Gluten free goodness: Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

So I finally tried out Ms. Betty Crocker's newest Gluten Free offering: Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix. First inaugural recipe: Banana Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting from BettyCrocker.com (For Recipe, Click Here).

The recipe was very easy to follow. Simply plus up the Betty Crocker mix with bananas, eggs, vanilla, butter and of course more butter, milk and powdered sugar for the frosting. Now, pre Gluten Free days, I ABHORRED boxed cake mix!! would not even consider boxed cake - NEVER!! Only Swan's Down cake flour for this girl (cake snob, i know!). But as I still have my gluten free training wheels on, I caved under recommendations from others who suggested the mix....and I am certainly glad I did!!

After mixing the batter, I placed them in my new silicone baking cups from Crate and Barrel - Highly recommend, BTW ( only bought a set of 12... so I had to supplement with Barbie cupcake liners - it's all the grocer had!) and baked for 18 minutes....
The cupcake was not moments out of the oven before one mysteriously vanished... hmmm.


Next step, brown butter frosting. 1/3 cup butter gently browned, cooled, then mixed with vanilla, milk and 3 cups powdered sugar. Whoever came up with this concoction - I would love to meet you and give you the biggest hug ever. It.Is.SOOOO. GOOOD!! You! Brilliant!

Look at the little specks of browned butter! yay!


This cupcake saved my life. Gluten free or not, you're life will change with one bite, I swear!

we are babycakes. we are the world.

A colleague from New York surprised our staff with tasty treats from Babycakes. He's vegan and has been in love with babycakes bakery and decide to share with us. For those of you who don't know - Babycakes is my new favorite thing EVER.

The bakery is all about vegan/gluten free baked goods sweetened with agave (NO SUGAR). Do you know how long its been since i had a cookie? or muffin??? I damn near cried. Most gluten free cookies are intolerable. Dry, texture is awful, it's not worth it. But Babycakes was amazing. Look at this menu. Seriously. the cookie sandwich!?!?

I hear they have cupcakes and frosting they will send to you :) omg. must.buy.now. They also have a new cookbook available at barnes and noble or amazon.com

So if you are gluten free, health conscious, vegan or just looking for tasty treats - you need to check out Babycakes!! :)

For those of you without an NYC connection, they just opened up a vegan/gluten free bakery in Berkley called Sugar Kisses- walking distance!

I'll review the treats soon and let you know...but it all looks very promising!! This gluten free, casein free, sugar free thing is getting easier every day!

what is it about active shows that make me want to eat everything in sight?

OK. For whatever reason, every time I catch "The Biggest Loser" or "Dancing with the Stars" (or even Infomercials for "Turbo Jam" - a great workout program btw) I want to do nothing but eat. Stuff my face and watch other people work out. Do I feel guilty? hmmm - maybe. But I cannot help myself. Perhaps I feel bad for those who are busting their ass as I nibble on frozen mangos or think to myself " as they are crunching calories, I am crunching cayanne popcorn.... umm, Cayenne helps burns extra calories, right??





Speaking of food. Get this Gluten Free peeps - Betty Crocker is AWESOME and is unveiling GLUTEN FREE BAKING MIXES!!! ZOMGWTFBBQ!!! According to Betty (Crocker, that is) she's unleashing tasty gluten free vanilla cake, devils food cake, brownie and chocolate chip cookie mixes and even offers modifications for dairy/casein/butter free. YAY!!! GOOOOO BETTY!!



And Ms. Betty is one savvy lady with a hot, Free Iphone app featuring 4,000 tasty recipes. You can search for recipies no problem.. or you can say "hey Betty, all i have is chicken, day old pasta and peas. wtf can I do w/ this??"- and it will respond with : "how does tasty chicken garlic pasta studded with Parmesan peas sound? you can do it!". Step by step photos guide the way. How great would this be after a long day at work... you're in the grocery store totally void of culinary inspiration...or staring at your virtually bare fridge wondering if you bought blue cheese or if your block of romano went bad... and voila!! Instant tasty ideas (like bacon salt)! Here's hoping the app includes gluten free/friendly recipes. Here's also hoping caring friend or reader will donate an Iphone so we (I) can continue to experiment and review on your behalf, gentle reader :)

Obsession of the moment - Personal Chefs

For my mom's 50th birthday party - we went ALL OUT! Two weekends full of decadent parties. The first, a luscious family dinner at Piccirilli Ristorante in Shelby Township, MI. Absolute perfection. Umberto is a family friend and always makes hand made pasta, fresh sauces and fresh Italian cuisine. It's one of the very few places my dad will eat out at. When it comes to Italian food, we have discerning taste. No I-Talian, fake mozzarella covered noodles with red topping allowed.

The Second party was a riotous girls night out with my cousins, aunts and my mom's rowdy friends. Now, my first plan was to cook an obscene amount of food, slave for 3 days, clean, shop, prep, cook, serve, get ready then go out. Inherent in this flawed plan was me and my mom running ourselves to the ground rendering us too tired to enjoy the limo ride and dancing that was to follow. Instead, I remembered an article I read in the Detroit Free Press about Personal Chef services. Personal chefs are not for the rich. For a very reasonable fee they can prep and cook your weekly meals, host a cooking class for your friends in your house, or cook for special events ( a great gift for new parents or grieving families). I visited personalchefsearch.com and clicked on "Michigan" - emailed a few potential chefs and chose Chef Jamie Aragones who owns the personal chef service "The World at your Table" .

She was AMAZING!!! She worked with me to create a wonderful Spanish tapas inspired menu including seafood paella.

She was fantastic, professional and VERY REASONABLE. I could not have made what she did at the price we paid. HIGHLY RECOMMEND her services and thought the food, service, presentation and quality was impeccable. Above all she was eager to meet the challenge of my food allergies and made great food that I could eat!!! I loved not having to eat before the party or feel left out. Such a great feeling to participate with everyone together in a meal.

Afterwards we went out dancing at Main Street Billiards (Awesome patio) and Club 22 (SCARY underage men who were dance assaulting us!! WTF!). All in all, my mom had a great time!

Obsession of the Moment: Bob's Red Mill: Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

Tuesday's Obsession of the Moment goes to Bob's Red Mill's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour!

Recently, I was diagnosed with a whole slew of random allergies from outdoor to mold, yeast, gluten and dairy (incidentally, everything but cockroaches!!) . Now, for those of you who are unaware, my family is hardcore Italian - Sunday pasta dinners filled with meatball mowing, home-made wine drinking, cheese nibbling, sausage devouring, salami rolling, bread making, espresso drinking and cookie dunking goodness. I'm talking about GOOD TIMES!! Now - I can't even eat minestrone (most soup bases have MSG and yeast - two things I'm allergic to). Convinced my true calling was to become sommelier or chef - I relished the opportunity to practice my culinary craft. Now relegated to salads with lemon juice, lean meats and veggies - I have had to absolutely re-define eating...but did not want to give up my affinity for really, really good food.

One product I am grateful for is Bob's red mill - particularly the gluten free all purpose flour. Now listen up, peeps- this flour is THE BOMB for frying and pan sauteing. Great flavor, creates a wonderful brown and crispy crust - it's simply fantastic for cooking. In fact, I would use this flour even if I had the option to use normal flour - it's that good!

Recently, I made a super tasty meal with tilapia salted with kosher salt and pepper and dusted with Bob's red mill gluten free all purpose flour seasoned with fresh parsley and garlic salt. Lightly pan fried in olive oil then squeezed fresh lemon. SOOOOO simple, very fresh and incredibly yummie. I encourage you to try it! You can find Bob's big red mill products in Meijer, or on Amazon.com. Hey, while you're at Amazon - check out the reviews. I'm not the only one who loves it!!!