Category Archives: Food/Cooking

Chex Gluten Free Granola Mix

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gluten free chex granola comp IMG_20150323_112207Finally. Affordable gluten-free granola you can find in a regular store that doesn’t have all sorts of weird, supposed-to-be-healthy for you, rock-hard, nasty grain-like junk in it. Thank you, Chex. It has a lovely aroma when you open the package, and you don’t need to use much to enjoy the flavor. Just the right amount of chewiness, and just the right amount of crunch. I tried the mixed berry almond (even though I wanted to try the honey nut flavor) because I had a coupon for a free bag and didn’t want it to go to waste. That would be blasphemy. Normally, I would not go for anything with dried fruit it in because I’m a meatatarian. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised; I didn’t hate it – and in fact, liked it quite a bit.

Here are the stats, good people:

Serving size: 2/3 cup. (I think I may have used 2-3 tablespoons, so I didn’t come close to that.)

270 calories, 9g fat, 0 cholesterol, 75mg sodium, 43g cards (yikes!), 5g protein. It is loaded with a bunch of other vitamins and minerals as well, including 20% of your RDV of iron.

The carb and fat content are pretty crazy high, but I think I’ll still put this in rotation with my other granolas since I don’t tend to use a lot at once. And change is good.

Cole’s Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

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Coles Cinnamon Roll IMG_20150416_142237587OMGFG (Oh My Gluten-Free God – and frankly, I can’t believe I even had to explain that), this cinnamon roll from Cole’s Fine Foods needs to be eaten slowly and savored.

Jeanine at Cole’s told me this cinnamon roll might be a little dry because it had been frozen. Whether it was or not isn’t really pertinent. What is? To think of how dreamy these must be fresh out of the Cole’s oven. The icing is delicious, the cinnamon tucked into each crease perfect, and the bottom is gooey with awesomeness like regular wheat cinnamon rolls. And the center? Tender, moist, and laden with spice and sugar and everything that makes the Pillsbury DoughBoy go running because he knows this cinnamon roll will kick his ass with one hand tied behind its back. That final, last bite is a burst of cinnamony awesomeness. (Yes, I can make up words, I’m a writer!)

Wowza. If you miss feeling like a kid enjoying big, gooey cinnamon rolls, give Cole’s a call. You can always ask them to ship them to you if you don’t live near Spokane. Now,  pardon me whilst I go lick my plate.

RECOMMENDED

Cole’s Fine Foods
521 E. Holland, Suite 20
Spokane, WA 99218
Place an order: 509-419-1739
www.colesfinefoods.com

Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Gluten Free Beef Merlot

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gluten free healthy choiceWow. My notes on this one read like this: Skin-on red potatoes very tender. Veggies tasted very fresh and flavorful. Consistency was good. The sauce – not a big fan of wine in food but it was not overbearing and the taste was pleasant. Smaller pieces of meat were very tender.  Larger pieces were a little tough and did have some veins of fat. Good char-broiled flavor.  Thought the basket steaming gimmick may fall flat, but it seems to have worked. Not a fan of the extra container waste, but…

The crazy thing is the nutritional information.

180 calories, 4g fat, 600mg sodium, 20g carbs, 15g protein. That’s a winning combination right there.

The only drawback I see to this is I can imagine those of you who like a good wine sauce would want a big piece of crusty gluten-free bread to sop up the leftovers. That’d blow the Weight Watches PointsPlus Value of 4, I do believe. But I won’t tell if you don’t.

As I write this (April 2015), there are three Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers that are gluten-free. You can read more about them at http://www.healthychoice.com/products/cafe-steamers

RECOMMENDED.

Lean Cuisine Gluten Free Ranchero Braised Beef

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gluten free lean cuisine Ranchero Braised BeefWell, I was a little nervous about this one. I was so excited to see a gluten-free Lean Cuisine that I didn’t read the description very well. All I saw was braised beef served with a side of mashed sweet potatoes. I complete read over the spicy red chile sauce and the chipotle in the mashed taters. Oops.

When I opened it after cooking for 3 minutes in order to stir it (per the directions), it was hot as heck. The steam nearly burned my thumb. And, the fumes from the chiles in the meat’s sauce nearly burned my eyes. This wasn’t looking good.

The texture of the meat was actually pretty good. A little bit chewy, but mostly tender and moist. A couple of pieces did actually melt in my mouth. They do have it listed as prime rib in the ingredients, and I won’t argue that. The sauce, however, did set my mouth and lips ablaze. Please remember that I am freakishly sensitive to spicy food, so this probably won’t happen to you. The sweet potatoes were very light and fluffy. They did have a bit of a Southwest bite to them. I’m pretty sure it was the potatoes and not the meat because I took a big spoonful of Nutella in between to stop the burning. Yes, I’m a big sissy. Shut up.

For those of you who are normal and whose mouths won’t be set on fire by this, here are the nutritional details:

250 calories, 6g fat, 30mg cholesterol, 570mg sodium, 33g carbs, and 15g protein. Not bad.

So, there you have it.

I’m honestly torn on this one – for a microwave dinner, especially a gluten-free one – this is a winner. I just wish it didn’t start a frikkin fire in my mouth. Otherwise, you’d see me filling my freezer with them. This is definitely worth trying – especially for $2.00. That’s just insane. Hopefully Lean Cuisine will come out with some more gluten-free dinners.

RECOMMENDED

EATING RIGHT Gluten Free Mac & Cheese

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eating right gluten free mac and cheese IMG_20150312_193400931Okay, I’m not really sure how I feel about Eating Right’s Gluten Free Mac & Cheese. The consistency of the pasta is very good. The cheesy flavor is pretty good. It’s the consistency of that cheese sauce I’m just not sure about. It’s not really all that smooth. It’s sort of “particle-ish” in a sense that it’s not gritty, but you can feel the particles in your mouth. Maybe it’s my microwave, or maybe the ingredients separated somehow. I don’t know. But I’m not a big fan of it.

Maybe I got my hopes too high because I’ve had really good luck with the Eating Right Gluten Free series. But not this time. In any case, here are the nutritional statistics:

380 calories / 16g fat / 50mg cholesterol / 860mg sodium / 47g carbs / 12g protein

It costs $2.99 (regular price) at my local Safeway.

Considering the consistency issue and the heavy duty not-so-healthiness of it, I’ll pass on this next time. I only tried it so I could report back to you-all. Yeesh, I took one for the team. You’re welcome.

Cooking Tip: Sauteed Onions

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sautee onions IMG_1872 Single living can make for a lot of food waste. Of course, you can’t buy half an onion, so if you only want to sautee a small amount for a sandwich or omelette, what do you do with the rest? It’ll sit, cut in half, in the refrigerator until it gets nasty. Am I right?

So cook the entire onion.

You might as well – it takes the same time, and just a little more effort to slice up the rest of it. Sautee it until just before it’s done, then divide it up into single-serving sized containers. Freeze those, then take one out whenever you want a sandwich. I prefer to freeze in glass containers, that way I can just pop them in the microwave and defrost/heat them. Once they’re thawed, throw them in with your omelette, sauces, what have you. A quick and easy GLUTEN FREE solution to preventing food waste that adds nice flavor to any meal.

sautee onions IMG_1880

Gluten-Free Dole Sweet Corn Garden Soup

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Dole gluten free garden soup IMG_20150311_182017276This was not really for me. I thought maybe there would be chunks or bits of corn and maybe onion in it – but it is basically a straight puree.

It’s certainly easy enough to heat up – 2:30 in my 1100 watt microwave oven for the serving you see in the photo. I included the heels of Udi’s White bread for some substance. They were good for dipping. (Of course, butter makes EVERYTHING better.)

The flavor was okay; I’m sensitive to white pepper – it burns the back of my throat, so I’m pretty sure this contains some. The ingredients are all natural and pronounceable.

130 calories, 1g fat, 470mg sodium, 300 mg potassium, 30 carbs, 4 g protein.

Not bad, but I’d probably only buy it again if I had dental work and couldn’t eat solid food. Since I have two servings of this stuff left, I will probably add some corn and chicken to it and pretend it’s chicken corn chowder. Now that’s making lemonade, eh?

Udi’s Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

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udis gluten free muffins IMG_20150313_072038474It is a good morning when you wake up to have an Udi’s Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin. It says on the package “Moist & Tasty” and they really are. They are also dairy, soy, and nut FREE.

These muffins are very light with a very pleasant flavor. There is no need to put butter on them – or even to toast them. I warmed them up from their frozen state – in the microwave – it took less than 30 seconds, and did not rubberize them. They are moist enough that they do not need butter. (And I love any excuse to slather anything in butter, so these must be pretty darn good.)

And here are the stats for one muffin: 270 calories, 10 g fat, 36 carbs, 3 g protein. Learn more at http://udisglutenfree.com. These are not as big as the usual glutenous muffin, and run just over $1.00 per muffin in a four-pack.

Light and fluffy on the inside, with big crunchy sugar crystals on top  makes for a nice, homemade muffin experience. These are great for getting something into an upset stomach. Udi’s, you’ve done it again. Good job.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

WeightWatchers Smart Ones – Chicken Mesquite

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GF Smart Ones Mesquite Chicken IMG_0385I did some research online and found a number of Smart Ones frozen meals to be gluten-free. Now, these meals are not labeled as such. But if you check the allergens listed at the end of the ingredients on the Chicken Mesquite, you will find it says Contains Milk, Soy. Not wheat.

This Chicken Mesquite is described as “white meat chicken smothered with a smoky mesquite-flavored sauce with ranch redskin smashed potatoes.”

Mind you, I have the absolute most sensitive palette of anyone I have ever met. The first few bites of the chicken were good – hot, tender, tasty. But then the back of my throat started to burn, and that spread to my tongue, the rest of my mouth, and my lips. FIRE! Again, I think the spicy chicken nuggets at Wendy’s should come with a fire extinguisher, so 99 percent of the population would NOT think these are even remotely spicy. But I did. And I’m writing about me. LOL

In any case, the potatoes were really, really awesome. I’m so glad I saved those for last. If you want a meal with a bite for around $2.00 on sale – Chicken Mesquite is for you.

Cole’s Fine Foods: Gluten-Free Heaven Dessert

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coles angel tiramisu IMG_20150413_212947729Sometimes, there isn’t really one word to describe something. In the case of this dessert – Jeanine at Cole’s called it her version of tiramisu since she uses angel food cake instead of ladyfingers. I wasn’t really certain what to expect.

Now we finally know exactly what Sally (Meg Ryan) was having in the restaurant scene during Harry Met Sally.

Chunks of chocolate; thick, rich, sweet, creamy filling; light, fluffy, delicious angel food cake; and the bottom layer of the cake was soaked in something yummy. I don’t know what else was in there… But I do know that if heaven had an official dessert – this would be it.

I think this should be renamed Heavenmisu or Angelmisu.

Just wow. Now pardon me while I go get a spatula to scrape every bit out of this to-go container.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Cole’s Fine Foods
521 E. Holland, Suite 20
Spokane, WA 99218
Place an order: 509-419-1739
www.colesfinefoods.com