Betty Crocker Gluten Free All Purpose Rice Flour Blend

Betty Crocker has worked hard for years to be the go-to company for baking mixes. A few years ago, they also decided to take care of us gluten free folks by adding a whole line of gluten free mixes. I have tried and reviewed most of them, and have been fairly impressed so far. Well, now Betty Crocker has extended their gluten free offerings with a new sugar cookie mix and an all purpose rice flour blend. I was most surprised to see the rice flour blend. After all, what’s left after gluten free Bisquik? A lot, apparently :)

I am a member of MyBlogSpark, and have enjoyed this for years since they give me a heads-up about all sorts of new products. When they sent me the email letting me know about this new Betty Crocker Gluten Free All Purpose Rice Flour Blend, you know I had to try it!

Gluten Free Whisk Bliss from Shirley J

Gluten Free Whisk Bliss is a universal cooking base that makes seriously creamy sauces, cream soups and creamy-type ingredients for other recipes. It is free from trans fats, saturated fats, hydrogenated oils and MSG. It is also my new favorite kitchen ingredient.

I want to start this review with a warning: This review is for a product so amazing that it will sound like an advertisement. There, I said it. There is nothing that makes me happier than creamy sauces (on anything and everything), and this product delivers just that. I promise, Shirley J did send me the Gluten Free Whisk Bliss to try for free, but I am not obligated to write a good review and I am certainly not a paid spokesperson… Though, at this point I wouldn’t turn down the offer. I honestly adore this product. The other day I saw a post on Facebook asking what gluten free product I would most like to have a lifetime supply of and, I have to say, Gluten Free Whisk Bliss wins, hands down! You could just stop reading here and order the product for yourself, but I have plenty more gushing to do...

Mugging! Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie Cake from Shirley J

A few weeks ago, I got an email that made me giggle like a little school girl. It was from a company that I had never heard of, asking me if I’d have any interest in trying a couple of their products. The products named were Mugging! Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie Cake and Gluten Free Whisk Bliss, and the company is Shirley J. Well, I checked the links to the website to get an idea of what these products were and I’m telling you that I couldn’t reply fast enough with a resounding YES!

Mugging! Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie Cake is a super quick gluten free brownie mix that you make in individual mugs. This stuff is pure fun! D.D. and I could not wait for this package to arrive. As usual, in the interest of full disclosure: This product was sent to me by Shirley J to try. I am under no obligation to give a favorable review, pander to the company or sell my firstborn.

Thai Kitchen Rice Noodle Carts

 There’s another product review on the table today, my friends. This time it is the noodle cart style

entrees from Thai Kitchen. You may have tried some of the dry noodle soup offerings from Thai Kitchen - What we refer to in our house as "gluten free ramen”. The noodle cart meals are a little different, though.

Bella Lucia Gluten Free Pizzelles: Anise Flavor

I have not had a pizzelle in so long that I forgot they existed. It was pretty exciting to see them waiting for me on the shelf after Poj went shopping this week. D.D. couldn't wait to tear into the package since she had never tried this type of cookie before and was completely unfamiliar with anise. I tried to tell her that it was the same flavor as black licorice, but she's been gluten free for so long she barely knows what licorice is. Oh well, one more chance to educate her tastebuds, right?

Evol Bowls

Food is a huge deal in our house. I mean, everybody eats, but we LOVE food! Every time we get a new product from the store or have one delivered to the house specifically for reviews D.D. and I do a little happy dance. When we got these Evol Bowls, the happy dance was pretty vigorous. After all, Evol is love spelled backwards so we did our dance to a musical accompaniment of ‘Evil Love’, to the tune of ‘Tainted Love’, of course. Second, the frozen bowls were packed in a huge cooler with giant bricks of dry ice. If there’s one thing we love almost as much as food, it’s dry ice. To top this off, the delivery came during one of the busiest weeks we’ve had in a long time. You can’t beat a timely delivery of convenient, fast and healthy food!

Rudi's Gluten Free Tortillas

Rudi's has gotten into the gluten free tortilla game, and they obviously know how to play. There are three different flavors, and each one is pretty special. D.D. and I attacked these like a couple of vultures and made sure to thoroughly test them... for you, of course.

Katz Gluten Free Vanilla Rugelech

Katz Gluten Free has released a new flavor of Rugelech! As I'm sure you guessed from the title to this post, the new flavor is vanilla :) I'm sure I must have mentioned how vanilla obsessed I am in past posts so you can imagine my excitement over this new snacking option.

Katz is doing a Winter Grand Prize Giveaway to help roll out this new product. The Grand Prize is a huge box filled with one each of the Katz goodies. To enter the drawing (winner will be chosen on Jan. 3, 2011) follow this link to the Katz Page :)

One more thing before we move on to the review stuff: Katz has also supplied GFPR with a free sample pack to give to one lucky winner! To enter, just read this post and leave a comment. A winner will be chosen at random from all available entries on Monday, January 10, 2011. Now on to the review!

Gluten Free Bisquick

I'm sure that I'm not the only person on a gluten free diet that did backflips of excitement when I first heard that gluten free Bisquick was coming our way. (Figurative backflips, of course, I am not nearly that athletic.)After all, I am one of the newly gluten free, only two years. I remember vividly how easy meals used to be. I could eat anything, anywhere. For some reason Bisquick seemed like a return of this freedom and normalcy.

It took awhile to reach my local stores after being released. I was worried that it would be hard to find, or that I might not be able to find it at all. Thank goodness for MyBlogSpark! They offered to send me some to try and I was backflipping once again. Not only did they send me the gluten free Bisquick, but an entire prize pack to go with it. You may have guessed, Bisquick and MyBlogSpark have also provided one to give away! Look for details at the bottom of this post :) For now, on to the review!

Gluten Free Cookbook Review: Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone

I’m so excited right now! This is the first cookbook I have reviewed for GFPR, and it is fantastic! I had to create a whole new criteria and format for this, so let me know what you think. Are there any categories I have left out?

Cooking for Isaiah was  inspired by pure love. This is the first thing I noticed when I opened the book. The second thing I noticed was that Silvana Nardone knows what she is talking about. I learned so many new tips just by reading the first few pages that the recipes became secondary (for about five minutes...)

Katz Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Time again for a goody out of the Katz Gluten Free box! I’m not sure what I can say in introduction for this one besides chocolate and cupcake- yeah, D.D. was stoked :)

Katz Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think I have eaten enough gluten free chocolate chip cookies to be considered a connoisseur (who hasn’t. right?). That didn’t mean that I was any less happy to pull the chocolate chip cookies out of the Katz Gluten Free goody box :)

Katz Gluten Free Cinnamon Rugelech

Part of the fun of doing gluten free product reviews is all the new food that D.D. and I get to try. We are creatures of habit and if it weren’t for GFPR we would probably stick to the same stuff all the time. I love variety, and I love adventure. GFPR has given us an excuse to explore and have little adventures everyday.

Katz Gluten Free Rugeleh turned out to be a tasty adventure for both of us. If you can believe it, I actually had to talk my sugar-monster into tasting the rugeleh.

“A cross between a cookie and a cinnamon roll?!” she asked skeptically, “If you say so, Mom.”

I thought the hesitation a bit strange, but when it comes to food we all have our hang ups, right? She did taste them, and then kept tasting. I cut her off after four :)

Katz Gluten Free Marble Cake

Ease of Use

It should be super easy to eat Katz Gluten Free Marble Cake, and after the first serving it is :) When you first open the package, though, you ought to have a hammer and chisel, an exacto knife and some scissors handy. Okay, I am over-dramatizing, but this is some good packaging. The cake is baked in a paper liner (like muffins). Then it is wrapped in plastic and placed in a plastic snap-lid box, which is then wrapped in more plastic. This product does not get my green award, but it sure is air tight and fresh!

Katz Gluten Free Honey Muffins

Regular GFPR readers will know that my daughter D.D. and I do most of our reviews together. We like to share each new food and talk about the flavors and textures we like (and don’t like). Both of our opinions put together make up the reviews that you see here... But not today. I have to confess that I did a mean mom thing and practically hid the Katz Gluten Free Honey Muffins from D.D. I shared everything else in the box with her, but kind of counted these as a personal indulgence :)

She was pretty confused when she was digging through the cabinet and found that half of the muffins were missing. She turned to me and said, “When did we get these?”

I tell you, it was one of those rare parent-child role reversal moments. I got the guilty look of a cornered child and said nonchalantly, “Oh, those? They came in the box that Katz sent us.” At which point she sighed deeply and asked if she could have “at least one”. Of course I relented. Shame on me for trying to be selfish, right? It’s just that these muffins are perfect to go with my morning coffee, or afternoon smoothie, or whatever.... I’ll let the review itself tell the rest of why these gluten free muffins are a perfect mommy treat.

Kellog's Strawberry Slam Yogos

The gluten free product review for today is another pick from Mr. Man. As usual, Mr. Man's menu items should have their ingredients labels double and triple checked before purchasing in case the ingredients change after posting. Yogos Bits are made by Kellog's, who says on their site that Yogos are manufactured gluten free and may be suitable for a gluten free diet. To me, that is legal-speak for, "If you get sick, please don't blame us." :)

I, personally am wickedly sensitive to contamination in any form and have never had an issue with eating Yogos Bits. D.D. and I eat them all the time- and enjoy them every time!

Deli International Gluten Free Pizza

It’s frozen pizza time again. D.D. can’t get enough of the stuff. She actually picked this one from the store herself and was very excited to bring it home to me. I think part of the excitement was due to the fact that frozen pizza in our house has become synonymous with family movie night. Whatever her motivation, I heard little else from the moment she got home from the grocery store but how excited she was about her “real gluten free boxed pizza”. (So cute!)

Excitement is contagious, I suppose. I was even more excited when I saw that the Deli International Gluten Free Pizza she had picked came with the CSA (Celiac Sprue Association) Seal of Recognition. I got glutened a little while ago, so it was nice to have that extra bit of security in the gluten free status of dinner. As for the pizza itself, well, read on...

Dinty Moore Beef Stew

Mr. Man has picked a great gluten free product to review today. Dinty Moore Beef Stew (made by Hormel) has been a staple in my house for as long as I can remember. I love soups and stews and always stock my pantry with a few cans for my lazy nights. In the gluten eating days I had two favorites, but one of them didn’t survive the gluten free purge. I can’t even tell you how excited I was when I saw that Dinty Moore Beef Stew had gone gluten free before I did! Even better, it is labeled gluten free right on the can! In fact, on a perusal of their website, I found that this scrumptious meal contains none of the major allergens. You can find this beef stew in the soup isle of just about any grocery store. Read on to find out why you should.

Contes Cheese Ravioli

I ate gluten free cheese ravioli this week! This is exciting for me because I've been ravioli-less for over two years. I didn't even know they made gluten free ravioli until Poj surprised me with it this week. As a longtime fan of stuffed pasta, I cannot tell you how happy it made me that he found Contes Cheese Ravioli. It is frozen, so you will find it in the freezer case where you buy your gluten free goodies.

Caramel Apple On-the-Go Bars from Enjoy Life

Caramel Apple On-the-Go Bars from Enjoy Life are up for review today. Back in the gluten eating days we loved cereal bars and Newton bars, but I didn't see many of those options when we started our gluten free adventure. D.D. and I were excited last time we went to the store and really looked to see how many gluten free snack bar options there are now. As official snack addicts, we take this stuff seriously (well, as seriously as we take anything...)