Mrs Leaper's Cheeseburger Mac Dinner

Tonight we tried Mrs Leeper's Cheesebruger Mac dinner. I've decided to do away with the star ratings since it's annoying to me, but I'll try to include most of the same info.

It's basically your gluten free hamburger helper. I was excited to find it at my local QFC, and I remember it only being about $5. There were three meal options total, I got the Cheeseburger Mac and Creamy Tuna. This was a great option to try out when my hubby was out of town and I was too tired to make a proper dinner.

The dinner was easy enough to make, you do the same kind of deal as a hamburger helper meal - brown the beef, add the liquids and sauce mix, then add the pasta and let cook. Usually I have browned ground beef in my freezer ready to throw in meals, which would have made this dinner really a 15 minute dinner like it claims. As I had to thaw and then brown the beef, it was a little over half an hour from start to finish, still not a bad deal.

The pasta only took 13 minutes to cook.. It smelled pretty good as it was cooking! I was doing the dishes while cooking dinner, and both were successful! So the ease part of the meal kit was definitely there. The pasta held up nicely in the pan, I only cooked it for 12 minutes and that was perfect. If you like your GF pasta al dente you may want to cook it a little less.

The texture of the pasta was great, not soggy at all! I thought the flavor of the sauce was a little meh, but my kids gobbled it right up. My kids are big pasta eaters, and one box of this meal was barely enough to feed me and my three kids (ages 6, 4, and 20 months). It definitely would not have fed my husband if he were home. It does say it makes 5 servings on the box, but if I do this in the future I will be buying two boxes. I think you could still get away with one pound of ground beef between the two boxes, but then I'm also not a huge meat person (with the exception of steak!). Adding veggies or other side dishes would also make one box stretch more.

Overall, I think this meal was a keeper. It was super easy, reasonably priced, and the kids loved it. It will be interesting to see if the tuna meal works as well!

Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta

Being a mom of three young kids, I am always on the lookout for good pasta, especially when it comes to spaghetti. It is an invaluable meal that is easy to make and I can always count on my kids to gobble it down. Usually I steer away from the brown rice pastas, as they tend to be grainy and easy to overcook, but I was given this one by my mom and thought we'd give it a try.


Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta

Taste : 5 stars

I have to say, this spaghetti surprised me with it's wonderful taste! We are big on the quinoa/corn pastas because they have good taste and texture, but this one actually was better! I'd say it was the closest to wheat pasta that I've tried so far. And it didn't get mushy on me, and even though the package says to rinse, I didn't and the pasta did great.


Texture: 5 stars

This pasta had great texture, not too grainy, not too mushy, a good chewy pasta, as they should be.


Usability: 5 stars

Easy to cook and use, we simply boiled it and tossed it with our spaghetti sauce. The package directions say to "rinse if desired" but I hate rinsing and didn't, and it still was great.


Cost: unknown

Since I was given this, I have no idea what it cots. I'm not a regular Trader Joe's shopper, but it has a reputation for being a little more expensive than the regular grocery store, yet still reasonable as far as gourmet grocery stores go.


Availability: 3 stars

I am assuming this is only available at Trader Joe's, so it gets 3 stars. Although the Trader Joe's brown rice penne pasta was also available on Amazon.


Also Dairy Free: Yes - ingredients are organic brown rice and water!


Overall: 4 stars

The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars, is because of limited availability. But \
I may just have to make a special trip to Trader Joe's to get this pasta and to check out what other gluten free products they have, since this one was so good.

Recipe - Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Today I decided to post a recipe! Gluten free pancakes! My family has always been big on pancakes, so I just had to find a gluten free one! I modified the pancake recipe from glutenfreecookingschool.com (found here: http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/saturday-morning-pancakes/) to make my own "fancified" version. Since I'm not big on syrup, I like adding things to pancakes so they can be eaten on their own, and I happened to have several super overripe bananas needing to be put in something. This one fit the bill! All three of my kids were happy digging in sans syrup! And really, how can you beat chocolate and bananas!

Here's the recipe with my modifications:


GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE BANANA PANCAKES

Ingredients:

2 C gluten free flour mix or pancake mix*
2/3 C gluten free oats, blended (or sub another 1/3 C of your GF flour mix)
4 Tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

2 eggs, beaten (or egg alternative equivelant)
3 Tbs butter, melted, or canola oil**
1 1/2 C milk (cow, soy, rice, coconut, ect)
1/2 tsp vanilla

2 ripe bananas, sliced
small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)


Directions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir/whisk together.

2. In another bowl, beat two eggs well, then add the butter/oil, milk, and vanilla and mix well.

3. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Do not overmix! The batter should still have lumps in it. Gently stir in bananas and chocolate chips. (I sliced my two overripe bananas so we would get chunks of bananas in our pancakes, but you could also mash them if you'd prefer a smoother pancake.)
Set batter aside and preheat the griddle.

4. Cook pancakes over a heated griddle or pan. I like to use my large electric griddle, since I can fit quite a few pancakes on there and they get evenly cooked. I used my 2/3 measuring cup to scoop out batter and they were huge! So I would reccomend using yoru 1/4 or 1/3 measuring cup. I will also note that the batter seemed runny and spread out quite a bit on my pan, but then as it cooked puffed up a great deal! We had huge, thick, fluffy pancakes (just how I like them!).

(If you need some tips on exactly how to cook the pancakes, glutenfreecookingschool has some great instructions with pictures in their pancake recipe! see the link at the top)

5. Place cooked pancakes on a plate in a the oven at 200 degrees to keep warm as you continue to cook.

My batch made 9 huge pancakes, which was more than enough for me and my three young kids. The finished pancakes were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with little nuggets of yummy banana and chocolate!


NOTES:

*I used 1 1/2 C Bob's Mill pancake mix and 1/2 C Bob's Mill all-purpose flour, because that's what I had on hand, but my mix of choice would be Pamela's pancake and biscuit mix. It's so delicious and versatile - I basically use it like a all-purpose flour mix in pretty much everything. I also added oats to my recipe because I love oats and the texture and flavor they give food. I added twice the oats , so I think if you didn't like oats you could sub it for 1/3 cup more of your gluten free flour or pancake mix.

**I used canola oil, for ease. the recipe at glutenfreecookingschool says if you use butter, be sure your eggs and milk are at room tempurature prior to making your batter. If they are too cold, they will cause your butter to resolidify when you combine them. I never think far enough ahead to have things at room tempurature, hence the canola oil. I have in the past substituted applesauce for oil in muffin recipes with great results, so you could give that a try if you're trying to cut down on fats.

Jules Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix

Christmas came and once again I was reminded that I could not participate in one of my favorite traditions: making gingerbread houses. But then I was delighted to get an e-mail from Jules Gluten Free with a sale on their graham cracker/gingerbread mix! So I decided to try it out. The mix has two ways to make it depending on what additional ingredients you use, either to come out as graham crackers or as gingersnaps. I meant to make gingersnaps (for a gingerbread house of course) but I didn't have the right stuff so I made it the graham cracker way.


Jules Gluten Free Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix

Taste : 5 stars

The resulting cracker/cookie had a great taste, very much like a wheat graham cracker.
*dough check: two thumbs up! The dough had great taste and as a bonus was egg free!

Texture: 5 stars
The crackers were a tad on the crumbly side, but still held well for gingerbread house pieces. The texture of the finished baked good is not grainy as many store bought gluten free snacks tend to be.

Usability: 5 stars

The mix requires very little to add to it, only shortening, honey or molasses, vanilla, water, and the optional pumpkin pie spice. It is simple to mix together and doesn't require any fancy equipment or techniques. I rolled my dough out on wax paper and cut the gingerbread house pieces out right on the baking pan so I didn't have to do any transfering, but the scraps held together well so for normal crackers or cookies they would work.


Cost: 4 stars
The regular price of this mix is $9.95, but I got mine on sale for about $6. The mix makes quite a bit of crackers, I would have had enough for my good sized gingerbread house if I didn't crack a couple of my big sides by making them too thin (I ended up using cardboard for the roof).

Availability: 4 stars
I give four stars only because this mix is not available in stores, only online (here: http://www.julesglutenfree.com/product-p/mix-ghm.htm) but the website I ordered it from is easy to use and shipped it out quickly. I have also seen it on sale several times in the past 6 months or so.


Also Dairy Free: The mix is dairy free and the finished cookie is also if you use the shortening it calls for (instead of butter like I did)


Overall: 5 stars!
This cookie/cracker had a great taste and was easy to make. I'm not one to do a lot of baking since I have three kids ages 5 and under that keep me busy, bus this mix was easy to use and even a great family project so it is one I will be doing again!

Pamela's Pecan Shortbread Cookies

While I hope to mostly be making comparison reviews about two or more products at a time, I thought I'd post about this box of cookies I am eating right now for the first time.

It is Pecan Shortbread Gourmet All Natural Cookies, by Pamela's

Taste : 5 stars

The cookies are crispy and buttery, just as a shortbread cookie should be! They have fabulous flavor, and I ended up eating more cookies than I intended

Texture: 5 stars

These cookies are crumbly, but then aren't all shortbread cookies? They are not soggy at all, which is a must with a shortbread cookie.

Cost: 5 stars

All gluten free products are expensive, but I felt like I was getting a good amount of cookies for the cost. This box cost $4.39 for a 7.25 oz of cookies.

Availability: 5 stars

I found these at my local QFC! They are also available in bulk through amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Pamelas-Products-Pecan-Shortbread-7-25-Ounce/dp/B000DZH1D6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359260569&sr=8-1&keywords=pamela%27s+pecan+shortbread

Also Dairy Free: no. they have butter in them


Overall: 5 stars!

These cookies are definitely a winner and something I will be buying again!

The Official First Post

I am excited to start this blog!

I have celiac desease and was diagnosed with it about a year and a half ago. Since then I have felt like I've been swimming in stormy waters trying to figure out a whole new gluten free lifestyle. Since I am a mom of three young kids, I don't have a lot of time or energy to make everything from scratch. I am so thankful that there are so many products out there now for those who need or want to eat gluten free. I found myself thinking, "I wish there was a way to share what I am discovering" and decided to start a blog. My main focus will be "rating" the gluten-free products I try in the hopes that will be helpful for someone else out there who is new to gluten free or who is thinking about trying a different product.

On with the show!