Mrs. Crimble's Caramel Rice Cakes

One thing that has always irritated me was that traditional rice cakes are not gluten free. PCD I loved rice cakes. They were my favorite guilt free snack - especially when they started coming in potato chip flavors. I can still taste the Quaker Sour Cream and Onion rice crackers - delicious. 

For years I bemoaned the lack of GF rice cakes until I found Mrs. Crimbles. 

Oh Mrs. Crimbles you minx you. These caramel flavored cakes are divine. They are sticky, sweet and super crunchy. If you live or have ever visited a New Jersey ocean town boardwalk and had Johnson's popcorn then you know what a serious situation these rice cakes are bringing. They taste very similar to Johnson's caramel popcorn and I love them. 

Verdict? Yummy!

Dutch Country Soft Pretzels

If there is one thing the Pennsylvania Dutch know its soft pretzels. If there is one thing that is constantly waved in your face in the Philadelphia area it would be Dutch Country soft pretzels. They are freakin everywhere. You can't go to anywhere without pretzels all up in your business. Growing up in this area I miss biting into the soft chewy dough of a dutch pretzel.

You can imagine my joy upon discovering that the Pennsylvania Dutch have decided to bestow upon the world their delicious pretzels in gluten free form. I truly had a moment the day I saw them in my health food store. For a while I had contemplated attempting to make them from scratch but I just knew they wouldn't come out right so I never tried. But here - here they were all frozen and ready to be taken home and popped in the oven until they were toasty warm.

When I got home I was little aggravated to discover that I just paid $7 for three frozen pretzels. Three small frozen pretzels. Oh you got me again gluten free ingredients! Seriously though - isn't there like a ton of rice grown in this world why is it so expensive? Do I need to call a commodities trader and have this broken down for me?

But I digress.

I prepared the pretzels with their enclosed salt pack, popped them in the oven and waited.

You guys. Seriously. It's like a REAL pretzel! It's soft and chewy and completely delicious. I love the moments where I feel nearly normal. I do wish the price point could be lower or they would give you more pretzels because three pretzels do go pretty fast.

Verdict? Yummy!

Udi's Hamburger Rolls

As we have previously covered I love Udi's. They get it, they really do. They understand their customer very well. They know that those who are eating gluten free still want to eat something delicious and that there is no reason to settle for something terrible when something awesome is available. I find that incredibly commendable.

I have been itching for a few weeks to get these rolls and just didn't get it together until today. The reason? I've been big time craving Five Guys. For those of you not in the know - Five Guys is an amazing burger joint and its an extremely safe place for celiacs to eat. There is no cross contamination - burgers on one grill, buns on another and nothing gets fried except french fries. Plus buns never touch a surface other than the piece of foil they are being wrapped in AND if you ask them to change their gloves before handling your food they are always happy to do so. Complete nirvana.

The thing is that I've never had one of their burgers on a bun. The last time I went to Five Guys the guy prepping my food screwed up and I had a minor temper tantrum. I explained my situation to the manager and he told me to always tell them when ordering that I have a special diet and that I was welcome to bring in a gluten free bun to have a "regular burger."

Wow.

A regular burger.

I haven't had one of those in a long time. There hasn't been a gluten free hamburger bun that tasted good enough for me to want to use it. So I've just been going along eating my burgers sans bun and being happy.

All that changed today.

I went to Five Guys handed over my Udi's bun and anxiously awaited my "normal" burger.

I was in heaven. The bun was so tasty and it held up under the oh-so-yummy-super-loaded-a-little-greasy burger. Every other GF bun I've had falls apart at the first bite not Udi's. Udi's stayed together, stayed firm and held up until the very last bite.

I think I'm done having my burgers sans bun.

Seriously? Is there anything Udi's can't do?      

Verdict? YUMMY!                                                                 

Schar Classic White Bread

Schar absolutely holds a special place deep, deep within my heart as it was the first good tasting gluten free bread I ever ate. 

When I was diagnosed with celiac 7 years ago I tried so many gluten free breads. PCD (pre-celiac diagnosis) I was a total bread-aholic and celiac disease was my rehab program. Every bread I tried was heavy, crumbly, weird tasting - it just wasn't hitting the spot. After a year of total fails I gave up. I figured that being a celiac meant no bread ever and I would just have to live with it and learn to make do. Instead of sandwiches I ate big complicated salads, I ate burgers & hot dogs without buns and I was happy. 

Or so I thought. 

Its funny how you can convince yourself that something is fine because what would be the option? To cry and shake my fists at the heavens for relegating me to a bread-free existence for the rest of the days I drag my meat-sack across this great earth? No. The thought was too great to carry.

One shining day I came across Schar bread at my local health food store. Right there on the case was a review saying that 1) you could eat it UNTOASTED 2) that it was super close to wheat bread. I grabbed a loaf, said my silent prayer to the gluten-free gods and went on my merry way. 

I found Schar at the perfect time as I had been craving a peanut butter & jelly sandwich like crazy. I removed two slices from the package and assembled my PB&J and......heaven. This was nothing like those bricks of gluten-free bread I had tried years earlier. This was light, fluffy and delicious. 

Verdict? Yummy!

Schar Gluten Free Snack Crackers

Hey do you guys remember those like cheese & cracker packs we used to get in kindergarten? Remember? It was all contained in a giant blister pack and the cheese was neon orange and it came with a red spatula? Remember how yummy those crackers were? 

Do you see where I'm going? 

These are good. Damn good. They are like those cheese 'n cracker snacks cracker but grown up and more refined. The too salty greasy taste is gone and replaced with thin, buttery loveliness. You could totally serve these in a cheese plate and no one would know they were gluten-free. 

Verdict? Yummy

Ian's Gluten Free Chicken Tenders

I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with chicken fingers.

In my PCD days I'd loved nothing more after a night of carousing then a plate of chicken fingers and french fries. There was something almost magical about the combination of fried boneless chicken, dipping sauces and french fries.

Since my celiac diagnosis I have been searching for ways to put the foods I used to love back into my diet. Granted chicken fingers were never a regular part of my diet but they were certainly a part of it - a part I miss very much. I have made plenty of from scratch chicken fingers over the past seven years but its just such a pain in the ass. I wanted to find something easy and quick that I could just yank out of the freezer and bake.

Ian's was one of my first forays into frozen GF chicken fingers. I chose Ian's because it is clearly designed for kids and if kids are anything its finicky. Ian's was going to have to bring it to please some five-year old and me.

I was disappointed when I opened the box and saw that I paid about $1.25 per chicken finger - there were only five in the box. I tossed them in the toaster oven eager to see if they would please my five-year old inner child.

You guys - these are really good. They are a little on the small side but they are good. The chicken is super moist and the coating is crispy. One area that I think GF manufacturers are really shining at is GF chicken fingers.

Go forth and enjoy your dipping sauces with Ian's chicken tenders!

Verdict? Yummy!

Bell & Evans Gluten Free Chicken Tenders

I rescind my marriage offer to Udi's and instead offer it to Bell & Evans.

Dear The Most Lovely Bell & Evans,

I was skeptical when we first met. I had been burned badly in the past. Coleman Naturals lied and made me feel so bad about myself and then you came along. Sure, you looked kind of similar. You both had a black box and featured attractive chicken pieces - could I really trust again? I bite the bullet, followed my heart and took you home.

And I haven't looked back since. Our times together are wonderful. You are everything I've been looking for in a chicken tender, for a long time. Your chicken is perfect, your breading is divine and you are just perfect with my homemade honey mustard sauce. You make me so happy.

I'm not afraid to let the world know that I love you Bell & Evans Gluten Free Chicken Tenders. You complete me.

Verdict? Yummy

Schar Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

The fundamental flaw with a lot of gluten-free breadcrumbs is that they don't hold up in the cooking process. Many brands get soggy and loose that bit of crunch. There is no problem with that here. 

I made chicken cutlets with these bad boys and they formed like an impenetrable fortress around my chicken. No oil was going to invade Schar Breadcrumbs land - no sir. They were protecting that chicken like it was Holy Grail. 

The result was SUPER crispy chicken cutlets - like almost too crispy. It was actually disconcerting how crunchy the chicken was after cooking. You definitely cannot complain about oily breading here. These cutlets did make great chicken parm since the breading help up under lots of sauce and cheese. I imagine they would be good in any recipe that is super saucy and calls for chicken cutlets. 

Verdict? Yummy

Glutino Glazed Donuts

I really, really like these. And I'm not 100% sure why. I actually had a craving for donuts the other day and I realized that I was craving THESE donuts. Crazy stuff.

Naturally there is no soft fluffy center to these donuts. What I think works for them is that they have a very similar texture and consistence to cake donuts just slightly lighter. The glaze on them is also awesome - its super sweet.

You do get six in a pack but one day is probably a little more than half the size of a regular wheat donut. Gotta love that GF foods have portion size built in.

Verdict? Yummy!

Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust

While I had a religious experience with Udi's Sandwich Bread and had a real, deal bagel with their bagels I had extraordinarily low expectations for Udi's pizza crusts.

It's like GF manufacturers don't know what to do when it comes to GF pizza crust. Do they try and emulate wheat crust? Do they make it thin? Do they try and make it chewy? Do they just give up and half ass and hope that the poor pathetic desperate celiacs eat it and shut up?

I think they go with the last one.

But not Udi's.

Udi's gets "it."

It is completely futile for any GF manufacturer to even attempt to make a pizza crust similar to wheat crust. The result will be a flat out fail. It just can't happen. Nothing but gluten can replicate that delicious chewy but oh so soft inside of a pizza crust. Trying to market us something that is sort of soft - maybe chewy is kind of insulting. We aren't morons - we know what good food is and just because we have an auto-immune disorder or an allergy doesn't mean we have to suffer.

Let me get off that soapbox.....where was I? Oh right. Okay so the way I see it is that GF Pizza Crust just needs to be a really kick ass thin crust pizza. This is where its easy for GF Manufacturers  to succeed. And Udi's totally succeeded. The crust cooks up crispy and is just dense enough - it can definitely withstand my heavy handedness with sauce and toppings.

I like that this crust isn't trying to be wheat crust - its just trying to be a really good GF crust.


Verdict? YUMMY

PS - I swear to God Udi's is not paying me - I just really, really love them :)

Udi's Sandwich Bread

I seriously have no idea what is going on over at Udi's but I am SO glad that it is happening.

The first time I bought this bread was at Whole Foods. It was in the little refrigerated gluten-free section that my store has. I picked it up and was amazed - it was light and it was squeezable soft! As most GF'ers know - you cannot even begin to fathom eating gf bread/baked goods without toasting them first. It just doesn't work. Some sort of chemical process happens in the toaster where it makes the consistency of gf bread palatable.

Not here Sister.

Let me break this down for you.

I opened a bag of Udi's sandwich bread, took a piece out and ate it.

And it was delicious. It tasted so similar to thin sliced Italian bread I used to get at one of the many nearby Italian markets. I fell to my knees due to what could only be described as a religious experience. I had come to Udi's and I liked it. 

Verdict? YUMMY. I seriously don't know why you are still reading this - IT TASTES LIKE WHEAT BREAD GO BUY IT!

Udi's Gluten Free Bagels

I seriously want to write a love letter to Udi's. I want to propose marriage to them. These bagels are seriously that good. They are light, they are slightly chewy and they are just flat out delicious.

For a long time it seemed that bagels were one area where no GF manufacturer could even come close to getting it right. (Foods by George got close but then I found out that there chewy texture was due to adding mozzarella into the dough - sneaky, sneaky!) Udi's has completely succeeded where others have failed. I not only highly recommend the bagels but I feel I can safely say that if you see the name "Udi's" you are in good hands.


Verdict? YUMMY

Gluten Free Bisquick

Well, hello there. My oh my aren't we a big strong fella? What's that pancakes? Biscuits? Wow....I'm impressed.

Where has this been all of my celiac life???? I ate fluffy, chewy delicious biscuits! They in no way shape or form resembled hockey pucks - I was thrilled!

I used it again to make batter for chicken fingers - AMAZING!

It then made the best GF pizza crust I have ever had in my entire life. Light, chewy, a little fluffy and gosh darn it not too far off from REAL crust (okay well not really - but it was TASTY!)

Confession here is that the box does cost about $4 and it will yield you about 2-3 cups of Bisquick but it is totally worth it.

Verdict? YUMMY

Glenny's Brown Rice Marshmallow Treats

Oh man. I really, really wanted to fall in love at first bite here. Marshmallow treats have always been one of my favorite sweet treats and giving up the Rice Krispies version was very sad.

My issue with Glenny's is not that they taste bad (in fact the taste good) its that they seem to miss out on the most fundamental aspect of a Marshmallow Treat - and that's the marshmallowy goodness. These treats are little hard and I expected some give when I bite not the opportunity to lose a filling.

Verdict? Yummy - but know what you're getting into here. If you are fondly remembering rice krispies treats from your PCD days then skip these. 

Tinkyada Pasta

I have eaten every style of Tinkyada pasta. I have eaten them on a boat, on a train, in the rain and so on and so forth. And hands down this pasta is the BOMB DIZZLE! Yummy all the way. It makes banging lasagna, delicious penne and tasty spaghetti. It actually has the consistency of wheat pasta and when cooked al dente floods my memories of dinners in Little Italy pre-celiac diagnosis (PCD).

Totally buy this - you will not be sorry. I'm not convinced there is even a better GF pasta on the market.