Just had to share...

This will be my last post about Pamela's recipe contest -- I swear! But I just had to share that they posted my "runner up" recipe on their website and their photo of the brownies (see below) came out a whole lot better than mine did.


Yay for Pamela's!

A Customer for Life

In a recent post I announced how excited I was that my German Chocolate brownie recipe was chosen as a runner-up in the Pamela's recipe contest. I was told I was going to receive a prize, but I didn't know what that entailed -- and boy was I surprised with what I received.

That photo above? I didn't go on a Pamela's shopping spree, that's my prize! It was such a wonderful feeling to get home from work, feeling kind of blah and seeing a giant, heavy box in front of my door. I couldn't think of anything that large and heavy that I was expecting in the mail, so it took me awhile to make the connection of why I was receiving all of these cool things! Included in the package were lots of cookies: the bite-size ginger snaps and chocolate chips cookies, the normal sized peanut-butter, chocolate chunk, ginger and chocolate chip. I also received Pamela's baking mix, bread mix (which i covet), chocolate and yellow cake mix, and frosting mix. ALSO in the package was myriad kitchen tools: pizza cutter, spatula, whisk, frosting knife and a sturdy notepad with pen. AND a hat, t-shirt, oven-mitt and shopping bag.

I felt like it was Christmas again!

When a company understands the importance of appreciating and taking care of their customers, not to mention Pamela's was the very first gluten-free item I ate when I was diagnosed (and it made me so hopeful that I could happily live with this diet!) I am sold. They've got a customer for life.

And Henry really likes the ginger-snaps.

Too G-darn Cool

Ah - hem.

You are currently reading the blog of a recipe award winner. Not too long ago, in December to be exact, I submitted a recipe to a contest that Pamela's brand gluten-free foods was having. I entered my German Chocolate Brownies in the decadent dessert category and just yesterday I found out I got "Runner Up!" You may say to yourself, "Lizzie, it's runner-up, it's not that big of a deal." To that I would say "Sure, you may think so, but this was the first recipe I have ever submitted to anything, and with Pamela's being so well known in the gluten-free community, I'm pretty proud." Oh, and this which Stephanie at Pamela's told me about:

“We are pleased to tell you that your German Chocolate Brownies have won Runner Up in the Delicious Dessert Category of the Pamela's Products Second Annual Greatest Gluten-free Recipe Contest. We don't officially plan for runners up, but when a recipe strikes us as really good and we want to be sure that it receives its due recognition, we allow for this special award. What does that mean for you? We'll be sending you a care package with our congratulations, we'll be publishing your recipe on our website (per our official rules) noting your name, and the best of all really, bragging rights! All yours!”

Another reason this is pretty cool: I created the recipe because my Mom would always make my Dad german chocolate cake for his Birthday. But now that he, my sister and I are gluten-free, I knew it would be difficult to replicate her cake. So I attempted to get the german chocolate feel in a brownie -- just for Pops.

I will post the recipe soon, I promise. But first I have to take Henry for a walk. He's getting pretty tired of hearing me say "Who's your little baker?"

Here's a pretty bad picture of the brownies. I took the photo in a bit of a rush so I could get the recipe in on time.

German Chocolate Brownies (gluten-free, dairy-free**)

One bag of Pamela's Chocolate Brownie Mix
One egg
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water

Topping:

1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup toasted pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons margerine or butter, melted (I use Earth Balance to make it dairy-free)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease 8x8 inch pan with shortening.

Follow "oil" instructions for Pamela's brownies and pour into greased pan.

In a bowl, combine shredded coconut, pecans, brown sugar, salt and melted margarine. Crumble mixture evenly on top of brownies.

Bake brownies in the middle rack of the oven for approximately twenty-five minutes. Let the brownies cool on a wire-rack and cut into squares.

*Please note: there's not real german chocolate in here, the idea was to replicate the frosting that tops a German Chocolate Cake, sans dairy.
**Also note that if you are allergic to dairy in very small amounts, Pamela's brownies have a disclaimer that there may be dairy residue due to manufacturing equipment, but the mix is otherwise dairy-free.

Stuffed Portabella

This was the very first savory gluten-free recipe that I created and booooooy, do I love it. I had a hankering for something healthy, yet filling. Chewy, yet crunchy. So I started to play. I had on hand a few ingredients: a zucchini, two portabella mushroom caps, the stump of some stale bread, and a half of a red onion. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar and olive oil into the mixture, and viola -- a healthy, filling, chewy and crunchy meal. More descriptive instructions below.

Simple Stuffed Portabellas

2 Portabella Mushroom Caps (try to use organic here, the porous nature of mushrooms make it easy for them to absorb pesticides)
1 cup of cubed, stale bread (I used Pamela's Bread Mix that I baked in my bread maker -- it is by far, the best gluten-free, dairy-free bread out there)
1/2 red onion (use less if you're not a huge red onion fan)
1 chopped zucchini
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl, combine the bread, red onion and zucchini. Drizzle the olive oil and balsamic vinegar throughout the mixture. Place the mushrooms in a roasting pan and put the bread mixture over the mushrooms. Most likely, you will have too much of the bread mixture; that's okay. Put it in the pan anyway. Bake for about fifteen minutes, or until the bread cubes crunch up real nice. Eat them both as a meal, or use as a side dish.