Great recipe for Strawberry Shortcake

It's finally strawberry season around here, and who doesn't love good old fashioned Strawberry Shortcake. I did some searching online the other day and found this great recipe. Let me add that they are terrific! The recipe below made a full batch of muffins, and the girls at work couldn't tell that they were gluten free. In fact, there is no flour in these at all and they are quick and easy to make.

Shortcake Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup corn starch
1 1/4 tsp baking powder

Directions
· preheat oven to 375
· grease muffin pan (i also dusted them with rice flour)
· cream the butter and sugar together
· add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy
· separately mix the corn starch and baking powder together
· slowly add the dry mix to the butter mix or the corn starch will fly out every where
· fill muffin pans about half way full
· bake for 15 minutes or till golden brown
· remove from the muffin pan and let cool on drying rack

My list of great Gluten Free products

In the year or so that I've been GF free now, I've experimented with different recipes, name brands of food, and where to shop. Some are great, while others not so much...so I'm going to make a list of web sites below sharing where I've found great products-name brands of GF items etc.....

I have purchased flour from this site, it's great! And let me add....Jules is so nice. I have emailed her several times regarding recipes and she always gets back to me. I highly recommend her flour blend, it's worth every penny and can be used cup for cup like you would regular flour.
http://www.nearlynormalcooking.com/httpdocs/index.htm

This is a great place to order the best cake, muffin and pancake mixes. Their chocolate cupcake mixes taste like they are made with regular flour, and the pancakes are delicious! If you are missing fluffy pancakes, get these! So far everything I've ordered from them tastes great and my Gf friends can't tell the difference.
http://www.reallygreatfoods.com/

If you're a local Wisconsinite then this might be a good site to check out. This is the web site for the Silly Yak Bakery, I've ordered their bread and it's very good. Toasts well, and the Cinnamon Bread was great for making french toast. Ordering was easy, just called them up, and my bread was waiting for me just a few days later.
http://www.freshglutenfree.net/

Looking for some good pasta? This pasta brand is great! I've even used their pasta shells in cold salad recipes that I have missed over time. (sold locally at Pick-n-Save, Festival Foods, Copps)
http://tinkyada.com/

This is another great brand of pasta and bread too. Quite a few of their items are sold at local grocery stores (Pick-n-Save, Festival Foods, Copps) so it's easy to find. The table crackers are also pretty good, but are brittle and break easy while trying to put cheese spreads on them.
http://www.schar.com/us/

Grandma Ferdons has some great Gf products, but so far I've only seen their items sold at Festival Foods and the Free Market in Appleton, WI. Their premade frozen pizza crusts are great, and the donut holes are good with a little sugar on them. If you're in the mood for a sweet treat, the carrot cake is wonderful.
http://www.grandmaferdons.com/

The Free Market is a small grocery store located in Appelton WI that has lots of GF products, and almost every time I'm there, a new product is available.
http://www.thefreemrkt.com/

Located in sunny California, I found this site one day while just doing random searches....I ordered pizza crust, brownies, crutons, coffee cake, and bagels from them. All were great and I think the coffee cake was gone the day it arrived! I only wish they were closer to home, why can't we have more bakery's closer home!
http://www.mariposabaking.com/

These are all organic, gluten free frozen dinners and I personally contacted Festival Foods to get these in their stores. And I'm happy to say that I've seen them sold at 3 of their store locations on the Fox Valley area. A little on the pricey side.....but they are great dinners with great flavor.
http://www.theorganicbistro.com/

Another great site to check out is Amy's Kitchen. My personal favorite is probably the mac-n-cheese..........I miss the old favorite out of the box, and there frozen dinner hits the spot. (sold locally at Pick-n-Save, Festival Foods, Copps)
http://www.amyskitchen.com/

There are lots of items to pick from on this site......and I just recently got a box of the graham crackers for making smores while camping. They are great and I was pleasantly surprised when I tried them.
http://consumer.kinnikinnick.com/

If you're looking for a box of cookies to pick up, their chocolate chip cookies are great, and are sold locally at Pick-n-Save, Festival Foods, Copps. I've also made the brownies which were very good. They have quite a few mixes to pick from and the baking/pancake mix can be used like flour. You do need to add your own xanthan gum though.
http://www.pamelasproducts.com/

There are lots of options with this GF company. Pretzels, crackers, cookies, even bread sticks. The Chocolate Wafers remind me of Kit Kats, very good-light, crispy and don't forget the chocolate!
http://www.glutino.com/

My first Post-Why am I doing this?

Where to start....well, I decided to try this blog thing to help anyone who is or needs to be gluten free. I've been gluten free since Feb. 15th 2008. I remember that day specifically because it was on my 32nd birthday that I decided enough was enough. The doctors tested me for Celiac, it came back negative but after 4 years of being sick, they recommended I try it. The day I stopped eating gluten was hard, but I started feeling better immediately. No more stomach cramps, and everything else that went with it. So here I am over a year later feeling better than I have in a really long time and every day is an adventure when it comes to eating. I love to bake and cook and have realized that just because I can't have gluten, doesn't mean I can't have good tasting food. I love to eat and refuse to give up taste. I'm going to do my best to post what I have learned or where to shop/eat to help anyone that might see this.

Life is good, enjoy every bite!