LiveGlutenFreely Review and Giveaway

MyBlogSpark recently contacted me to gauge my interest in participating in a LiveGlutenFreely giveaway. LiveGlutenFreely is a (much lauded) initiative from General Mills/Betty Crocker to extend gluten free product information from their brands, and they sent me one of their product boxes with some stuff to try, all gluten free.

Well, I've written about some of the stuff in the box before: Gluten Free Bisquick, Yellow cake mix (and again here), Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks, and Chex. However, I have not yet had the pleasure to talk about Betty Crocker's gluten free brownie mix or frostings, so let's focus on that.

As timing and luck would have it, yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday. The family went to Outback Steakhouse then came back to our house for dessert. I figured this was the perfect chance to try the gluten free brownie mix with chocolate frosting, and I also decided to make yellow cupcakes (I picked up funfetti icing, yay!) for my chocolate-hating hubby.

I was a little leery about making the brownie mix out-of-the-box since the mixes tend to be a bit gritty with no doctoring at all. So I picked up a package of chocolate fudge instant pudding (Jello brand) and added that and a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mix. This made the mix clumpy and not wet at all, so I added another egg and a bit of water to moisten the mix before baking it. I baked it in a nonstick 9x9 pan, and it took in the ballpark of 30 minutes at 325. I think I cooked it a little too long, because the edges were crunchy (or just the right amount of time, depending on how you look at it).

For the icing, I mixed chocolate icing with a bit of Nutella, and spread it over the top of the brownies with some sprinkles for color.

The consistency of the brownies was denser than I would have liked - a lot more like fudge than an actual brownie. I think that was mostly due to the pudding mix that I added. They tasted incredible though - chocolate on chocolate, decadent and very, very rich.

The real test came, however, when my sister in law brought some of the brownies and cupcakes over to her non-gluten free friend. He tried them, loved them and didn't know the difference (and wasn't told) they were gluten free.

So, here's the fun part. MyBlogSpark and LiveGlutenFreely are offering a LiveGlutenFreely pack, valued on their site at 24.99, to one of my readers. The LiveGlutenFreely pack includes the following:

• Betty Crocker GF Brownie Mix
• Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake Mix
• Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Chocolate Frosting
• Honey Nut Chex cereal
• Bisquick GF Baking Mix
• Betty Crocker Fruit Snack variety pack
• Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar
• Betty Crocker Potato Buds Mashed Potatoes
• Betty Crocker Red Serving Spoon
• Coupons and information about the Gluten Free diet.

How to enter:

• One entry: Leave a comment on this blog answering the question: What food product would you like to see available, gluten free, from a major retailer? Please note: Please include a way to contact you - e-mail preferable, Twitter handle acceptable, if I have to do a lot of research to figure out who you are and how to get a hold of you, I'll pass the prize on to someone more accessible!
  
• Bonus entry: Follow me on Facebook - if you already follow me, great! Post on the wall a link to your favorite gluten free recipe from LiveGlutenFreely.com for a 2nd entry.
• Administrative stuff: The winner will be chosen randomly, comments that don't include a way to get a hold of you will be disqualified. Contest closes at 11/19/2010 11:59:59 PM EDT and winner will be announced over the weekend. Prize will be courtesy of MyBlogSpark and LiveGlutenFreely and sent through them.

Good luck!!!!

A Crash Course in Gluten Free

We've been gluten free for over a year now, and have been blessed with supportive family and friends who have taken it upon themselves to familiarize themselves with gluten free foods. In the past year we've met more and more people who are already familiar with the phrase "gluten free" as the celiac disease becomes more widely recognized and the gluten free diet has gone mainstream. Still, the majority of people we meet for the first time still have questions about what, exactly, it means to be gluten free. They're the same questions that we had when we started out, and I hope to at least start to answer some of those questions with this blog post.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and derivatives of these grains. (Oats are often included on the list of foods to avoid because of a high risk of cross-contamination with wheat). People with celiac disease or other gluten intolerances cannot properly digest gluten, causing potentially severe health problems. (In face, in the case of celiac sufferers, ingesting gluten causes an autoimmune response, where their bodies are actually attacking their intestines). The symptoms are similar to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

So, what does it mean to be gluten free? Well, first off -- avoiding all foods that contain gluten. No wheat, rye, barley, or regular oats. What exactly does this mean?

• Well, first, let's cut out all the obvious "traditional" foods: bread, pizza, pasta, cakes, cookies, pies, beer, anything with malt vinegar.
  
• Next, let's start reading ingredient labels. Canned soups, broths, and stocks, soy sauces, marinades, salad dressings, cereals, and any other processed food product has to be looked at very carefully for gluten-containing ingredients. Imitation crab, for example, almost always contains wheat.
  
• Not only do you have to read main ingredient labels, but sometimes innocuous-sounding ingredients like "natural flavors," "artificial flavors," and "caramel color" can contain gluten, so when in doubt it's best to contact the company regarding their labelling policy.
  
• Finally, cross-contamination. Potatoes are gluten free -- french fries cooked in a fryer with chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks are contaminated with gluten. A salad where the croutons have been "picked out" is contaminated by gluten. A slice of gluten free bread toasted in a communal toaster may be contaminated by gluten. Since as little as a crumb can potentially set off a bad reaction in a celiac person, it's best to be on the paranoid side.
  

Now that I've scared you, you're wondering -- what exactly can you eat if you're gluten free? The answer is simple: A lot of things. But, it does require some research and creativity. (If you do decide to start dabbling in the kitchen? Invest in a stand mixer. It's been my best friend in the kitchen and just may be the best $300 I've ever spent -- and our deep fryer comes in second).

First of all -- many foods are naturally gluten free. Fresh fruit and veggies (frozen veggies with no sauce), meats and seafood, potatoes, rice, and nuts are all naturally gluten free, as are most cheeses. But, when you're new to the gluten free community the first question on your mind is "Rice and potatoes are great, but can I ever eat traditional carbs again?" The answer is a resounding yes! Not only are rice and potatoes gluten free but many other non-traditional grains that are delicious and healthy: sorghum, millet, flax, quinoa, amaranth, and the list goes on.

There are several solutions for gluten free breads, pastas, pizzas, and desserts. Since this is an introductory post, the only thing I'll say about gluten free cooking is that it's possible, healthier and sometimes even downright easy to make some of these options for yourself. But, when we were brand new to gluten free, we preferred to find options that were pre-made to ease us into the transition. Pre-made foods tend to be expensive, not as healthy, and often not that good -- but there are quite a few good options out there. For example, Bionaturae gluten free pasta. Bar none, the best gluten free pasta we've tried.

As you do research you'll find a lot of mainstream gluten free goods as well - General Mills and Kraft are very good about product labelling and will not "hide" gluten in their ingredients (no worrying about natural flavors). Furthermore General Mills has become aware of the gluten free community and is making several of their items gluten free -- such as Chex cereals and introducing Betty Crocker gluten free mixes.

Overall? Gluten free doesn't mean you'll never eat pizza again. Or cakes or cookies. It means, however, that you can start experimenting with new things that you may not have tried before -- but you'll certainly be able to eat modified versions of favorite foods. In fact, it's very easy to make your own gluten free pizza (or get it at at Uno's if you'd prefer), enjoy your pizza with a beer, eat a sandwich on freshly baked gluten free bread, or even enjoy gluten free apple cider doughnuts.

Have any questions? Leave a comment on this post. I'd love to write a follow-up to this entry.

More gluten free cereals!

Well, it seems that I've been behind on my gluten free blogging. This morning I saw on Lisa's blog that gluten free corn chex is not only here, but available locally in some places! After further Googling I found that gluten free Honey Nut Chex, Cinnamon Chex and Strawberry Chex will be widely available starting this summer - in addition to Corn Chex and the Rice Chex that has been gluten free for some time now.

What wonderful news! My husband in particular is thrilled - Corn Chex was his favorite cereal and every time we go to the grocery store he looked at the label saying "WHY can't it be gluten free? It's corn!"

While the Chex website hasn't been updated with this information, it looks like the new gluten free Chex varieties will be released into the mainstream on June 1st. In the meantime, I scooped up two boxes of gluten free Corn Chex this afternoon at the Clifton Park WalMart! (Note: Old Corn Chex boxes are still on the shelves - you can't miss the new boxes, they say "Gluten Free" in huge letters on the front.) Yay, General Mills!