Some of the GF Products I Love

Instead of posting a recipe, I thought I'd share a few gluten-free products I have tried and really liked. I will rate each one on taste, cost, and ease of use.

1) Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Gluten Free Bread Mix
Taste: 4/5-- nice flavor, more moist than pre-made GF bread but still pretty crumbly, made really nice toast
Cost: 4/5-- it was about $5 at Sprouts but made a big loaf
Ease of Use: 3/5-- I made this in a friends bread machine that does all the kneading and the baking. I can't imagine doing this by hand though.



2) Mi-Del Gluten Free Arrowroot Cookies

Taste: 5/5-- I actually enjoy these more than animal crackers that contain gluten. They taste amazing with peanut butter or in place of gram cracker crusts for pies
Cost: 4/5-- I find these at King Soopers and some Wal-Marts. They are usually around $3.50 but occasionally I'll find them on sale for buy one, get one free.
Ease of Use: 5/5-- Step one: spread peanut butter on cookie. Step 2: eat cookie. They are easy to crush up with a rolling pin for pie crusts as well.


3) Mi-Del Gluten Free Gingersnap Cookies

Taste: 5/5-- These are amazing when you dunk them in milk! I haven't tried using them to make a gingerbread pie crust yet, but I'm betting it would be perfect. Very good ginger-y taste!
Cost: 4/5-- again, I think these are around $3.50 at King Soopers but I wait to stock up when they have the buy one, get one sales.
Ease of Use: 5/5-- Dip in milk for five seconds, place in mouth and enjoy.



4) Rudi's Gluten Free Bread

Taste: 4/5-- good flavor, makes excellent toasted sandwiches and grilled sandwiches; pretty dry if used as regular sandwich bread though
Cost: 3/5-- usually around $5 for a loaf at King Soopers (and more if you go to a specialty health food store like Whole Foods). The loaf is definitely smaller than a normal loaf of bread.
Ease of Use: 3/5-- I don't like that we always have to grill or toast this bread. Sometimes I just want to make my husband a regular uncooked sandwich. It is actually the perfect size for making grill cheese because each piece of bread fits a slice of American cheese perfectly.



5) Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix

Taste: 5/5-- This is a great cornbread mix! I like stone-ground, gritty cornbread and that's what this is. Delicious with a little butter and honey on it!
Cost: 5/5-- I usually pay $3 for a pack of this mix and it makes a lot of cornbread muffins!
Ease of Use: 5/5-- Just add milk, oil, eggs, and sugar then bake. I will be adding a recipe for pumpkin spice cornbread muffins using this mix. SOOO good!


6) Market Pantry Original Beef Jerky

Taste: 5/5-- Nice, flavorful beef jerky. They have a peppered one as well if you like it more spicy. Most beef jerky contains soy sauce (which usually contains wheat) so I was so happy to find this one!
Cost: 5/5-- I believe Market Pantry is a Target brand so you can only find it at Target. A small bag runs around $4 to $5 which is a couple dollars cheaper than name-brands like Jack Link's or Slim Jim.
Ease of Use: 4/5-- The fact that you can ONLY find this at Target is a little annoying, but it's still the only jerky I've been able to find that doesn't contain wheat.


7) Tinkyada Brown-Rice Spiral Pasta

Taste: 5/5-- This is such a delicious pasta! The texture is definitely more smooth than Qinoa pasta and it cooks really evenly. Try it with butter and parmesan cheese!
Cost: 5/5-- I always buy this at King Soopers for $3.60. There are a few other types of noodles by this brand, but with some of them you get less pasta for the same amount so always check how much you are getting for the price.
Ease of Use: 5/5-- This takes about 15 minutes to boil (a little longer than wheat pasta) but it's still super easy to prepare.


8) Udi's GF Pepperoni Pizza

Taste: 5/5-- Oh my goodness... perfect crispy crust, great pepperoni, ideal ratio of cheese and sauce... we just tried this pizza for the first time today and I kept wanting to steal bite after bite from Robbie's plate.
Cost: 2.5/5-- $7.50 for a smallish pizza is not ideal, but as an occasional treat (which happens to taste amazing) it is worth it. 
Ease of Use: 5/5-- bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes right on the oven rack. You don't even need a baking sheet. I'd say that's easy. I also have to rave for a moment about the fact that this is the only GF pizza I have found that uses brown rice flour instead of white rice flour in the crust. Robbie is allergic to white rice so I was ecstatic when I found this! Unfortunately, I haven't seen this at King Soopers yet and was only able to find it at Sprouts. Since King Soopers carries other Udi's products, I assume they will be getting these soon, though.


10) Blue Diamond Natural Nut-Thins

Taste: 4/5-- These are a decent cracker replacement for the gluten-impaired. The texture is actually more like a chip than a cracker which is why I gave it only 4. I haven't tried all the flavors, but my favorites so far are the pecan and the almond.
Cost: 4/5-- These are frequently on sale at King Soopers. Today I bought them for $4 for two boxes. I think they are around $3.50/box normally.
Ease of Use: 5/5-- Again, these make a great cracker replacement. I like them with cheese and a little deli meat (like those Lunchables we used to eat as kids). I also like to dip them in hummus. They have flavored ones that might be good with cream cheese but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.


11) Bob's Red Mill Quick-Cooking Oats

Taste: 5/5-- These oats taste great! They make nice oatmeal and work well in baked goods, too. If you like more texture in your oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill offers GF rolled oats as well.
Cost: 3/5-- $6.50 for a bag, but it does last for awhile. Compared to the non-gluten-free oats, I do feel like I'm paying quite a bit.
Ease of Use: 5/5-- These work just like regular oats. I recommend making oatmeal with milk instead of water, a little bit of butter, tiny sprinkle of salt, some maple syrup, and crushed walnuts. Excellent breakfast option and it keeps my husband full for awhile (which is quite a feat)!