Such exciting events!

One of my favorite websites is Cakewrecks.com It's hilarious. It's a website that tells the stories of cakes-gone-wrong. It's all in good fun and it's an awesome site.

The author/editor of the site, Jen, has gotten a book deal and she is on a book signing tour. This past weekend she and her husband were in Dallas for the signing. Specifically in Plano! Woohoo!

I made plans to attend because that is fun...and I wanted to support the site.

At each stop they hold a cake wreck replica contest, aka wreckplica contest, and I knew I HAD to enter. I went thru the pictures and stories of some of the "classic wrecks" and choose a delightfully horrible CCC.

MY wreckplica turned out very similar (as it was supposed to)


Jen, and some of the professional bakers she had on hand, picked out 3 of the wrecks as the winners. Then the 1st place winner is chosen by popular "clap" vote.

My cake wreckplica was chosen as one of the top 3 winners. Popular vote selected one of the other 3 as the 1st place winner but I was the 1st runner up!

It was fun making such a terrible cake. It was fun winning and I got a hand crafted carrot jockey necklace as my prize!

My cake wreckplica was gluten free and vegan.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/10/day-tour-stood-still.html

breakfast pizza

I got the idea of making a breakfast pizza the other night while sleeping. I was dreaming of the deliciousness as I frequently dream about pizza. It continues to be the one food I cannot make like it's full-gluten cousin.

I still enjoy the pizza I do make, but I remember the difference in flavor, texture and greasiness! I have been able to make or buy every other food (that I've wanted) to bake up just like it's gluten'd cousin, but pizza eludes me.

Well, I used the delicious Kinnikinnick square pizza crusts, brushed them with a little melted butter, added (all pre-cooked) scrambled eggs, potatoes, red and green peppers, onions and topped it off with grated cheese.

Cooked it at 425 for about 10 minutes and it was so delicious!

Definitely going to make this again!

Tostitos!

So, remember how I raved about the Tostitos Bite Sized Gold chips a while back? Well, Tostitos stopped making/selling them due to slow sales and that still makes me sad because they truly are the best chip ever made, but that's a whole other story and I'd rather talk about chips and not how sad that made me. :)

A few weeks ago I did a focus group study for Tostito's which required me to host a couple events, take pictures and video's of me talking about the events and the food I serve and how it makes me feel to do those things. Since I have girls over pretty regularly for Girls Nights in and craft nights, they felt like I was a good consumer to talk with further about all types of food products.

So today a group of executives from Tostito's came to my house to talk about food and gatherings and people and how it makes us (consumers and those who host events) feel about pre-packaged foods and home made foods and a bunch of other stuff about food and events. It was really cool to get to talk to them about Tostitos since I eat them so often!

I mentioned that I miss the Gold's and that they are/were the best chip ever made and the guy sitting to my left started agreeing with me. Turns out he invented that chip! I got to meet the guy who invented, designed and created the best chip on the planet! Unfortunately for me that doesn't change that Tostito'=s is still not making and selling them any longer. But it was still cool to get to meet the guy who was responsible for the best chip ever. Turns out his team is also responsible for the really good new Been & Cheese Queso Dip (i can't remember the exact name) on the market too. It's really good. TRY IT! You must try it because I want them to keep making it. It's gluten free and it's good.

They couldn't tell me too much but I know they have some great things in the works and I'm happy to say I'll definitely be on the look-out.

Today was a good day!

I had a dream

From what I can remember I haven't had one of these dreams for a long time...back when gluten free was still new to me.

I was sitting with friends and eating pizza. I had eaten half a slice and took a big bite of the crust only to realize I was eating regular gluten pizza! I set the slice down and almost spit out the offending crust but didn't because it was good and I'd already eaten half a slice of pizza...gluten and all. But I did stop eating any more. And I woke up frazzled that I'd done it somehow without remembering my intolerance to gluten.

Dreammoods says that dreaming of eating pizza indicated abundance, choices and variety. OR it might indicate that you are feeling deprived of something.

I think the latter part of that description is accurate and that there is NO symoblism in my dream. I feel deprived of yummy, delicious, greasy, salty pizza.

:(

evaluation time

While grocery shopping I ran across some gluten free chicken nuggets! This is almost an impossibility to find and I was very excited about it. Even though I don't eat meat (I have always kind of disliked meat) I wanted to try them and see how they were.

The box says they are fully cooked and just need to be heated, either in the microwave or oven. I always choose the oven unless it's going to be a long time because the breading turns out much crispier.

So I baked them for 12 minutes in a 425 oven.

They were ok. Not great as they are pressed chicken shapes and not cut chicken breasts, but they are gluten free and that is nice. The breading got really crispy and delicious and I imagine that I'd enjoy them a lot with bbq sauce (it's my preferred sauce).

Anyway, all in all, they are good. Definitely not great b/c of the pressed meat stuff, but the flavor was good, the breading was awesome and they are gluten free! I'd recommend if you are gluten free and love chicken nuggets, but they aren't going to be a staple in my kitchen.

Taking some "baking" time off

For the next week or two I am not going to be baking goodies.

I hope to still write about GF foods, just not cupcakes, cookies and other deserts. I find deserts so much more exciting, but we'll see how I do.

:)

boston cream pie!

I read several baking blogs and one, Cupcake Takes the Cake, mentioned some Boston Cream Pie cupcakes the other day and reading about them made me decide that I NEEDED to make some that are gluten free! I've always loved boston cream pie and it's been years since I've had a slice.

Obviously going gluten free has made eating baked goods from restaurants or bakeries practically impossible since there aren't any dedicated gluten free ones around me...There used to be one in my neighborhood, but it closed down a couple weeks ago.

I've always assumed it was really hard to make so it just stayed in the very back of my mind laying dormant until the time came that I was prepared to tackle such a "complicated" desert.



I used the quotes around the word complicated because this is one of the easiest desert that I could make. It's not hard at all! Who knew?!?!

I used the new Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake mix for my cupcakes and some bavarian cream filling that I bought from my local cake decorating shop. I piped it right in thru the top of the cupcakes and then covered with a delicious chocolate ganache topping made from 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream heated to melting and whisked until thick and completely mixed.

MMM!

I've been thinking...

I've been thinking lately about how much I love Kinnikinnick's products and wondering if anyone has bothered to tell them that I am their #1 fan.

I have their blog on my reader and today they updated with info on their new pancake mix and some feedback they've been getting.

Guess what?! They Know!

They found my flickr where I posted pictures of their hamburger bun and gave them a review on flickr. That review wasn't as thorough as I do on here, but they found it. In it, I claimed myself as their biggest fan. in the world.

I'm glad they know, not that it really makes any difference, but I think everyone should know who their biggest fan is. :)


It should come as no surprise that I finally bought a loaf of gluten free bread and it was by Kinnikinnick. I chose the Tapioca Rice loaf. The bread is thinly sliced and defrosts really quick in the microwave, though I bet I could store it in the fridge and not have to mess with defrosting. It didn't even crumble (like other GF breads) when I slathered thick peanut butter on it! It's soft and delicious!

burgers

If the people at Kinnikinnick don't already know it, they need to be told: I am their number one fan. Without a doubt.

After years of eating gluten free, I've finally had a gluten free bread that is GOOD!!!

At my local Kroger, I've been eyeballing the Kinnikinnick Tapioca Rice Hamburger buns but have had such a hard time finding gluten free vegetarian burgers that I've not bought them...till now. Amy's has started making a gluten free vegan burger that my local Kroger also started carrying and I bought it along with the Kinnikinnick's hamburger buns.

Got home and heated them both up and made myself an old-fashioned cheese burger!

SO GOOD!!!

The buns come uncut.


But once defrosted and cut open are filled with beautiful air-pockets, often missing from GF bread products. (there's my vegan-patty with cheese and mustard waiting to be placed on the bun).


a cheese burger like none I've ever had! I think it's my FIRST gluten free vegetarian burger and I really liked it!

Vegan cupcakes

For today's festivities (going to a friends house for swimming and fireworks-watching) I decided to bring cupcakes. Big surprise, right?



I used the Vegan recipe I found online a while back and modified it for Gluten Free.

This is the recipe I used:
1 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Flour (same amt of regular flour if not GF)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum (omit if not GF)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 cup ice cold water (must be ice cold for proper reactions to take place)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon juice (does not taste lemon-y, but gives proper acidity for baking soda to react with)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift flour, sugar, soda, salt and Xanthan Gum together in a bowl until very light and airy..about 3 times.

In a separate container combine oil, cold water and vanilla.

Add wet to dry (except lemon juice) and stir until well mixed.

Then add the lemon juice and stir quickly pour into prepared pan (or muffin cups)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done with toothpick (or 14-17 for cupcakes).

It rises extremely well and is light, fluffy, moist and rich at the same time.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes and they are really really good.

Then I filled them with Chocolate Bavarian Cream and topped them with just a little simple buttercream frosting...just white as I didn't have enough to do red, white & blue.