The amount of gluten-free products offered by Mixes from the Heartland is simply mind boggling. The company factory in Texas produces mixes that cover pretty much every category you can think of. From soup and dessert sauce mixes to pasta meal mixes, desserts and breads – Mixes from the Heartland has you covered. Previously, I’d only made desserts from the line. I reviewed the Impossible Coconut Pie here.
Finally, I made a dinner using on of the mixes and now I’m sorry I waited so long before getting around to it. The gluten-free Taco Rice Skillet Meal is super easy to make. You just brown ground beef (or turkey) and pour the mix and some water into the pan and mix it all up. That is my kind of cooking. Open a few things and put them in the pan and stir occasionally – perfect.
After tasting the delicious meal, I realized that in addition to using ground beef or turkey, chicken chunks might also work in the meal. The overall taste is quite delicious, thought it’s just this side of being too spicy for me. I’m a bit of a light weight when it comes to spicy foods. To balance that out, I served mine over a bed of romaine lettuce and cooled it down a bit with a dollop of sour cream. It was simply perfect that way! My husband loved the meal too, but he didn’t have his as a salad since he likes spicy food.
There is rice in the meal, but it’s precooked so the entire cooking process takes about 25 minutes from start to finish (after the meat is browned). Quick, easy and delicious are the things I look for when it comes to making a basic week night dinner and this mix totally fits that bill. In fact, the Taco Rice Skillet Meal was so good that it felt a little like a special occasion meal. When something tastes so good that people think it took you much longer than it actually did to make, that’s a very good thing indeed!
The ingredients in the mix are very “clean” and include instant rice, tomato powder, chili powder, black pepper, dehydrated onions, carrots, parsley, celery, tomato, red and green bell peppers, celery powder, garlic powder. There are no fake ingredients in the product line. All of the Mixes from the Heartland products are free of eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, oats, barley, rye and wheat and none of those allergens are used in the factory. Some products are also dairy-free, but Mixes from the Heartland is extremely careful regarding how they handle any and all allergens.
There is no bean flour used in any of the products so the quick breads and brownies taste like they’re supposed to. Meaning they don’t taste like beans. The product line carries the Celiac Sprue Association seal and test at 5 ppm (or less) for gluten. The standard is presently 20 ppm so Mixes from the Heartland is ahead of the game when it comes to gluten-free safety.
Now that I’ve sampled one of the dinner mixes from the Mixes from the Heartland line, I can’t wait to try one of the many other meal mixes available. Mixes from the Heartland mixes has a great deal on shipping – offering a flat $10 free on orders under $100 and FREE shipping on orders over $100. They also have a wonderful gluten-free Buying Club – sort of like a Costco for gluten-free food. Let us know if you’ve tried any products from the company and if so, how you enjoyed them.
Tiffany –
That sounds really good!! I love the idea of putting it over rice.
I love MFTH’s sweet potato brownies…..SO good!! I have a mix of theirs for key lime pie dip that I need to make. Perhaps for Hannah’s b-day.
Kim
We also liked the Taco Skillet mix but thought it would be great with black beans instead of ground meat. We mixed salsa into it as well – we are a spicy family. Served it with sour cream and avocado chunks. Yummy!! We have also tried the Strawberry Pound Cake and it is really good!!! I mean really good. It did not last the night it was so good!! The only one we have tried and did not like was the Minestrone Soup. I have not been able to say why we did not like it. The ingredients list sounded yummy. It smelled yummy. The taste was off. I am wondering if maybe some of the beans were just bad or something.
Oh yes Diane! I should have mentioned that we plan to make the mix with the addition of black beans next time, but we’ll probably include the meat as well. It would work perfectly without meat too! I think I might have a strawberry pound cake mix here too. Have to make as soon as I can turn the oven on again…too hot in Hotlanta lately! I’ve not made any of the soups yet but will also do so when it’s soup weather here. 😉
Kim – I’ve heard only great things about those dessert mixes, but haven’t tried them yet. Let us know how the lime dip is if you make it and happy b-day to Hanna!