Betty Crocker Cake Mix

My Gluten-Free East Coast sister-in-law raved about how delicious this cake was.

I SEARCHED for it over here, and could not find it.

So I tried my Arrowhead Mills brand. I figured since I like the flour so much, the cake must be alright too. Right?

Wrong.

I made cupcakes with the Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Cake Mix and it was disgusting.

My mother-in-law told me that she scored a few boxes of the Betty Crocker Cake Mix over at Winco. I was all excited, and found it and many others over at Fred Meyer.

I had to reevaluate my shopping money though, to be able to afford just one box.

A whopping $5 a box.

Crickey.

Anyhow, I made it tonight and it is delish!

It calls for an entire stick of butter though....so beware.

Go here to check it out Betty Crocker.

Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1/3 Cup Water

1/2 C Sugar

1/2 Cup Unsalted butter cut into 8 pieces

12 Ounces semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate finely chopped

1/2 Cup Orange Liqueur such as Cointreau

6 eggs

Whipped Cream (if you can) and fresh raspberries as garnish

Prepare a 9 inch spring form pan.

Preheat oven to 325.

Bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Off heat, add butter, chocolate and let set for 2 minutes to melt. Stir until smooth.

Whisk in liqueur and eggs one at a time.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan in a roasting pan and add warm water to the roasting pan.

Bake cake 40-45 minutes.

Cool and serve with shipped topping and fresh raspberries.

This recipe I tried out a few weekends ago.

It was alright.

It's kind of like a chocolate keish.

**I am notorious for not reading recipes all the way through, so I didn't realize I had to place the spring form pan in a roasting pan. So my cake took twice as long to cook, and did not cook all the way through. It still tasted good though.**

I did not have any whipping cream since I cannot eat it, and raspberries are not in season right now.

My children, LOVED this. :)

Chase Community Giving on Facebook

I know not many people read this blog, but if you do and you have a Facebook account, I'm begging you to read this post and take action.

This directly affects my dear friend's sweet son. Go HERE to meet him and learn about their journey with SMA.

Chase Community Giving

The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation (http://www.gwendolynstrong.com/) received a wonderful opportunity to win a $1 Million dollar grant from Chase Bank because of incredible wide ranging support, but now they need help on getting the word out there letting people know how to vote starting January 15th. And because you can only vote for GSF one time in the final round, we need to work extra hard to get beyond our networks and reach new people to vote for GSF. With your help, together we WILL see an end to this cruel disease!

So, in addition to VOTING, please commit to at least 3 things YOU will do from January 15th to January 22nd.

• VOTE: go to http://voteforsma.com/
  
• Email friends the voting link
  
• Post the voting link to your Facebook status all week long
  
• Blog about GSF and the $1M miracle to cure SMA
  
• Twitter the voting link
  
• BE ANNOYING (we mean persistent:) ALL WEEK LONG! In addition, here are some of the creative plans brewing by our supporters. Will you go the extra mile by doing one of these, too?
  
• Flyer ---> Download, print, and pass out our campaign flyer. This is especially useful for large groups or people who you don't have email addresses for such as schools, churches, and businesses who you have a personal relationship with. Click here to download the flyer.
  
• Make it Easy ---> Have your home or work computer open to the voting page - http://voteforsma.com/ - and tell every person you see to vote. Each person has to log in, but that's it. Simple and brilliant! People are setting up a voting station at local places in the community. Could you set up a voting station at your work or somewhere in your community?

• Contact Groups + Organizations ---> People have asked the organizers of groups they belong to to get involved by emailing a personal plea with the link -http://voteforsma.com/ - to sorority lists, mom's clubs, company lists, book clubs, alumna and professional organizations, etc. potentially reaching thousands of members! Do you belong to a group who would send an email to its members???

• Direct Message Facebook Friends ---> Since this is on Facebook, a direct message with a personal plea to all of your FB friends goes a long way. So in addition to posting it on your status, send an email to every Facebook friend. In fact, on http://voteforsma.com/ there is a button that reads "Invite a Friend". By simply clicking this and checking the boxes, you can message your FB friends to vote for GSF. Will you take this extra step?

• Contact BIG bloggers ---> Several people have or are planning to contact bloggers with a large following they think would be a good fit. Imagine if hundreds of people blogged about GSF and posted the video! Do you know any bloggers you can ask to help?

• Get Students Involved ---> One teacher incorporated GSFinto her lesson on "grassroots" and posted the voting link -http://voteforsma.com/ - on the board for her students to write down and visit at home. They are excited about making a difference. Come Jan. 15, I smell a homework assignment :) Do you know any high school or college students willing to campaign for us on Facebook?
  

Please vote for The Gwendolyn StrongFoundation sometime between January 15-22. We NEED your help.

THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH!

Chicken in Orange and Wine Sauce

10 to 12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast

Salt and fresh ground pepper

2 Tbsp gf flour mixture

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 C dry white wine

1 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp orange marmalade

Chopped Italian parsley

Rinse chicken and pat dry, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch wide strips.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, then coat lightly with flour on all sides, shake off excess.

Heat the oil in wide non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.

Add chicken and cook, stirring often, until golden brown on all sides, 4-5 minutes.

Add wine and lemon juice to pan, stirring to loosen drippings.

Cook stirring often until liquid is reduced by about half and chicken is no longer pink int he middle.

Stir in marmalade.

Spoon chicken and sauce onto warm plates, sprinkle with parsley.

(Quick Cooking for Two, from Aunti )

Apple Snacking Spice Cake

Apple Snacking Spice Cake

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

1/8 t. ground cloves

1/8 t. nutmeg

6 T softened butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 large eggs

4 c. chopped apple

1/3 c. raisins

1 c. chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 350, mist a 9x9 inch cake pan with non-stick spray

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, xanthan gum if using, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger cloves and nutmeg.

3. In another large bowl, mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for one minute or until light and fluffy. Add eggs and increase speed to high and mix for one minute. scrape sides of bowl and reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated, do not over mix. Fold in apples, raisins and nuts by hand.

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan and place in the oven on the middle rack.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until firm to the touch. Cover the cake with foil after 20-25 minutes if the top is browning to quickly.

Aunti Recipe

(Baking from the Heart by Michal J Rosen)

*Post Edit:

This is by far the BEST yummiest recipe I've tried yet. I did not use pecans, because I'm not a nut person. I used Granny Smith apples, peeled. My cake turned out a little soggy, but totally delicious! VERY WORTH IT!

PS. I'd like to say hello to Irving, Texas. Thanks for reading my odd blog :)

I think we're the only ones ;)

The Worst Brownie Mix

My sister-in-law SWEARS by this brownie mix, however my husband and I have decided it's disgusting.

Not many crappy things come from Trader Joe's, but this my friend's is FOUL:

We won't be buying this again.

We have since had better luck with the Arrowhead Mills brand or brownie mix, YUM!

Banana Bread

This recipe comes from the back of my beloved Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix box.

Makes about 12 slices.

1 3/4 C Flour ( I use 1 1/2 flour and 1/4 Sweet Sorghum)

1 egg

1/2 milk ( I use vanilla soy milk)

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/4 C plus 2 Tbsp honey

1/2 C well ripened mashed banana (about 3 bananas)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 t Xanthan gum

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Spray 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x2" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, form a well in the center.

In a separate bowl blend liquid ingredients, then pour into the well in the dry ingredients.

Mix well until blended.

Pour into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

I use 2 smaller loaf pans and I add blueberries to one loaf and chocolate chips to another loaf. If you're using two pans, then then bake only for about 20 minutes and then check with a toothpick. The blueberry loaf needs to stay in for longer than the chocolate chip, I leave mine in until the top is very brown. Otherwise the blueberries are soggy and the loaf falls apart.

Pie Maker Recipe