© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

This past weekend hubby and I got the chance to do something new.  We got to experience a culinary challenge.  It was fun.  I’d never been to one before nor had I ever driven a Cadillac or not that I can remember that is. One of the things I enjoyed the most was knowing that for every person who did a test drive $10 was being donated to Houston Food Banks.  What a great and easy way to be able to give something to others.  Two local chefs went head to head in the culinary challenge.  Chef David Denis of Le Mistral which according to him was “friendly” french cuisine and  Chef Justin Bayse of Stella Stola.  Both were excellent chefs. In fact, they actually both won.

Chef Justin Basye’s Smoked Tomato Gazpacho won over the judges as well as myself. Very cool and refreshing and flavorful.  Was great on such a hot day.

Chef David Denis’ Texas Goat Cheese, Portobello Mushroom, Polenta Terrine, Smoked Local Teardrop Tomato Broth won the popular vote from the crowd. My husband preferred this one.  The mushrooms were absolutely delicious and just melted in your mouth. Both were very good.

After the event we continued on to test drive some Cadillacs.  Lots to choose from including the Escalade Hybrid. Now, that is one cool car! I didn’t test drive that one though. I’m not into such large vehicles. I will tell you one thing I loved about the Cadillacs is the steering range. Wow, can you make tight turns with no effort! Loved that most of all.  The larger than normal sunroof was cool too.  Why should only the ones in the front seat get to enjoy it right?

The Cadillac Culinary events have several more stops check here to see if they are going to be in a city near you.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I just tried the new Pepperidge Farm Lemon Homestyle cookies and boy were they good.  I know what’ you are thinking, “It’s almost summer, shorts and swimsuit season, the last thing I want to hear about is cookies?”

Let me tell you a little bit about the Pepperidge Farm Homestyle Cookies. I actually received two different cookies: Lemon and Gingerman. Our preference was the lemon.  The Gingerman tasted good but were a tad bit too crunchy for our liking.

Lemon Cookies:

Our family choice was the lemon cookies. The lemon cookies were very tasty, they had a lite lemon taste to them just enough to fill that craving without going overboard.  These cookies just melt in your mouth.  They have a light crunch to them but after that first bite they just crumble and melt away in your mouth. My kids enjoyed them as well but one thing I noticed – I didn’t crave more cookies.   I had one or two and then was able to put the bag away and save some for another time.  It’s a good thing that I didn’t feel the need to eat the entire bag in one sitting.  It kinda surprised me cause I thought I would.  Thankfully I didn’t and I will be able to indulge in their lemony, cookie goodness again without feeling guilty or adding too much to my waistline. I could have had 4 cookies and still not felt guilty as it would have only been 160 calories. Pretty cool that I got to indulge in these yummy cookies and I didn’t feel like I’ve blown my diet.

Pepperidge Farm Homestyle Cookies are sold in Oatmeal, Lemon, Shortbread, Sugar and Gingerman varieties. They have a suggested retail price of $3.39 at major grocery stores, mass merchandisers and major supermarkets.  Feel free to visit www.pepperidgefarm.com for more information.

Disclosure: I was sent 2 bags of cookies free of charge and thus decided on my own to provide you with a review of these delicious cookies. There was no monetary exchange or request for a review by Pepperidge Farm.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

So last night my kiddos and I decided we wanted basically munchies for dinner, so we had some cheese sticks, fries (oven baked) and quesadillas.   I had two packs of Mission Tortillas in the pantry so I told the kids we were gonna do something fun for dinner – a taste test.  We had Mission Yellow Corn Tortillas Extra Thin and Mission White Corn Tortillas.
VS.

Now you’d think a corn tortilla is just a corn tortilla, not so.  My son loved the yellow corn tortilla and I couldn’t even get him to try the white corn.  He liked the yellow corn tortillas and that was that and he’s never had yellow corn tortillas before usually white corn. He was not going to try anything else. He’d made up his mind and there was not changing it. My daughter on the other hand, liked the white corn and didn’t care for the yellow corn.  Why is it always that way,  no two kids like the same type.  So, I guess I’m the tie breaker.  I voted white corn with Princess and here’s why.  Although both were good, I found the white corn to be softer and personally I preferred the taste and texture.  It was only a slight taste difference but between the two I’d have to go with the white corn.

Both the white corn and yellow corn tortillas have zero g Trans fat per serving, No lard, No cholesterol.  The packaging on the yellow corn tortillas note Gluten Free.  I was just checking out all the great recipes on MissionMenus.com  This one looked especially good: Baked Chipotle Chicken Flautas Check it out I’m sure you’ll find some great recipes your family will love.

Disclosure: The products we tested were provided free of charge by fkmagency and Mission Tortilla.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I’ve come to realize that just about EVERYTHING has gluten in it and I’ve also noticed that way too many times the gluten-free products just aren’t all they are cracked up to be taste wise. I know the first couple of products my kids and I tried were just plain bad.  The breads were dry and crumbly and on top of that expensive.  In this day and age you can’t afford to spend so much on a loaf of bread just to throw it out.

So, any chance I get to try a gluten-free product free of charge, I’m gonna do it and I’m gonna be honest about it for two reasons: 1) that’s the kind of person I am and 2) you deserve to know if a product is something you should spend your hard earned money on.  Before we go into the review let me just say (disclosure), Yes, I received these products free of charge from Gluten-Free Houston for this review. Now on to the review:

I received two cakes from Gluten-Free Houston (the only 100% gluten-free baking facility in Houston) last week and so I wanted to tell you a little bit about the products I received as well as mention some other available products.

I received both a gluten-free sour cream coffee cake and a carrot cake.  The coffee cake was the major hit! My son devoured it all in less than 24 hours.  I did manage to get a couple of pieces in myself.  It was delicious.  So soft and moist! (which is something your don’t really get with gluten-free usually)  My son is usually the type to eat the toppings off as most kids are and leave the rest but not this time.  He ate it all. Cinnamon topping and cake.  He agreed it was “very good”.  I could tell even before I opened the package that it was going to be soft.  How?  I very gently pressed on the side of the foil pan it came in and could tell that it wasn’t like other gluten free bread products we had tried before.

I was just checking out the website and they even make special occasion gluten free cakes. It is not often you can find “fresh baked” gluten free products that taste this good and are this moist.  I can tell you it was moist and soft but I think you’d believe me more if you actually saw it for yourself so here’s a real quick little video of the coffee cake:

So, I’m not the best at video but you get the point. Check out their website for their other products which can be purchased online and shipped via Lone Star Overnight in Texas. If you are in Houston some of their products are available locally as well.  Here’s just a quick list of a few of the many baked goodies available:

Gluten Free: sandwich bread, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and sugar cookies, brownies, coffee cake, carrot cake–in store pick up only, carrot cake muffins, white and chocolate cake and cupcakes, gingerbread cake.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free: sandwich bread, hamburger buns, dinner rolls.

Gluten Free & Gluten Free/Dairy Free frozen bread dough and French bread frozen dough.

Thank you GlutenFreeHouston for allowing me to share your delicious products with my family. Disclosure: Products were provided free of charge from GlutenFreeHouston.com for this review.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.