Sunday, September 23, 2012

G-Free Berry Trifle

Originally Posted July 6th, 2010 (at gfreezone.wordpress.com)

  Ingredients:

  • 1 Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow cake (prepared as directed on box)
  • 8 oz softened cream cheese
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream (aka whipping cream)
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries
  • 3 cups (about 1 lb) fresh strawberries

Preparation:

Cut cake into small slices (mine were about 1″ x 2″ slices) 
Beat cream cheese,  sugar, and vanilla on high until fluffy. Reduce speed slightly (medium-medium high) and gradually add heavy cream. Beat until well blended and the consistency of whipped cream. 

Place 1/2 of the cake pieces in the bottom of a 2 qt.  serving bowl or dish, followed by 1/2 of  the cream cheese mixture. Spread the cream cheese mixture to cover the cake slices and then place 1/2 of the blueberries and strawberries on top. Repeat with another layer of each (cake/cream cheese/berries). 

 Cover and refrigerate 1 hour-overnight. 

ENJOY!

My Favorite Lunch...Is No More :(

OK, it may seem silly, but I am one of those who is very excited when the time comes for me to escape work for a 1/2 hour and eat lunch. Since I’ve been eating gluten-free, however, I’ve discovered that finding things that I am excited to eat in those 30 minutes of freedom are not so easy to come by.
I have found a few lovely nuggets of deliciousness though…and although I’m sure I will find more on my journey here in the blogosphere, there is one item that ranks above all others (In my humble opinion).

What is this amazing dish I have discovered? Kettle Cuisine’s Gluten Free Chicken Chili with White Beans 

This has become my favorite thing to eat for lunch. Anyone who follows my personal twitter account or facebook page sees me mention it a good 3 times a week. I am truly addicted! The aroma is amazing and always gets everyone coming into the breakroom wanting to know what I have.
If  you like chicken chili, I recommend trying this one. It is full of flavor and has a hint of spice without being spicy hot. It’s loaded with chicken and yummy white beans, so there’s plenty of protein (21 g) & fiber (3 g) to fill you up and give you the energy to get through the rest of your work day. At under 5 bucks it’s certainly not a budget buster, but I would probably keep buying it even if it was more, I gotta have my fix! lol

Now that I’ve been going on and on about my favorite lunch, I’ve made myself hungry! I think I’ll go heat some up….

But wait.. I CAN'T!!

Why?? Because Kettle Cuisine has decided to discontinue it's line of Direct-to-Consumer gluten free soups.

"We recently discontinued making our line of ten chef-inspired, all natural and all gluten free single serve soups so that we can focus our efforts on our foodservice and retail deli businesses.  Despite our best efforts, we were not able to successfully build the frozen soup category in supermarkets.  There are many great brands and products vying for space in the frozen food cases of supermarkets, and our products fell a little short of gaining the necessary sales momentum.

We want to assure you that our commitment to serving great tasting gluten free foods remains as strong as ever.  While we will no longer be selling products directly to consumers, we will continue to make premium quality, gluten free soups for restaurants and prepared foods departments in supermarkets." KettleCuisine.com

This has put a GIANT crimp in my daily plans.Their focus on restaurants & prepared foods in supermarkets does me NO good at all. I needed them to help me get through the day-to-day living, and now I'm kinda feeling abandoned. If they weren't bringing in the right sales numbers, perhaps a bit of mainstream marketing should have been tried, sure seems to have worked for General Mills. But I guess I am left to fugure out how to make it on my own, and then freeze it in lunch sized portions. Just the kind of thing I really don't have time for in my busy life.

If you've ever tried their soups, and know the level of deliciousness I speak of, PLEASE take a moment to send an e-mail to sales@kettlecuisine.com and express your disappointment regarding their decision.