How to Make Gluten Free Granola

Gluten Free Granola, made with honey, nuts, raisins, and Bob's Red Mill gluten free certified oats. 

It was at-home cuddle-time movie night.  My Marine helped me make homemade gluten free granola for a movie snack to layer atop peanut butter apple slices as we watched Our Idiot Brother, a movie that actually had a very realistic portrayal of a parole officer (like me!) played by one of my favorite actors, Sterling Brown, the guy who plays Roland on Army Wives!
Anyway, I looked up a regular granola recipe here. We subbed Bob's Red Mill gluten free certified oats, and added some sunflower seeds, ground flax, and pumpkin seeds (sex drive boosters, it's true- see here).  It was super quick and easy to make, smelled fantabulous and tasted great, even before baking.  This stuff had me asking, WHY did I ever buy gluten free granola???

Questionable Pan-fried Gluten Free French Toast

2 Breads Gluten Free Whole Foods White Bread and Light White Bread made as classic French Toast.  

Seth (who doesn't care for GF bread at all) loved it.  He gobbled up all of his and one of mine.  I liked the bottom piece ok (the smaller, "Whole Foods White Bread").  It was a bit spongy and springy in texture, but tasted fine.  The larger, "light white"WF gf bread piece was too soggy to me, and I didn't like it at all.  Most of the recipes I google for gluten free french toast are for baking it, or call for baking your own bread first.  All that is too much work.  I grew up with a single mom who just threw stuff in a pan and stayed skinny doing it (we didn't use real butter or real cream or other stuff that the chubbier moms used).  Although she did whisk up her own cinnamon syrup, which I won't share the recipe.  It's too special.

Dining Gluten Free at Random Greasy Spoon Diners

(RANDOM)DINERS-No gf menu- I will often eat at random diners (especially while traveling and desperate for fresh and hot food) as long as I trust the server is listening to my needs, and especially when I can SEE them preparing the food. I explain my "allergy", cc, and order an omelet or eggs to be cooked in a clean pan (rather than the grill), with clean utensils. Sometimes I'll order hash browns or grits, after much interrogation. Bacon, I have to ask if they set it on bread to drain the grease. Fruit, juice, or yogurt round-out the meal.  Sometimes, I bring my own gf bread or biscuit.  Remember, celiacs HATE IHOP with a passion- IHOP even puts gluteny pancake batter in their EGGS-not recommended, steer clear!

Gluten Free Breakfast or Brunch Restaurant: Egg Harbor Cafe

Sandy Springs, GA- GF menu-My vote for best gf breakfast menu!  Offers gf pancakes (not listed on menu), chiquaquilles (tortilla/egg dish),  lettuce wrap club, frittatas, omelettes, scrambles, skillets, Eggs Benedict, grits, and what I chose: Geneva Rosti:  A delightful blend of grated potatoes, two eggs, bacon and onion baked with Jack and Cheddar cheeses and topped with sour cream 8.95.  I brought my own bread with me (thawed a piece of Whole Foods cheap and non-crumble, thus easily travel-able bread) and asked them for jam-- which they make homemade, their own recipe of a blend of 4 berries, which was scrumptious.  I skipped butter.  The Rosti was awesome, not too much cheese, not greasy like omelets can be, just fresh-baked tastiness.  The strawberry orange juice was tangy and delish, my first ever.  


Great menu, great food, and the service was...impeccable!  They leave a mini coffee pot and water carafe on your table so you don't have to wait for refills!  The gluten free menu is extensive-two pages- and has a variety, from traditional to southwest egg breakfast dishes.  The staff don't bat an eye at the mention of gluten free, and no mistakes were made.  No issue with me bringing my own bread.  Offers of extra side item since I couldn't eat the English Muffin main menu items come with.  They had a wait when we went at 11AM (we were watching Wimbledon this morning), but it was only 15 minutes.  The ambience is homey and Midwestern, with lots of stained glass, ceramic chickens, and baskets around. Most of their locations are in Illinois, my home state, and the bacon was flavorful and the decor was like home.  And it's next door to SALLY'S Gluten Free Bakery!  (Why Sally's doesn't sell them bread/danishes to serve, is beyond me!)  That would be TOO PERFECT!  Anyway, my boyfriend will be cooking fewer weekend breakfasts now.

Festering gluten-Freely at the Fall Festivals

So, let's start with Oktoberfest. Helen, Georgia, embodies the German influence in its half-timbered buildings, sausage-laden menus, and alpine attitude year-round, so it's the perfect place to celebrate Oktoberfest. And, oh, do they celebrate! People were carrying steins and sporting Bavarian style green fedora hats, lederhosen, Saint Paulie Girl outfits, and suspenders, and noshing on streudel, sauerkraut, hot Bavarian pretzels, and various -wursts. But, really, when one is gluten-freestyling one's way through most "fests", food (and beer, in this case) is to be circumvented, rather than encircled. It's not easy Living Without (love that magazine!), especially when funnel cake is in fruition. Beer was abundant, but I never found a stein or boot-shaped mug, or table tapper offering Green's, New Grist, or Redbridge. Yes, it was disappointing watching everyone devour their delectable delights. For once, I was wishing I was with a weight-conscious, fattening food-avoiding, fork dipping in the salad dressing (on the side), diet-obsessed girlfriend. At least I indulged in a scrumptious caramel apple and a chocolate turtle, alongside my Glutino granola bars and fruit.

Next, was the Tuskeegee/Morehouse football tailgate fete. Holy wow, do these Southerners know how to tailgate. Giant turkey legs, fried fish, barbecue, you name it! And, what was I able to indulge in? A mango smoothie and a bad ear of corn (hard to please a Midwesterner when it comes to corn). Be still my heart. We were there all day and a Lara Bar wasn't cutting it, so I had Seth stop and pick me up some fast food fries when I came home. Thank goodness for Five Guys. The best part of the lackluster football game was the Tuskeegee Band- dancing tuba players and Beyonce-inspired dresses on the drill teams were jaw-dropping. This ain't no Midwest band attire. (We attended because a USMC General was doing the coin toss- Seth had brunch with him,
but I skipped that, for gluten free and sanity reasons. Since Seth is Commanding Officer, we have many weekend functions to attend like this.)

Kilted Men

Giant Potato Ribbon

Scotch Egg

 Finally, there was the Scottish Highland Festival. My Major is Scottish, (but his ginger hair comes from his mom's Italian side).he Carolinas have a huge population of Scots, who come down to the woods of GA to compete in Highland Games including the Caber toss (where they toss a giant log, end-over-end---this began as a bridge building skill in Scotland!), the sheep toss (they use hay bags to simulate sheep, since the PETA probably wouldn't be happy about them chucking the real woolies multiple stories thirty feet in the air), Highland dancing , falcons flying, and sheepdogs herding by whistle command. Kilted men, redheads, and bagpipes abound! Way fun, but I couldn't even partake in ice cream because when I asked if they could scoop mine from a clean container, they opened a new package of cups and scooped it from the container contaminated with waffle cone crumbs, etc. This is why I heart Baskin Robbins. They always get the clean container of mint chip or gold medal ribbon for me. I only wish they still had Martian Mint, my all-time fave. Although, I wonder if that flavor is gluten free? So, I noshed on Glutino crackers and Justin's almond butter and Lara bars which tasted all the worse when watching people devour mile-high ribboned potatoes, Scotch eggs, Bridies, essentially a sausage turnover (which I forced The Major to sample- and he wouldn't put it down, he loved it! It really irks me when he won't try new foods, because I have always enthused in this when I travel or go to cultural events and now I am unable to partake in ethnically eclectic edibles.

Gluten Free Apple Cranberry Crisp

  Halloween and Fall- Yes, there are gluten-free recipes in abundance, but it really irritates the heck out of me when people SUBTRACT the BEST PART of dishes to make them gluten free. CRUSTLESS pie? Are you freaking kidding me? Isn't that called pudding? Or porridge? Or mush? Or gunk? What's so difficult about concocting a nut crust, gf graham cracker crust, or a gf flour crust? Here's a clue: we already live WITHOUT enough stuff. And nobody eats the pie for the filling. I don't recommend pumpkin pancakes- Seth's banana ones are far superior. Pumpkin cookies, chili, Vitamix pumpkin bread, Sylvan Farms pumpernickel bread, apple-cranberry crisp (without sand-like gf flour--this omission is an improvement on the crunch factor), caramel apples and that dip, and those ginger spice cookies with the Sun on the package, Laffy Taffy, mini-Snickers, and Charleston Chew are probably my gluten free fall favorites.

Glutenized Fall foods and candies I yearn for: bread bowls of soups and dips, licorice Nibs, Milky Way, Ralph's grocery store soft sugar cookies, Kit Kat, Twix, and all the festival foods!

 RANDOM TIDBITS:

Frozen Gluten Free Mozzarella Sticks

NEW GLUTEN FREE FOODS ON MY HORIZON: I can't wait to try: Frozen GF Mozzerella Sticks, Trader Joe's mac n cheese, and Good Grub Subs. What I've been eating (since I have to drop a few extra pounds-our USMC Birthday Ball is in Nov.- and Seth is in CA all week): I'm trying not to mess up the kitchen and be low-maintenance for my own satisfaction: Breakfasts: Grits, Greek Yogurt, or Udi Raisin Toast Lunches: Lara Bars, Kettle frozen chili (only b/c it was on sale), or egg salad on Udi bread Dinners: Bell & Evans chicken tenders with bbq or with mozz cheese and spaghetti sauce, or GF Brisket Tamales from the tiny Farmer's Market on Johnson's Ferry Road, and sweet potato, and veg Snacks: Individual packet of French Meadow Bakery brownie or cookie, pears, and celery (plain)

Serendipity! Gluten free tamales under my nose!

What I'm afraid to try: @Joy_bauer 's idea to add canned pumpkin to yogurt for a fall treat. sounds ick What I've tried recently: red quinoa- very nutty flavor. I don't think Seth loved it. I can see why they recommended half red and half plain in the recipe I found online. Gluten free frozen bavarian pretzels- pretty fantastic! Fall foods I'm happy I never cared for: pumpkin pie, cheesecake of any kind, butternut squash soup, casseroles of most kinds. Baby hats my aunt sells that I buy from her to use as gifts:

Gluten Free Rice Krispie Treats

The mission was to nab two boxes, one to eat as cereal and the other to make Gluten Free Rice Krispie Treats.
Breakfast Result: It's not as nauseatingly bad of a re-make as the A-Team movie was...but the Gluten Free Rice Krispies, unlike the Gluten Free Rice Chex, are made with brown rice and taste less sweet and not as good as the original. The texture seemed pretty good. Same snap, crackle, pop. I will probably not eat it again after finishing this box. When I eat cereal, I'll stick with Rice Chex or that Organic Corn Flakes sweetened by fruit juice that I like.

My friend Katja (from the petite indulgences cooking blog)already made the treats with lemon and almond slivers, but she said she'd try something else next time. I found this blogger whose son said the plain ones were "fine". So, I guess I'll just make mine plain. I'm taking them to a cookout tonight (Southern "Cookout"= a "barbeque" in CA, and "grilling out" in IL). I'll let you know if I should've saved my money, waited for it to come out on DVD, or got a Blockbuster on my hands.

Innard Bliss: Gluten Free Atlanta

New Digs! Southern hospitality is alive and well in Atlanta: neighborhood barbeques, strangers who chat and wave, and amazing food everywhere! We've been officially "peached". The peach jam, peach salsa, and peaches are all fabulous, but here's what else I've been dining on (while maintaining the ten pound weight loss I just achieved):
Gluten Free Shopping List: The Super Target here has several gluten free products like my favorite Glutino chocolate peanut granola bars that are super chewy and only 110 calories, as well as some frozen Amy's Indian meals, Annie's organic fruit snacks, hummus with pine nuts labeled gf, lots of salad dressings labeled gf, Smoreables gluten free graham crackers, and -making a judgement call per the ingredient list-SkinnyCow mini fudge pops at 50 calories. (I also saw other crackers there, but not my preferred Glutino.)

Sally's Bakery is like all gluten free, all the time. And I like it. They have samples of treats out for you to try before you buy. The CRAW bread is with cinnamon, raisins, almond milk, and walnuts. It's their specialty and the other two people in the shop with me also bought some. The hamburger buns were mediocre. They aren't pre-cut. The texture is thick, not airy enough, and kind of dry. Mine were in the same bag as the CRAW bread, so they tasted cinnamon-y, which isn't what you want with a burger.
The Outback here has a gluten free bloomin onion, french fries, etc. and I have to say I felt sick afterward, but it may have been from all the grease. The onion was good, the fries ok, they were out of ribs, and I took home my hamburger (on a gf bun) because I was full-but, since I had been sick I had my Bucket o' Luv devour it the next day, rather than risk it myself.

We have enjoyed many meals out, so reviews of Jason's Deli, Yeah! Burger, Sugo, Braves' Stadium (yuk), and a brunch place are on the horizon.
Random Menu for a day
(actually yesterday):
Breakfast: nectarine and Glutino Granola bar
Lunch: Hormel Natural gf honey ham sandwich on Sally's Gf bun with lettuce, tomato,etc.
Snack: Strawberries, peaches, SkinnyCow fudge pop
Dinner: Amy's frozen Indian meal with tomato and veggies with hummus

Gluten Free Dining Out: WILDFIRE and dining in: fried chik n pancakes

The 5k runs we did in April and the almost daily workouts are wearing me out like Steven Tyler wears out sticks of eyeliner or Gallagher wears out sledgehammers or undiagnosed celiacs wear out toilet paper. So, when I twisted my ankle the other day while walking, I took it as a signal to rest.
Aside from playing Scrabble online, we have tried some new recipes. Check out my recipe box here. Note: I rate them after I make them, so they aren't all favorites. I don't generally repeat the 3 star or lower ratings.
Seth has come a long way in his cooking abilities and found and made his first recipe without any help-Baked Chicken with Saltine Crackers. Well, I guess he did ask me to help him find our gluten free crackers (Glutino). He LOVED it, rated it five stars, and devoured the leftovers the next day. (Sadly, the picture got lost on his half-broken, cracked up iphone.) I'm not big on chicken, but I did like it. The buttery, crunchy chicken coating was comfort-food savory, and the fact that it was baked and not fried helped me eat it without guilt (I lost 4 lbs in April). I take the skin off when I cook chicken, but I was not the cook. I stay out of his way! I'm just tickled to see my marine (whose middle name used to be Applebee's) become more confident in our little gluten free kitchen...or any kitchen.
Today I gave him a respite from pancake duty (he makes the BEST banana pancakes with Barbara's mix or Bisquick or The Cravings Place mix), and I tried the Maple Grove Farms Gluten Free Pancake Mix

. The ingredients are healthier than chemical-laden Bisquick, and they baked up fluffy, but the taste was lacking and the texture was dry. I only ate half my pancake. He ate two, but said his fave is still Bisquick.

Since I enjoyed Wildfire in Atlanta, Seth obliged me here at Tyson's Corner, and we both enjoyed a fabulous meal. Since they were running a half hour late for our reservation, they comped us an appetizer, so I chose the pizza. It was light, crisp, and flavorful. The crust was so thin, it was perfect for an appetizer to share. Then I had the prime rib (juicy and divine), a gluten free roll (thick, warm, great texture, and delectable) and the roasted vegetables (abundant variety and deliciously drizzled with basalmic).

Seth had filet mignon (great), mashed potatoes (good), and a starter salad loaded with chopped veg and a delightful house dressing he raved about. The salad and cornbread filled him up so much, he brought half his meal home for leftovers. The key lime pie (not gluten free) passed muster for my native Floridian marine, also. I love Wildfire's menu. They even noted the gluten free options on the separate 3 course "deal" menu. However, they didn't list the fish sandwich here, which is what I loved so much at the Atlanta location. The waiter said the manager has to sign off on every gluten free order and that they take major precautions in the kitchen with very specific procedures. It shows. Bravo, Wildfire! Funny, that their location here is next door to Legal Seafoods and P.F. Chang's, so I could eat at any of them, but I'd choose Wildfire every time! In fact, I'm lusting to try the pasta with shrimp sometime soon!

Udi's Gluten Free Bagel

What to eat for a gluten free breakfast?
bageL a photo by Gluten Free Breeze on Flickr.

Udi's Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with Philly Strawberry Cream Cheese and sliced berries on top- Mmmm, mmmm, great!
The bagels come pre-sliced. They toast or microwave to a great texture- not crumbly at all, and chewier than regular bread. I've also had the plain version, which is also great! Lovin' these!

Eating Grasshoppers at Gluten Free Restaurants and Organic Food Goodness (scroll down to see what I've been eating on the homefront)

Since moving to the DC/Virginia area, Oyamel is a chow champion of mine, since it's near the museums (I left my car in California-no snowy driving 4 me). Not only do I volunteer at one of the Smithsonian Museums, but I set a goal to see as many of the museums/sights in this area as possible during our year here.
Let's tangent to a museum/tourist list:
So far, I've toured : Pentagon, Gettysburg, Newseum, Library of Congress, Spy Museum, G.Washington Masonic Memorial, Freer Gallery, Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Castle, Nat'l Building Museum, Nat'l Geographic, Gadsby's Tavern, Torpedo Factory, Mount Vernon, Amer. History, Hirshhorn, Christ Church (G.Washington's), Nat'l Harbor, Baltimore Harbor, Nat'l Mus. of the Marine Corps, Carlyle House, Ramsay House, Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, Dulles Air and Space (not on mall), Postal Museum, Natural History, Air & Space (on mall), American Indian, Portrait Gallery, Kennedy Center, Fredericksburg, and that's all I remember so far.

My faves are: Library of Congress, Dale Collection at Museum of Art, Mount Vernon, and the giant Washington statue at the Masonic Memorial, and Iwo Jima. Newseum, FDR Memorial, and Gettysburg surpassed my expectations. I had already been on the city tour in '05 with the Capitol, embassy row, and white house.

I have several museums yet to see: Black History in Alexandria, African American Smithsonian, Basilica, Nat'l Cathedral, inside White House, inside Wash. Monument, Colonial Williamsburg, Lee-Fendall, Ft. Ward, Anacostia, Nat'l Botanical Garden, Nat'l Zoo, Renwick, Arts & Industries, Nat'l Design, Women's, Cherry Blossom Festival, Dumbarton Oaks, and I'm sure there are more.

Back to FOOD:
Call it serendipity, but Oyamel is almost next door to Red Velvet Cupcakery, which without fail has gluten free cupcakes (usually the delectable, crispy-topped, "black velvet" flavor, which is fudgy but with a dark depth to its taste, with a perfect texture, not crumbly or dense) and the cupcake elves are aware enough to put on a clean glove to grab it with.

I dig Oyamel because they have a separate and lengthy gluten-free menu. Plus, you can get single plates (similar to Spanish tapas) of $4 items to build your own meal. I get the various tacos, soup, or tamale, all freshly made on daily homemade corn tortillas and guacamole. Today I had 2 fish tacos which were deceptively filling, and felt adventurous enough to go for the chopped grasshopper taco. It was spicy and crunchy and orange-colored. I liked it. Next time I'll try the cow tongue and maybe a dessert (chocolate flan with pomogranate gel on top). Mexican food is hard to please me with, after living in SoCal. Their salsa is the real deal and everything is fresh and back-to-basics. I only wish we could have the chips!!
It is no fun to watch other people chomp on chips when I can't! Even if I brought my own, they wouldn't be warm. Boo hoo.
Rosa Mexicano and Legal Seafoods are a matter of blocks from there, so I'm lucky to be able to eat out! There are lots of places all over here, but I've had many times where I've eaten successfully at an establishment, only to return and get sick. I guess it just depends on who is working and how tidy they are back there in the prep/cookin zone.


At HOME here is what I've been grubbing on:
Morning Mealdom:
Udi's Cinnamon Raisin Bagels with Philly strawberry cr. cheese and fresh sliced strawberries on top and they come pre-sliced!
Homemade Quaker Grits- My Marine went to Tulane, so he enjoys Southern stuff and he's capable of whipping it up himself
Chobani yogurt (cheaper, giant tub of plain) I add flax seed, fresh blueberries
Egg Sammich: Udi multigrain bread (toasted), with egg and rhubarb/straw jam
Jimmy Dean turkey sausage
Bisquick pancakes with bananas or Ghirardelli milk choc chips and syrup
canteloupe
apple with peanut butter
(not all at the same time)

Lunchy-love:
Progresso Split Pea & Ham Soup
Sargento Provolone Grilled Cheese (on Udi)
GlutenFreeda's microwaveable burrito- chicken n cheese or bean n veg
Lara Bar- peanut butter cookie, apple, or pbj, or cashew cookie (these bars were an acquired taste, I hated them at first and still detest the chocolate flavors)
Veggies and Hummus

No GLut-in din-din:
Bisquick Recipes: Amazing Chicken Fingers and Chicken Pot Pie-My Marine Marvels!
Allrecipes: Coconut Curry with Tofu (I added chicken, water chestnuts, & baby corn cob)
This was my first time cooking and eating BOK CHOY! Thumbs way up! My Marine did all the veggy chopping, since I have carpal tunnel, so it was a fun, team project! Served it over a boxed Taste of Thai yellow curry rice marked gluten-free
Allrecipes Lasagna with Pepperoni and ground beef- amazing, but expensive--(we splurged on the fancy $11.99 Romano Cheese last time, but this week we got the Kraft kind so we'll see if it measures up)
Pad Thai- From box Taste of Thai (cheap) and not enuff sauce rendered it bland
Edamame
Schar Dinner Rolls- nice, smooth exterior, with nice texture inside. No need to freeze. Yum!

Super Snack-a-licious
EnviroKids Krispy Rice bars- Peanut butter choco drizzle- pretty good, crunchy and chewy at the same time, not too dry, decent flavor, hint of a strange aftertaste like fakey chocolate items sometimes produce
Schar crackers- a bit on the dry side, but crisp and desirably doughy in the mouth, and nice with toppings-not overly crumbly
Schar breadsticks- crunchy and hard, with a buttery flavor, as they are intended











Andes mint chocolate wafers
Snickers almond
GummiSavers Bursts- we stealthily sneak em to the movies
Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate with Kraft mini mallows-I never knew if SM was gluten-free, but I had been drinkin it as a newbie (before I knew it could be questionable) and never reacted
Blackberries and blueberries (fresh) when they're on sale
veg n hummus
Lara bar-acquired taste, tread carefully
fruit salad with cool whip
Fritos- took em on a day trip
Peanuts
Craisins


Shopped and ready to try: Shepherd's Pie with Manwich (Manwich was on sale cheap and I saw a recipe on a blog, and my Scottish Marine LOVES Shep pie--wish me luck)

Keep your gluten free focus, live lovely and lovingly, and may the gluten free breeze blow gently your way! Besos!

5-15-10 Celiac Conference Gems&Phlegms(From my blog with over 30,000 hits at celiac.com)

(For the first 4 years and 109 entries of my blog, go to this link Brendygirl's Blog Gluten Free Product and Food Reviews)

In the elevator to our hotel room (the cdf conference in L.A.), a woman commented on the Udi bread she spied sticking out from my bag on the bellman's luggage cart.  This was my marine's first clue that "people like ME" were swarming the hotel.

 My beau and I learned SO much from the speakers (Dr. Peter Green, Dr. Sheila Crowe, Dietician, Shelley Case, and Cook Extraordinaire Frank Baldassare)!

My Marine had a more pressing need to step up his know-how pertaining to Gluten Freedom since.. *drumroll*:

The Marine Corps is sending him to Command & Staff School for a year and so I'm going to rent my CA house out, sell my convertible, put my teaching job (I've been there 13 yrs) on hold, adopt a carefree attitude, a warm scarf, and a metro card...and shack up with him on the East Coast for a year!

Funny enough, the hardest part has been thinking about glutenous tenants contaminating my virgin, high-end fridge and stove!

Back to the conference:

After dining on gluten-free Bisquick Pancakes (perfect texture, yummy, can't wait for them to hit stores this fall),and savory Jones Dairy Farms All Natural Sausage Links(thumbs way up!)we alternated between raiding the chillbump-inducing superfluous vendor sample hallways and watching the presentations.  I preferred last year's lunch with pasta and chocolate souffle, this year was chicken (snore), but the Betty Crocker cupcakes were tasty. It's always such a special occasion to eat out without needing to tame & train a server-just relax and enjoy with lots of "special" people, who are "against the grain", like me!  I was pleased to see lots of nutritionists at a seminar learning about gluten-free!

Now for the GOODS on the GRUB:

GEMS:  Foods/Products I liked and recommend:

Udi Bread (Awesome & loaf can be thawed!)

Rudi's Bread (similar to Udi's)

Glutino Chocolate covered pretzels- 2 die 4!

Asian Chicken Helper (Hamburger Helper)- pretty tasty.  A good replacement for the "normal" kind

Gluten Free Bisquick Pancakes- Yum with a capital Y--it came with 9 other gluten-free recipe cards to use bisquick Update:  I have since tried the chicken n dumplings recipe and chicken fingers, both of which are easy enough (few ingredients) for my bf to cook himself, and are FABULOUS faves now!

Jones Dairy Farms All Natural Sausage Savory and Delicious

Kettle Cuisine Soups- I like them, but I'm too thrifty to purchase them

Soy Delicious (fake ice cream): It's rich and flavorful- cookie dough is a nice gluten-free flavor!

Zojirushi Breadmaker- the bread was good

Simply Gluten Free desserts- oatmeal cookies were delicious and only a tad overchewy

PureFit Nutrition bars- fair as nutr.bars go, but too pricey, I'll stick with Lara (half the price)-although you may recall that Lara bars were an acquired taste for me...now I have fave flavors:  apple pie, pecan pie, peanut butter and jelly, and peanut butter cookie or something like that

Bard's Tale Beer- great

French Meadow Bakery Brownies- Vey Good, texture&taste.  I prefer Rudi's Raisin bread to theirs

Smooze Mango and Coconut Fruit Ice- tasty, but I use cheapie popsicles

Green's Beer- Great

The Pure Pantry Baked Goods- Delicious

Sof-ella cake mix- Good, I get it cheap at FreshNEasy

Boar's Head deli meats and cheeses and condiments are tasty and ALL gluten free

Annie's Bunny Crackers Cocoa & Vanilla- yum, but very sugary tasting, not very savory

Schar breadsticks and Wafer cookies- crunchy and tasty

Boulangerie Brownies and Baked Goods- Excellent- My favorite find at the conference!!!

Phlegms:  Things I did NOT like 

Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces- not creamy enough and too tart

Earth Cafe Desserts- taste like mush

Mary's Gone Crackers- taste like birdseed, CrunchMaster are better

Nature's Agave sweeteners- yuck.  Better to go with real sugar

various pastas- I prefer to stick with Mrs. Leepers and Tinkyada and De Boles