gluten-freelicious

Glutino Pretzel Sticks

Glutino Pretzels are a gluten-free favorite in our house.

When I first saw Glutino Pretzel Twists in the grocery store, not too long after making our home gluten-free, I laughed out loud.  I thought, Gluten-free pretzels?!  Yeah, right. We hadn’t tried many gluten-free snacks at that point, at least not many edible ones, so I was highly skeptical.  I’m not sure how many times I passed them by.  I’d often pick up the bag, ponder the idea of a gluten-free pretzel, and hastily put them back on the shelf.

After a while, I grew desperate.  We’d eaten our fill of popcorn and rice cakes.  Mid-morning, my youngest son would shout, “Hungy!  Hungy!” and shake his head at everything I offered.  We needed some variety.  The next time I passed Glutino Pretzels in the store, I took the plunge, and threw a bag in my grocery cart.

I opened the bag, and, Holy Moly! They look like pretzels!  I took a bite, and, Whoa! They taste like pretzels!  They are light and crisp with a subtle butter flavor and just the right amount of salt.  They are really good!

Pretzels were a missed snack in our house.  My oldest son was thrilled; he loves Glutino Pretzels and often takes a bag to preschool for snack.  His younger brother nods enthusiastically when I offer “petsils” and shoves a frightening two or three in his mouth at a time.  I love to dip them in peanut butter.

That’s the good.  Here’s the bad.  Because they are made with palm oil, they have a higher fat content than gluten-ful pretzels.  This is not an issue for my twiggy boys, but I eat them in moderation.  Now for the ugly.  Glutino Pretzels are expensive at $6-8 a bag in our grocery stores.  I paid $8 for our first bag of pretzels, but now that I know where to find them for $6, I give the $8 bag dirty looks when I pass it by.  It’s unfortunate they are so expensive, but the price of a gluten-free diet is almost always high.

Glutino Gluten-Free Pretzels taste just like the real thing.  They make the gluten-freelicious Top 10!

Schar Shortbread Cookies

Please…need…a glass…of…water.

Clearly everyone has different tastes.  Case in point: I bought a bag of Schar Shortbread Cookies after reading a positive review on Gluten Free Blog.  In fact, a quick Google search shows these cookies earn mostly high praise.  One health food store even claims, “Just like grandma used to make them.”

Uh, not my grandma.

The cookies have a sweet, buttery aroma.  They are crisp, crunchy, and light.  I am even willing to say these cookies have a decent, albeit somewhat bland, flavor, close to that of your typical glutenous shortbread cookie, though not quite as rich.  So far, so good, right?

The pleasure ends there.

Schar Shortbread Cookies are dry.  Very, very dry.  No matter how well I chew, I find myself swallowing two or three times to get the fine, sandpaper-like grit off my tongue.  My throat itches.

At first I thought, Maybe this is what a shortbread cookie is supposed to be like. Maybe I forget.  After all, it has been a few months since I’ve had a “real” shortbread cookie.  Nope.  According to Chefs Best, “the ideal shortbread cookie will be crispy with a sandy texture that offers a soft, melting quality while dissolving in your mouth.”  Crispy?  Check.  Sandy?  Check.  Melt-in-your mouth?  Negative, Ghostrider.

We’ve sampled several brands of cookies, and, in my opinion, there are far better options out there.  Given the expense of one bag of cookies, I would say this was not money well spent.  If you are desperate for a cookie, and Schar Shortbread Cookies are the only gluten-free goodies for miles around, they may appease your craving.  Just be sure to have a tall glass of liquid on hand.

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Bread Mix, the latest trial in my quest to find gluten-freelicious bread, might just miss the mark for me.  However, to all of you who have mourned the loss of rye bread, this bread’s for you!  Cheers!

Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Bread

I followed the instructions on the bag for adding the ingredients to my Breadman Breadmaker (wincing a bit as I poured in the required teaspoon of Cider Vinegar), selected the gluten-free cycle with medium crust, and walked away.  A little over an hour later, we had a warm, fresh loaf of gluten-free bread.

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain bread bakes to a rich medium brown hue.  The texture far surpasses that of any pre-made store-bought loaf we have tried.  It is soft and moist, even days later.  A thin slice, though dense and a bit flimsy, does not crumble at the slightest touch, as gluten-free breads so often do.  It does not need to be toasted.  The mix is full of sesame and sunflower seeds, giving it a hearty, tangible crunch.  The taste bears a strong resemblance to the intense, pungent flavor of rye bread.  This final quality could be it’s greatest triumph or downfall, depending on your tastes.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of rye bread, but I do love me a Reuben, and this bread would make a perfect Reuben sandwich…lightly toasted with corn beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and a dollop of Thousand Island dressing.  Mmmm…

Bell and Evans Chicken Nuggets

Three cheers for Bell & Evans’ satisfying, delicious, and healthy chicken nuggets!  Hip, hip hooray!

When I decided to make our home gluten-free, this is one food I thought we’d never serve again.  We’d tried a few different brands of chicken nuggets, and they were all spit-it-out-in-the-trash disgusting.  I mourned the loss for my boys, especially my four-year-old, who shed big, fat crocodile tears on our first gluten-free outing to McDonald’s.  How can you have a proper childhood without chicken nuggets?!

Bell & Evans to the rescue!  The light breading of rice and corn flour crisps and turns a perfect golden hue when baked.  And get this…do you know what you see when you bite into a Bell & Evans chicken nugget?  CHICKEN!!  Wonder of wonders!  These nuggets are made with real, tender, juicy, chunky pieces of white breast meat.  You don’t have to squint or hold it mere inches from your eyeball to find the traces of rib meat wedged between nutritionless batter.  If I make these nuggets for my kids’ lunch more than once a week, I don’t feel the slightest trace of guilt.  Bell & Evans chicken nuggets are made with all natural ingredients (no chemical additives or preservatives), and one serving has significantly less fat and more protein than the typical gluten-containing variety.

In fact, when I first made them, I thought, There is no way my kids are going to eat these.  They’re too healthy! Surprise!  My boys gobbled them up and asked for more.  They are gluten-freelicious.  My husband and I agree; Bell & Evans chicken nuggets make a tasty lunch at any age.

Because they are made with whole pieces of uncooked chicken, the nuggets take 25-30 minutes to cook, so plan ahead.  They are not exactly a “fast” food.

Can I get a WHOOP WHOOP?!

Note: The Bell & Evans Chicken Nuggets pictured above are paired with Glutino Pretzel Sticks, another fave in our house.

Trader Joe's

After my so-so review of Trader Joe’s Flourless Chocolate Cake, I feel compelled to share my more concrete feelings on the store itself.  It is an awesome place to shop!  I highly recommend it.

It is a good 20-30 minute drive to our nearest Trader Joe’s (Reston, VA), and I pass uncountable grocery stores along the way.  For those reasons, I don’t make the trip often, but, each time I do, I am reminded what a wonderful experience it can be.  The staff is friendly, courteous, helpful, and everywhere!  As you wander any given aisle, you are likely to pass at least one staff member, restocking shelves or assisting a customer.

On my last visit, I asked if they had any gluten-free beer.  As it turns out, they do not (the three or four brands they used to carry did not receive positive reviews), but, in asking the question, I was given a packet listing the foods and beverages Trader Joe’s does carry in which no gluten ingredients are used.  An entire packet!  It lists everything from bakery items to dairy to salad dressings.  Hallelujah!  Gluten-free shopping made easy.  It doesn’t get much better than that…or does it?

The foods, whether organic or not, are minimally processed and offer much shorter ingredients lists than you will typically see on most packaging in your average grocery store.  The pricing is generally more reasonable.  And, to top it off, not only does Trader Joe’s offer numerous gluten-free options, quite a bit of what we’ve sampled is delicious!  In fact, Trader Joe’s brownies make our Top 1o list.  (More on that to come.)

Find out if you have a Trader Joe’s in your area.  If you do, take a gander!  I predict it will be worth the trip.

UPDATE: Our latest batch of Trader Joe’s gluten-free brownies was not at all yummy as we remembered.  We’ll try again soon, but, for now, I’ve updated our favorites list with Pamela’s brownie mix, a tried and true goodie.

Trader Joe's Flourless Chocolate Cake

With a drizzle of chocolate syrup, this Trader Joe’s Flourless Chocolate Cake is incredibly photogenic, but is it as scrumptious as it appears?  Is it the mouthwatering, “Get in my belly!” treat it so convincingly portrays?  Hmmm…it’s definitely good.  I’m just not sure it’s that good.

I think I’m waffling because flourless chocolate cake is not really cake, as it lacks, um…flour.  So, the “cake” really tastes more like fudge.  But, because it has eggs, it’s not really fudge either.  It’s not soft and moist as you would expect good cake to be or smooth and creamy as you would expect good fudge to be.  The texture and consistency fall somewhere in between.  My taste buds are confused.

Okay, enough semantics.  Trader Joe’s Flourless Chocolate cake is a dense, fudge-like cake topped with rich, dark, creamy icing.  The icing is delicious, but the cake is a bit thick and dry.  A cold slice straight out of the fridge is a bit difficult to get down, but it moistens up nicely with a quick stint in the microwave, and it is a sweet companion to a cold glass of milk or a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Yes, I suppose this is a pretty tasty gluten-free dessert.  I’ve eaten almost a quarter of the cake trying to decide how I feel about it; it must be good.  I think I’ll have another small piece…just to be sure.

NOTE: This cake is listed in Trader Joe’s “No Gluten Ingredients” packet.  It is, however, made on equipment shared with wheat.  The packet states, “Our suppliers follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) to segregate ingredients on shared euipment and/or in the facility.”

Uno Chicago Grill Pepperoni Pizza

First, kudos to Uno Chicago Grill for offering a gluten-free menu.  They even serve Redbridge gluten-free beer!  Woot!  Woot!

That said, what a disappointment!  I love Uno’s deep dish pizza, and I squealed, literally squealed, when I learned they now serve gluten-free pizza.  I thought, This is going to be so gooood!! Surely a restaurant built on the foundation of delicious Chicago-style deep dish pizza will bring some gluten-freelicious Pizza Genius to the table!  My expectations were high…so very high.

And, oh, how they fell.

The crust is bland, and not at all crisp as you would expect a thin crust pizza to be.  In fact, it was so doughy, I wasn’t sure it was cooked all the way through.  If, like my husband, you think the crust is just a vehicle for the sauce and cheese, you, too, would be unmoved.  “Not enough sauce, not enough cheese.”

Our two boys enjoyed the night out and happily ate two or three pieces of pizza each without complaint.  So, we’ll go back.  Next time, however, we grownups will explore the rest of the gluten-free options.

What a bummer.

UPDATE: Uno’s gluten-free pizzas are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility and shipped frozen to Uno restaurants.

This Sweet Potato Bread, courtesy of Pamela’s Products Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix, may be my favorite gluten-free food to date.  It’s not just gluten-free, it’s gluten-freekin’licious!  The amazing blend of flavors and textures leaves your mouth watering for more.  The bread is soft and moist with a wonderful blend of sweet and spice, and the brown sugar and walnut topping adds the perfect crunch.  So.  Very.  Yummy.

Sweet Potato Bread

I intended to make Pamela’s Pumpkin Bread, but pumpkin, apparently, even canned pumpkin, is a seasonal fruit.  I could not find it anywhere!  (Okay, so maybe I only looked in two grocery stores, but isn’t that enough?)  Actually, after searching the second store high and low, I finally found and bought what I thought to be a ginormous can of pumpkin and eagerly started to mix ingredients as soon as I got home.  I even doubled everything so as not to waste any of the precious fruit.  Only after I’d melted the butter, cracked the eggs, poured in the sugar, and opened the can did the sweet smell hit my nose, and I realized it was pumpkin pie mix!  Err.  If I wanted pumpkin bread before, I really wanted it now.

I don’t substitute.  I don’t experiment.  I don’t toy with recipes and ingredients.  I leave that to the experts.  But I wanted pumpkin bread!  I decided to take a big step.  Wait for it…I popped two sweet potatoes in the oven!  Craaazy! When they had baked to perfection, I slit the skin, slipped the sweet, mushy pulp into the bowl, and continued with the recipe.

The savory smells flooded the house as the bread baked.  When it was done, we waited mere minutes for it to cool before slicing in.  It was heavenly.  The first loaf lasted less than two days.  I froze the second loaf, and we took it to my mother-in-law’s house for a quick weekend visit; it was gone within a few hours.

I imagine the sweet potato adds a bit more sweetness, but I’m sure Pamela’s Pumpkin Bread is just as good.  If nothing else, it’s faster to open a can of pumpkin (if you can find it) than it is to bake sweet potatoes.  Still, this was one mistake I was happy to make.

Pamela’s Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) Bread with Crumble Nut Topping

4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of canned pumpkin (or the pulp of one baked sweet potato)
1-1/3 cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Topping: (optional)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of nuts (sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans)

Batter: Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and pumpkin (or sweet potato). Add remaining bread ingredients and mix together. Pour into a greased loaf pan (8 x 4). Mix nut topping ingredients and smooth evenly over batter to the edges. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or when toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.

It’s perfect, right?  I have my breakfast strategically placed on the table so I can take some quick shots for my post today, when a hand slips in to grab a few tasty morsels, proving just how irresistible they are.

Cinnamon Chex Cereal

Alright, maybe irresistible is a bit of a stretch, but they are downright tasty.  Cinnamon Chex is a nice blend of sinfully sweet and wholesome goodness.  The flavor is reminiscent of one of my all-time favorites, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but with less fat, sodium, and sugar, and more protein…oh, and no gluten!

The cereal combines the now gluten-free Rice Chex and Corn Chex.  Some pieces are coated with cinnamon, while others are plain, and the ratio is just about perfect.  Beware, the gratifying crunch does not last long when milk is added.  That, however, is seldom a problem here, as bowls of Cinnamon Chex seem to empty as rapidly as they are filled.

A box of Cinnamon Chex lasts only moments in our house, because it is satisfying at any time of day.  Whether you crave a bowl of sweet cereal with milk in the morning, a dry handful or two to snack on in the afternoon, or a guiltless dessert at night, Cinnamon Chex is there.

Note: Chex now has six gluten-free cereals and a plethora of gluten-free Chex recipes.  I can’t wait to try them!

Not everyone is meant to make a difference. But for me, the choice to lead an ordinary life is no longer an option. -Peter Parker

Spider-Man Chocolate Cupcake

These, my friends, are no ordinary cupcakes.  They were baked with love…and Pamela’s Products Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix.  Oh.  My.  God.  Pamela’s not kidding.  They are moist, fudgy, and, indeed, luscious.

We made our very first batch of Pamela’s gluten-free chocolate cupcakes for my son’s fourth birthday celebration with my husband’s family.  My son mixed and baked the cupcakes with his Gigi, and I decorated them with red and blue butter cream frosting.  I maxed out my artistic talent to appease my son’s love for Spider-Man.  They looked pretty cool, or at least my son thought so.  But how would they taste?  With just one bite, we all agreed; we were in cupcake heaven.  My brother-in-law and his girlfriend did not hesitate to take a few home.

Still, I was nervous.  My son’s fourth birthday party was rapidly approaching.  It was one thing to receive affirmation from a few close family members; it was another thing entirely to satisfy the gluten-craving tastes of a crowd of preschoolers and their parents.  Too intimidated to attempt the Wolverine cake my son hoped for, I decided, to his delight, to have the kids decorate their own cupcakes.  When the big day arrived, I brought out the tray of naked cupcakes and triumphantly passed them out willy-nilly to my son and his friends.  One mom quickly questioned, “Are these all gluten-free?”  The look on her face pleaded, “Please say no.”

“Yep.  They’re good!” I promised, with fingers tightly crossed.

The kids had a blast slathering on icing, sprinkles, and M&Ms and eagerly devoured their masterpieces the instant my son blew out his candles.  If smiling, cupcake smeared faces are a sign of success, then I was victorious.

I encouraged parents to help themselves to the separate tray of cupcakes I’d already frosted.  It may have been my imagination, but they seemed hesitant; word had spread that the cupcakes were gluten-free.  Slowly, cupcake after cupcake disappeared, probably more out of curiosity and politeness than desire, but, soon, the praise began to roll in.  I was pleased to hear the shocked, “This is really good!” and “It doesn’t even taste gluten-free!”  My best friend exclaimed, “These are gluten-free?  Seriously?!  They might be the best cupcakes I’ve ever had!”

Yes.  Yes, they just might be.