Category: Foods I’ve tried-Foods I Use

In December, on my personal Facebook page, I posted pics of my birthday cake.  The cake was a “King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix”.  www.kingarthurflour.com  It was my first time baking with this brand.  (I’m having trouble finding the “Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix”),   www.bobsredmill.com which I’ve used for 5 years.  Baking with a new gluten-free  cake mix is always a gamble, especially when we’d invited the kids to come over that night for cake and ice cream.  The gamble paid off, as you can see in the pictures.  It tasted as good as it looked.  I’ve since baked this chocolate cake 2 more times, both times with great success.  (We’ve all baked something successfully once, then it’s been absolutely miserable the next time.  Sometime I’ll post pics of an epic fail on a brownie mix.)

Now, I can no longer find the Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Cookie Mix www.hodgsonmill.com , which I’ve used for 3-4 years.  It’s a plain cookie mix.  On the back of the box, they have instructions on how to make 5 different varieties of cookies using their mix.  I really liked this cookie mix.

Well, I was getting a hankering for cookies, so I finally picked up a gluten-free cookie mix.  I bought “King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Cookie Mix”. Since I’d had good luck with the cake mix, I figured I may as well try their cookies.  I held on to the mix for at least 4 months before using it, I hate trying new mixes.   This was a plain cookie mix also.  On the back of the box, they make a suggestion that you can add nuts or flavored chips to the cookies, but give no instruction other than that.  As I’ve said before, “plain” anything when baking gluten-free is usually not a good idea.  I added one teaspoon vanilla and one cup “Enjoy Life dark chocolate regular size Morsels”. www.enjoylifefoods.com  These cookies baked up beautifully (as you can see in the pic below) and taste great.  I will buy this mix again.

So, as frustrating as it is that from one time to the next I can’t always find products I’ve used for years, I’m happy to say the “King Arthur Flour” brand products worked out great for me. I will be buying the cake and cookie mixes again.

I wish you all good luck and “happy hunting” as you shop for your favorite gluten-free products.

Thanks for stopping.

Brenda

Disclaimer:                                 

These recipes and tips are not guaranteed to work or be safe for everyone. Allergies are extremely complicated and vary for each individual. It is still your responsibility to read labels to ensure your safety. I cannot be held liable for any ill effects from using my tips to avoid your allergies. (Sorry guys, I don’t foresee any problems, but Momma’s gotta cover her backside, ya know? Just read your labels!)

 

Several years ago, my friend Laurie introduced me to what is now my favorite gluten-free baking mix – “1-2-3 gluten free”.  (www.123glutenfree.com) Not only are they gluten-free, most are also free of dairy/casein, peanuts/tree nuts, egg, soy, sesame, corn and sugar. (Depending on the product – READ your labels!)  These mixes work great for everyone in our immediate and extended family.  (I’ve been told food allergies tend to be genetic, and that seems to be the case on my side.)  These mixes also come with a simple added perk:  They give you not just one recipe on the back of the box, but 4 or 5 more are printed on the inside of the box.  This allows you to use the same mix with a change-up on one or two ingredients giving you a different flavored treat!  They offer mixes for cakes, rolls, pan bars, cookies, poundcake, brownies, biscuits, pancakes, cornbread and a flour mixture.

I’ve only used of few of their products (more on that later), but so far, my favorite is the “sweet goodness sugar ‘n spice Pan Bars “ baking mix.  When making this bar, I use their recipe which includes canned pumpkin.  After baking, I drizzle a powdered sugar glaze over the top.  It makes a 9” x 13” pan of flavorful, moist, soft pan bars that can be served as either a dessert or a breakfast cake.  (Flavorful, moist and soft are all thrilling to me because for years, those 3 words did not go hand in hand with gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free baking.  I’m sure many of you can feel my pain.)

Now, why have I only used a few of the “1-2-3 gluten free” products?  They are not easy to find in stores.  I’ve tried looking in Kroger, Walmart, Target – all unsuccessfully.  I’ve had a bit of luck finding a few of their mixes in some, but not all, Meijer stores.  I do realize that these mixes may be carried in these stores in other regions – they’re just not in mine.  I’ve reluctantly looked online. I’m not a fan of online shopping.  Online shopping can mean having to buy large quantities and let’s not forget about shipping costs.  It can get expensive quick. While I was looking online, I found some of the mixes at a company called VitaCost.  (www.vitacost.com) While they offered a fair number of mixes, most of the ones I was interested in were “out of stock”.  They did have a poundcake available, so I ordered it.

A few days later I received my “delightfully gratifying just a hint of lemon Poundcake” baking mix.  My first thought:  Lightly flavored “anything” when baking gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free is not, in my opinion, a good idea – these foods can tend to taste a bit like cardboard.  You gotta have some added flavor.  I was pleased to see they must feel the same way because the recipe on the back of the box was for an orange poundcake.  (My grandma used to bake a dessert with an orange flavor to it. I liked it, so I was hoping I’d like this too. Fingers crossed!)  They also had 5 alternate recipes printed inside the box.  – I really like that they give you several alternatives.  The recipe I’d chosen called for ¾ cup of either citrus soda-pop or orange juice.  Soda-pop?!?  Yikes! I’ll stick with the orange juice.  This mix made up a lot of batter, so I decided  to do some in a muffin tin and the rest in one full size loaf pan.  I like to use different pans when baking something new to see if there is a variation on how well one turns out versus the other.  All of them baked up beautifully – they actually puffed up!  After taking them out of the oven, I let them cool a bit before drizzling the muffins and the loaf with my powdered sugar glaze.  Kevin and I each ate 2 of the muffins while they were still warm.  The next morning we ate a couple more for breakfast.  That evening we cut into the poundcake (loaf) and enjoyed it with fresh strawberries.  This poundcake mix was definitely a success!  It also made a ton of cake, way more than the two of us could ever eat in just a few days.  You may want to freeze some of the cake.

These mixes are a bit pricey at $7 – $8 per box, although they usually make about 2 times more than any of the other mixes you can buy.  I don’t bake with these mixes often.  I like to keep a box or two on my shelf, so when I’m in need of a baked good quick, I’ve got one.  (This is especially handy because you know when baking for allergies, nothing is fast.)

Below I have a picture of the front of the box and the back of the box showing the recipe.  I also took a picture of the muffins and the poundcake, but didn’t think to take a picture of one of them cut open so you could see what it looked like inside. (My bad.)  As far as my using their recipe; the only variation I really had was using my Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of 5 eggs and my Earth Balance Buttery Spread instead of butter.  That’s it.  I’ve also typed up a probably not so helpful recipe for my powdered sugar glaze.  I don’t really give you any measurements.  I just mix it up till I think it looks and tastes good.

Brenda’s Powdered Sugar Glaze

*Word of warning:  A little bit goes a long way!

• Powdered sugar
• Melted butter (or whatever butter substitute you use) – maybe ½ teaspoon or so
• Splash of vanilla extract
• Milk (whatever milk or milk substitute you use)

 

Melt the butter in a microwavable glass dish, add a splash of vanilla extract, then the powdered sugar, add milk to thin and stir till you get the consistency you want.  (If you’re like me, you will have to repeat the powdered sugar and milk a couple of times till you get it right.  The good news is that this will freeze well.)

Enjoy and thanks for stopping!

Brenda

Disclaimer:                               

These recipes and tips are not guaranteed to work or be safe for everyone. Allergies are extremely complicated and vary for each individual. It is still your responsibility to read labels to ensure your safety. I cannot be held liable for any ill effects from using my tips to avoid your allergies. (Sorry guys, I don’t foresee any problems, but Momma’s gotta cover her backside, ya know? Just read your labels!)

This past summer it was discovered that my niece is allergic to dairy. Her mom, my sister, said she likes to check out my blog for ideas.  I looked at my past posts and saw I haven’t devoted much time to the foods I use. Today I will share, with all of you, some of the dairy-free foods I use.  I’m also giving you pictures because my sister said it helps to have them while shopping.  They give her an idea of what it is she’s actually looking for.  Initially my plans were to post all of the pictures of the food items at the end of this post, so you wouldn’t have to scroll through all of this while shopping. But, the more I thought about it, I think it’s nice to see the picture beside the description of each item.

Earth Balance Buttery Spread – I use this wherever I used to use butter – on a slice of bread, potatoes, cooking, sautéing, and baking.  It’s my butter replacement.

Unsweetened Cashew Milk (I also make sure it doesn’t have vanilla in it.) – While I no longer drink a glass of milk, I use it in my oatmeal or on my cereal.  I also cook with it; using it in mashed or scalloped potatoes, casseroles, soups and baking.  It also works nicely for hot cocoa.  I’ve tried the other dairy alternatives: soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk and almond milk – cashew milk is (in my opinion) the creamiest and I really do miss the creaminess of cow’s milk. (I don’t have a favorite brand name; I usually pick up whichever brand I can find that day.)

Cashew Chocolate Milk (hard to find) or Almond Chocolate Milk is good too – Yummy and creamy to give me my chocolate fix.  (I don’t have a favorite brand name; I usually pick up whichever brand I can find that day.)

So Delicious Dairy Free Coconutmilk Yogurt Alternative (Unsweetened – NO added vanilla) – I use this unsweetened yogurt as a replacement for sour cream; using it on baked potatoes, tacos/nachos, in cream sauces and for baking.

So Delicious Dairy Free Coconutmilk Yogurt Alternative (Flavored) – Raspberry and blueberry are my favorites, strawberry and key lime are both okay.  I haven’t tried their other flavors; I’m not real adventurous when it comes to my yogurt.

Natural Bliss Coconut Milk Creamer –Sweet Crème – This is by far my favorite over soy and almond varieties.  I know quite a few people that also use this brand. (I recently tried using just coconut milk as suggested by one of my readers.  It just didn’t float my boat.  Maybe I did something wrong?  So, for now, I will continue to buy the Natural Bliss.  Be sure to READ the labels well, they have non-dairy and dairy together on the same shelf.

daiya cheese – I prefer the cheddar style over the mozzarella style – just my personal preference.

 

daiya pizzas – “Supreme” is my favorite by far., but they have several options.

 

Just. (Ranch) – For salads and a dipping sauce for pretty much anything.

Just. (Thousand)  – For salads, on burgers (reminds me of “special sauce”) and as a chip dip.  When I was growing up, my mom always made 1000 island dressing from scratch and we loved to dip potato chips in it.

 

Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips – I really like these, not only for baking but also for eating by the handful (I’m not kidding) with some potato chips.  I will also mix them with 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter for a “candy fix”.  They really are nice to bake with or to drizzle over pretzels.

So Delicious Cashew Milk Ice Cream – After trying soy milk ice cream, rice milk ice cream, almond milk ice cream and coconut milk ice cream (I’ve been doing this a long time.) – my sister told me about this.  Well worth the wait.  The “Dark Chocolate Truffle” is incredible.  An added perk with this ice cream: One day I didn’t get my groceries put away as quickly as I should have and I discovered the ice cream was very soft.  It was the consistency of a chocolate pudding.  It was really good.  So, every once in a while I fill a small dish with it and let it set out for a while – if I can be patient enough.

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese – I’m not a huge fan of this.  I used it to make cream cheese frosting for a pumpkin roll – big disappointment.  I do like it for ham and pickle roll-ups.

Hope this helps you if you are in need of a few ideas for dairy substitutes.  Sorry for the picture quality.  They were taken to be a reference for you, not to showcase my marvelous photography skills – which I’m hoping look a bit better than these quickly snapped pictures.

Thanks for stopping!

Brenda

Disclaimer:

These recipes and tips are not guaranteed to work or be safe for everyone. Allergies are extremely complicated and vary for each individual. It is still your responsibility to read labels to ensure your safety. I cannot be held liable for any ill effects from using my tips to avoid your allergies. (Sorry guys, I don’t foresee any problems, but Momma’s gotta cover her backside, ya know? Just read your labels!)

As I mentioned in my last post, we stopped at Whole Foods a few weeks ago and I picked up some new foods.  It’s time to start experimenting. I started simply, deciding to take another shot at the “daiya Cheddar Style Shreds” and the “daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds”.  (www.daiyafoods.com )  It seemed while I immensely enjoyed vegan cheese on my S.U.V. (Straight Up Veggie – a sandwich of vegan cheese, avocado, sprouts, tomato, onion, lettuce and Creole mustard all served on toasted gluten-free, vegan bread) at the Chicago Diner (www.veggiediner.com), I just couldn’t seem to get past the taste difference when using it at home.  My first thought on this is that I believe when you have eaten cheese made from cow’s milk for over 40 years, it’s going to be hard to convince your taste buds you’re eating anything but the real thing.  Because I was having a hard time finding a cheese replacement, I’ve been cheese-free for over 6 years.  This means, cheese-less pizza, nachos, tacos, burritos.  No more grilled cheese, cheeseburgers or chili-cheese fries.  I’ve missed cheese.

First, I used the cheddar style shreds on nachos, a hamburger and chili-cheese fries.  All tasted pretty good.  Next I used the mozzarella style shreds on spaghetti and garlic bread, again, pretty good.

The next item I tried and really enjoyed was the “daiya deliciously dairy-free Supreme with Meatless Sausage & Vegetables Gluten-Free Pizza”.  This was good.  While the daiya doesn’t melt quite like mozzarella cheese and it doesn’t get all stringy as you take a slice of pizza, it still tasted great.  I thoroughly enjoyed this pizza the first evening I made it.  (I ate half the pizza.)  It also was good reheated the next afternoon for lunch.  When eating it for lunch I also had a little “Just” Ranch dressing (www.justforall.com) for dipping – nice addition.  I liked this pizza so much that this afternoon I picked up another; a Margherita Pizza.  (I found the daiya pizzas in Meijer today!)  This will be a much anticipated dinner for one of my meatless Fridays during Lent.

Now, let me give you a little “disclaimer” here.  This is not real cheese, nor does it quite taste like real cheese, but it does do a nice job.   If you’re going to try the “daiya”; just keep this in mind.  My taste buds are still not completely sold on this cheese replacement; but, as stated earlier, that may be because I ate dairy cheese for so many years.  If you were not a cheese fanatic, like I was, or maybe you have a younger family member having to go dairy-free; then you, or they, might be sold on this product quicker than I’ve been.  With all of this being said, I can tell you I’m pleased with how my foods have tasted with the addition of daiya products. I plan to continue to cook with it. But, because I have been eating foods without cheese for over 6 years I’ve found I really don’t have a great need to smother everything in cheese the way I used to.  With that being said, I will continue to buy the daiya shreds and will keep them in my freezer because I’m sure a package will last me 1-2 months.  I will definitely continue to buy the daiya pizzas.  While I am sure that a daiya pizza would keep fresh in my freezer for 1-2 months, that’s just not gonna happen – I will be eating them much faster than that!

One last note:  Remember when buying new foods to read, read, read the labels.  Over the years I’ve tried to buy pizza and while it was gluten-free, dairy-free it still contained egg in the crust.  Fortunately, I’ve now found the daiya pizza.  You really have to read your labels well.  You also have to read them every time you buy something.  More than once, a product I’ve used for several months or years, has all of a sudden changed up their ingredients which is really frustrating to me.

Thanks for stopping.

Brenda

Disclaimer:

 These recipes and tips are not guaranteed to work or be safe for everyone. Allergies are extremely complicated and vary for each individual. It is still your responsibility to read labels to ensure your safety. I cannot be held liable for any ill effects from using my tips to avoid your allergies. (Sorry guys, I don’t foresee any problems, but Momma’s gotta cover her backside, ya know? Just read your labels!)