Namaste Contest Winner!

The Winner of the Namaste bag filled with Namaste Products  is Angela B. from CA.

Angela wrote:
I fell in love with Namaste's Perfect Flour Blend at Thanksgiving. I made bread with it then made that bread into croutons for some fabulous GF stuffing! It also makes a WONDERFUL banana bread! I'm not a huge baker anymore (since going GF), but Namaste has some great products to make it easy again!

Her gift bag and products will be on the way to her shortly. Congratulations Angela, we hope you enjoy!

Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs...

Hello again...Well here is that delicious recipe I promised using the Original bread crumbs from Gillian's Foods. Just to let you know I LOVE homemade sauce, while my husband prefers his from a jar, go figure!!! Anyway, I compromised and used products to please us both as you will see in  the recipe that follows. ( I hope you enjoy )



Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs:

                                   1 lb extra lean ground beef
                                   1/2 cup finely chopped onion
                                   1/2 cup (Gillian's GF Original) bread crumbs
                                   1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
                                   1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
                                   1 tsp dried basil
                                   2 T extra virgin olive oil
                                   1- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
                                   1-23 oz jar GF mushroom spaghetti sauce
                                             (or your favorite flavor)
                                   3 cups water
                                   1 lb GF spaghetti (I used Penne)

In a large bowl combine beef, onion, bread crumbs, cheese, Italian seasoning and basil. Use your hands to mix, mixture will be slightly dry. Scoop out enough mixture, about 2 T each, and form into balls. I used a cookie scoop for this step, which makes it a little easier and you get more uniform sized meatballs.
In a large saucepan heat the 2 T of oil over a med-high heat. Cook the meatballs, turning often, until all sides are browned. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, pasta sauce and 3 cups of water, then bring to a boil. Cover the pan leaving the lid slightly ajar, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally until meatballs are thoroughly cooked and flavors are blended..
Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, add sauce and enjoy!

No Nutritional Information given for this recipe.

Gillian's All purpose bread crumbs review...

First I would like to tell you a little about this company. Gillian's Foods are all gluten, wheat, dairy and nut free products. They are all baked or produced in a G/F facility. They are also AIB audited and certified.
Their products include gluten free rolls, onion rolls, sandwich bread, ziti, pasta, pizza dough, pizza, pie shells, pumpkin pie, cakes, bread crumbs, rice flour, potato flour, tapioca flour, and also gluten and wheat free mixes. Products all made without the harmful ingredients that you must avoid if you are living wheat free, or have Celiac disease.
They were kind enough to supply me with  a tub of their Original bread crumbs, so yesterday I made home made spaghetti sauce with meatballs....YUM!
The tub of Original bread crumbs is 12 oz in weight and sells for $3.99 on their site. The Italian bread crumbs are also 12 oz tubs and sell for $4.50. Don't let the weight per tub scare you, as there are plenty of crumbs for several different recipes. I keep mine in the freezer until I need them so as to keep them fresh.
My husband being an Italian really enjoyed this meal. The meatballs turned out to perfection and were so moist and tender, and no eggs were used! The flavor wasn't any different than meatballs I have made in the past using regular wheat bread crumbs, even more tastier I believe.
The taste of the bread crumbs themselves, before adding any ingredients, were light and crunchy with a mild taste and held up well to the moist ingredients of the recipe. I was quite satisfied at the texture and taste of the bread crumbs and the tenderness they gave the meatballs in the recipe I used.
  
The ingredients in the Original bread crumbs are:
Rice flour, water, yeast,salt, sugar.

Rating:  5 Stars

To see what other baked goods and mixes they have to offer visit their site at http://www.gilliansfoods.com

Sun Flour Mills Pizza Crust & French Bread mix

I received a Whole Grain Pizza Crust & French Bread mix compliments of Sun Flour Mills. This being only the second "homemade" pizza crust mix I have ever used I was kind of excited. Hey, I tried one before and didn't do to bad, so I wanted to see if  I could conquer this mix also.  Besides...I NOW have a pizza pan!
I have to admit preparing this pizza crust was a bit more frustrating than the last mix I had tried, and honestly I wasn’t sure if it would turn out. The dough was so soft and sticky, it was really hard to spread evenly in the pan.  The directions call to use sprayed plastic wrap to smooth the dough out in the pan and it just wasn't working to well for for me, but I pressed on and finally seemed to make the most out of it.
After the dough rose and I had pre-baked the crust it looked quite uneven, high in spots, low in others.  I was ready to give up and  just toss the whole thing, but it had smelled so good while baking that I added the sauce, toppings, and cheese and popped back in the oven to finish baking. The crust came out medium thick with a nice crunchy edge, with a mild flavor. I have to admit that even though the dough is not so easy to work with, baked high in some areas and low in others,  it was definitely a winner in the end as it tasted almost like regular pizza dough from days gone bye. It was all eaten, right down to the last slice!
The box also lists recipes for  bagels, donuts and bread sticks that you can make from the mix which is also nice, giving you a variety of choices.

Although the dough is a bit hard to work with, I have to admit the flavor made it well worth the effort. I would give it this mix:

5 Stars for flavor
BUT
4 Stars for the difficulty of working with the dough

Ingredients: Brown rice flour, Cornstarch, Tapioca starch, Cane sugar, Salt, Xanthan gum, Yeast

Nutritional Snapshot ( mix only): 140 calories, 0 g fat, 3 g. fiber, 2 g. sugar, 2 g, protein

If you would like to try this mix or others offered by Sun Flour Mills you can visit their home site at: http://www.sunflourmills.com/

Taste of Gluten Free Pizza Crust mix...

Taste of Gluten Free sent me a pizza crust mix to try. I have never made my own pizza crust before as we have always eaten pizza out, but  since beginning my wheat/gluten free adventure I decided to give it a try, and hope I didn't mess up to bad.
It comes in a 12 ounce mix that makes one large pizza, and sells for $5 on their home site. It is packaged in a  black thick bag, which I like, as it  helps to  protect the mix from the light.
To prepare the crust you must  first mix  2 teaspoons of  vinegar, 2 teaspoons of  oil, and 1 1/3 cup of warm water. Since this was my first time making pizza crust at home I didn't have a pizza pan so I used a rectangle cookie sheet and placed the dough on it. Using rice flour as the directions call for to keep the dough from sticking to my  hands I formed the dough to the shape of the pan making a nice border edge of dough.
 I placed the pizza into a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. I then added my home made pizza sauce and cheese (recipe for sauce previously posted on blog) and  placed the pizza back in the oven for an additional 25 minutes.
The crust held up to the toppings and cheese although it was not as thick as I had imagined it would be, possibly the shape and size of the pan I used... The crust is soft and chewy, yet not so soft where it falls apart. I found that the edges were a little crisp but not dry 
There are Italian seasoning in the crust which add a nice flavor. Although I like the flavor of this crust it turned out a little to thin for my personal taste. When I try this crust the next time I will use the new pizza pan I have recently purchased, as this  might make a difference in the thickness of the crust.

Rating 4  Stars

Ingredients: Rice flour, Tapioca starch, Dry milk powder, Yeast, Xanthan gum, Gelatin powder, Italian seasoning, Salt, Sugar.

No nutritional information is provided on the bag for this mix.

If you would like to try this mix for yourself visit their home site at: http://tasteofglutenfree.net

Bella Gluten Free Multigrain sandwich bread mix...

Today I made a loaf of fresh multi grain bread in my bread maker compliments of Bella Gluten Free. The nice thing about this bread mix from Bella is that it gives you the option of hand mixing and baking it in the oven or using a bread machine. Since I recently bought a bread machine I opted to use these directions.

The directions were quite easy. After placing all the ingredients in the pan according to the directions on the bag I set the cycle to gluten free and walked away. Two hours and ten minutes later I had my fresh loaf of multi grain yeast bread cooling on the rack.

This bread was moist and had a great hearty multi grain taste. It toasts evenly and holds up to the "sandwich test". I love the fact that it is 100% Allergen Free. No wheat, No gluten, No soy, No nuts, Peanut free, Egg free, Lactose/Casein free, No Modified starches and No GMO's. ( You can use eggs in the mix or egg substitute)

All the ingredients are also 100% natural and organic:
Tapioca flour, Brown rice flour, Sorghum flour, Potato starch, Flax seed meal, Sesame seeds, Sea salt, Sunflower seeds, Organic evaporated cane juice, Xanthan gum, and Yeast packet.

The mix comes in a 13.8 oz thick sturdy zip bag to help protect and keep fresh. Since Mary Capone  the creator of Bella Gluten Free has Celiac children of her own she knows what it takes to create delicious desirable products.

The only disappointment I found was that it made a fairly smaller loaf than most mixes I have used, ( It was so tasty I wanted more) but for all other purposes I was more that satisfied and this mix will definitely become a staple in my kitchen.

Rating: 5 Stars
To purchase this and other products from Bella Gluten Free you can visit their website at: http://www.bellaglutenfree.com/

Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice & Mixed Berries cereal...

Attune Foods was kind enough to provide me with a box of their Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice & Mixed Berries cereal to try. As a kid we always had a box of Rice Crispies in the cupboard for those mornings when we were just plain feeling "lazy". I use to love listening to the sounds of  "snap..crackle...pop' during breakfast.

The Erewhon version of this cereal reminds me of a lightly sweetened  Rice Krispies type cereal, but is much healthier and tastier. The only ingredients are organic brown rice, organic brown rice syrup, organic honey, freeze dried blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, sea salt and natural berry flavor.

The cereal held up well in milk and didn't become soggy as most cereals tend to do, however the crisp flakes did seem to have a tendency to clump  together, I believe this to possibly be from the brown rice and honey syrups when they become wet from the milk.

Also the  amounts of protein and fiber in the cereal are not significant enough that it will tide you over and keep you full, so be prepared with a mid morning snack. However, having said this, I did enjoy the blending of the lightly sweetened brown rice flakes and the freeze dried berries. 

Although I enjoyed eating it straight from the box as more of a snack other than as a breakfast cereal it is a nice staple to have in the cupboard. My grandsons seemed to enjoy it and even asked for seconds!

Overall, I love the simple ingredients in the Attune Foods cereals and their commitment to quality organic ingredients. My hat goes off to a company who cares about those who must eat Gluten Free!

Rating:   4 1/4 Stars

One man's trash...

"One man's trash is another man's treasure"... I am sure you have heard this saying many times over the years, just as I have. I never really believed this until recently though, and now I am a true believer. Let me explain...
Lately I have been making allot of homemade bread and only recently bought a bread maker with a gluten free cycle on it. It's not that I am too lazy to make my own  gluten free bread from scratch, it is just I am too impatient!
I love bread, homemade for sure, and going wheat/gluten free in the very beginning of my adventure was I admit, extremely tough for me. I had tried many store bought gluten free breads only to be disappointed, and a few dollars short, because most of them went in the garbage!
As a child we had home made bread and rolls for dinner every Friday evening, it was a part of my youth I will always remember. Even now I can remember the thrill of getting off the school bus and entering a world filled with the aroma of warm fresh baked bread. As a child my only job was to sit down at the dinner table and enjoy every bite I would put into my mouth. As a adult however, I not only have to weigh and measure the ingredients to make such a loaf, but have to figure out how to slice it evenly. The dilemma being, I needed a bread slicing guide!
I researched the web and read reviews on which was the best, or the least favorite, only to find that if I wanted a even uniform slice of tasty bread I was going to have to pay anywhere from $29.00 for a hand slicing guide and up to in the $1000's for a electric slicer. I did see one that I liked,  the Presto, only to find that  this particular slicer unfortunately is out of production. It had a  inclined angle which helps keep the bread firmly lodged for better slicing and you can make thick or thin slices. Just my luck!
Okay, so here is the real story. This weekend my daughter and her husband came for a visit. We love to go to second hand stores and find a bargain here and there. She, for slightly used clothes for the grandchildren. I myself like to browse the furniture and decor isles for items that I might be able to bring back to life for a more "green" living lifestyle.
While in the household isle my eyes drifted downward to the bottom shelf and caught the word "Presto" on a item on the shelf. It was white, odd looking and it took a moment or two before I realized it was the exact bread slicing guide I had been interested in on the web. I picked it up to investigate and found that it had only been slightly used and looked to be almost brand new. I could barely contain my excitement as my daughter rounded the corner! The best thing was the price tag....only $2.99.
So today as you can guess I will be making a loaf of fresh baked gluten free bread and trying out my "new" Presto bread slicing guide. If you are interested in finding a slightly used Presto guide for yourself you can visit Amazon or EBay as there are several for sale on both sites....Just not for $2.99!!!

Enjoy your day!
Sharon

Applesauce Cake mix review from Taste of Gluten Free...

Taste of Gluten Free sent me a 19.5 ounce gluten free applesauce cake mix to try. I love apple cake and haven't made one for quite some time now, so I was really excited to give this mix a try.  The mix makes a 9 inch cake and retails for $5.00 on their website.
The directions were fairly easy. I combined the the wet ingredients called for in the directions, added the dry mix and poured into a 9" square pan.  I baked the cake for the full 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven, and although the cake tester came out clean I added another 5 minutes onto the baking time as the cake still looked quite moist yet, and I wanted to be sure it was done. I let it cool completely before cutting and the cake was one of the moistest cakes I have ever made.
I could  taste the spices slightly a little more than the apples, leaning the cake a little more in a spice cake direction for my tastes.
This gluten free applesauce cake was extremely moist, so moist in fact that I was leery of attempting to frost it, so I just added a dollop of whipped topping and served.

Overall, this is a very tasty cake and I will be adding it as a regular to my pantry.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars

Ingredients: sugar, rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, egg replacer, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground allspice. If you are interested in trying this Applesauce Cake for yourself you can find it on their home site at:

http://tasteofglutenfree.net

Product review...Pamela's Almond Anise Biscotti...

This was one of my lazy mornings and instead of making my eggs and toast, which was my initial intention, I decided to take the easy route. Cold cereal wasn't a option as we were expecting rain again and I needed something warm!
I had some Almond Anise Biscotti  in the cupboard, thanks to Pamela's, and since I hadn't had the opportunity to try them yet, now was the perfect time. The box comes with six individually wrapped cookies which is perfect, as I won't have to eat the whole box before they go stale. Great idea. I can even throw one in my purse for traveling as a quick snack.
They are only 120 calories, with only 5g of sugar each.  I found the taste quite similar to other biscotti's I have eaten in the past which were loaded with wheat, even though Pamela's are wheat/gluten free. They were crunchy but not to sweet. I found toasted almonds in almost every bite. I also found they held up well even when dunked in my hot tea.
This is the first product I have tried in Pamela's line and I was quite pleased. Although they did not have the exact crispness in comparison to  the "wheat laden" varieties, I found  the taste and flavor to be just as good.
Rating: 4 3/4 STARS

Ingredients/Almond Anise Biscotti:

Brown Rice Base (Brown rice flour, White Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Sweet Rice Flour, Xanthan gum); Molasses & Honey; BUTTER; EGG WHITES; ALMONDS; White Rice Flour, Gluten- Free Natural Flavors; Grainless and Aluminum Free Baking Powder (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Potato Starch); Sea Salt; Baking Soda; Xanthan Gum.

Hormel gluten free food list...

* NOTE: This statement is found on their site:
We ( Hormel ) are providing the following list of products as a general guideline for those presently produced and distributed in the United States with formulas that do not contain gluten in the form of wheat, rye, oats, and barley. Although our products are labeled in compliance with government regulations, it is always necessary to read the labels on the products to determine if the food product meets your required needs. Parents and individuals with food allergies and/or food indolence's are responsible for reading the label of all products.

Shelf-Stable Foods Not Containing Gluten:

• Black Label® Canned Hams
• CHI-CHI’S® Chips - all varieties
• CHI-CHI’S® Con Queso
• CHI-CHI’S® Corn Tortillas
• CHI-CHI’S® Fiesta Plates™ Creamy Chipotle Chicken
• CHI-CHI’S® Fiesta Plates™ Salsa Chicken
• CHI-CHI’S® Fiesta Plates™ Savory Garlic Chicken
• CHI-CHI’S® Fiesta Restaurante Seasoning Mix
• CHI-CHI’S® Fiesta Sweet Corn Cake Mix
• CHI-CHI’S® Green Chilies
• CHI-CHI’S® Nacho Cheese Snackers
• CHI-CHI’S® Taco Sauce
• Del Fuerte® Tomato Sauce
• Di Lusso® Green Ionian Olives
• Di Lusso® Mediterranean Mixed Olives
• Di Lusso® Roasted Red Peppers
• Dinty Moore® Beef or Chicken Stew
• Dinty Moore® Microwaveable Cups: Scalloped Potatoes & Ham, Beef Stew
• Dubuque® Canned Hams
• El Torito® Sweet Corn Cake Mix
• Embasa® Salsa Casera, Hot
• Embasa® Salsa Mexicana, Medium
• Embasa® Sliced Nopalitos
• Embasa® Whole Tomatillos
• Herb-Ox® Bouillon: Beef, Chicken, Vegetable
• Hormel® Bacon Bits, Pieces, Crumbles
• Hormel® Beef Tamales
• Hormel® Chili No Bean
• Hormel® Chili with Beans: Regular, Chunky, Hot, Low Sodium Chili with Beans Not Vegetarian, Not Turkey, Not the Compleats® Homestyle Chili with Beans
• Hormel® Chunk Meats: Breast of Chicken, Chicken, Ham, Turkey
• Hormel® Compleats® Microwaveable 10 oz. Meals: Chicken & Rice
• Hormel® Corned Beef
• Hormel® Corned Beef Hash
• Hormel® Dried Beef
• Hormel® Microwaveable Cup Bean & Ham Soup
• Hormel® Microwaveable Cup Chicken With Vegetables & Rice Soup
• Hormel® Pepperoni Stix, Hard Salami Stix, Italian Dry Sausage Stix, Turkey Pepperoni Stix (shelf stable)
• Hormel® Pizza Topping Original Pepperoni, Hot & Spicy Pepperoni
• Hormel® Sandwich Makers Chicken with BBQ Sauce, Chicken with Buffalo Style Sauce, Seasoned Pork with BBQ Sauce
• House of Tsang® Hot Chili Sesame Oil
• House of Tsang® Mongolian Fire® Oil
• House of Tsang® Sesame Oil
• House of Tsang® Wok Oil
• Kid's Kitchen® Beans & Wieners
• La Victoria® Cilantro, Mild
• La Victoria® Cilantro, Medium
• La Victoria® Green Chiles, Diced & Whole
• La Victoria® Jalapeño Peppers, Diced
• La Victoria® Thick ‘N Chunky Verde, Mild
• La Victoria® Thick ‘N Chunky Verde, Medium
• Peloponnese® Antipasto Party Olives, Baba Ghanoush, Country Gourmet Mixed, Cracked Green Olives, Cracked Olives, Country Olive, Dolmas, Eggplant Meze, Eggplant Spread, Grape Leaves, Greek Green (stuffed), Ionian Olives, Kalamata Olive Spread, Kalamata Olives, Roasted Florina Sweet Peppers, Roasted Sweet Pepper Spread
• SPAM® Family of Products: Classic, Lite, Hot and Spicy, Less Sodium, Smoke Flavored, Oven Roasted Turkey, SPAM® with Cheese and SPAM® with Bacon, Jalapeño Flavored, Black Pepper Flavored
• SPAM® Roasted Potato and gravy entrée
• SPAM® Red Beans and Rice entrée
• Valley Fresh® Family of Products: Chicken, Turkey

To find their other gluten free products such as deli, refrigerated, frozen and miscellaneous products please visit http://www.hormelfoods.com/ for a complete llist. Click on BRANDS in the tool bar...scroll down and click on Gluten Free Product List.