Anyway, it was simple – I buttered the frozen bread, stuck some white cheddar cheese on top and left the lid on top for few minutes. Then I added some sliced cherry tomatoes and basil leaves. Voila!

OK, that may have been more than three reasons.

If you have been to Puerto Rico, you know that the food there, authentic Puerto Rican food, mostly can be found in food trucks that basically serve lots and lots of different foods that are fried and breaded, of course. From fish and pork to veggies and plaintains, most every thing is battered and fried. Empañadas, bacalaitos, plaintains, alcapurrias, and mofongo, among various other cuchifritos. While I’m sure these are all yummy things (and I did risk my health and try a few), Puerto Rico is a far stretch from a gluten free dreamland.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when I happened to find gluten free blueberry pancakes in the SuperMax grocery store nearby, which also carried Udi’s gluten free bread, by the way. Yay! Pancakes I can eat!

And not only were Julian’s Recipe Gluten Free Pancakes about the only gluten free thing I could find in the grocery store, but they were REALLY, REALLY good, too! They weren’t soggy; they had great flavor. I stuck them in the toaster oven and voila, what a treat! And according to their website, they can also be found at WholeFoods and Safeway – I’ll have to check next time I go. I’ve tried other frozen gluten free pancakes before and were not impressed, but these hotcakes hit the spot.

And in all fairness to Puerto Rico cuisine, food trucks aren’t the only option, albeit they are ubiquitous. There are wonderful restaurants that serve delicioso fresh fish and prepare lovely meals. My good friend (with wonderful taste) took me to La Jaquita Baya in San Juan’s Miramar section. They serve strictly Puerto Rican cuisine. I had a lovely dish of fish and root vegetables (see below), among other sobroso (Spanish for tasty) dishes. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I’m not 100% sure that it was 100% gluten free, but I’m sure there were options at this restaurant for at least the gluten-sensitive, if not for celiacs. In addition to the great meal, the restaurant had a very quaint atmosphere, complete with live music – a guitarist and a flutist. A perfect meal.

¡Buen Provecho!

Therefore, I thought a blog about the different types of beer that claim they are gluten free would be a good plan. I’ve tried quite a few gluten free beers, and while some satisfy my “please let me have a freaking beer” needs, I do not prefer them to the taste of a regular old PBR, even though I never, ever, ever, would have drank a PBR back in the days when I was swallowing wheat beers by the growlers. (If you’re not a heavy beer drinker, you probably don’t know that a growler is a jug of beer.)

So what can we drink? Here are my top five gluten free beers that don’t make me gag:

1. Estrella Damm Daura

While I was living in Asheville, NC I stumbled on a beer called Daura in a nice little bar called The Altamont Brewing Company, which I frequented. I was shocked and surprised at how Daura had very little of that nasty aftertaste you get sometimes with gluten free beer. In fact, Estrella Damm Daura won a gold medal in 2011 for the World’s Best Gluten-free Lager. It is my gluten free beer of choice.

Green’s Gluten Free Beers

A slightly more expensive GF beer is Green’s, which hails from the UK. I haven’t tried ALL of the Green’s varieties – they have an ale, a pilsner, and a blonde, dark, and brown ale. I need to get my hands on the new bottle refermented blonde and see what that’s all about. Has anyone else tried these? Please advise, if so! I do remember liking the Green’s that I drank, but I don’t remember being overwhelmed, especially for the price, as they come in pretty big bottles.

Redbridge

Made by a familiar brand for you Bud drinkers, Redbridge is brewed from sorghum. Like a Bud, it kind of tastes like water. But it’s way more appealing & refreshing a hot summer day than…what? Oh, right, it’s way better than no beer at all.

Dogfish Head Tweason’ Ale

I got a chance to sip on this newbie at House of 1000 Beers in New Kensington, PA, just north of Pittsburgh, PA. The taste is good, even though I don’t care for fruity beers that much. It’s brewed with strawberries, buckwheat, and honey, but the fruity flavor is ever so slight. It does leave a bit of an aftertaste, but not overwhelmingly so.

New Planet

While New Planet makes three gluten free beers (An ale, a raspberry ale, and a pale ale) I have only tried the regular ale. And it was OK. It didn’t make me gag.

I still have yet to try Omission, a gluten free lager that doesn’t suck made in Portland, OR. I am a little peaved that they said they’d send me samples and I never received anything in the mail. But from this blog post it sounds like it might be quite tasty.

The beer that wins the prize for the WORST GLUTEN FREE BEER EVER is a nasty, nasty, disgutamungo tasting beer called Sprecher’s Shakparo. This beer made me gag and I couldn’t stand to take more than a couple of sips. EW!!!

So tell me – what am I missing here? What’s YOUR favorite gluten free beer that doesn’t make you gag?

Udi's displaying their NEW gluten free muffin tops

I had already been registered for a yoga workshop all weekend, but was able to walk over in between yoga sessions with my friend Nicky and we spent an hour and a half sampling yummy cakes, cookies, beer, pizza, soups, sandwiches, chips, crackers, muffins from over 50 vendors. There were also lots of coupons and great information being handed out. It was HEAVEN (even if I did end up with a stuffed tummy by the end!). The event also had some sessions and presentations from health professionals, but I wasn’t able to attend those.

There were plenty of local businesses from the Asheville, NC area displaying their products, as well as national businesses. Highlights as follows…

I was pleased to see Moon Rabbit Foods at the expo (who also happened to have plenty of samples of their most delicious snacks). I have meant to blog about Moon Rabbit by now, but unfortunately haven’t gotten around to it. They have THE BEST gluten free cake, cookie, scone and focaccia/pizza mixes I’ve EVER tasted. Last Fall I made scones from their mix and they turned out SO GOOD. There is never a xanthum gum aftertaste like many other gluten free products (even though they use xanthum gum in their mixes). And they are always generous with their samples when I see them at the Farmers markets! If you’re not local, you can always purchase their gluten free mixes online.

Gluten Free Display of Moon Rabbit Foods

Moon Rabbit Foods had so many samples (corn bread, scones, cakes, flatbread, focaccia (which is to DIE for!) and so many others – I forget them all, but I know I tried them all

I believe that all of the vendors sell products inside Ingles grocers, which is great and convenient for me!

Next up was My Gluten-Free Bread Company, a bakery based in Hendersonville, NC (and a social enterprise). I didn’t manage to get a picture of their baked goods, but go to their website if you want to make your mouth water. On their menu they have banana bread listed, as well as multi-grain bread, sandwich bread, mock rye bread, and hamburger buns, in addition to cookies, vegan brownies, and coffee cake. I’m looking forward to trying more of their products!!

Yet another delicious baked goods company from the Asheville area was World’s Best Carrot Cake, who sells a pretty mean gluten free carrot cake on their website, even if it is a bit pricey. It tied with Moon Rabbit Foods for being one of my favorites at the expo.

And my day wouldn’t have been complete without tasting a few beers and ciders! Redbridge gluten free beer was there and they were also handing out samples of a new cider by Michelob, which was fairly tasty. However, my favorite cider to taste was from Woodchuck, their ‘Dark and Dry’ was not too sweet like most ciders.

And in other gluten free beer news, a commenter on the blog recently told us about a Swedish study on gluten free beers that gives the count of gluten in a range of beers. Some gems, such as Carlsberg, Corona Extra, and Pilsner-Urquell are listed as having very low gluten counts (less than 20 ppm).

What goes great with beer? Pretzels!! And Snyder’s of Hanover has recently come out with gluten free pretzel sticks! And they are actually very good pretzels.

So great to see so many options for being gluten free!

If you missed the expo, there will be another one in Greenville, SC on September 8, 2012. The cost is $5 and will be held at Kroc Center, 424 Westfield Street, Greenville, 29601 off Academy Street from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Let us know of any other gluten free events in your area!!

And I have a second opinion on this as well. My sister attempted to eat one with me and she had the same repulsive reaction. We were actually driving in a car at the time, heading up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a hike. I warmed up the buns briefly, squeezed the icing on top and we were on our way. Unfortunately, we were on our way to the coffee shop and I didn’t yet have any type of beverage to wash down the nasty lingering taste these horrible cinnamon buns leave behind. I was gagging and screaming, “Ugh! Yuck! Get this nasty taste out of my mouth! I can’t stand it!”.

It’s true. Ask my sister.

I was very disappointed, needless to say. They looked so good. But I have to mention, not only were the gluten free cinnamon buns gross tasting, but the icing was not very pleasant tasting either. I was hoping for more of a cream cheese sort of taste, but it was more of a maple nutty, icky taste. I don’t know whether my warming the buns up also made them too hard, but either way the taste was the biggest factor for me.

And it’s unfortunate because these four cinnamon buns cost about $6.79 a pack in my local organic food store. (But I’ll admit, I didn’t pay for them, as Udi’s sent them to me to review, free of charge.) Surely with all their other delicious products, Udi’s can come up with something better for what should taste like a cinnamon bun?

Hmph. After writing this I’m now hungry for cinnamon buns. Have any of you (my readers) tried making them from scratch or discovered other good options? I’d LOVE to have a recipe!! Maybe I’ll attempt making them someday…I imagine it’s not easy.

Also, I would post a picture of these gluten free cinnamon buns, but it was a while back that I tried eating them and since then lost my iPhone and with it, the pictures I took. In lieu, here are some real cinnamon buns:

It tasted good, and actually I couldn’t really tell that the gluten free tortilla wasn’t gluten free, so that’s a very good start. If my only complaint was that it is too small, that’s a good thing, but the other thing that bothered me is that it didn’t have much in the way of vegetables inside either — just mostly rice and beans and a few strands of onion and some tiny pieces of squash. I wish this company would make gluten free tortillas and sell them so I could make my own burritos…maybe they do??? The company claims that they have “the largest collection of gluten free recipes in the world”, so I’m headed to their site now to check it out.

I put a banana on this plate to give you some perspective. That’s a small plate, not a really large banana…

Anyway, if you’re hungry for a burrito and on the go, this will satisfy – but grab two, if you can afford the $3.79 price tag!

I decided that I was a little more “mature” for hot dogs these days, and decided to fill my buns with some nice italian sausages at Earth Fare, also claiming to be gluten free. Win win.

What an easy meal! I dazzled up my sausage with a little hot mustard, and it made for a very tasty dinner. It was a while ago that I made these, and I’m craving them again. So that’s a good sign!

About the hot dog buns:

Since I was making these sausage dogs for myself only, I had a few opportunities to warm up the hot dog buns. Please note: if not done properly, they can get very hard. For instance, don’t put them in the microwave for too long. The best thing to do to warm them is to put them in a toaster over for a short length of time. If they get too soft, they will be difficult to get your hot dog/sausage in, and they will get very had as they cool.

But if made properly, they have a great taste and flavor. I wouldn’t have been able to tell they were gluten free. They weren’t soggy, had a great texture, and didn’t leave any kind of nasty after taste, often associated with gluten free foods. I’m looking forward to trying the hamburger buns I stuffed in my freezer this weekend! I’m headed to the Bywater in Asheville, NC for a little family cook out and to hear some good music. Can’t wait!

A few weeks back, while I was in Washington, DC craving gluten free blueberry muffins, I couldn’t find any!! I checked a bunch of places for Udi’s gluten free blueberry muffins, but they didn’t sell them in the Whole Foods or the Trader Joe’s there. Bummer!!

So, when I arrived in Asheville, NC, I really didn’t expect to find anything better than what they have in The Nation’s Capital. Oh, geez, was I wrong.

Asheville, which boasts itself as the world’s first Foodtopian Society, is the BEST town I have ever discovered for celiacs and gluten free sensitive eaters.

First, I went to the French Broad Co-op, which I heard wonderful things about. Seeing a tray full of muffins, I asked if they carried Udi’s blueberry muffins. The gentleman at the register said, no, they did not and offered up some other gluten free options. But either they were out that day, or they took a cue from my request, because the VERY NEXT WEEK, they DID have Udi’s gluten free blueberry muffins.

See:

Were the muffins good you ask? YES. They were very good. I especially liked the sprinkles of granulated sugar on top

HOWEVER, there is a big difference in having fresh baked muffins and frozen muffins. And I was lucky enough to find the former the week before I finally found the Udi’s blueberry muffins.

My new home away from home, the West End Bakery in West Asheville, NC carries several gluten free options, as well as muffins made from spelt, vegan muffins, and regular muffins and other baked goods. They also have gluten free bread, which means I can eat sandwiches here for lunch!! I love this place.

And here is what their muffin looks like:

So far, these are the only two gluten free blueberry muffins I’ve tried — how about you? I’d be interested in finding more muffins…or the gluten free muffin man.

Rudi’s sent me some gluten free num nums in the mail. I had been craving PIZZA, as usual, and so was pleased to find their gluten free pizza crust in the package (among other gluten free yummies, I’ll be blogging about soon).

So I made a pizza! First, I went to the French Broad Co-op to find some local pizza sauce. That didn’t happen, but I did find some Rising Moon Organics Garlic & Chanerelle Mushroom Pasta Sauce, which worked out quite well. Toppings included green peppers, yellow peppers, mushrooms, scallions, and chicken breast strips. Also, a mixture of Mozzerella and Long Horn Cheeses was melted on top.

I should note here that the French Broad Co-op in Asheville, NC has a very good selection of gluten free eats, including Udi’s gluten free blueberry muffins. YUM.

But, back to Rudi’s. I very much enjoyed the pizza. The crust was not soggy or mushy, it did not crumble and it held its ground. I’ve had some pretty bad gluten free pizza in my day, and Rudi’s is in a different class. I will not say, however, that it was better than Mandy’s, but until Mandy’s is widely available, Rudi’s is a good option. Rudi’s is also a very good option for hot dog buns, which I’ll be posting about soon!

Yay, Pizza!!

Tell us about your favorite gluten free pizza crust and/or recipes! What have you had that’s good?