Amy’s Broccoli & Cheddar Bake

Posted in Food/Cooking by

amys broccoli cheddar bake IMG_9994Amy’s and I don’t have the best of relationships. I find some of their foods a little too “earthy” for my taste. But this gluten-free Broccoli & Cheddar Bake is a winner.

It bursts with robust cheddar flavor and is creamy and smooth. There is always a hint of the broccoli throughout, of course more so when you bite into a floret. And these are nice, bite-size florets – not the “leftover stems or stalks or whatever” pieces you often find in frozen meals.

This dish is certified organic, and has 430 calories, 20 grams of fat, 640mg sodium, 44g carbs, and 16g protein. It heats up in less than 5 minutes and is fantastic comfort food for those cold winter days. Only one thing could make this dish better: meat. (You didn’t realize I was a meatatarian? *sigh*) So I sliced up and heated a hot dog, and then mixed it with the dish. Awesome!

If you love cheese, this is the dish for you. You can always find more information at www.amys.com.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

PanaPesca Hardshell Clams

Posted in Food/Cooking by

924 hardshell clamsSweet, tender, delicious steamed clams. Having grown up near the New England coast, I know a thing or two or three about seafood. I also know that living here in the inland Pacific Northwest, I can’t find too much of those wonderful dishes out here. Or – not at least that I could afford.

But I made a wonderful discovery the other day. Seafood isn’t something people (at least not me) like to take a chance on. If I think it’s going to be disgusting, what’s the point. So when I saw a one pound package of frozen hardshell clams on sale at my local Safeway for $3.49, I was skeptical. Native New Englanders have long said “bah humbug” to frozen seafood. Longing for something different on my gluten-free, soy-free, salicylate-free diet, however, I gave in and made the purchase. And I am so glad I did!

Quick and easy: one pot, one plate and less than ten minutes meant a fast, delicious meal and easy clean-up. I followed the “Classic Steamers” recipe on the back of the package and these clams were perfect in 5 minutes of cooking time. And yes, it gets better.

They say one serving per bag. That means not having to share. I love that. I also love the 89 calories, .9 grams of fat, the 12 grams of protein, 3 grams of carbs, and 38% of the daily recommendation of iron.

These clams were so sweet and delicious that I needed very little butter on them. They’d be great with a little garlic and tossed with pasta. I’m too lazy for that, though. Boil & eat – no thawing – that’s for me!

I do have one regret: I only bought one bag! Must go back and get more!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

926 steamed clams

Dannon Creamery Lemon Cheesecake

Posted in Dessert, Food/Cooking by

905 dannon creameryWell, this was a surprise, indeed. One of the things I miss about being gluten-free is cheesecake. So many recipes have flour in them as a thickener, and if not, they have a glutenous crust. So, when I saw this Dannon Creamery Lemon Cheesecake flavor Dairy Dessert was gluten-free, I grabbed it.

Since it contains active yogurt cultures, and – it’s Dannon, I was expecting … well… yogurt: running, tangy, yogurty. When I peeled back the metal cover, it looked like I was right. Kinda yucky looking, isn’t it? But the smell of lemon wafted up to me and it was just lovely. So I gave it a shot. It’s thick and creamy like cheesecake!

The flavor is very subtle on the cheesecake end – the lemon isn’t that strong, but it does overpower the mild flavor. If you take a bite without the lemon, it’s really delightful. Either way, I’m just happy to be eating something that is like cheesecake, yet healthy at the same time.

180 calories, 6g of fat, 8g of protein, and low everything else. Nice. For more on these yummy treats, check out http://www.dannoncreamery.com/

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Amy’s Teriyaki Bowl

Posted in Food/Cooking by

155 amys teriyakiI’m not sure how I feel about this Teriyaki Bowl made with organic tofu, brown rice, and broccoli. It’s a little spicier than I would like. It was certainly quick and easy enough to prepare – a total of 4.5 minutes in the microwave. And they ask you to remove the plastic for the second half of the cooking – and no, it didn’t splatter all over the inside of my microwave.

At only 290 calories and 4.5 grams of fat, that’s pretty good for a meal. 780 mg of sodium, 12 grams of protein, and 0 cholesterol is also nice. The consistency is good – nothing is hard or chewy or mushy. If it had just a little less kick to it (which is probably not even noticeable to a regular person), this would be a viable dinner option for me at only $3.99 at my neighborhood Safeway.

If you don’t mind your teriyaki just slightly on the spicy side, then this dish is for you. Me? I’ll stick with making my own version of teriyaki – with Worcestershire sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, and butter – used in this Tangy Cashew Chicken recipe.

You can always find out more about Amy’s at www.amys.com.

 

Gorton’s Gluten-Free Grilled Salmon Fillets

Posted in Food/Cooking by

672 salmonThank you, Gortons, for this delicious, gluten-free fish. The Classic Grilled Gluten-Free Salmon Fillets are definitely winners. Sure, it would be easy enough to pawn nasty salmon off on those poor Celiac people, but no. Good stuff. Trust me.

Like their grilled pollock, I found it amusing to discover two pieces of frozen fish resembling bricks. (Hmmm… fish bricks and fish sticks?) But I have to admit, these did cook up very nicely. No nasty, fatty veins or slimy, pungent brown sections. Just nice, tasty, pink wild-caught salmon. I like salmon on salad, and when I broke this piece up, I actually found a bone in it. So, yeah, it’s real fish.

I find salmon to be more filling than white fish, which makes these servings quite generous. Each brick has 90 calories, 2g fat, 350mg sodium, only 3g carbs, and 15g protein.

And, I got these on sale for $2.99 a box. That’s an incredibly reasonable per pound price for salmon.

You can read more about these at http://gortons.com/product/classic-grilled-salmon and you can learn about all of Gortons’ gluten-free fish at http://gortons.com/products-browse?category=49&species=All

Enjoy!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

687 gortons salmon

 

Glenny’s Gluten Free Whole Fruit & Nut Bar

Posted in Food/Cooking by

499 glennys cashew barsWhen I opened the little sleeve on this Glenny’s Cashew & Almond Whole Fruit & Nut bar and saw that it was literally packed with nuts, I thought, oh my, this thing is going to break my teeth like those Nature Valley things did. HA! I was really, really wrong.

The consistency was great; each hearty bite was pleasant tasting, slightly sweet, and contained the occasional burst of almond flavor. No nasty crumbling or chipping or any mess at all, so these would be great on road trips while in the car, plane, hotel, whatever.

The ingredients are all natural, contain no soy, and each bar has 140 calories, 7 grams of fat (0 trans fat), 0mg of Cholesterol!, 16g carbs, and 3g protein. Frankly, I’m a little surprised at how little protein is in them since they are mostly nuts.

I purchased this box of 5 bars at WalMart. Like so many gluten-free foods, these are made in Canada (catch up, US!). You can learn more about these (and all the other Glenny’s gluten-free foods) at http://www.glennys.com/products/all-natural-fruit-nut-bars.html

Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl by EATING RIGHT

Posted in Food/Cooking by

chicken teriyaki IMG_2953As teriyaki goes, I thought this Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl by EATING RIGHT was a little light on flavor. With 930 mg of sodium, I anticipated a little more teriyakiness to it. For $2.99 and gluten-free, it’s hard to knock it. The chunks of real white meat chicken are of good consistency.  There were a couple of soybeans, a few water chestnuts, but no other veggies in this bowl. In their defense, I did try this dish one other time and there were a lot more vegetables in it. So, they don’t seem to be very consistent.

Overall, I probably would not purchase this again. It wasn’t “bad” but it wasn’t all that, either. I wouldn’t have purchased it a second time if I hadn’t been lazy and forgotten to write the review the first time.

Van’s Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Waffles

Posted in Food/Cooking by

IMG_1019 gluten free waffles compI figured I’d try these Van’s Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Waffles because sometimes it’s nice to have something hot that’s quick and easy to prepare. I got them on sale at Safeway for a very decent price (can’t recall exactly, sorry).

These waffles are gluten-free, Kosher, all natural, no artificial colors or preservatives, egg-free, dairy-free, and corn-free. Wow. Is there anything left? Two waffles are considered a serving, and they have 200 calories, 6 grams of fat, 35 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of protein. Not hideous. I do like that they are made with canola oil and not soy. That’s a plus for me.

While they’re toasting, they smell awesome, I’ll give them that. Granted, my toaster oven is a piece of junk, but these guys were not very crispy after one cycle. so I put them back for a second. It could be my oven, or, it just could be that they were a bit old and that’s why they were on sale. Even after the second toasting, they weren’t as crispy on the outside as I was expecting. No big deal.

Because of the lovely aroma coming from the toaster, I expected these to be chock full of apple cinnamon flavor. They weren’t. It was quite muted. I was hoping to just be able to eat these without syrup – just with butter – but there was just not enough flavor to do that. That’s okay, I was just hoping to cut back on my sugar consumption a little. The maple syrup really did complement the flavor, however, and bring out that apple a bit more.

In general, I do like the Van’s brand, and they have an incredibly amazing granola that I’ll write about at a later time. Meanwhile, you can check them out at http://www.vansfoods.com/.

Gluten Free Roasted Vegetable Pasta Bake

Posted in Food/Cooking by

eating right pasta bake IMG_0279I have to say, this Gluten Free Roasted Vegetable Pasta Bake by Eating Right is one of my new favorites. From the package: Roasted vegetables, rice penne pasta and herbed ricotta cheese in a rich marinara sauce.

It’s good. It’s flavorful. It cooks up well in the microwave. Done in less than 6 minutes. 290 calories, 9 grams of fat, 710mg sodium, 41g carbs, and 11g protein.

Now, for those of us who are meatatarians, here’s what I recommend. Cook as directed on the package – 3 minutes, stir, then 2 minutes. Add one serving of your precooked favorite meat (leftovers work great!) – shredded chicken, sausage, burger, shrimp, whatever, and then cook 30 seconds more. Don’t put too much, though – you don’t want to overpower the flavor of this savory dish. YUM!

I got this for $2.99 regular price from my local Safeway store. Eating Right certainly got it right.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Creamy Polenta & Vegetable Medley

Posted in Food/Cooking by

IMG_4360 creamy polentaThis dish by Eating Right is described in small type on the package as creamy polenta and vegetable blend topped with Marsala sauce. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this. The first time I tried it, I assumed by the photo on the package front – which is loaded with diced tomatoes and sprinkled with melty cheese – that it was going to taste like tomato sauce. But instead I got the Marsala sauce, which has a little sweetness to it that just doesn’t seem right with this dish. I thought maybe that since I was expecting one thing but got something else, that might have been my issue with this.

So, I tried it again. This time I added some cooked, cubed chicken for a little more protein. I feel the same way about it. I really think it would be better with tomato sauce (and I’m not a big tomato fan) than with the Marsala. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t taste badly at all, there’s just a disconnect in the flavors, in my humble opinion. And I don’t get the “creamy” in the name – do they mean the polenta is creamy? I dunno.

For $2.99 (at Safeway), 330 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 8 grams of protein…. If I want comfort food, I’d rather go with the Homestyle Chicken & Rice Pasta, which is lower in fat and higher in protein.

Recommended? Eh. I dunno. I won’t be buying it again.