Betty Crocker Mixes

Times Supermarket had the Betty Crocker gluten free mixes on sale, so I thought get them to try them. There are four of them. The first one I tried was the cookie mix. We had a meeting to go to and had to bring some dessert. I thought I'd take the cookies for dessert, but they were a disappointment. They turned out flat and crumbled when you tried to pick them up to eat them. I ended up buying oatmeal raisin cookies from Safeway for the meeting. I took some of my crumbly cookies to eat, but not to share. : (

Next, I tried the yellow cake mix and made cupcakes for a lunch. These were delicious. I left them unfrosted because I wasn't sure if the frosting was gluten free. I took them to the lunch, but hardly anyone ate them. Was it because they were unfrosted? Oh well, more for me. YUM! They're gone now, but they were so good I'd buy this mix again.

Gifts

My brother sent these gf goodies to us from New Zealand some time ago and I forgot all about them because we had company at the time. I haven't tried any of it yet, but plan to soon. When I do, I'll post about it. 

A Guava Tree

There's a little guava tree growing near the driveway in front of our house. The birds planted it. There's just one thing, we have to dig it up and move it. It is too close to that other tree. I don't know when well be able to do that. We also have to decide where to put it. I hope we can move it soon before it gets too big. I also hope we don't kill it in the process of moving it.

I went to The Source and found all these gluten free things! They were having their anniversary sale so I got a really good price for all this. I think, hope I bought enough to last me at least 6 weeks. The loaf of bread you see there is made from the Gluten Free Pantry's Sandwich bread mix. It is one of the green striped boxes . It came out a bit darker than my other loaves...I wonder if I should change the setting to light instead of medium the next time I make it.

Giveaways

My cousin Kat of Our Adventures in Japan told me that Deb in Hawaii of Kahakai Kitchen is having a giveaway! She is giving away Betty Crocker's new gluten free dessert mixes. I have yet to see them in the stores here on Oahu. What a great giveaway! Thanks, Kat.

Later, I discovered that Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker is also giving away the same thing, so...go and enter these giveaways and good luck!

Gifts

I received these yummy gluten free snacks from my daughter for my birthday. They were yummy and are gone! Thank you Janelle.

Pictured below is the fabric bag I made that I gave my mother on Mother's Day. The gifts that I made for her were in the bag.

Also pictured are more Kaleidoscope Hot Pads that I made for my Auntie as a thank you gift. Thanks Auntie Lana for always remembering my birthday.

Birthday Gifts and T-shirts

I received a bread machine for my birthday and some dark chocolate. The chocolate was yummy! It's almost half gone. The best part is that they are both gluten free!

As for the bread machine, I sought some advice from the celiac community on-line and as usual they were most helpful. They advised me what setting to use, what bread mixes to try and of course gave me some good TNT (tried and true) gluten free recipes to try. I haven't tried any yet, because I had a difficult time finding some bread mixes. It was recommended to start with a ready made mix so that I would know what the dough is suppose to look like in the machine. To order on-line was difficult also because I would have had to purchase the mix in bulk to off-set the cost of shipping! It was outrageous! I tried to order from Amazon, but many of the grocery items aren't shipped to Hawaii, which makes it really hard to get good deals on gluten free items and ingredients without paying an arm and a leg for shipping...and the search goes on! I'll keep you updated on what I find.

I am altering more shirts for dh...turning them in to tanks or muscle tees...perfect for summer! I also altered a pair of pants, which were torn at the knees, into shorts. Now he has another pair of shorts to wear at home.

Sweet Fabric and Sweet Treats

Thank you to Diane of Bee Square Fabrics! I received my fat quarter today. I entered a giveaway on her blog and I won a fat quarter of Japanese Fabric. I don't know if you can see it, but it has "sweets" on it. I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I'm thinking maybe a hot pad or pot holder. Thank you Diane!

I also made some scones using the Pamela's Pancake Mix I received for Christmas. I used this recipe on the Pamela's website. Instead of currants, I used raisins and dried cranberries. It was delicious...and they're almost gone! Yum!

GF Brownies and Kaleidescope Hot Pads

Pictured are the gluten free brownies I made for New Years. Yum! I did put in some m&ms and it was delicious! Thank you Grant and Juri.

I purchased a Kaleidescope Ruler so that I could could make some Kaleidescope hot pads. I learned how to make these some time ago, but never made them because I needed that special ruler. I tried to make some without the ruler and they turned out horrible. I looked for them so that I could take a picture of them, but I couldn't find them. Pictured are the ones I made last year.

More Grocery Bags and Gluten Free Goodies

Here are two more grocery bags. The green aloha print one was my test bag. I used the Burda Style "Charlie Bag" pattern, but lined it. I tried to make the little pouch to fold it up in, but it was too small, so I didn't attach it. Then I decided to use the pocket from the Singlet pattern I used before. That worked, but I think I need to make it a little wider. The light floral print bag is made with the same fabric as the other bag only with a different color lining.

The last picture is of the yummy gluten free food I got for Christmas from my brother and his wife, with the exception of the M&Ms. I got the m&ms from my mom. Pamela's mixes are wonderful! We're having gluten free brownies for New Years! I've already eaten an energy bar and most of the shortbread cookies. I'm also halfway through the Cherry Brownie. All these goodies aren't going to last very long. Thanks Grant and Juri!

Now to get ready for the New Year celebration...hope all is going well with you.