Let's go to the MOOVIES!!!

I, like so many, many, other people, am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Really REALLY huge. So I have now seen it twice. In less than five days. This, of course, means, that I have been in a Movie Theatre twice recently.
That got me thinking about popcorn, (you know), because in Movie Theatres there is lots of popcorn EVERYWHERE. :)
I was just wondering how you guys go about eating at Cinemas. Do you buy candy, or bring your own Popcorn?

(Sorry about the very short and incoherent post, I got about 5 hours of sleep last night, and still have to pack for two weeks of vacation...)

C.C.

Are they Cupcakes? Or are they Brownies?

A few months ago, I ran across this recipe while in a waiting room somewhere, and loved it immediately.
I was planning on making them for Father's Day, as the article suggests, but I forgot (of course!), and so I created them on Independence Day.

Here are a few things I learned:

Its best to make the brownie/cupcakes the day before you plan on serving them, just don't decorate until the day of. This way, they have a chance to cool, and you won't spend a good portion of the day in the kitchen.

GREASE THE BAKING CUPS. This seems obvious, and I am sure all you experienced bakers would do this anyway, but I skipped this step because the baking cups told me I did not have to. I DID HAVE TO, as it turns out. :)

Skip the dying of the icing and sticking it in a bag and all that. I tried that, made a huge mess, and it still did not work. On the second batch, I used black piping gel (it had sparkles, an added bonus for the "grill") that we picked up at the grocery store for like 3 dollars. Way easier, because not only does it use less ingredients, it has easier clean up, and is VERY easy to put on the cupcakes.

Make a glaze of confectioners sugar and water to brush on the cupcakes before you sprinkle on the sugar crystals for "embers". Otherwise, the crystals just fall off. I believe the recipe calls for putting the "grates" on and then the "embers", but that is just silly because embers on a real grill are below the grates, and the glaze is easy to assemble, as well as being clear.

I could not find any orange sugar crystals, so I used a combination of red and yellow. It seemed to work just as well, so no problem there...

Okay I think that is it :)

I did have one problem which is that I could not find and caramel-cream candies that were GF!! So i just used the non-GF kind, had my sister stick them on, and did not eat those brownies.

The Whole Batch:

 The "Hot Dogs":

 The "Kabobs":

Summer is officially here, and has been for a few days now, which means we are back to calling up the various ice cream vendors, and chip companies, and salad dressing-makers to see what products are GF, which are not, and which products were once GF, but are not any more.
I have no problem with Customer Service people, and they are always really very nice and helpful, but I have to say, waiting on hold for up to 15 minutes just so they can go find an ingredient list is really very annoying, and I wish that the lists were just handy and right there. I mean, I cannot be the only one calling to ask what "natural flavorings" they use, right?

Are there any GF/Celiac related things you guys do at the start of every summer?

C.C.

GF: True or False?

There is an ice cream place in my town, and out front they have a sign telling people about their GF items!

That is great, and wonderful that GF is becoming more mainstream, but THESE PRODUCTS ARE NOT GF!!! I bet some of the ice cream itself is probably GF, but the scooper's they use to scoop it? Nope. The gloves handling the icecream that just make a grilled cheese for someone? Nope. The sprinkles that all the cookie dough ice cream has been rolled in? Nope.

And that really bothers me. I feel like, unless you are certified GF, (and this place is not), you should not GF in the advertising. It just feels wrong, and what about the people you go in there to get Ice Cream thats GF, eat it, and get really really really sick?

What you do guys think?

C.C.

Rice Krispies, Take 2

Hello, all!

Rice Krispies will be launching a GF line in June,which I AM INCREDIBLY EXCITED ABOUT. I do not know if I have ever told you guys, but Rice Krispies were on of the products that bugged me most. Puffed rice cereal should be GF. So, when I saw that announcement, I was soooo happy!

I do wish that Kellogg's had just made the Original RK's GF, (like General Mill's did with corn chex), but I will take what I can get :).

Also, these GF ones will be made with brown rice. Why is that? Does anybody know? White rice is GF. It is not that I have a problem with brown rice, it just seems as if they might be able to get the most similar taste to the originals if they used white rice. Maybe it is because brown seems more "GF"? If so, that is super dumb.

At this point, it is unclear whether or not they will be certified GF, which would be my biggest issue, if they are not. I do not think I am comfortable eating a "GF" product that might not really be GF! It just seems unsafe to me.
What do you guys think?

C.C.

Potato Chips & Happy May!!

Happy May, everybody!!

Summer is right around the corner, and that means cookouts, cookouts, cookouts!! I love cookouts. The potato chips, (which I can eat almost exclusively due to limited parental supervision), the soda, (which I drink GALLONS of due to limited parental supervision), the flashlight-tag, (during which I can get more bug bites than I care to count due to limited parental supervision), the limited parental supervision. :)

But back to the potato chips. I love them. I love them. I love them (Potato chips, that is). Recently, I have gotten very good at eating them, too. The one problem is that not all of them are GF!!! So, here is what I have discovered regarding the GF-osity of some potato chips.

Utz rocks. They say GF if they are, and don't if there is any question, just as it should be.

I have had some trouble with Frito-Lay products. Sometimes they list wheat as an allergen and say things like "manufactured on equipment, blah blah blah, so obviously I don't eat those ones, but even ones without wheat listed, and none of those manufacturing disclaimers, I have still gotten contaminated, even though all ingredients are GF, and everything!! (This is why the FDA needs to get it's act together! May 4th GF labeling summit!! Anyone going?)

There are others as well, but..er...I forget what their deal is, so I will leave them out :)

Have any of you ever had and trouble with Frito-Lay? What are your potato-chip favorites?

C.C.

Ice Cream

It's that time of year again. When we update all of our GF ice-cream lists and call all the ice-cream shops, and all the ice-cream manufacturers. It is always amazing to me how many ice-creams are not GF. I mean, sure I understand if they have cookies or brownie or other things like that, I understand that because of liability, many places cannot say something is GF, but what I dont get is why so many of  the ice cream bases, in the most basic flavors (vanilla, chocolate), are not GF. Even if the are made on their own equipment line!! Is wheat germ put into it? Any ideas?


C.C.