Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Shortbread {Review}

So, can you guess that I also got a couple of packages of Bob’s Gluten-free Shortbread to test and review too? The box that arrived last summer had four packages in it. Two of each item.

Shortbread.

It’s the cookie with only a few ingredients and one of the main one is BUTTER!

Butter holds this recipe together. Butter gives the shortbread most of it’s flavor.

Since we are dairy-free as well as gluten-free I needed to replace real butter with an alternative.

That’s the biggest problem I have run into so far. In fact, I’ve only made one of the two packages. I am going to try another substitute for the butter next time and I might have something else to offer to you, but in the meantime, let me tell you about what I did and what I think. To start with I used Earth’s Balance.

The recipe turned out well, but I must warn that it will be better if the pan you use is smaller than required. The edges ended up a bit thin in some areas and in order for the shortbread to hold well and not be hard and crumbly it needs to be much thicker than I normally would make it. Maybe you already make nice thick shortbread and that won’t be a problem.

Also, the shortbread didn’t brown as nicely as it would if using real butter, but over all, their recipe was great. The flavor was nice–even with a dairy free alternative. And in spite of being gluten-free the texture was great. The one nice advantage to shortbread is that it is supposed to be dense. Even it’s wheat version is dense. Which would make it a great item to bring to a potluck. If you are able to use dairy and made it with real butter I’m guessing that most people won’t know the difference.

I would definitely buy a few packages to keep on hand for a quick last minute cookie need. Hope this helps.

Until next time,

Foodie Blogroll

I have just recently been accepted into the community over at Foodie Blogroll and I’m excited to be apart. If you love food, any food, it’s a great resource for other blogs out there on the web.

If you get a chance, stop on by. Click the side bar banner and be in for a great surprise!

Until next time,

More Allergy Alerts & Recalls

There is a new link in the side bar with another website for you to check on alerts and recalls of products.

You can also head over to the direct link here.

Until next time,

Juice Plus+

One of the things that we have found extremely helpful for our family is JuicePlus⁺. We have children that already eat high amounts of fruits and vegetables every day, after all, when you are allergic to everything else there’s not much to eat.

Little Miss has been taking JP⁺ for almost 2 years now and she has been in excellent health. When she does sneak some gluten – which causes her to have breathing trouble – we have found that she doesn’t respond as strongly as she did in the past. JuicePlus⁺ makes a big difference.

I wasn’t so sure about trying it.

I’m sure you have experienced people that try to “sell you something” convinced that their product is the best and only option out there. In our experience there are a number of good supplement type products out there, as well, as good companies behind their products. We have never been an “all-in-one” kind of family or only believe that only one company holds the “keys” to the market.

At the same time, when Little Miss’ pediatrician told me that JP⁺ was a good product and to try it (she was not selling it, I asked her what she thought) I figured it was worth a shot. We have an amazing pediatrician and she has been such a huge help with getting Little Miss healthy. We knew that we could trust her opinion.

In the meantime, after taking it for 2 years, we finally read the material and listened to the CD’s that were given to us. We had no idea that there were top doctors from around the country behind this product. We didn’t know that there was independent research behind the product as well. Research that is still underway all over the world (ie. there is a pregnancy study that is not finished, but seems to be making waves already).

We just knew

• That JP+ was 17 fruits and vegetables packed into a capsule and that taking it would help insure that we were getting the servings each day that we needed.
• That we all had been the healthiest we had ever been in years, surrounded by friends and family that were sick all winter without us catching a thing.
• That when we missed a day of taking it that we felt it most in our energy levels.
• That it was working, especially for Little Miss and Little Buddy (who came to us through the foster system and was malnutritioned)

Is it a super pill?

No, but it does make a difference in our lives. It has made a big difference for the children in particular. It could be worth looking into for your family as well.

I hope this helps.

Until next time,

PS. It is a certified gluten free product. And they have recently made major changes to the children’s products which take out tons of the sugars they used to use.

Gluten Free Shortbread Mix Review Coming

I’ve been working on another review for Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten Free Shortbread mix. I started writing about it then realized that I wanted to try another substitute and give you all a better review. I’m not thinking that it will turn out well, but I might be surprised and then in turn can offer you 2 different substitute options. So, be watching for that in the next few days.

There’s a lot going on around here right at the moment, so I’m doing my best to balance time on the computer and time with family. And since the next few posts are reviews, they will take  a bit more of my time.

Until next time,

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix {Review}

I promised you I’d get to some reviews written this week. I have two new products to share with you. Here’s the first one.

One day last summer a package arrived and inside was a big surprise. Somehow, I was sent a couple of packages of Bob’s Red Mill’s Vanilla Cake Mix to test and review for them. I made the one package a traditional cake and then made muffins out of the second package.

I first have to confess, I did not follow the directions on the package. We can not have eggs, well, Little Miss can not have eggs. Normally I use an egg substitute like Enger G’s and sometimes I use flax gel. This time, since it was a cake, I decided to try replacing the eggs with applesauce.

My biggest concern with the replacement was the mix requires 3 eggs. I have not had much success with replacing more than 1 or 2 eggs in a recipe. The applesauce does add a lot of moisture, which is one strength for a recipe with lots of egg replacement.

So here’s what I did.

For each egg I used 3 Tablespoons of applesauce (my own homemade with spices) and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

This recipe turned out beautifully.

The cake was light and airy. The taste was fabulous. It was sweet enough that I didn’t even frost it, which saved a conundrum of having to make a dairy-free frosting. I just added a light coating of powdered sugar to the top.

When I made the second mix into muffins, they turned out even better. We loved having muffins…well, I called them muffins since we didn’t frost them either. They easily could have been cupcakes with frosting, but honestly, they were perfectly sweet and just like a great morning muffin without the extra sugar.

If you buy mixes I would definitely recommend trying this cake mix.

It adapted very easily. It had great texture and flavor.

We bake from scratch more often than not, but I do keep some gluten-free mixes around for the last minute need.

Until next time,

New Header and Stuff

Okay, I’ve done it again. I’ve changed my header. It is not something I normally would do. My other website was easy. I knew what I wanted and I’ve kept it. This one, well, it’s free and because it’s free there are not a lot of options that work with layout that accomplishes what I want. So about all I get to do is change the header once in awhile. Until I move over to a paid website, this will have to do.

In the meantime, I’m having fun figuring out how to make custom banners and buttons for both sites.

What do you think?

I love the button (see side bar), even though it’s the wrong color green. I love the vintage look too, as most of you know. I’m not so sure I like the header. It might change again. It’s a little boring, I think, and the swirls don’t show up as well when I changed the color to match the rest of the blog.

Yes, I know, I finally come out of hiding and do I post anything meaningful? No. I putter around with a new header and button. That actually came about because of Top Mommy Blogs. I needed a banner for their website and had to figure out how to create one.

By the way, if you find this information helpful, would you mind clicking over to Top Mommy Blogs, by doing so, you will be adding a vote for this blog. If you leave a comment about this blog it will also add votes. While you are there, check out some of the other wonderful blogs!

You can click on the side bar button any time or head right over there now by clicking the icon below.

Until next time,

PS. I promise this week I will get new recipes out and that product review I promised you back in September.

Neglect

I have completely neglected this blog over the past month. With sickness catching our family early this year and a death just this past week, I have been too busy for blogging.

I hope to get back to a regular schedule around here, starting with some product reviews, catching up with news and adding more recipes.

Check back soon. There is a new product out in stores now, that I had the privilege of testing this past summer. I even shared it with our non-allergy free friends and they loved it too. Can’t wait to share with you my experience and how I tweaked the recipe to make it more than just gluten-free.

Until next time,

Gluten-Free Cornbread

Well, we are headed into winter, time for stews, soups and chili. I am trying my hand at cornbread. I have a lot of cornmeal and would love to perfect a recipe. Little Miss came in from playing outside to join me in the experiment.

Little Miss in her new apron ready to help

So here’s what I ended up doing tonight. I decided to take a basic recipe from Betty Crocker and make it dairy and gluten-free. I changed out the wheat flour for rice flour, the regular milk with rice milk and used sucanat instead of regular sugar. I made it the traditional way by pouring it into a hot cast iron pan and then baking it in the pan even though the directions were different than that.

The entire family was surprised with how well it worked out. It was nice and brown and sweet. With melted Earth’s Balance on top it was perfect to go with our soup tonight.

I did use an egg, just so you know. I will try it next time without an egg and see what happens, since I shouldn’t use them, but I was desperate for something to turn out tonight! So, I’ll keep you updated on that one. It’s so hard to bake without eggs. Nothing turns out well without them. Well, almost nothing.

Gluten-Free Cornbread

1 cup rice milk
1 egg
¼ cup Earth’s Balance stick melted
1¼ cup corn meal (I used Bob’s Red Mill since we were sent a ton from them)
1 cup rice flour (normally the recipe calls for regular flour)
½ cup sucanat (called for regular sugar)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Beat together the milk, “butter”, and egg in a large bowl. Stir the remaining ingredients all at once until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Pour batter into a hot cast iron griddle that has been greased with shortening. Bake for 20 minute at 400 until toothpick comes out clean. I used a small pan so it was done early at about 15 mins.

In the pan on the stove sizzlin’ the bottom before baking! Mmm, mmm.

I never took an after photo, shame it looked so nice! I’ll have to be sure to do that next time around.

Until next time,

Confessions

Well, I have to confess, I had it today and I cheated, big time. I had macaroni and cheese for lunch and manicotti with a brownie for dinner…not going to be feeling well in a few hours, but I was so discouraged today and just decided that I was going to grab anything from Nana’s stash and eat it…see what I did? I came up with an excuse, when I most certainly know better. I will be sick tomorrow and I will feel even worse than I do today.

Sad, I know. I guess I really do understand how a young girl feels when the world around her is eating all kinds of yummy things she can’t have. The sad thing is I get upset with her not trying to understand why she sneaked something as much as I should…but then I worry more about her health than I do my own. Wow.

This really is a learning curve in a big way. I not only am getting to have a glimpse into my daughter’s world, but I am realizing that I do not handle it as well as she does. Puts me to shame, honestly. Who’s the adult here? Who knows better?

Why do we do things like this to ourselves? Why do we insist on eating things we know are not good for us?

Until next time,