Trader Joe's GF Ginger Snaps

If you like ginger snaps, these ones are for you! They taste exactly like regular ginger snaps, I don't think anyone could really tell the difference. They are light and crunchy and have a good ginger flavor. And for $1.99 a bag, how can you go wrong?

Kinnikinnick Cookies

I tried Kinnikinnick cookies the other day at the CSA picnic. The ginger cookies were pretty good - the flavor was good - they were very light, almost too light, but they were okay. The chocolate chip cookies were more disappointing. I thought they needed a lot more chocolate chips and were too airy to be chocolate chip cookies in my opinion. They weren't bad, they just weren't great.

You can find more info about the cookies and their many other GF products at the company's website:

http://consumer.kinnikinnick.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/consumer.home.html

La Farfalla in Escondido

La Farfalla is a small restaurant in Escondido. The owner is very sensitive to all food allergies including gluten. Here is the review from fellow GF diner Tehara:

"We have eaten at this restaurant 3 times in the past month. Not once have we been disappointed. Portions are quite big, my husband and I even shared a meatball dinner the other night and we could hardly finish it all. Our daughter is Celiac and can't eat any gluten, Terry has gluten free items and if we call ahead she is willing start a fresh pot of water boiling so our daughter can have wonderful rice noodles for her pasta entree. The salads are out of this world. And check out the fresh bread, wow, oh! wow, yum! And gluten free chocolate chip cookies that rival and regular wheat flour cookie in town."

The restaurant is located at:

155 S Orange St
Escondido, CA 92025-4124

(760) 741-0835‎

Delicious Gluten Free Bagels

If you are looking for yummy GF bagels that taste better than a lot of wheat bagels, then Kai's Kitchen's bagels are for you. They come in plain, cinnamon raisin and everything flavors and they are very moist and chewy not dry and crumbly like some GF bagels I won't mention. They are also smaller than regular store bought bagels which is a plus if you want to watch your weight. They are free of most allergens including dairy, eggs, nuts, soy and corn. Each bag costs $7 and contains 6 bagels.

You can purchase them at Healthy Creations or by calling the number on the website below.

http://www.gfkaiskitchen.com/

Homemade GF bread!

Several people have been asking about a good breadmaker. One reader recommends the following bread mix and breadmaker - here is her review:

"Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Hearty Bread Mix and a good breadmaker (ZOJIRUSHI BBCC-X20 Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker – worth EVERY penny!) It seriously takes me only a few minutes to mix the few liquids and pour stuff in the breadmaker. Then I can just forget about it. The breadmaker does the work.

My non-gluten free, bread loving sister was visiting and almost ate an entire loaf! Yes, it still tastes best when it’s toasted or warm, but it has the feel and texture of “real” hearty bread. Typically, after the loaf cools, I slice it, put some wax paper between the slices, and put it in the freezer since I usually only eat one piece a day. That way it doesn’t spoil."

Thanks for your review Cat!

I found this breadmaker on sale at Amazon.com for $214 with free shipping.

Healthy Creations: the Good News and the Bad

My favorite gluten free food source is changing a little. The good news is that they will be offering a wide variety of gluten free baked goods and lunch items starting July 16th ("from 11-6:30pm on July 16th we will be giving away free food all day long to celebrate our new Healthy Bakery! One free baked good to everyone who stops by, along with sampling of the breakfast and lunch items we will be offering from now on").

So I am looking forward to trying their new items - they sound very good. The bad news is that you can no longer assemble your meals yourself. To accommodate the bakery, they don't have enough room to let you still make your own meals. This is pretty disappointing to me as I enjoyed making my own stuff and accommodating my own personal tastes, i.e. extra spinach, very few onions, extra asparagus, less liquid etc. Of course, you can request the meals be made with your own specifications, but I will still miss it. However, I understand their need to change so I am excited to visit on the 16th.

www.healthycreations.com

NuGo Gluten Free Carrot Cake

This carrot cake bar seems pretty nutritious, it has no saturated fat, 3g of fiber and 9g of protein per bar. It is available through the company's website in a box of 12 bars for $19. I got mine as a free sample at a gluten free event. Since it contains walnuts, I couldn't eat it, so I gave it to my gf mom to try. She wasn't crazy about it but didn't really say why. They also come in dark chocolate and trail mix flavors. I would be interested to see what others think - they look good to me - if only they were nut-free!

http://store.nugonutrition.com/products/45502.html