Pancakes

We tried The Really Great Food Company's Pancake Mix for breakfast this morning. It was really easy to make and tasted just like my favorite Bisquick pancakes. I highly suggest if you want Pancakes, use the Really Great Food Company's.

Outback Steakhouse

We went to Outback Steakhouse with my husband's family tonight for his dad's 60th birthday. They have a pretty good Gluten-Free menu and take care of their Gluten-Free customers quite well. They make your salad in a separate bowl from the rest to make sure that none the croutons even touch your salad. They have an amazing brownie that is completely gluten-free, they even use sugar to keep it from sticking in the pan, and their wait staff is very friendly and helpful with all of this, at least ours was. There are some things you have to special order, like you need to order your veggies without the seasoning, but that's a small price to pay for the great food and great service you'll get while having to deal with a specialized menu. I suggest you make a stop at Outback on your next vacation or even your next special day. It's well worth it!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies - Take 1

I've been craving a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, but can't seem to find any Gluten-Free Bread that I like so I decided to get my fix with Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies. I made these before I put much extended thought into it and now have what I think might be a better way to make them, that's why this is Take 1. Also, I found this absolutely amazing Versatile Cookie Mix from The Really Great Food Company that I tried because I haven't yet found the magic combo for making perfect cookies. The Cookie Mix worked really well, I'm very happy with it and will definitely be using it again.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

1 box Versatile Cookie Mix (The Really Great Food Company)
1 cup of eggs
1 1/3 cups shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup your favorite jam/jelly/preserves (I used Strawberry Rhubarb Jam)

Preheat oven to 375. Beat the shortening and brown sugar together. Add eggs and beat again, scraping the sides of the bowl until very well blended. Add entire bag of cookie mix to wet ingredients. Beat 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth. Don't overbeat. Add peanut butter and jelly and blend well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Because of the jelly, these cookies overcook very easily, so be careful to watch them. Bake 10 minutes.

Mrs. Leeper's Lasagna

We had the Mrs. Leeper's Boxed Lasagna meal tonight and it tasted okay. It was nothing like the equivalent Hamburger Helper, and I really loved the Hamburger Helper Lasagna. I'll eat it again, but only for a quick meal when necessary.

Woohoo

So, this was supposed to be a post on something that I tried cooking this weekend, but my garbage disposal went on the fritz and I couldn't do the dishes until we replaced it. We got it replaced and did some dishes, so tomorrow afternoon I should be able to make some cookies or coffee cake or something. Woohoo! On a side note, if you plan to pick up a GE Garbage Disposal, check to make sure it comes with the power cable. The one we picked up didn't come with the power cord, but the power cord wasn't that expensive and was pretty easy to wire. Anyway, I'll let you know how my baking turns out.

Conferences

I went to a conference today and was completely amazed that they didn't have any kind of specifications for food preferences. The conference was at the DoubleTree and what they served was a PhillyCheese Steak kind of sub and tasted absolutely horrible. Anyway, if you have a conference at a DoubleTree, they may not allow food preferences, and if they do, be careful what you eat, my sister says that most of their stuff isn't very good.

Experiments

Great news. The temperatures are going down this weekend and into next week so I should be able to work on those experiments I've been waiting to do because of the heat. Stay tuned next week for reviews.