Clamato. Photo: Bludgeoner86, Flickr

Syvlia Schur -- a recipe developer for Betty Crocker, cookbook writer for companies like Campbell's and creator of products like Clamato, Cran-Apple juice and the pre-Slim-Fast diet drink Metrecal -- has died at the age of 92.

The cause of death was respiratory failure, her daughter, Jane S. Smith, told the New York Times.

Clamato, a cocktail juice made with tomato juice, onions, celery, spices and a dash of clam juice, is known for being a key ingredient in the Michelada. It is made and distributed by Mott's.

Along with independently helping food corporations develop new products, Schur was the founder of her own restaurant and food company consulting business, Creative Food Services.

"She was a pioneer of modern food usage," her Creative Food Services coworker Heidi Kost-Gross told the Times. "Her company was at the cutting edge of how food should look and taste, and above all, how it should be used."

Gluten-free product family. Photo: Betty Crocker

The gluten-free community has been in the limelight in recent months, and now they have a new celebrity of sorts backing them.

Betty Crocker now offers a line of gluten-free classic dessert mixes -- Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix, Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix, Gluten Free Brownie Mix and Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.

Among the ingredients in the mix is rice flour, a grain allowed on a gluten-free diet.

While the price point is a little higher than the normal cake mixes (the retail price is usually around $4.49), it saves a trip to the health-food store for your next gluten-free brownie craving. Plus, other comparable gluten-free mixes usually run a price point of $6 and up.

"There was always a premium paid for a product that was considered gluten-free," Elaine Monarch, executive director of the Celiac Disease Foundation, tells Slashfood. "Now that General Mills has brought that into the mainstream for a much lower price, it's fabulous."

The Betty Crocker Baking Team says they came up with the mixes after witnessing firsthand through two staff members how the disease can affect day-to-day living.

I love vintage cookbooks. I enjoy the way in which a quick glance through an old cookbook can transport me directly to a different era. Looking to understand the austerity of World War II America? Take a look at Thrifty Cooking for Wartime. Want some early seventies celebrity kitsch? Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah is sure to fit the bill. I could go on and on.

Sadly, reprints of vintage cookbooks have never been able to fill me with the same joy and interest as the originals of the same volume. There's something a little too winky-winky, isn't this fun and retro! when an old book gets reprinted. However, a copy of the the recently reprinted Betty Crocker's Guide to Easy Entertaining landed on my stack of cookbooks late last week, and it's beginning to grow on me (despite my previously registered reservations).

It's an absolute facsimile of the 1959 original, from the cover art down to the a list of prices for other Betty Crocker publications inside the first page. The section of photographs has been faithfully reproducted, showing off trays of cake and platters of unnaturally colored appetizers and nibbles. The recipes have also been untouched, leaving the reader with an eclectic assortment of dishes made from scratch as well as those that call for Betty Crocker branded ingredients.

This would be a fun holiday gift for a friend or family member who finds old cookbooks appealing, but doesn't enjoy the mustiness of older volumes. Personally, I'll take the signs of age and use any day.

I shamelessly stole this idea from the Betty Crocker website but I did manage to change it up to make it a bit more interesting. It turned out very well but it had me cussing more than I imagined it would.

I started with two leveled cakes that were made in loaf pans. I did one in chocolate and one in french vanilla for a little variety. The vanilla one was cut in half to make the two smaller blocks. For the chocolate block, I managed to find chocolate marshmallows to cut in half and use for the top of the block but let me assure you that these sound a lot yummier than they actually are. The smaller blocks got strawberry marshmallows which I highly recommend for sm'ores or just nibbling. The large block was covered in blue buttercream icing and smoothed for a flat surface. Then I covered each marshmallow half, set in it's spot and attempted to even them out as well. Those little buggers can be quite uncooperative.

Next, I covered the green block and set it at a small angle against the first one. The final block was the one that presented a couple of small challenges in order to sit on its side. I iced the bottom edge of the block while holding it then placed it next to the other pieces. The top portion of the block was resting on the points of the other two and I must say that marshmallows make for a squishy support system at best. They also tend to slide off when at an angle so, for the yellow block, they were secured with toothpicks as they went on.

The cake turned out cute although I never managed to get it as smooth as I wanted. Looking back, maybe the reason I found the cake, which was actually pretty simple, a chore is that it wasn't my original idea. Normally, all the little challenges I encounter when making a cake are fun and interesting but apparently that is only true when the concept is mine in the first place.

As you may have noticed, I have something of a weakness for vintage cookbooks. I like seeing how women were cooking (and it was almost always women doing the home cooking back in those days) in the few generations before I was born. I like the pictures, which typically range from quirky and appealing to downright stomach-turning (that cherry pie doesn't look particularly appetizing).

This Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book, which is the second edition and was published in 1956 (to see covers of all editions of this book, click here), satisfies my vintage cookbook needs on a lot of levels. It starts you out with a photographic tour of the modernly decorated offices and workspaces of the Betty Crocker kitchens (complete with faux living room) and then moves you into the basic recipes and meal plans. There are pictures throughout the text, but more often you come across helpful diagrams and line drawings, some very reminiscent of the illustrations found in my preferred edition of the Joy of Cooking (late sixties/early seventies, with the white dust jacket and turquoise fabric underneath).

Beyond all that though, it is a useful and still-applicable cookbook. It has pie crust recipes which aren't particularly different from many of those available today. It has temperature guides for roasting meats and offers an assortment of menus that help you get dinner on the table fast (whether you're doing your cooking in 1956 or 2008).