{Comments closed – this giveaway has ended.}

My son who is gluten free (not by choice) has been begging me for biscuits and it just breaks my heart to have to remind him he can’t have them.  Put yourself in my shoes for a minute if you don’t live gluten free.  Your little boy is begging you to make biscuits for his sister.  “I won’t eat them, mama” he pleads. “I just want to smell them”  Oh how my heart aches when I have to deny him something even if it is for his own good. You’re a mom you understand how hard that is.

So when I heard that Bisquick now had a Gluten Free Baking Mix and got the chance thanks to Bisquick through MyBlogSpark to try it out.  Oh, you can be I jumped at the chance.  A chance to give my son what he’s been begging for and put a smile on his face.  Now I will be the first to admit most (not all) gluten free products don’t taste so hot shall we say. So I was a bit skeptical and didn’t want to get my son’s hopes up.

We were both so pleasantly surprised at how good the Bisquick Gluten Free biscuits we made came out.  I am a pretty bad cook so I was extremely pleased – lol  He gobbled up 3 I think it was before we left the house and as soon as we came back home he warmed up one in the microwave and had another one.  They stayed soft in the middle and didn’t get rock hard like some GF foods after a little while – WOW!  They may not look like typical biscuits but they sure were good.  With a couple of substitutions they were gluten free, caisen free and egg free. Pancakes are next on the agenda!

Do you live gluten free?  Have you missed eating foods like biscuits or pancakes and given up on it cause mixing flours is just too time consuming? No more need to pass on yummy recipes just cause they contain gluten.  Look for Bisquick Gluten free  in the baking aisle in your grocery store.  For great gluten free recipes, tips and ideas visit www.bisquick.com/glutenfree I can’t believe some of the recipes they have. Yum! Oh and you can download a printable coupon for $1 off Bisquick Gluten Free baking mix here!

Thanks to Bisquick through MyBlogSpark I get to give one of AMomBlog.com’s readers a giveaway pack just like the one I received!

Giveaway: Bisquick Gluten Free prize pack that includes a box of Bisquick Gluten Free baking mix, a pancake pan, pancake pen and a pancake flipper.

To Enter: Leave a comment letting me know what you’d bake with the Bisquick Gluten Free baking mix.

Additional entries: Tweet about the giveaway and include the hashtag #myblogspark Make sure you come back and leave me the link to your tweet to complete your additional entry. Tweet as often as you like.

Giveaway ends: October 13, 2010  Winner will be chosen by random.org and emailed or contacted via twitter if twitter handle is provided.  Winner must reply within 48 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.  Prize fulfillment will be provided by My Blog Spark.

Disclosure:   I did received a Bisquick Gluten Free prize package and information from Bisquick via My Blog Spark for this review and giveaway free of charge.  No monetary exchange took place.

© 2010 – 2011, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I can’t believe this. In yesterday’s mail, I got the results for the last blood work the DAN doctor had Little Bug do.  So, I’m thinking Okay, I know he shouldn’t have gluten, wheat, dairy, oranges, eggs and soy.  He eats pretty well, lots of salads, tomatoes, carrots, corn – pretty good veggies right?

WRONG!

Here are the things this report is telling me he’s allergic to and should be removed from his diet as well as putting him on the GFCF diet.

Asparagus, carrot, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, corn, cucumber, garlic, gluten, grapefruit, lemon, cow’s milk, orange, pineapple, rye, wheat and yogurt. (new allergy foods in red) And now my favorite grocery store isn’t carrying the coconut milk he can have.

Where does it all stop.  Every time they do a test they find more things. Pretty soon my kiddo is going to live on water.

I am finding some inconsistencies though.  I was told he was allergic to eggs and soy, yet on this workup the eggs and soybeans came up with no allergy level what-so-ever.  Now I am totally confused. Time to contact the doctor and find out what that means, is he or isn’t he allergic to eggs and soy?  If he’s not that will help some.  I just wish I understood what each of these foods is doing to his body and mind.  It’s not an outward thing so what’s it doing to his insides?

© 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.

Well, I’m sure from the title you can already guess that I was very happy with the Udi’s Gluten Free products I received in exchange for a review.  I think I’ve mentioned before about Little Bug’s food intolerance which we just recently found out about.  So, I’ve been on the search for gluten free, dairy free, soy free foods that actually taste good and that my entire family will enjoy as I am hoping we can all switch to healthier food options.  That is not an easy task, I’m finding out.

Now let me tell you why we liked the products from Udi’s Gluten Free Foods. First of all, I will tell you, not all the products we received were a big hit with everyone in the family but I guess that’s typical for any family.  Here’s what we got: (all the products we tested were Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free and Nut Free)

Blueberry Muffins, Lemon Streusel Muffins, Pizza Crusts, White Sandwich Bread and Whole Grain Bread.

The Hits: Blueberry Muffins, Whole Grain Bread, White Sandwich Bread

The Blueberry Muffins were awesome.  I personally loved them.  They were soft and moist and had a very good taste and texture.  It had just enough sugar sprinkled on top to enhance the flavor of the muffin without overpowering it.  I could tell just from looking at them that they were much softer than other GFCF foods we had tried.  And once I opened the package, wow was I impressed with the taste.  Gave a taste to hubby too as soon as he walked in the door almost.  He too was very impressed with the taste and texture.  He wasn’t expecting it to be so tasty but again pleasantly surprised.

My son just loved the Whole grain bread.  Keeps eating slices of it right out of the bag with nothing added to it.  I couldn’t even get him to try the white bread but as long as he found a bread he likes we are on the right track. Hubby and I tried the white bread and it was actually very good.  We had a bad experience with another brand we tried before so were a little leary but we were not disappointed this time. It was soft and didn’t crumble in your throat nor did it have a funny taste or texture like the other brand.

The White Sandwich bread was also very good.  The flavor was very much like regular bread and the texture was good also, not at all crumbly.  Much softer than other brands we’ve tried.

The Near Hits: Lemon Streusel Muffins and Pizza Crusts (We were about 50/50 on these)  While hubby and I thought the Lemon Strusel Muffins were just a tad bit dry in comparison to the Blueberry Muffins, Little Bug just adored them.  In fact, I think he ate them all already!  2/3 rds of us liked the pizza crust.  It tasted just fine, wouldn’t have known the difference if the package didn’t say it was GFCF.  I think it was just that it was a thin crust that Little Bug wasn’t quite thrilled with. But over  all still good.

The Misses: Didn’t find one. There wasn’t anything that didn’t get eaten or commented on.

This is how impressed we were with the Udi’s Gluten Free Foods: we took a 30 minute or longer drive to the nearest Whole Foods markets as my favorite grocery store doesn’t carry the brand yet. I will talk to them about that. We looked around and saw several other Udi’s brand items including cinamon rolls (they looked so yummy!) and even cupcakes with vanilla icing (now those are going to be a special treat day item for sure). Udi’s is going to one brand this family will keep in their pantry even if I have to drive 30 minutes or more to get it.  It’s also available online from Udi’s Gluten Free Foods website (note they only ship on specific days of the week so make sure you check that before ordering).

Disclosure: I was provided with the above mentioned products in exchange for a review but the review itself is my personal experiences as well as those of my family and in no way did receiving the products free of charge influence this review.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

As tough as it is giving Little Bug injections, we are beginning to see some results.  He seems to be calmer and slowing down his thinking so his speech and sentences are clearer.  He’s getting clearer at responding to questions, and answering in full sentences why questions. His ability to stay focused and his eye contact seem to be improving as well.  He’s being more affectionate to family members too.  It is the injections? Is it the extra vitamins? Is it the removal of most dairy products from his diet?

I’m not sure which one is causing the change or simply a combination of them all.  We haven’t totally eliminated all dairy but we are drinking and using almond milk and coconut milk rather than cow’s milk.  Little Bug is doing well at going to the store and reading the labels to make sure the items he wants don’t contain milk.  If it does he simply puts it back.  I have heard “this is hard mom” a couple of times but no fussing about.  I’m really proud of how he’s doing so far.

With the exception of the injections (which we are still doing at night) which I don’t think he is totally aware of he’s handling it all so much better than I thought he would.  His appetite has increased.  Even Princess is eating a little more food and trying new foods which is really a surprise for me.  When it comes to snacking they are actually asking for apples and grapes rather than cookies and candy.  This is a great beginning for 2010 for all of us! Here’s to a happy and healthy 2010!!

photo credit: joshjanssen

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

First of all I managed to give Little Bug his first B12 injection.  I hated it! I was shaking so badly and I felt just horrible.  I just have to keep reminding myself that his body needs this and I will do anything to help heal his body for his benefit.  So easy or not it  has to be done.  I chatted a bit about it on twitter and was comforted and reassured by some friends on twitter and some new twitter friends-Thank you for that ladies .  It truly helped to know I wasn’t alone even thought at that very moment I felt like it.

Now, on to the results.  I got notified today that the results of the blood test came back and sure enough Little Bug has a lot of food allergies: dairy (anything with cow’s milk), wheat, egg, orange, and soybean.  So now here we go.  I know we have to do this gradually but stick with it to see result but I also know it isn’t going to be easy.  I mean when your kiddo lives on dairy products such as milk and yogurt how do you gradually wean him off of it?  Needless to say I am scared and in unfamiliar territory one again.  This unfamiliar territory is really getting to be a habit I could do without.

So mom, I am going to need your help.  If your have a child on a special diet, what can you suggest or recommend that might help things go a little smoother for us all?  I don’t even know where to start so please if you have any experience with special diets please share your thoughts, suggestions, recommended website, book, cookbooks, tips, ideas and even recipes.  I’ll take it all!

© 2009, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.