Delightfully Gluten Free

And the winner is…

Comment #55, as chosen by Random.org, Terry Sofley with the comment “The best thing about the mixes are they are mixes! I don’t have to make them from scratch so they can be made fast! Yum! Makes me hungry thinking about it!”

Congratulations, Terry!  Send your mailing address to delightfullyglutenfree at gmail dot com, and Betty Crocker will soon send your prize pack to you.

And for our final Betty Crocker taste test… Devil’s Food Cake.

Chad and Melissa joined us for a movie tonight (Inkheart – it was sooo not like the book), and Chad baked the cake while I loaded my car with books for tomorrow’s North Texas GIG meeting.  I really like how I didn’t have to make these myself, but could put my husband and my brother to work at it. 

Chad showing off his creation, and a batter mustache that Andy painted on him.

Melissa’s first reaction was that it had a much better taste and texture than the vanilla cake.

Chad remarked that it had a tiny bit of a grainy feel to it, but you could really only tell when “chomping the little bits left between your teeth”.

They all felt it had a “normal texture” (other than the previously mentioned grainy thing).

Melissa said it was “pretty darn good”.  I concur.

I think it was a job well done!

What about frostings?  You may have noticed in the past that the Betty Crocker frostings had wheat flour in them.  Good news!  BC has removed the wheat flour from their frostings, and as of this fall, they will be labeled gluten-free!

What frosting goes best with Devil’s Food?  (It’s not milk chocolate, by the way.)

Psst… Didn’t win?  Give General Mills a call and get a coupon for a free box of BC gluten free dessert mixes.  1-800-446-1898

A crispy, chewy edge awaits you after a few minutes of mixing and a half hour of baking.  The new Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix actually surprised me.

I love my brownie recipe, and was pretty biased going in to this tasting.  I am happy to report that Betty surprised me.

As you can see from the picture (the top right corner is where the focus was, apparently), the brownies met the appearance factor with a nice crinkly top.

This brownie falls right in the middle of the cakey/fudgey spectrum.  You cannot label it either way, which is about where I like mine (in the middle to slightly fudgey).  Unlike the cookies (but like the yellow cake), there was no gritty texture at all.

I don’t know if you can get a sugar high, but you can definitely get a chocolate fix from these brownies.  They do not taste really sweet, but powerfully chocolatey (which I really liked), almost like a dark chocolate.  My little brother, Corey, said they had a “cocoa flavor, not a milk chocolate flavor.”

Corey also said “they taste like regular brownies.”  And isn’t that what we want?

Way to go, Betty Crocker!

Would you like to try them?  Make sure you enter the giveaway.

Why I first saw these bags, I was sure it was going to be something completely new and foreign to me.  While it is quite different than what I usually eat, there is something about these that almost spark a memory from my childhood.

According to the Majans Bhuja website, Bhuja is “An Indian family favorite, the origin of Bhuja mixes and spices dates back many, many years and each household has its own recipe – including Majans.”  Original, Fruit Mix, Cracker Mix, and Nut Mix are choices for your snacking pleasure.

These snacks are really interesting.  The original mix sports some multigrain noodles and chips made from things like yellow peas and chick peas.  Unlike some products made with peas and beans, however, you don’t eat them and say “eww”, you eat them and say “different, but tasty”.

Quite a few different shapes of crackers can be found in the cracker mix.  Some of them even look like flowers.

Generally, when you think of fruit, you think sweet.  Not so with the Bhuja fruit mix.  Just like the other 3, the fruit mix is spicy from chillies, turmeric, cumin, coriander, and paprika.  It is a little strange, at first, to bite into a date or apricot and taste those spices, too.  Quickly, however, I grew to love it.  No wonder it has been an Indian family favorite for years.

If you can’t stand foods that are even a little spicy, than these may not be for you.  They are not crazy-spicy, but they are lively.

The nut mix, original mix, and fruit mix all have 5 grams of protein per serving, and the cracker mix has 4.  The nut mix, of course, has the most fat at 12 grams, but the others have 4, 6, or 7 grams of fat per serving. They all have a low glycemic index, are cholesterol free, and are 100% all natural.

Andy also really liked the Bhuja snack mixes, their spice and crunch, and how high in protein and low in carbs they are.

Majans Bhuja is definitely a fun new snack.  I have really enjoyed tasting these, and do not even feel guilty about how much I ate.    If you would like a new flavor in your life, give these a try.

Update: August 14, 2009 – I am addicted to these things.  Thankfully, they are really quite healthy. 

Enjoy Life Foods is a food-allergic consumer’s dream.  All of their products are free of the top 8 allergens and gluten (only wheat is part of the top 8).  Enjoy Life products are even certified gluten-free by the GFCO!

Enjoy Life is constantly looking for products to fit the needs and desires of those on special diets, and to make them as tasty as possible.  They have recently reformulated their good granola to make it even better.

Now the granola is crispier, and stays crispy longer in the bowl (at least I think so).  Previously, you might get some huge clusters, but now they are smaller and more manageable.  The granola tastes great and is appropriately fruity.

This may not make much sense to you unless you had eaten the granola before, but it seems to me that this granola has a cleaner mouth feel to it (and seriously, that is the only way I can think to describe it).

The flakes are a little deceiving (but in a good way).  Although they are made of brown rice, Andy thought they were oats, and proceeded to heat the granola up (I’m not sure for how long).  I wouldn’t recommend this, as it turned a bit to mush.  If you want it hot, you could probably pour hot milk on it.

We get so excited when there is granola in the house.  I had to hide the bags until I could get a chance to sample them (and pay attention to what I was eating – not always easy to do with 3 young children).  The children enjoy it, too, and I like that it’s a solid, healthy breakfast (or evening snack, in today’s case).  My favorite flavor is the Very Berry Crunch.  What’s yours?