.  It just happened to me Wednesday.  I went to a luncheon meeting.  Normally I eat before going to anything but at this one they specifically assured me, in person, the day before that they would have something I could eat.  When I arrive, you guessed it, no nada, nothing.  And the meeting lasted 2 1/2 hours long - I thought I was going to die by the end of it.

I am not sure I can fix the broken food promise, but I can provide some suggestions for school lunches.

The Gluten Free Teen takes her lunch to school everyday – long gone are the cute bento box lunch boxes, she prefers a brown paper sack (without smiley faces on it!). 

Over the years, we have come to eat fewer sandwiches.  I don't think she ate a single sandwich all summer.  Now that we are back to school, she will start eating GF sandwiches again.  Kinnikinnick is still her favorite.  She likes the Kinnikinnick bagels, toasted with cream cheese.  She also likes the Kinnikinnick White Sandwich bread, toasted then topped with butter and cheese.　

In lieu of sandwiches, I will make some kind of muffin, often  blueberry or banana (which I add a little flax seed to) and she will pack a muffin, some yogurt, fruit, chips.　

Quinoa salad is also a favorite, as well as chilled tomato soup with some ZeroGrano crackers.  

My younger daughter, who is not GF but has gotten used to not eating much bread, will take some salami and cheese, with some rice crackers. 

My son, who is also not GF but has eaten that way his entire life, likes what we call the Luke Special.  It is a Mission corn tortilla, smeared with cream cheese and topped with cheese and ham.  You then roll it up and slice it into little pieces.  The cream cheese helps hold it all together.

Once a week or so I will cook some kind of a treat for dessert. Chocolate Cookies are always a favorite.  We also just found the most amazing cookies at PCC.  They are made by Lucy and they are so good.  They are crisp and light, with a great taste. 

Here is the recipe for the Gluten Free Teens Favorite Quinoa Salad - she adapted it herself from a recipe on Recipezaar. 

Quinoa Salad

1 cup dry quinoa (or 1/2 c quinoa & 1/2 c millet)

8 cups water

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup grapes, sliced in half

1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced minced

1/4 cup roasted almonds (optional - I like the almonds, the GFT does not)

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce (San-J Wheat-Free Tamari Soy Sauce)

Boil the water in a large pot. Add salt and quinoa and boil for 10 minutes. Drain the water. (Not so easy to do as the quinoa will go through most strainers. I drain it by holding the lid over the pot and letting out as little water as possible. Another thing you can try is a flour sifter basket). As an alternative, I cook my quinoa in a rice cooker. Just follow the directions on the package for the amount of quinoa, water and salt, turn it on and let it cook.

Prepare dressing in a large bowl, toss with the cooked quinoa and remaining ingredients.

I know there has to be other ideas for lunch out there and I would love to hear them.  Can you give some more suggestions to Joanne?  What do you pack for your gluten free child?  What do you take to lunch? 

For more tips on navigating school gluten free, including a letter to the school, visit Gluten  Free Mom.com.