15% Discount at Miss Roben's

I just got this in an e-mail from Miss Roben's:

Greetings!

Our advanced apologies for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas -the stock photography available to decorate these emails is lacking religious and ethnic diversity.

We know you are busy getting ready for the end of year holidays and if nothing else, having the kids home from school, so I will keep this email brief.

Most importantly, we are offering 15% off any order over $75 before shipping placed between 12-23-07 to 12-27-07. Enter Code: M9h38W

Some Updates:
12 days of cookies emails: For those of you wondering what happened to the 12 days of cookies newsletters-I kept meaning to get them out but was overwhelmed with other responsibilities and then got the flu. Sorry!

Frozen products: ALMOST done. Yes, finally. Without boring you with the details, there are many aspects that need to occur for a customer to place both fresh/frozen and shelf stable to their cart and successfully check out.

Loyalty Rewards: Another coding issue we are trying to correct. In the interim you can still redeem points, and accrue points without interruption. It is just more labor intensive then we want it to be and hope to have an answer in the near future.
Happy Holidays!Allergy Grocer

Great finds at the Dollar Store

Look what I found at the Big Dollar Store yesterday. Andy loves the Imagine Tomato Soup. I have never tried the Crispy Chicken Coating Mix - but guess what? For a dollar I will! For those of you local - they have tons of both of these products at the Big Dollar Store on Robert Street (not Dollar Tree - also on Robert). This is not the first time I have found organic and/or gluten free products at this dollar store.

I hope you are all enjoying my failed attempts

It's not that I have that much trouble making cupcakes. It's that many of my recipes that I post here go through several revisions before they end up here looking perfect.

So many people say to me - I can't do what you do - I try and it doesn't turn out - well, guess what? Not all of mine turns out either. And it is costly to experiment - but it is also expensive to buy mixes and ready made products - and I've tried plenty of them I didn't like either.


Yesterday I made these from the recipe in Special Diets for Special Kids II (Lisa Ackerman's recipe). They are moist and wonderful and I am gobbling them up without frosting. But they will not do for a kid's birthday party - way too messy!

So I have convinced Andy that a cake is better than cupcakes and we are going with the Chocolate Zuchinni Cake that I posted a few months ago. He loved that and it was great. So no more experimenting for now.

Another attempt at cupcakes for Andy's birthday party

Thanks everyone for your comments and e-mails. Part of what I was trying to do was fine a great yellow or white cake. Andy doesn't really care for chocolate and I know I could make some kick ass carrot ones but Andy doesn't like them either and it is his birthday. But he will tolerate chocolate so I think the next attempt is going to be chocolate. Chocolate always seems to turn out better.

As I was searching for recipes I found that several of them used mayonnaise instead of margarine or shortening and I thought I would try that - they were certainly moister, but the texture is still not what I would like and the taste is just okay. My family did eat them all up just like the first batch so none of this is going to waste - just not good enough to fool those on regular diets - especially children.


Here is this batch coming out of the oven - they have a nice golden color.

And here they are frosted.

This is the recipe I came up with:

GFCF Yellow Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
2/3 cup mayonaise (I used Spectrum canola mayo)
1 cup milk sub (I used Silk Soy Milk, vanilla flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
3. Mix the eggs, sugar and mayo until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, milk and vanilla and mix well. Batter will be runny. Pour into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.

A new shape for Glutino Pretzels

Glutino Pretzels now come in sticks as well as the traditional pretzel shape. Same great taste and the same price. These could be used for some food crafts - like making log cabins or something....... Andy and I just like the taste.

Found a new gfcf cracker

Glutino Gluten Free Crackers. Like all gfcf products, they are expensive - but these really taste good.

Practicing making cupcakes for Andy's birthday

Andy's birthday party is two weeks from tomorrow. I would just as soon not have the expense and buy cupcakes - so I am practicing now. I made these today. They look great, but they just taste okay. We will eat them so they won't go to waste, but they just don't have the Wow factor that I want for his birthday party. I'm afraid they won't taste that good to the kids at the party who are not GFCF. So I will make another batch next weekend and try again.


Here they are coming out of the oven.


And here they are with icing.

GFCF Yellow Cupcakes
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk substitute, at room temperature (I used Silk Soy Milk, Vanilla flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted GF flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Mix)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used sugar in the raw)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup gfcf margarine, softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans (24 cupcakes total) with paper liners.

2. Beat eggs, milk substitute, and vanilla with fork in small bowl. Measure out 1 cup of this mixture and set aside. Combine dry ingredients in bowl of mixer. Mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running, add margarine one piece at a time; mix until margarine and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas. This takes about 30 or 40 seconds after all the margarine is added. Add reserved 1 cup of egg mixture and mix at lowest speed, until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high (setting 6 on Kitchen Aid) and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add remaining egg mixture in slow steady stream. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium- high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled - about 15 seconds longer.

3. Spoon batter into prepared pans and bake 20 to 25 minutes, cupcakes should be golden. Allow to cool completely before icing.