Cookbook Review: Pampered Chef Favorites Made Gluten Free

  
    I am super excited to have the opportunity to bring you a review of a new cookbook. I'm a huge Pampered Chef fan to begin with. I have tons of their products and love them. However, I always hate going to the parties people throw because the food made is NEVER gluten free. So you just have to sit there drooling and wishing you could have some. Until now.....Pampered Chef has finally come out with a gluten free cookbook!! YEAH THEM!!
     To say I was excited about this book was an understatement. I couldn't wait to get my copy to see what they had come up with for us. They did not disappoint!! The book itself is smaller than expected, which initially shocked me, but now I love it's size. It's the perfect size to sit on the counter while you cook and it doesn't take up ALL the space. It is 8 in. by 6 in. and is spiral bound. I love the binding because you can lay it out flat and not have to sit a sugar bag or rolling pin on it to keep it open.
     Each recipe has a picture of what you are making. The food photography is amazing. Each picture makes your stomach growl and your mouth drool. I love a cookbook with pictures!
     Oh, and let's talk price. According to the pampered chef website this book is only $8!! It is well worth $8. I have spent far more on lesser cookbooks in my gluten free time.
      I decided that I of course had to TEST a recipe to see if there was any merit beyond pretty pictures and yummy titles. I tested Jalapeno Popper Pizzas and Taffy Apple Pizza. I tried to stick as closely as I could to the instructions. However, I don't own every pampered chef accoutrement that is mentioned to use in the recipes so I had to improvise some. No big deal though.
     The recipes use mostly Bob's Red Mill and Betty Crocker's gluten free line of mixes. So it is nice that the ingredients are easy to find, and use some short cuts. We all need short cuts once in a while!
     The Jalapeno Popper Pizzas were a hit. They were easy to make and turned out great. The only difference from my recipe to theirs was that mine made 15 pizzas and theirs said it would make 24. I guess I made mine bigger. OOPS! The flavor was good and they were loved even by non gluten free folks. I would call them a success.

Jalapeno Popper Pizzas

     I also made Taffy Apple Pizza which is a dessert pizza. It was easy to put together. It used a Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix for the base (not mixed according to the box). The taste of this recipe was good, but the base was very crumbly and didn't hold together as much as I would have liked it to. This recipe doesn't really make great leftovers, so it would have to be made for an occasion where you knew it would all be eaten. That all being said, it tasted good, looked pretty, and was enjoyed. I would make it again, but with a few tweaks.

Taffy Apple Pizza

     There are several other recipes that I can't wait to try out in this new book. One that I see being used for multiple uses is a recipe for Crescent dough (crescent rolls) that is used in their recipe for Chicken and Broccoli Braid. I can't wait to try that out! Their picture looks amazing for that. The book has recipes for Appetizers, Main Dishes and Desserts. Lots of yummy ideas.
      So if you are looking for a new gluten free cookbook, or maybe even a gift for a gluten free loved one, this cookbook is well worth your $8. I hope this is just the first of many gluten free cookbooks put out by Pampered Chef.
     If you are interested in getting your gluten free hands on this book you will either need to order it through a Pampered Chef consultant, or you can order it online at PamperedChef.com . Just FYI.... I have not been compensated for my review, other than receiving the book to review. So this is just my opinion on the book. I hope my review was informative for you and maybe even helped you to decide if you need a new cookbook in your kitchen.

-Jessica
    

Product Review: Crunchmaster Cheezy Crisps & Grammy Crisps

     Without further adieu.....my product review for the New Crunchmaster products!!! I have been trying to find a free moment to sit down and write the review for these. I have FINALLY found a chunk of time to do it....so I had better get this posted before someone decides I need to be doing something else! ha

     Crunchmaster was kind enough to send me a review box that contained their two new products. Cheezy Crisps and Grammy Crisps. I was more excited than a kid at Christmas when the UPS man brought the box. Some of you may have caught my picture of the box on the USASillyYaks facebook page. I have been looking forward to these products for MONTHS now!! I have been so excited. I used to LOVE cheesey crackers back in my gluten filled days (Cheez-its, goldfish, etc). So I could not wait to tear into the boxes and get started. Here is what I thought........

 

     I think that these are an OK product. I think they could be better. I was envisioning a cheese cracker more like a cheez-it or a goldfish....puffy, crunchy, with baked in cheese. Cheezy Crisps are ok, but they are more of a rice cracker with cheese dusted on the outside. That product can already be found in the gluten free market, granted it isn't in a triangle shape...but it's mostly the same taste. I was really hoping for a bolder cheese tasted that was baked into the cracker.

     To sum it up...these are ok. I may buy them but I probably won't crave them.

Now on to the Grammy Crisps...............

 



     Again, I was super excited about this product. I used to LOVE the cinnamon and sugar graham crackers. So I was very excited to give this a try. I'm also a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon Chex. However, again, I really think that the Crunchmaster product fell through with the flavor. It seems like the flavor is just sort of dusted on the outside, so it was like a rice cracker with a small amount of cinnamon and sugar on the outside. The flavor wasn't strong enough for me.
     I didn't hate it. I probably won't crave it either though.....

I really hope that Crunchmaster goes back and amps up the flavors on these two products. They have great potential and would really fill a needed niche. Those are just MY thoughts on the product....if you have tried them leave me a note and let me know what YOU thought.

-Jessica

Product Review: Crunchmaster Multi-Seed and Multi-Grain Crackers

   
 I was given the opportunity to review Crunchmaster's Multi-Seed Original, Multi-Seed Roasted Garlic, and Multi-Grain Crisps Original. My favorite cracker in the gluten free world is Crunchmaster's Multi-Grain Crisps....sooooo it wasn't hard to twist my arm into reviewing other flavors of their product.
     I wasn't disappointed at all with the other flavors. They too, are super yummy. The Multi-Seed crackers are alot like the Multi-Grain Crisps, to me. However, the Multi-Seed are about double or triple the size. I like their size alot better. They are great for dipping and scooping. I wish the Multi-Grain Crisps came in the larger size (Hint, hint Crunchmaster!! )

(L to R: Multi-Seed Roasted Garlic, Multi-Seed Original, and Multi-Grain Crisps)



The Multi-Seed Originals were amazing paired with the Crunchy Chicken Salad that I made yesterday.

Yum!

I decided to taste test all 3 flavors of crackers with a little wedge of cheese. They were all yummy.

Plate of the 3 types of crackers and a wedge of yummy cheese. So GOOD!

      If you are looking for a great gluten free cracker give Crunchmaster a try. They are super yummy. I'm really looking forward to two new products they have coming out soon. They are introducing Cheddar Cheezy Crisps and Grammy Crisps coming up in August!! I'm excited to try those. The company said they would send me some for a review soon. So look for a review of their new products coming up hopefully next month!! Get excited!! In the mean time, pick up a box of their crackers to enjoy!!

-Jessica

Country Manor Mixes: Product Review

     I was recently introduced to Country Manor Mixes. A friend had brought three packages of dip mix back from her vacation in Minnesota. I was excited that they were gluten free. I decided to contact Country Manor and see if they would like to send out some product for me to review. They were more than happy to do that.
     Country Manor carries a variety of Dippin' products. They have dessert mixes, spreads for bagels or dessert, dipping oil mixes, fruit dips, and veggie/chip dip mixes. They have a great variety. I would say that just about everybody could find a flavor that they would like to try.
     I have chosen two of the products that I was sent to talk about today. I have chosen the BLT Mix and the English Toffee Cheesecake Mix. The BLT retails for $4 and the English Toffee for $6 on their website.

BLT Dip Mix from Country Manor Mixes

     Alright, let's talk BLT Dip Mix.....

     The BLT Dip Mix required 1 C. Sour Cream and 1 C. Mayo added to the package of Dip Mix. All I had to do was stir that all together and chill for a few hours or over night. I loved that the dip was simple to make. I was a little leery of how the mayo would taste in the dip, but it was great. I would definitely make this dip again. I dipped gluten free bagel chips into it, tortilla chips, and even pieces of lettuce. It was very yummy.



     The second mix was the English Toffee Cheesecake Mix. The package says that the mix can be made into a cheesecake, cheese ball, or dip. I decided to make mine into a cheese ball. However, after mixing the ingredients, it was far too soft and fluffy to form into a cheese ball....soooo it ended up being a dip. I had no problem with it just being a dip.

To make this mix it required a package of cream cheese and a container of cool whip. Easy Peasy.

I mixed the cream cheese with the dip mix first. Then I folded in the cool-whip.

My dip is a little too fluffy to make a cheese ball....oh well :) Still tastes yummy!

I dished up a little of the English Toffee Cheesecake Dip and topped it with some crushed English Toffee Candy Bar pieces. I used Mi-Del Arrowroot Animal Cookies for my dippers.

The result was YUMMYNESS!

I would love to make this again sometime. It was very good. I would love to try it in a pie shell next time. I would also like to figure out how to make it thick enough for the cheese ball, because that would be AMAZING rolled in the English Toffee Candy Bar pieces (my original plan for using the mix ha).

     Country Manor sells their mixes online and they can also be found in some stores. Look for them and check them out. They are yummy!!

-Jessica



Minsky's Pizza : Lawrence, Kansas A little gluten free review for you

     I know that this review will not apply to all of you, since many of you don't live in Kansas. However, I had to share. A few months ago I started noticing commercials on T.V. for Minsky's pizza with a little tag line that said something to the effect of "now with certified gluten free pizza". Of course my ears perked up when I heard "gluten free pizza"!!
     I looked up their locations online. They have several in both Kansas and Missouri. I made a little mental note that I needed to stop there sometime when I was in the area.
     About two months or so ago, I had the opportunity to drop in on their Olathe location (159th and MUR-Len). I was on my way home so I got carry-out. I sat down in a chair and waited. My chair just happened to be positioned to where I could partially see in the kitchen (not on purpose). I watched them take my pizza to a seperate area, use a seperate stack of to-go boxes, use seperate utensils to cut it. I was SO impressed. I took my pizza home and had it for supper. It was yummy. I had zero side effects from eating there. I was sooooo very happy with my Minsky's experience. It seems that I always have some sort of tummy issue after eating pizza out, but I didn't after eating at Minsky's.
     Today I had the opportunity to visit their newly opened location in Lawrence, Kansas. I was super excited to hear that Minsky's had come back to Lawrence. I was greeted at the door cheerfully. I was seated and waited on quickly and by very kind and cheerful people. They gave me a gluten free menu to order with. The number of choices were impressive. I didn't feel "cheated" because there were several toppings and options to choose from.....even a dessert on the menu!!
     Their gluten free za comes in two sizes a mini and small. I decided to go with the small so that I would have leftovers and not have to cook supper tonight (oh yes I'm always thinking of ways to get out of cooking supper ha). I ordered the Small Gluten Free Combo pizza (hamburger, sausage, green peppers, onions, pepperoni, and black olives (but I had them swap the olives for mushrooms)).
    My waitress was super nice. She seemed to know a little about gluten free. She said that a friend of hers was recently diagnosed and she has a hard time. She said the friend is also dairy free and vegan ontop of gluten free!! I can't imagine trying to wade through all the labels her friend has to read.
     My pizza came out looking amazing. It had tons of toppings (which I love because I hate when places skimp on the toppings). It had tons of ooey gooey cheese. It just looked yummy!!

Doesn't it look yummy?!?!?!

     It tasted as great as it looked. The crust was able to be picked up without falling apart. It held together like a champ. Great flavor. It was a very good gluten free pizza.

     The real test is of course 30 minutes and beyond AFTER I ate the yummy pizza. Again, I had zero side effects from eating at Minsky's. I applaud them for doing such a great job with the cross contamination issues and keeping them to a minimum. You will definately get my return business because I can eat there without the fear of being sick.

     Minksy's website says that they are trained by GREAT (Gluten Free Resource  Education and Awareness Training), a verified gluten free program. They also of course have the disclaimer that they do their best and try to provide you with a gluten free meal, but there are no guarantees (which of course we all know). HOWEVER, I think Minsky's is doing a great job.

      Thank you for putting the effort into creating a safe environment for people with celiac and gluten allergies to grab some ZA! It really means more than you probably realize. Now if only you were in MY town and could deliver to my door.................hint hint!

Look at all that amazing cheese!!!

FULL of toppings! YUM!

So the moral of the story is......if you are near a Minsky's go and check them out because they are rockin' the gluten free pizza!!

-Jessica

*These words are just my personal opinion and I have not been compensated by Minsky's to say them :)

Heartland Gourmet Review: Lemon Cupcakes and Garlic Cheddar Bread

     After quite a time connecting I finally received my review box from Heartland Gourmet. Heartland has a glutenfull line and also a gluten free line of foods. I of course got items from their gluten free line. Inside my box was: Garlic Cheddar Bread Mix, Lemon Cupcake Mix, Carrot Cake Mix, Red Velvet Cupcake Mix, Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix, and Gluten Free Cornbread Mix.
     Heartland sells their Mixes on their website. Their price point is $6.99. I have also run across their mixes at Cost Plus World Market, and I think they actually sell the mixes for less than the company does. So if you have a World Market.....check there first for a better price.
     I decided to choose two of the mixes for you today for my review. I picked the Lemon Cupcakes and the Garlic Cheddar Bread. I thought that they both sounded pretty amazing. I'm a huge fan of anything lemon and anything cheesy/garlic (but not lemon, cheese, garlic together ha ).
     I liked that the ingredients needed for their mixes were things that you would have on hand. Eggs, water, oil....nothing too wild. I hate when I have to run to the store just to make a mix. SO kudos to Heartland for knowing that a mix should be easy.
     I started by making the Lemon Cupcakes first. I opened the package of mix and could smell the lemon flavor in the mix. It smelled genuine, not like a lemon cleaning product (points for that). I quickly mixed everything together and got them into the oven. Easy Peasy. I will confess that I did not use their frosting recipe on the back of the box. It sounded lovely, but I didn't have all of the ingredients for it, but I did have a nice can of cream cheese frosting to complete the easy peasyness of the box mix. It worked out great. I would definitely buy this mix again. I thought it had a great lemon flavor, not too overpowering though. Very yummy.
     I next mixed up the Garlic Cheddar Bread. It was also fairly easy to make. However, at one point the instructions say to "kneed" the dough and my dough was WAY too sticky for kneading with my hands (even used the lowest amount of water recommended). SO I skipped that step and kept on using my spoon. I covered the dough with a towel and let it rise for 45 min. I honestly couldn't really tell that it had risen much in that 45 minute time period. After the 45 min. I punched the dough back down and I formed mine into bread sticks. I thought they would be yummy dipped in some pizza sauce. I'm not sure I would actually eat a loaf of bread flavored with garlic and cheese. Maybe I'm weird?!?! (no comments ha ). I let my bread sticks raise for another 45 minutes per the package instructions. I could actually tell they had risen this time. I then baked them and while they were warm I dipped a couple into some yummy pizza sauce. It was quite good. I would make these again as a side dish for some pasta. YUM!
     I'm anxious to try some of the other mixes that they sent out to me. However, a girl can only cook so many things in one day!! Keep your eye out for these mixes and give them a try. I liked them.

-Jessica

Frontier Soup's Chicken and Noodle Review

     Some of you may be wondering why I haven't blogged any yummy recipes this week. This week my house has been undergoing a little construction/renovation project. My heater died and had to be replaced. I know that doesn't sound like a huge deal, but my old heating beast was a floor heater (giant antique, grate in the floor, old beast). The new heater is a forced air unit. Holes had to be sawed in my ceilings. The old unit had to be removed, floor filled in, and repaired. There were men everywhere, dust flying, insulation, sawdust, and all sorts of grossness going on. It was not exactly the environment that I enjoy cooking in....so I didn't.
     On the first day of the project one of the workers knocked on my door bright and early at 7:15 to get started. I let him and and ask him how he was, his reply, " well not too good, I threw up before I came." Ummmmmm super!! That was SO what I wanted to hear (insert lots and lots of sarcasm). He worked in my house for 2 days touching all sorts of door handles, leaving germs and such. Needless to say yesterday my muscles were hurting and I was exhausted. I chalked it up to stress from the project and all the cleaning to get the house back into shape after they left. This morning I woke up more sore than yesterday and with other lovely symptoms (see the symptoms the worker guy had).
     There would be no cooking taking place today either since I felt like crud. However, I remembered that I had a little packet of chicken and noodle soup in the kitchen from Frontier Soups . I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to try out their soup mix and share a review with you. Chicken and Noodle soup is supposed to be the healer of all things.
     In order to make the soup you needed the soup packet, 6 cups of broth, 2 T. of butter, and a chicken breast. I didn't have any chicken breast un-thawed so I just used a can of chunk chicken (like tuna, but it's chicken). I also added a can of carrots, 1/2 C. Minute Rice, and 1/3C. Celery. I'm not a big fan of soupy soups. I'm more of a chunky soup person. So I added the extra veggies. Plus, more veggies equals more healing vitamins!!
     The soup was very easy to make. I think that using the canned chicken made it even easier. The only utensils I needed was my can opener, a spoon, and scissors to open the soup packets.
     I love that the soup mix didn't require many extra ingredients to purchase. I really hate to spend money on a mix only to find out that you have to buy 10 other ingredients to put WITH the mix. This soup didn't require that. I also love that it was a "quick fix". I wasn't feeling much like standing in the kitchen for a long period of time to make the soup and it didn't require me to. It took maybe 30 minutes to cook. It would have taken a little longer if I had used fresh chicken breast.
     The soup smelled very good while it was cooking. Like I said before I'm not much for a soupy soup, so I served my soup over some mashed potatoes. It tasted very good.
     I would definitely buy this mix again. It was so nice to have a simple quick meal to fix.

Are you sitting down? I found gluten free Froot Loops!!!

     I have something to share with you, but I need you to promise that you will keep calm. Are you sitting down? Ok good...... I received a sample in the mail today. It came from Freedom Foods . Inside of this package was the gluten free version of Froot Loops!!! (hey now, you promised to stay calm!! Stop jumping on the couch!!)
     I had entered a contest to try to win a supply of this amazing cereal. However I wasn't the big winner. BUT the company was super generous and decided to send out samples to people who "liked" their Facebook page during the contest time. You just had to request the sample via email. I would say that was super nice of them. Most companies don't care if you didn't win.
    Today I was graced with this box of samples. I love the mailman on days when he brings me packages. Inside the box were samples of Freedom Foods rice puffs, corn flakes and......(insert drum roll) TropicO's.
    I felt a little like a kid again when I saw the TropicO's. They were colorful (not the creepy, neon, processed color of their gluten filled brother). They smelled fruity. I couldn't get a container fast enough so I could douse them in some milk.
    I popped a few dry ones in my mouth and poured the rest into a little cup with milk. The dry cereal was yummy!! The cereal with milk was yummy!! It did soak up the milk pretty quickly, but I did take a couple of pictures of it before I ate (the sacrifices I make for you guys).
   Freedom foods is actually an Australian company. However they are awesome enough to figure out a way to give us a fruity O fix. They are selling through Amazon. I looked and a case (5 boxes) of the TropicO's goes for $20.54 ($4.10 a box) Hopefully we will be seeing these TropicO's in a grocery store near us soon. I would be much more likely to buy them by the box instead of by the case. I just don't eat enough cereal to buy a whole case by myself.
     So that's my new find. I hope you enjoyed hearing about it. If you spot TropicO's anywhere let me know!! I can't wait until they hit grocery stores.

-Jessica

What do you like on your pizza?

    What do you want on your tombstone? Ok I probably just dated myself with that commercial reference. For those of you young enough to not remember that commercial....it was for tombstone pizza. (which is of course not gluten free, but it IS what popped into my head when I was thinking about writing the blog tonight ha)

    I made pizza tonight. I had gotten some Udi's crusts and I was wanting to try them out. They were pretty good. They held up well with all of the toppings that I like to pile on my pie. They were crispy and convenient. I'm not sure how much they cost, these were sent to me. Cost is usually a huge deciding factor for me on how often I purchase a gluten free product.

    While making my pizza tonight I got to thinking about toppings. There are zillions of toppings and combinations that people like on their pizza. I'm probably classified as pretty plain Jane. I like hamburger, onions, green peppers, pepperoni, cheese and mushrooms (so basically supreme minus the nasty black olives). I also like Hawaiian (ham and pineapple). There is a place up in the city that does gluten free pizza. They use crimini mushrooms and caramelized onions....that's pretty amazing too! Taco pizza is good, but I'm still working on the right combinations to get it perfect for my taste. What do YOU like on your pizza?