Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups 1% milk (skim milk will make them a bit runny)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large banana, well mashed

Directions:

1. Heat griddle to medium-high heat.
2. Mix Pamela’s Baking Mix, eggs, milk, oil, and cinnamon with whisk. Stir in mashed banana.
3. Grease hot griddle with butter.
4. Drop batter by the 1/4 cup onto hot griddle.
5. Turn pancakes when they begin to bubble across the middle.
6. Pancakes are done when both sides are golden brown.

We topped ours with butter and confectioner’s sugar. Sooo good! Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Muffin

Okay, so lately I stink at blogging. I make stuff I think tastes good, I take pictures of the stuff (not very good ones, but pictures nonetheless), and then…I do nothing. I can’t seem to find the time to sit down and just *do it*. So, I’m going to make this short and sweet. I will tell you I think these are moist and delicious and totally worth baking. I’ve eaten three in the last five hours, and I’m sure I will devour several more before I go to sleep tonight. Yum. Yum. Yum.

I combined three different recipes to come up with this one, so…that makes it my own, right?? ;o) Let’s just say it does.

Carrot Cake Muffins

4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup raisins
1 can crushed pineapple, drained (I actually didn’t have this, so I took about four slices of sliced canned pineapple and ran them through the food processor for a few seconds.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line 2 muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, vanilla extract, and brown sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, sift yellow cake mix, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. Pour dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients and mix.
5. Stir in carrots, raisins, and pineapple.
6. Pour in muffin cups until almost full.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I am sure that these muffins would be incredible if topped with some cream cheese icing. I’ll do that for my next muffin. Ooh, and since they have carrots in them, that makes them healthy. Honest.

Banana Muffins

2 cups Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
1 cup oat bran (I just ground one cup of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats to a consistency somewhere between oats and oat flour.)
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 TSP ground nutmeg
1/4 TSP allspice
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice (I didn’t have any, so I used the juice from one large can of pineapple plus enough water to equal one cup.)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed ripe bananas

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, juice, sugar, and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups almost to the top. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve warm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I feel the urgent need to share with you the recipe that has made me happier than any other gluten-free recipe I’ve tried to date.  On a whim, I adapted a recipe from allrecipes.com and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Am I ever so glad I did!

I’ve made gluten-free chocolate chip cookies before, but they always turn out too crispy, too bland, or incredibly lacking in chocolate chips.  These cookies are soft, moist, flavorful, and loaded with chocolatey goodness.  Is the vanilla pudding the secret to making a soft cookie?  I have no idea.  All I know for sure is these cookies are scrumptious, and I had some for breakfast this morning.  Mmmm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

NOTE: I found that the first batch of cookies was ready in about 11 minutes, and subsequent batches were ready in about 9 or 10 minutes.  If you cook them much longer, they turn crispy.  If you like a soft cookie, keep a close eye on the time!

Today we used Philadelphia cream cheese (what else?), blackberry jelly, and Diamond Rice Thins (pecan is our favorite), but any flavor jelly and your favorite gluten-free cracker will be scrumptious!  I prefer Sesmark Rice Thins, and I have fond memories of pepper jelly (but I’m not sure my kids are ready for that quite yet).

My first thought was to make pumpkin muffins, but I had a cooked sweet potato in the refrigerator that begged to be used.  I’d had to substitute sweet potato for pumpkin in a recipe once before, and it was a victory in trial by error.  So, despite the fact that it added precious minutes to my dwindling preparation time, sweet potato it was.  I sliced off the skin and threw that sucker in the food processor.  (If you don’t happen to have a cooked sweet potato in the refrigerator, as I did, and time is of the essence, use one can of pumpkin instead.)

This recipe, thank goodness, is quick and easy (assuming the sweet potato is already cooked); I was able to whip up a tasty batch of muffins in a total of 45 minutes.  The muffins are moist, incredibly sweet, and, indeed, marvelous.

So.  Yum.

Sweet Potato Muffins (Adapted from Pamela’s Pumpkin Loaf Cake with Nut Topping)

Muffins:
4 TBSP butter, melted
2 eggs, large
1/2 cup sugar
1 large sweet potato, pureed or mashed to smooth consistency
1-1/3 cups Pamela’s Mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

Topping:
2 TBSP melted butter
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar (I used raw cane sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and sweet potato.  Add remaining muffin ingredients and mix completely.  Pour into 12 muffin cups.  Mix topping and smooth evenly over batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or when toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.  ENJOY!

Annie's GF Bunny Cookies

Can I just tell you how excited I was to find a “cute” gluten-free snack for my kids?!  No, really.  I can’t quite explain the thrill I felt at discovering these little bunny shaped cookies.  Since we are now not only gluten-free but mostly all natural/organic as well, “cute” and “cool” seem to have been taken off the menu.  No more rainbow colors.  No more super heroes.  No more fun.

So…YEA!  Bunny shapes!  Does it even matter how they taste?  No!

Okay, so maybe it matters a little bit.

Annie’s Homegrown Gluten Free Cocoa & Vanilla Bunny Cookies are, according to my boys, “good!”  The chocolate cookies taste like any other chocolate cookie to me…yummy.  They remind me of chocolate Teddy Grahams, which I could eat by the handful.  The vanilla is a bit chalkier, as seems to be the case with all gluten-free vanilla cookies, but the flavor is good.

These little bunnies are cute and tasty!  How much does that rock?

Fresh Blueberries

What to do with nearly four pounds of freshly picked blueberries?  A quick google search led me to a blueberry crisp recipe from Gluten-Free Goddess.  Oh.  My.  Yumminess.  With one modification, it is now one of my family’s favorite dessert recipes.

This blueberry crisp is easy to make, takes little time, and tastes like heaven.  It is so delicious, in fact, that I could not get a picture of the final product, because we were too busy devouring every last crumb.  I tripled the recipe and brought it to a family dinner for twenty, and the results were much the same.  Everyone loved it!  This recipe is not just “good for gluten-free.”  It’s downright fabulous in its own right.

Serve it straight from the oven, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

BLUEBERRY CRISP
2 pints fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup Pamela’s Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease pie plate with butter.

Blueberry Crisp (Pre Baking)

Sprinkle a pinch or two (or three) of the baking mix onto the blueberries and toss.  Pour blueberries into pie plate.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup baking mix, sugar, and cinnamon.  Add 1/3 cup softened butter and knead with hands to a crumbly texture.

Layer the crumbs over the blueberries.  Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

We have entered what, in my house, we call birthday season.  In just two short weeks, my boys will attend seven birthday parties, with more soon to follow.  Although my amazing and irreplaceable friends and family now often offer a gluten-free option for my boys, I truly would rather not burden them with our food sensitivities.  Besides, my oldest son loves to help out in the kitchen and has a blast decorating his desserts before the parties.  And so…the baking begins.

This season I had the foresight to bake cupcakes and freeze the extra to pull out as needed.  Just hours before a birthday party, I went to our pantry to get the process started.  I quickly scanned the shelves for my favorite chocolate cake mix, and, alas! (and other expletives), the cupboard was bare!  All I could find was a box of Betty Crocker yellow cake mix, tucked away at the back of a shelf, collecting dust.  I had bought it months before when I first discovered Betty Crocker’s gluten-free mixes in the grocery store; as of yet, I’d had little inspiration to try it.  We had sampled a few gluten-free yellow cakes, including some made with this mix, and not one was worth the calories.  They were dry and crumbly, and the taste was just eh.  Cat had encouraged me to try her tweaked recipe long ago, but I was hesitant.  With limited other options, however, I decided to give her modified version a try.  Thank gluten-free goodness I did!!

I’m usually an icing girl; I like it super sweet and slathered on thick.  Cake?  I could take it or leave it.  But a lack of confectioners sugar (you know, bare cupboard and all), led me to try these golden beauties without frosting, and I did not miss it at all.  These cakes are fluffy, moist, and delicious.  My husband and boys devoured several in no time at all.  That’s right…even my children ate them without the sweet, creamy topping.  That’s just unheard of!  If I hadn’t frozen the extras, I am sure they would not have lasted much past the first two birthday parties.  I am so thrilled to have a go-to yellow cake recipe that is easy and scrumptious.  Thank you, Catherine!  Well done!

Key Lime Pie Larabar

Most days of the week, most hours of the day, I would tell you that living gluten-free is not hard.  It would be a far stretch to say that it is easy, but it is not nearly as difficult as I imagined it to be.  That said, finding tasty, nutritious, minimally processed snack foods can be tough, and doing so has been my most frustrating challenge.  So, when I first discovered Larabar’s Key Lime Pie fruit and nut bars, I was in gluten-free snack heaven.

We have tried quite a few flavors of Larabar over the years, and I have liked them all well enough, but Key Lime Pie is by far my favorite.  All Larabars are made with some combination of fruit, nuts, and spices, and the list of ingredients is always pleasantly short and wholesome.  Key Lime Pie is no exception; it’s the perfect combination of dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut, and lime juice concentrate.  The smooth texture of this Larabar exceeds any other I have tried, and I love the subtle, but not overpowering, lime flavor.  No lip-puckering here.  I dare say even coconut haters will like this bar.  It’s just that good.

Larabar offers a wide variety of flavors, and there are a few I am anxious to try.  Banana Bread, Cinnamon Roll, and Ginger Snap sound especially gluten-freelicious.  What is your favorite Larabar flavor?

So, it seems I have taken a rather unintentional hiatus from reviewing gluten-free goodies.  I lost my writing mojo.  It started with the passing of my dear, sweet Granny in October, followed by one holiday/event/excuse after another.  Now, spring has sprung.  The mountain of snow has thawed, the chill in the air is fading, and new life is emerging every day.  I, too, am determined to make a fresh start!  With a little more spring cleaning, my mojo is sure to turn up.

Contributing to my writer’s block is the fact that our eating habits have changed rather dramatically in the last few months.  After watching the documentary, Food, Inc and reading If It’s Not Food, Don’t Eat It!, by Kelly Hayford, I’ve become a bit granola.  We now buy grass fed beef and free range poultry from a local farm, we buy organic produce and dairy as often as possible, and our pantry and refrigerator have been swept of all products containing high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and other chemical additives, food colorings, and preservatives.  For someone who has always loved the convenience and ease of prepackaged foods, this has been quite an adjustment.

I’m still trying to figure out where my loyalties lie.  Just how crunchy do I want to be?  Kelly Hayford would have me give up all refined sugars in favor of natural sweeteners like honey and Stevia, but there is no replacing brown sugar on my oatmeal.  Searching the grocery store shelves for organic, minimally processed snack foods for my kids can be beyond frustrating, especially if said children are in the store with me and have lost all patience for my meticulous browsing!  Just yesterday we ventured to a local farm to roast marshmallow Peeps over a bonfire.  Do I dare deny my kids (or myself) such delicious fun?  I aim to strike the balance between healthy, nutritious foods and convenient, low-stress eating with a splash of reckless abandon now and then.  No sweat!

And, so, the search begins.  Please leave a comment, and share with me your favorite gluten-free, organic/all natural, minimally processed snack food(s), and I will happily return the favor in posts to come.

Minnie Beasley's Handmade Gluten-Free Chocolate Almond Lace Gourmet Cookies

Harmon Beasley Cannon, owner of Minnie Beasley’s Cookie Company, recently offered to send me a couple bags of his new gluten-free Handmade Almond Lace cookies, and I eagerly accepted.  I am so thankful I did!

I received two bags of the award winning cookies, one regular and one dutch chocolate.  They were wrapped with the utmost of care.  I admit, my husband and I laughed as we peeled away at what we thought to be excessive layers of bubble wrap.  In hindsight, however, I see that the meticulous packaging is a reflection of the company and the pride they take in their delicate product, from the selection of ingredients to its delivery at your front door.

The recipe for these cookies began with Harmon’s great aunt Minnie Beasley, and it has been passed down through four generations.  Harmon claims he “cannot imagine a holiday without them.”  Is it just me, or do homemade cookies with a family history taste even sweeter?

I believe this is my first experience with lace cookies, and they are unlike any other cookie I have ever had.  They are thin and brittle, and have a taste and texture very similar to toffee.  Minnie Beasley’s cookies are big, incredibly rich, and very sweet.  Even half a cookie is satisfying (although I must say I have eaten far more than half a cookie today).  As Harmon says in his brief video on Minnie Beasley’s website, “Butter, almonds, sugar, milk, cream, flour…how can you go wrong?”  I don’t believe you can.  Both the regular and chocolate flavored cookies are divine, and I can’t decide which one I like better.

Aunt Minnie should be proud.

Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread

Finally!  A bread that is not completely inedible or just “okay for gluten-free,” but actually tastes good in its own right.  Woohoo!  Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix makes our favorite sandwich bread.

After trying several loaves of store-bought gluten-free cardboard…I mean, bread…I gave up.  I decided “gluten-free bread” was some sort of oxymoron, clearly not meant to be.  Reviewers of various breads suggested toasting or a good slathering in peanut butter.  We weren’t that desperate.  I mean, I could toast my shoe and paste it with peanut butter, too…but I’m not going to.

Surprisingly, we didn’t really miss bread…not too much, anyway.  We made ham and cheese rolls and lettuce wraps.  They were pretty tasty and easy to make.  We served hotdogs and hamburgers with all the condiments, minus the buns.  Peanut butter was reserved for apples, or a sneaky spoonful when no one was looking.  We battled the occasional craving for the likes of homemade hot ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches, but, all in all, we survived bread’s absence relatively pain-free.

As my son nears Kindergarten, however, I enter a heightened state of panic.  It stresses me out.  I mean, for one thing, one can only eat so many ham and cheese rolls.  At home, we add variety with gluten-free hot foods, like Annie’s mac and cheese or Bell and Evans chicken nuggets.  I’m guessing no one will offer to reheat my son’s lunches at public school…so what will he eat?  The boy needs to be able to eat a sandwich!  My husband tried to point out that our son won’t eat lunch in school until first grade, a good two years from now, but this point fell on deaf ears.  I was a mom on a mission, and we needed gluten-free bread, like, yesterday.

Unwilling to sample another store-bought loaf, I started researching bread machines.  My good friend sent me a link to a review of the Breadman Breadmaker on Karina’s Kitchen.  I immediately ordered it, and thus began my search for a gluten-freelicious bread mix.  (Surely you didn’t think I’d attempt to make bread completely from scratch?!)

Roaring Good Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix is the best of the bread mixes we’ve tried to date.  I follow the directions on the package, using milk and butter, instead of water and oil.  The bread is a bit delicate when warm, but, oh so good!  (Most say wait until it cools to slice, but I say, “Slice carefully!”)  It’s dense, as most gluten-free breads are, and yet somehow light at the same time, with a mild buttery flavor.  It’s perfect for sandwiches.  When a friend stayed for lunch the other day, I used fresh Gluten-Free Pantry bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches for my boys and her two girls.  The kids scarfed them down within minutes, and our kids rarely make happy plates!  I was especially thrilled when my friend, whom I’ve never known to sugarcoat her opinion of food, said, “Mmm, this is really good!  It’s so fluffy!  It tastes like something out of a restaurant.”  Gluten-free grilled cheese in a restaurant?  If only.

I highly recommend this bread mix.  It even makes an excellent pizza crust!

"American" z pizza

Yummy in my tummy!  Z pizza’s gluten-free crust is pretty tasty, and the pizza topping “creations” rock!

Pizza is one of those things I thought we’d never eat out again, and, oh, how it depressed me.  Stuffing myself at Pizza Hut is a fond childhood memory, and it pained me to think I might not get to share that experience with my own children.  I get teary just thinking about it.  Sniff.

So, when I first learned that several restaurants are now offering gluten-free pizzas, I thought I’d jump out of my pants; I was so excited!  Too soon, my hopes were dashed, and our experience at Uno Chicago Grill taught me to lower my expectations for any future gluten-free pizza adventures.  Still, when Kim suggested z pizza, I was thrilled to find out we have several in our area and incredibly anxious to get to one and try it out!

I thoroughly enjoyed our gluten-free dinner at z pizza.  We ordered three creations: Napoli, Thai, and American.  They were all excellent.  The gluten-free crust is simple: light, thin, buttery, and crisp.  The toppings are fresh, flavorful, and plentiful.  I was surprised how much I loved the Napoli, topped only with cheese, tomatoes, and fresh basil.  I rarely cook with fresh herbs (you know, not really being the chef-type), but, WOW, fresh basil is sooo good!!  The Thai pizza was delicious, with spicy chicken and yummy peanut sauce; it had just the right amount of kick.  The American was, well, American…big chunks of sausage, fresh peppers…not quite as exciting as the other two, but still very good.  Z pizzas are light on crust, sauce, and cheese, but packed with flavor.  They are definitely gluten-freelicious.

So, z pizza gets two thumbs up.  I am, however, still on the lookout for a greasy deep dish or New York style gluten-free pizza, loaded with sauce and cheese.  Is it out there?  Is it even possible?

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies

Hi.  My name is Rebecca, and I’m a sugarholic.  Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies?  Yum!  Pass the box!  These tasty little bombs are loaded with explosive cinnamon sugar goodness, sure to please any sweet tooth.

I have to admit, I did not have much hope for these cookies.  Enjoy Life products are free of wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, and shellfish.  Call me crazy, but I’d think they’d also be free of taste!  In fact, we’ve tried a few of Enjoy Life’s cereals and cereal bars, and they were just eh.  Not bad for gluten-free, but nothing to write home about, either.  These snickerdoodle cookies, however, are addictive.  One is just not enough.  What gives?

It does not take a detective to figure this one out.  What Enjoy Life snickerdoodles lack in allergens, they certainly make up for in sugar!  The cookies are soft, moist, and packed with my vice in numerous forms (date paste, three fruit juice concentrates, brown sugar, and rice dextrin).  With a heavy dusting of cinnamon sugar on top and crunchy little pockets of cinnamon sugar scattered throughout, this cookie is definitely a sugar lover’s dream.

At about four bucks a box for 12 cookies in our local grocery store, my husband says, “They’re really good, but not worth it.”  Hmm, that’s questionable.  But how about $3 a box on Amazon?  I’m in.

I don’t imagine I will share too many recipes here, as I am not über-talented in the kitchen.  However, when my family of four finished an entire baked ziti in less than 24 hours, I thought it noteworthy!  (Not to mention, if I can do it, it’s pretty safe to say anyone can.)

Baked ziti has always been my go-to meal to take to friends experiencing one of life’s big moments, like the birth of a new baby or a death in the family, because it is delicious, it freezes well, and it can feed a large group (or, at least, it should).  I only recently attempted to make a gluten-free version for my own family.  If you took the time to read the novel in my About Me section (and I don’t blame if you if you didn’t), you will know that I typically follow a recipe line by line, but I do like to add “more of the good stuff.”  This gluten-freelicious baked ziti is made especially delectable with an excess of sauce and cheese.  It pairs well with a side of Tums.

Saucy Baked Ziti Penne

16 oz package gluten-free pasta (I actually don’t know that a gluten-free ziti even exists.  I like to use Tinkyada or Trader Joe’s brown rice penne.)
6 cups pasta sauce (I like Classico Four Cheese Pasta Sauce.)
4 cups mozzarella cheese
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a big bowl, mix hot pasta, 2 1/2 cups sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, egg, oregano, basil, parsley, and garlic powder.

Spread 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce across the bottom of a 13″x9″ pan.  Top with pasta mixture.  Cover with remaining 2 cups sauce.  Sprinkle with 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

Yummy Gluten-Free Pizza

I made quite the scrumptious pizza tonight, if I do say so myself, by modifying the recipe on Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix with Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix.  We’ve made pizza with Pamela’s mix before, but I think we all agree this one is better.  The crust is thick and flavorful, and my son helped me top it with plenty of sauce, oodles of cheese, and a layer of greasy pepperoni (on the grownups’ side only).  Yum!

Glutenfreelicious Pizza

DOUGH
1 bag Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix
1 yeast packet (enclosed in mix)
1/4 cup olive oil
1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

TOPPINGS
1 jar Classico Four Cheese Pasta Sauce (our favorite)
4 cups shredded mozarella cheese
your choice of pizza toppings

Combine Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix, yeast packet, oil, water, oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour dough onto greased cookie sheet or pizza pan. Use oil or non-stick spray on dough and fingers to keep fingers from sticking when spreading dough into pizza shape. Let rise 1 hour, then add sauce and toppings. Bake in a preheated 375º oven for 30-35 minutes on a lower rack. Dough will puff when baking.

I used one 15 1/2″x10″x1″ cookie sheet.  You could divide the dough to make two smaller pizzas.  The crust of our pizza was almost too thick, and next time I may try to spread it just a touch thinner across two smaller pans or one larger pan.

DELISH!

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

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.

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.