New Gluten-Free from Betty Crocker and Giveaway!

Although I am off the sugar for the rest of the month, I was excited to learn that Betty Crocker has expanded their gluten-free baking line. I am already a fan of their gluten-free yellow cake mix as well as their gluten-free brownie mix. From what I've seen, these are the most widely available gluten-free in regular supermarkets. Now, Betty Crocker has added gluten-free sugar cookie mix as well as an all-purpose gluten-free rice flour blend to their product line. This is great news for people that like to bake but don't have the time to measure out their own flour blends. As soon as I can eat sugar again and need to bake something for a party or BBQ, I am going to try these gluten-free mixes

GIVEAWAY!

In honor of this announcement, I was sent a baking kit to use for all of my gluten-free baking. The better news is that I have a kit to send one of my readers too. Your gift kit will include a baking tool set and an 8-inch square cake pan, with a retail value of $60.



Here's how to enter using Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


If you decide to leave a comment, don't forget to include your email address!


Disclosure: The information and prize pack have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Fun

A few weeks ago one of my readers won the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Prize Pack sponsored by MyBlogSpark. I asked her if she wanted to review her winnings and she was excited to contribute to Gluten-Free Fun. Thank you to Debbie Gilbert for her review and her delicious looking picture!

I was very happy to win the recent Betty Crocker Gluten Free prize package, which included their GF mixes for chocolate chip cookies, brownies, vanilla and chocolate cake and Bisquick. The prize arrive at a time I really needed a pick-me-up and I've been having fun with it!

I had previously tried the brownie mix which is insanely good! What I love about it is not only the taste, but also the texture. For me, the problem with so many gluten free baked goods is the texture (they're are dense or hard or crumbly). But the Betty Crocker mixes taste and feel like real food. Yes, I use the word 'real' still, because I've been diagnosed for just over a year and am still on my learning (and acceptance) curve. I have been very strictly gluten free since getting my diagnosis, but I still miss many of my old favorites - I can't even walk on the same side of the street as my favorite, old (now off-limits) pizza place. So finding the Betty Crocker mixes has been great for me and helped me feel less deprived.

So hmmm, I wondered... what to do first when the package arrived?!?: Then I looked at the gluten free Bisquick box and saw the pancake recipe and suddenly I wanted some.

Confession time: After I was diagnosed with Celiac last year, I started getting irrationally angry at the sight of those iHop commercials which run during the news every evening; the ones where they show the close-up pictures of those luscious pancake dishes. I say 'irrationally' because I've never even been to an iHop, wouldn't know where to find one, and haven't even had pancakes in (probably) 20 years. But suddenly, now that this was no longer a possibility for me, it upset me.

With that inspiration, I set out to make myself a pancake brunch. Like all Betty Crocker mixes, they are so easy, they are basically fool-proof, hence, perfect for me. The results: 

The Bisquick GF pancakes are light and fluffy and rather terrific. Unlike the iHop commercials, I didn't stuff mine with cheesecake; instead I topped them with fresh strawberries and greek yogurt and drizzled them with GF vanilla agave syrup. YUM! And something else that worked well: The recipe on the Bisquick box makes 10 pancakes - too much just for me. So I wrapped up the extra pancakes in the fridge overnight, and the next day popped them in the toaster to see what would happen - and they came out even better - A little crispy on the outside - perfection!

OK, so now I no longer have to become irrationally angry when I'm watching TV and see those iHop commercials. I'm not missing anything.

Thank you to Erin and Betty Crocker for restoring my pancake sanity! Now Betty, please get to work on a Ray's Pizza mix so I can go back to walking down the west side of 6th Avenue. Thank you.

Debbie Gilbert AKA @GothamTomato

Betty Crocker's First Ever Gluten Free Recipe Contest and Giveaway

Betty Crocker^® Announces the Baker’s Challenge Gluten Free Recipe Contest

Minneapolis, MN – May 24, 2011 – Hold the gluten, grab your aprons, and start your ovens!  The Baker’s Challenge Gluten Free Recipe Contest, Betty Crocker’s first-ever gluten-free recipe contest, is now open for entries. Now through June 30, 2011, gluten-free bakers from across the country can enter online at www.glutenfreely.com/bakerschallenge for the chance to win a Grand Prize of $5,000 and the chance to be featured on a Betty Crocker^® Gluten Free dessert mix or Bisquick^® Gluten Free baking mix package and/or be featured in a Betty Crocker publication. Entrants will be challenged to create an original gluten free holiday-themed appetizer, bread or dessert recipe, using any Betty Crocker Gluten Free dessert mix or Bisquick Gluten Free baking mix.

Submitted recipes must be entirely gluten free and will be judged on five key categories: taste, creativity, ease of preparation, consumer appeal and appearance. On or about September 20, 2011, Betty Crocker will announce the 10 selected finalists, who will each receive a Betty Crocker Gluten Free Baking gift basket filled with baking items and Betty Crocker Gluten Free mixes (estimated retail value of $119). The finalists’ recipes will be voted on by the public on www.glutenfreely.com/bakerschallenge, and the finalist whose recipe receives the most votes will be announced as the winner on or around November 1, 2011.

“We’re excited to offer this opportunity to the gluten free community,” said Allison Miller, Marketing Manager, Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Mixes.  “The Betty Crocker Baker’s Challenge Gluten Free Recipe Contest is a great way for gluten free bakers to share their innovative creations and show the world how delicious living gluten freely can be.”

For gluten-free recipe inspiration and more information about the Betty Crocker Baker’s Challenge Gluten Free Recipe Contest, visit www.glutenfreely.com today. In addition, through the end of June, save 20% on the purchase of any of the five of the Betty Crocker Gluten Free mixes at www.glutenfreely.com/ourstore.

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Contest Abbreviated Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to legal residents of the United States, 18 years of age or older. Submit your entry online. Entries must be received by June 30, 2011, Void where prohibited. See Official Rules for details. Sponsored by General Mills Sales, Inc., One General Mills Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55426.

Get your baking hats on. I'm giving away a Betty Crocker Prize Pack to inspire you for this contest courtesy of MyBlogSpark. Leave me a comment below with your email address and tell me about a recent baking success. A winner will be chosen on Friday, June 3rd. 

Shop Once, Give Twice

I recently learned about a new program from General Mills and Shoprite called "Shop Once. Give Twice" through the MyBlogSpark program. This program gives back when you buy any products with the "Box Tops for Education" program. For those of you already eating the gluten-free products from General Mills, like Chex cereals you might already be collecting these box tops. If you aren't saving them, simply look on the top of your gluten-free General Mills box and start saving them today.

General Mills and ShopRite gave me one gift card to keep and one to giveaway as part of the MyBlogSpark program and ShopRite “Shop Once. Give Twice.” offers. You can enter to win a $25 ShopRite Gift Card here today! Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this blog and tell me which of your favorite gluten-free General Mills’ products are you excited to see featured in the “Shop Once. Give Twice.” program at ShopRite.

2. Leave your email address in your comment. Very important so I can contact you!

3. Winners will be chosen on Friday, February 11th.

More about the “Shop Once. Give Twice.” program
Make every season the "Season of Giving." Fill your heart, and grocery basket, with the warmth of a good deed to help you get through these cold winter months.

With ShopRite’s “Shop Once. Give Twice.” program, doing your part to help local participating schools through Box Tops for Education and donating to ShopRite’s Partners in Caring, a community-based, hunger fighting initiative that works to provide $2 million annually to charities that aid those in need, can be as simple as your everyday food shopping.

Now through September 30, 2011 visit ShopRiteShopOnceGiveTwice.com to register your ShopRite Price Plus Card. Check back each month for participating products and great savings. When you purchase any 5 participating products on or before the end of the month using your ShopRite Price Plus Card, let the giving begin. With a qualifying purchase of 5 participating products you earn 5 Bonus Box Tops to be electronically added to your school, and $0.55 will be donated to the ShopRite Partners in Caring Fund. A few of the great items for February include some of your favorite gluten-free products like Nature’s Valley Granola Bars and Fruit by the Foot.

And if that’s not enough, be sure to enter the ShopRite “Shop Once. Give Twice.” Sweepstakes by filling out the form on ShopRiteShopOnceGiveTwice.com for your chance to win one of 10 Grand Prizes of 5,000 Bonus Box Tops for the school of your choice!

No purchase is necessary to enter the sweepstakes, Simply go to ShopRiteShopOnceGiveTwice.com for all the details about the sweepstakes, prizes, and instructions on how to enter.

The “Shop Once. Give Twice.” program does have some restrictions and limitations. Visit www.shopriteshoponcegivetwice.com to obtain all of the details about the program.