Coming Soon: Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Dessert Mixes

GFCF Mommy is the lucky recipient of a Betty Crocker "Sweet Moments" Prize Pack, courtesy of MyBlogSpark who has asked me to taste-test these mixes and review them for you. They are also sending me another prize pack to give away to a lucky reader, so stay-tuned for more details!

I was really touched by the reason Betty Crocker says they have developed these products, from the "Our Story" section of their website:

Why Go Gluten Free?

Not long ago, two of our co-workers found themselves in the gluten free world. Linc was diagnosed with Celiac disease, and Colleen’s family switched to the diet for her son’s well-being.Their experiences opened our eyes to the challenges families face following the diet. It’s hard to be different, especially when it affects sweet moments with friends and family. No one wants to miss sharing a birthday cake or see their child have to turn down a homemade cookie from a buddy after a game.We hope we can help by bringing you these mixes for gluten free desserts that look and taste like the treats you’ve been longing to share. Finally, Betty Crocker® Gluten Free!

-The Betty Crocker Baking Team

Reading this, I had to wonder if "Colleen's" son might be on the spectrum. I might just ask the good folks at Betty Crocker about that.

These mixes are due in your local grocery any time now, so be on the lookout. Apparently they are also developing GF frosting too. You can read a little about Betty Crocker's new products here and they have a dedicated facility too! Since I am home recuperating from surgery, an easy-to-make dessert sounds great right now. (Let's just hope they are casein-free too!)

P.S. Just got an email from Amazon, looks the mixes are already available at Amazon.com's grocery.

Life Sometimes Intervenes, Part 4

Once again, I will be taking some time off for surgery related to my breast cancer. This is not a new cancer, recurrence, or anything too scary. I just need an additional surgery to increase my survival odds, which will be pretty darn good following this procedure.

In the meantime, the Professor will be managing things splendidly, as he always does. Maybe I can even convince him to do a guest post here!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my own Daddy, pictured here with me and my sister and a furry little friend. I treated the Professor to date night last night and we are getting together with the extended family today for a big pot-luck dinner. Thanks to all the great Dads out there for your love and care.

Blackberry Pie

When I was a little girl, every summer we would visit my Grandma's farm in upstate New York. My dad would cut trails through the brush and we would have grand adventures following the trails. Hidden in the brush were usually some wild blackberries. We would gather them and bring them back to Grandma who loved to make berry pies.

This is the same Grandma who sent me a message from heaven when I was trying to decide whether to try the GFCF Diet with the Prince. Celiac runs in our family, and when word got around that we were considering this, my aunt sent me a recipe card written by my Grandma that had all her GF notes and tricks she used when cooking for my cousin, who has Celiac. When the note came in the mail, it was my private signal from Grandma that we should try the diet.

But when Grandma made pies for most of the family (who were not GF), she had that wonderful flaky Crisco crust that I could never duplicate. Here is my GFCF version of her recipe, which brings back fond memories of my summer childhood rambles.

Easy Berry Pie

(based on Whole Foods recipe)

Bette Hagman's Very Best Cereal Crust:

1 cup GF rice flakes

1 cup GF corn flakes

3 TB brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 TB butter substitute, melted (like Earth Balance)

1/2 cup coconut, crushed

Filling:

4 cups berries of choice (blackberry, strawberry, blueberry)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

3 TB cornstarch

To make crust: crush coconut in a food processor, add cereals and continue to crush. Mix in sugar and cinnamon. Mix in butter and press into bottom of a 9" pie pan. Bake at 375 for about 5-8 minutes until lightly browned.

For a no-bake crust, you can substitute 2 cups of crushed ginger cookies for the cereal. Instead of baking, chill until ready to use.

To make the filling: Mash 2 cups of berries. Place in a saucepan, add water, heat over medium heat until mixture starts to boil. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch with sugar. Add to the hot berries. Stir constantly until mixture thickens (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove from heat and cool for about an hour, or until cool enough to handle.

Scatter remainder of raw berries in pie crust. When filling is cool, pour over berries. Let pie chill for about 24 hours then serve.

If your little ones do not like the texture or seeds of the raw berries, you can omit them and just use the cooked berry filling, which is very sweet and almost like a jam.

Product Review: Pamela's New Cornbread & Muffin Mix

I was delighted when the folks at Pamela's Products offered to send me a sample of their new Cornbread & Muffin Mix. I am pleased to report that the muffins I made were sweet and delicious!

The mix is wheat-free, gluten-free, non-dairy, sugar-free, and Kosher. I found the flavor to be sweeter than the other cornbread mix I have used in the past, The Gluten-Free Pantry's Yankee Cornbread & Muffin Mix. This comes down to a matter of personal taste, mainly, north vs. south. The Pamela's mix tastes more like "southern" cornbread to me (sweet and "buttery"), while Gluten-Free Pantry's mix is, well, like the label says "Yankee" in taste (less sweet, more cake-like).

For what it's worth, the Prince likes them both--he never met a corn product he didn't like--but I think he had a slight preference for the Pamela's mix. The Professor, raised in the South, preferred Pamela's, hands-down. But I think both are good products, it really is a matter of personal taste bud preference. Kids, being kids, will probably like the sweetness of Pamela's.

One of the reasons I like Pamela's Products are the recipe variations they provide on the package. They also suggest substitutions, for example, I followed their suggestion to replace the 8 TB of butter with 1/3 cup oil (I used safflower). From the many recipes on the package, I chose the "Corn Kernel" recipe:

Pamela's Sweet Old-Fashioned Corn Kernel Cornbread Muffins

1 bag Pamela's Mix
1/2 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup honey or agave)

2 eggs

1 cup water

1 cup fresh corn kernels (or 11 oz. can, drained)

Handful chopped red and green bell peppers (my addition)

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease muffin tins. In bowl, combine mix, sugar (or honey or agave), eggs, and water. Pour into muffin tins, filling 3/4 full. Bake 15-17 minutes.

The directions said this would yield 12 muffins, but I got 18. Other recipes included on the package are for skillet cornbread (you will have to use my friend Thomas' buttermilk trick at The GFCF Experience), cornbread dressing, and many others. I intend to try the Cranberry Orange Corn Muffins next time.

I am also a fan of Pamela's because they donate to Celiac Sprue and Autism support and research organizations, and are members of the American Celiac Disease Alliance. They also have links on their website to NAAR, TACA, and DAN! I was really impressed by their corporate philanthropy.

Pamela's products are available at your local health food store and also on Amazon.com. The cornbread mix is on special there right now (if you can commit to buying in bulk) until May 26. Publix grocery stores are also starting to carry some Pamela's products too, as they are increasing their GF stock.

(Note for those with cross-contamination sensitivity: although the Pamela's facility is 100% dedicated as gluten-free, some of Pamela's other products contain tree nuts, soy, eggs, and milk. We are not sensitive to cross-contamination, but I know others are, so I wanted to mention it. See the Pamela's website, here, for complete allergen information)

Coupon Sources for Organic Items

I seem to have an "economic" theme going this month! Anyway, just wanted to share a few new resources I found online. If you are like me, your local newspaper probably had loads of coupons in the Sunday paper for items that you can't buy. Sure, sometimes there might be a coupon for a cleaning product or a toiletry that you can use, but most of the products are for processed food items that we or our kids can't (or choose not to) eat.

Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and the larger health food stores have sales and sometimes have their own circulars with coupons. But I know a lot of people in smaller towns depend on their local groceries (including Walmart or Costco) for their GFCF items.

I stumbled on a website where you can print coupons for organic items. If you have not already, check out Mambo Sprouts. The products are not necessarily GFCF, just organic, but they have some GFCF items like Ian's or Amy's products. You can also sign up to receive coupons via email or snail mail. (If you are printing from the website, you will need to disable your pop-up protector temporarily). Mambo Sprouts also has recipes and articles about organic living.

Another good site I found is The Grocery Coupon Guide , which has an Organic and Natural Food article with a pretty darn thorough link-list for most of the companies that we all frequent. This is a handy reference and many companies have coupons on their sites that you can print.

Finally, many of you probably already know this little money saving trick, but for any new GFCF Moms and Dads, Amazon.com also sells groceries and has a pretty good stock of GFCF products. Many products are also sold in bulk and are cheaper. You also get to take advantage of Amazon's great free shipping with orders of $25 or more. To save even more, partner with another GFCF mom and dad and order in bulk or shop Costco together to take advantage of the savings for buying in bulk. As you know, items with no preservatives need to be eaten quickly or frozen or refrigerated. So unless you have a large family, or a big freezer, buying in large quantities may only make sense if you split the savings with another GFCF parent.

Happy shopping!

(Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com)

GFCF Mommy's Big Economic Stimulus Package!

If Ellen DeGeneres can do it, so can GFCF Mommy! I have been nominated as Best Local Blogger for Nickelodeon's Parents' Picks Award (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area). Vote (hopefully for me) and you can enter a sweepstakes to win $2,000 to use for GFCF groceries, ST, OT, ABA, or even a little mommy and daddy get-away vacation!

You can go here for more info or click on the button on the right of my blog to vote. You can vote once a day, every day between now and July 15. Winners will be announced August 17.

For the record, I don't win anything except the honor and the chance for a little PR for my blog. I am also delighted that Nickelodeon included me, a special needs parent, in the running.