Friday, March 11, 2011

GF media

I would like to thank this month's Good Housekeeping. They have a great short article about how trying a gluten free diet to lose weight is not the best idea.

After all these celebrity diets and stuff, people are becoming familiar with the phrase "gluten free," but not necessarily in the correct ways.

I get really tired of people hearing that I don't eat gluten and saying, "Oh THAT's why you're skinny- you don't eat gluten. I want to try that diet."

It's frustrating to say the least.

So yay for finally putting some good info out there!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pizza for dinner, ice cream sandwiches for dessert

Yesterday was a great day for my belly, thanks to tips from gluten free in the 713.

After we worked up a hunger shopping at IKEA, my buddy and I headed over to Pink's pizza.
When you walk in, you can see the entire kitchen and it's kinda neat. I asked the guy at the counter how they prevent contamination of the gluten free pizza. His response? "Well, if you have Celiac we don't recommend that you eat the gluten free pizza."

My heart fell!
I asked him why even make gluten free pizza at all if Celiacs can't eat it and he said something about intolerances. Still, I pressed on. I asked if they use separate pans and he said: they did, that the crust comes pre-made and they use separate everything, but it's clear to see that there's flour flying around everywhere.

I told him I'd chance it and would like to order a gluten free pizza.

And then I got to watch him make it. The only significant source of contamination that I could see is that they use the same ladle for the sauce as the regular pizzas.


But I was starving and I ate it anyway. It was heaven. The crust itself was okay- it was a thin crust, a tad gummy. But the toppings completely made up for it. Oh my gosh. I don't know what the secret is, but it was amazing. And I haven't had any belly problems either. I'm not sure if I'd go back knowing that there are possible contamination issues.

Afterwards, we headed down the street to Kroger to see if I could find some gluten free ice cream sandwiches, something I've been trying to track down for years.

And I found them!


Julie's GF ice cream sandwiches. And they were amazing. SO GOOD.
They'd better be- I paid about $8 for a box of 4! A splurge, but worth it. Plus, I've gotten used to paying ridiculous amounts of money for gluten free fare.

P.S. I found these at Whole Foods for $4-something. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

French Meadow Bakery

Part of eating gluten free is trying new products. All the time. You never know when you're going to find the best bread or pasta or whatever it is that you miss. Some turn out to be awesome, and some turn out to be bad.

My boss mentioned the other day that she saw some gluten free items at the local grocery store.

Of course, I headed over to check them out. I was so excited when I saw a freezer display with some gluten free products from French Meadow Bakery.

There were some sweets like brownies, muffins, and cookies, but I was interested in the harder-to-make-myself products like bread and... flour tortillas!

I was super excited to try them out, especially the tortillas, because I was planning to make some pinwheels at my sister's upcoming bridal shower. And how sweet would it be to make some gluten free ones??

Well, I took a few tortillas out to thaw and went about finishing some errands. What I came back to was tortillas that had thawed, but had mysteriously curled up and hardened. When I tried to roll them up, they cracked and sprang back out into the curled-up shape. Determined, I made a wrap anyway and tried to eat it.
Tried. The tortilla was so hard that I couldn't take a decent bite without tearing apart a huge chunk, destroying the integrity of the wrap, and chewing for a good few minutes. I tried thawing them in the microwave, heating them up a little after they thawed at room temperature, etc etc. Nothing changed the texture and inedible-ness. I was very bummed and also annoyed that I paid 4 bucks for a product that advertised "soft and delicious" on the packaging. They were neither.

The bread was nothing to write home about, either. Just your standard kinda dry and crumbly gluten free bread. Good thing I still have Udi's!

So yes, I was very disappointed with these products, but at least now I know! And you do too. I always try to post the stuff I don't like along with the stuff I do like, because there have been plenty of times that I've wondered about a product and read a review on someone else's blog and either been relieved that I didn't waste my money, or been excited to try it.

I don't know if I got a bad batch or something, but my advice is don't waste your money!