Bread is not a snack...

But you know, it could be - or part of a snack, perhaps.  So in the door walks Udi's Gluten Free White Sandwich Bread.

Oh, the texture of this bread is good.  Lightly toasted it's just perfect.  Yum.  Until the next day.  Xanthan gum strikes and I am ill all day.  You know what I mean if you are a celiac.  No bueno.

So, I am back on the bread hunt.  I am hoping to bring some to my market through my business and I am reading a ton of recipes to that end.  I really hope I can bring my favorite bread of my childhood in - Dilly Bread.

What are your bread favorites?

They can't all be good reviews.

I am sad to report this - but Kay's Naturals has it all wrong.  I've tried three different items - thankfully all in snack size - but I get one or two bites in and I have to bin the bag.  They are so outrageously horrible.

I tried the cinnamon pretzel sticks, which were oddly salty and insanely beany.  I tried two other products: The Almond Delight Protein Puffs, which were anything but a delight and the Veggie Pizza Protein Puffs... no.  Just... no.

I know they are made with soy protein isolate, and corn...lots of corn, but yuck.  Each product turned unpleasantly gummy in my teeth (is there a pleasantly gummy experience from a crunchy product?) and while the initial flavor was nice with each it soon turned to a nearly dried bean flavor.

Avoid at all costs, save starvation.  Y.U.C.K.

I doubt you'll be interested after that review?  But here you go: http://shop.kaysnaturals.com/

Some Like It Hot!

And I am one of those people.  I don't know when it changed that I like the hot stuff, but it's been sometime in the last five years where my body started craving really quite hot food.  Sriracha is a favorite flavor, Thai food, hot sauce, peppers?  YEP!  I'm in.

So today when I was at Coos Head Grocery - the co-op of which I am a member I spotted these Late July Organic Multigrain Snack Chips *certified gluten free* in Red Hot Mojo I had to pick up a bag.  And mama, they are nice and spicy.  The grains are corn, brown rice, and chia seeds.  The rest of the ingredients are spices, red beet powder and oils (safflower and/or sunflower).  The best part?  They are REALLY crunchy.  They might even be crunchier than regular chips.

I ate these straight out of the bag, and one 5.5oz bag was consumed in 2 sittings (mind, I didn't eat anything WITH them, they were just my snack for the day.  If you don't like hot stuff?  You aren't going to like these at all.  My mouth is still tingling after 15ish minutes, and I like it.  The seasoning seems evenly distributed, a nice level of salt.  I am sure there are other flavors - I'll be honest and tell you that I didn't check them out.  But that's ok.  You can do that.  I like these and I'll be picking up more of them.

Oh, Late July indicates on their packaging that 10% of profits are donated to summer camp scholarships.  That's pretty cool!

Beef Sticks with BBQ Seasonings

More from the May gFreely.com snack box.   Today's snack was from Vermont Smoke and Cure - their Beef Stick with BBQ Seasonings.  It's not something that I would typically choose, but this was a really tasty item.  Are beef sticks typically glutenized?  I really don't know.

The flavors here are not particularly hot, but there is a nice and complete seasoning here and not overly salty as these types of snacks tend to be.  I didn't get a lot of "BBQ" flavor, but the beef stick was pleasing anyway.  It's not too chewy, nor too jerky-like, either. 

Again, not a snack that I'd have looked for, but it will be a good one to stick into an emergency kit.  Looks like the use by date is about 6 months out, so you'd have to be on top of rotating these in and out of your stash.

I checked out the site for these: www.vtsmokeandcure.com and they have a Chipotle Pork and Beef stick that I might actually give a go.  I haven't seen these in my area (Southern Oregon Coast) so I checked out cost + shipping... and for 24 sticks @ 29.95, the shipping came out to $8.95 which means each stick is $1.62 per stick, which isn't too bad.  I also stuck the smoked pepperoni in my cart and I'm exceptionally excited about a gluten free pepperoni!  

A good something:

In my May gfreely.com box, there were quite a few different treats.  Some I'd had before, some were new.  If you are interested in checking out gfreely, do!  They are a subscription service for only GF foods. 

I'll start the review with these from Kathy's Kitchen:

 

The Sea Salt version was good, but the salty-ness was a little overwhelming, flat and an oddly oily mouth feel after just a few small handfuls*.  So, I opened the Coco Joe flavor and found that very pleasing.  It's not overly sweet, has good crunch and just a hit of salt for balance.  I didn't get a lot of coffee flavor, but that was ok by me.  I don't know that this item was something I'd buy on the regular, but for travel where it's difficult to get gf snacks, I'd look out for the Coco Joe. 

 

I think I'd like to figure out a version of this with some heat/spice and sweet for my own business, but that's something that will be on hold for awhile.

 

 

*please note?  I did eat the entire bag of the Sea Salt flavor, alternating handfuls with the Coco Joe.

Gluten Free Snack Reviews

Hi!  I'm new-ish to eating as a celiac.  I find gluten free treats and taste them so you don't have to do it.  There are loads of unfortunate snacks out there, and just because they are gluten free, doesn't mean you'll want to eat them.

I own a small gf bakery on the Southern Coast of Oregon, and my goal is to bring great stuff to my market, but sometimes I want someone else to do the cooking.  That's where the snacks come in, and after yet another disappointing item, I've decided to create this blog.

Hope you enjoy!