Brownie mix review

On my last grocery shopping trip I purchased 365 everyday value Gluten-Free Brownie Mix.
(365 is a Whole Foods/Wild Oats store brand)
I made the brownies following package directions and was pleased to find that they were moist and chewy. They were perfectly chocolatey and had little chocolate chips in them.
I rate these 9 on a 1-10 scale.

Triumph offers free Dining Cards

I just got my free Triumph dining card for people with gluten allergies. I found out about Triumph's promotion from another Colorado Gluten Free Blogger. Triumph is offering to donate money to Celiac research if enough people get the cards. The card isn't quite free, I did pay 70 cents for shipping, although you have the option to mail Triumph a SASE. The offer is good until the end of August 2008 and you can sign up here.

MMMMM Chocolate

I am going grocery shopping and I was thinking about buying a chocolate dessert. Since I'm a foodie I can be extremely picky, and I wanted to share with you my feelings on two products I have previously purchased.

The first is Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free Brownie Mix. (here)
Following the package directions I baked an 8X8 pan of brownies. The brownies were appropriately chocolaty, and had a decent texture that was like regular brownies with Rice Krispies in them. I would buy this mix again. The only drawback, other than they need to be baked, was that the mix cost twice as much as standard brownie mix and made half as much.
I rate these a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

In order to keep my family out of my brownies I made them a pan of standard brownies for themselves.

The second product was Nana's Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies (here)
I have to say that I was so disappointed with the cookie I bought that I wanted to cry. It didn't taste like chocolate OR cookie, the texture was gummy and it had little sweetness. The flavor was more like brown beer bread.
I rate these a -1 on a scale of 1-10

And lastly, I've tried Glutino Gluten-Free Chocolate Wafer Cookies (here)
These are excellent cookies that don't require any cooking. They were like the wafer cookies my parents bought when I was young, only with more chocolate. They were satisfyingly chocolate without being too rich, and reasonably priced. One of the best advantages to these was that my local major grocery store carries them and I didn't need to make a special trip to the health food store for them. The only drawback I have found to this product is that I can't stop eating them and usually finish the bag within 24hours, which means I'm out of sweets until the next trip.
I rate these 9 on a 1-10 scale, and they won't get a 10 until Glutino quadruples the package size.

When I get groceries today I want to pick up this brownie mix. I've wanted to try it for awhile, but it is significantly more expensive than some other brands.

GF resource forum

I found a forum today with lots of resources. It even has a dating section for adults.

They also have a blog of their own located here.

Thinking about cross-contamination, I began considering wheat contamination in butter or mayonnaise. Family members may spread wheat to these items by spreading the condiment on bread and getting more of the condiment from the jar. This method of contamination applies to nut butters or fruit spreads as well, and may be a large concern in families with young children.

How can individuals prevent shared condiments from being contaminated?

• serve condiments in ramekins or dipping bowls to each person, using a clean serving utensil.
• teach the family to put necessary spreads on their plate with a utensil for that condiment, and to use a butter knife to put it on their food.
• buy special condiments for allergic members and label them so others will not use them
• remove all wheat products from the household

Families will need to determine what works best for them. If only one individual in the family has the allergy, a home "wheat-ban" is extreme, individual portions may be wasteful, it takes time for young children to learn the proper way to spread items, and buying double condiments is expensive.

Cross Contamination?

Tonight About a half an hour after dinner I began to get horrible abdominal cramps. That is usually the first indication, now that I know what to look for, that I have eaten gluten. (followed by gas, swelling all over, restlessness, vomiting, diarrhea, and hives) Since I had cooked for myself, using tested ingredients I was sure it wasn't from the food.

Wrong
After I began to wonder how I could have eaten gluten, I realized that I had accidentally stirred the food with the wrong utensil. I grabbed a spatula that I had used to flip my husband's quesadilla made from flour tortillas.

The Lesson is: BE CAREFUL TO AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION, even when preparing your own food.

So my poll question is: If your or a family member has a gluten allergy, have you "banned" wheat products from the house?

Gluten-Free Chicken Fried Steak and Pepper Gravy

Last night, my husband and I had a hankerin' for some Texas style Chicken Fried Steak and gravy. So I made up a recipe that earned my cowboy's approval. He said it actually tasted like CFS, and I can respect that opinion because he grew up in Texas.

So I put the recipe up here. And yes, in case you were wondering, that is a picture of our leftovers- and we ate them too.

Who Am I?

I'm not surprised you don't know the answer to that question, because some days I don't either.

I'm a woman who loves food enough to have pursued a degree in culinary arts, who found out she has a gluten-casein allergy less than a year ago.

The good news? I've lost about 100 lbs, feel great (unless I eat the wrong thing), and have an excuse to eat LOTS of meat.

The bad news? The weight I've lost has left me with a ton of loose skin that is just beginning to shrink up and no clothes that fit or money for new ones with all the money we spend on food for my diet. I miss being able to eat out without having to call the manager over, and preparing all of my favorite food dishes.

Which brings me to the point of this blog:
I want to share my discoveries and mistakes with people like me, In hopes that they will share their discoveries, and so they don't have to make the same mistakes.

• I hope that I will be able to re-create the foods that I have "lost" for myself and will be able to share those recipes with my readers.
• I want to share my thoughts on those expensive gluten-free products, through product reviews, so that you know if they actually taste like brownies before you spend $4 or more for a bag of baking mix that makes half what a box of standard brownie mix does, and where to find the "good stuff".
• I want to share the research on gluten/casein allergies and Celiac's Disease that I spend hours doing, so that my readers don't have to spend hours doing it themselves.
• I want to point people to other resources I have found.
• I want to share my trials and triumphs with people who understand, and to hear their triumphs and trials

So if you want recipes, product reviews, research, resources, or just to vent then stick around.