GoPicnic Giveaway Winners…

Posted on February 8, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

Thank you everyone for participating in the GoPicnic Giveaway, and for all the extra work to get bonus entries! I made a list of everyone and added the appropriate amount of entries for each person, which came to a total of 33 entries. I used a random number generator to pick the three winners and they are as follows:

1) Robin

2) Mieke

3) Tavia

Ladies, I will email you with further details!

Don’t forget that GoPicnic is offering a 20% discount on orders placed up until February, 24, 2010 using the coupon code GLUTENFREE at checkout! If you haven’t done so already, sign up for GoPicnic’s newsletter to get notified of current sales they are offering!

If you did not win this time, please keep checking back. I have 2 more giveaways planned for this week! Yea!! :-D

Filed under: Gluten Free Giveaway, gluten free | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Gluten-Free “Nilla” Wafers

Posted on February 7, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome of this recipe! I had been playing around with various gluten-free recipes for copycat Nilla Wafers, but was never all that impressed with the results. I had actually given up trying for a while until Sam’s teacher sent home the Friday Fun Snack recipe of the week. The kids were going to be making “Bear Bagels.” There is nothing like the pressure I put on myself to make Sam feel “normal” at school to rev up my stubborn determination to “get it right!”

I recently bought one of Todd Wilbur’s cookbooks, “Even More Top Secret Recipes,” and inside was a recipe for homemade Nilla Wafers. I made a few GF tweaks and went for it. Absolutely amazing results! Outside of the fact that they do not look like a carbon copy of Nabsico’s Nilla Wafers (I lack the machine to replicate the precise uniformity!), the taste is SPOT ON!

I was wondering how I was going to give everyone the recipe without violating a copyright, but after a little searching on the internet, I found the EXACT same recipe on another website that I can link to! :-) I found the following recipe on RecipeGoldmine.com.

Since I still do not have an “About Me” or an “About this Blog” page published (I am working on it), I thought I would re-mention how I get the recipes that I post. I am not a recipe creator, but rather a recipe “recycler”. I rarely find my recipes on gluten-free websites or in gluten-free cookbooks, not because there aren’t some really great recipes out there, because there are! Before my celiac diagnosis, I had well over a hundred “regular” cookbooks which I impulsively gave away. I mistakenly assumed I could never use them again, which is just not true. Once I learned the basics of cooking gluten-free, I was then able to figure out how to convert gluten recipes to be gluten-free.

My hope is to help others save some money (by not disposing of your “regular” cookbook collection!), and some time (I can literally spend weeks researching and testing different recipes for one particular item, but I am fascinated by the research and I love to experiment… but that is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea!).

I also really want to help those who are newly diagnosed or those who may be stuck in the denial/depression phase of a celiac diagnosis, which I understand all too well. I was stuck in the land of denial for 3 years and harmed myself greatly because of it. I know how much missing a particular food can lead one to consider “cheating,” and I was a MAJOR cheater (but I was also devoid of all the “classic” GI symptoms. So consider yourself “lucky” if you experience a reaction to gluten. It is kind of like a physical guide to keep you safe and healthy and out of the land of denial!).

Fast forward to today… just knowing that I can have whatever I want, (if I am willing to make it) has done so much in terms of getting me to a place of acceptance for my new normal. Now I just need to help my son stay in his place of acceptance as he goes on his journey of growing up gluten-free in a “Lunchable” land (I couldn’t resist the twist on Adam Sandler’s “Lunchlady Land”). Kindergarten can be a harsh place to be different. So if you have a kiddo who is having a hard time with not getting “hot lunch,” like mine is, maybe this video will help!

Whoa, how was that for an ADD tangent?!! :-D

The format for the majority of my recipes (just in case you happen to be a new visitor) is the original gluten containing recipe is in black and my GF tweaks and suggestions are in red. I will always link to the original recipe and give full credit (which is why I even brought up Todd Wilbur’s book instead of just linking to Recipe Goldmine because people that can create recipes, deserve the full credit for them! It is just nearly impossible for me to show you how I do things without the original recipe posted on my blog.

Gluten-Free Nilla Wafers

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar (I used 365 Organics Powdered Sugar which is corn-free. Click here to see a picture in an older post of mine)
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Shortening (I used Spectrum Shortening which is non-hydrogenated)
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 cups Cake Flour (See below for instructions on how to make your own GF Cake Flour)
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbs. Water

  • Heat oven to 325 degrees F. (I used my convection oven set to 325° F.).
  • Cream together sugars, shortening, egg, vanilla extract and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add the flour and baking powder.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of water and continue mixing until dough forms a ball.
  • Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and flatten slightly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. (I made mine smaller, about 1/2-inch. I flattened the cookie with the bottom of a glass (be sure it has a smooth bottom… I use a wine glass! ;-) ), then I pressed the edges down slightly to get that “domed” effect).
  • Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until cookies are light brown. (Since all ovens are different, I recommend starting at 10 minutes, then check each minute thereafter for doneness. I pulled mine out of the oven after 15 minutes).

Makes 50 to 56 cookies.

Gluten-Free Cake Flour (I got this recipe from RecipeCurio.com)

  • To make a cup of (Gluten-Free) Cake Flour, first place two level tablespoonfuls of Corn Starch (or Arrowroot Powder if you need to avoid corn) in a cup and finish filling with regular Bread Flour (use your favorite Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend that has the Xanthan gum already added. I used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour). This makes the equivalent of one cup of unsifted Cake Flour. Then this should be sifted together three times before using in the mixture.

Pinch off little globs of cookie dough…

Roll the cookie dough globs into balls…

Press the cookie dough balls flat with the bottom of a glass…

I pressed my cookie dough to about 1/8-inch thickness.

Don’t be surprised if the cookie dough sticks to the bottom of the glass. If you use Better Batter GF Flour though, you can pull it right off, just like “normal” cookie dough! :-)

I pressed the edges down with my fingertip to try and achieve the same look as the real Nilla Wafers.

They may not look exactly like a real Nilla Wafer, but to everyone I gave a sample to (even glutenators!) they tasted just like them!!

Just for kicks I had to assemble some GF Nilla Banana Pudding. Normally I make my own vanilla pudding, but I used the Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding in this photo because the artificial coloring in the mix helped distinguish the pudding from the cookies in my picture! :-D I also used Cool Whip, another Kraft product (I will admit it, I like Cool Whip, even more than I like homemade whipped cream… shameful, I know!). For Kraft’s Gluten-Free Policy, click here.

I am testing several “make your own Cool Whip” recipes at the moment (to get away from the hydrogenated oil and corn syrup that is in Cool Whip, and also to see if I can find a recipe that can be easily tweaked to be dairy-free. Wish me luck!

Filed under: Cookies, GF "Replicas", GF Kid Lunch Ideas, Gluten Free for Young Children, Gluten-Free at School, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Recipes, Tools to Make the Gluten Free Lifesyle Easier, gluten free | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Gluten-Free Lunch Box Finds

Posted on February 6, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

I was very excited to find a couple of things while at Costco the other day. Last summer, I found some Fruit Roll-Ups called Simply Fruit at Target, and bought a box. I was bummed when I went back for more and could not find them… anywhere! I was starting to think I had imagined the whole thing because I could not even find them online!

Well, as I was approaching the checkout line at Costco, I looked up and there they were!

No artificial colors!! Yea! :-)

For a complete list of General Mills Gluten-Free products (OVER 200!!), click here.

By the way, Kim over at Gluten-Free Is Life made a post of a Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Dessert Mix sale going on at Amazon.com. Click here to check out Kim’s post. The sale prices are valid until February, 28, 2010. I am going to stock up because I start my next cake decorating class this week!!

Speaking of Kim and her blog, Gluten-Free is Life, you really should subscribe to her blog. Kim is my go-to source for a lot of gluten-free product and restaurant reviews. I do not do near the volume of reviews that Kim does since my blog is mostly recipe based. Kim also writes the gluten-free column for the Columbus (Ohio) version of the Examiner. Kim also now writes for Celiac-Disease.com! And I thought I was busy… :-D

Getting back on track…

I also found some cute little pepperoni’s!

Okay, it is not exactly a “healthy” food choice… so we will be using it as a once a week treat, rather than an everyday staple! ;-) The Hormel Pepperoni Mini’s come in a 17-ounce package at Costco and cost $6.79 each. I bought a couple and put them in my deep freezer to thaw out as needed!

Now if only I could find the Hormel Pepperoni Mini’s in the Snack Pacs!

For a complete list of Hormel’s Gluten-Free Products, click here.

Filed under: GF Kid Lunch Ideas, Gluten Free for Young Children, Gluten-Free at School, Kindergarten, New GF Products, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Tools to Make the Gluten Free Lifesyle Easier, gluten free | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Cousins Products, LLC, Issues An Allergy Alert On Undeclared Egg, Soy, And Wheat In Spinach Vinaigrette

Posted on February 5, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

Click here for more information on the FDA’s website.

Filed under: Gluten-Free Product Recalls, gluten free | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

And the Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Winner is…

Posted on February 5, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

First off, sorry to be posting this so late in the day! I have hit a few unexpected celiac road bumps this week that I have had to address. It doesn’t matter how “adjusted” one might be to a dietary/lifestyle change… life will always through a few curve balls! :-D

Second, thank you all so much for entering this giveaway! All of your comments were so endearing and I can see bits and pieces of my own gluten-free experience in everyone’s comments. It has been nice getting to “know” everyone better.

Lastly (and the most important), it is time to announce the winner of the Better Batter Complete Product Sampler!!

I used the Random Number Generator to pick the winner:

And the winner is…

Erica N.

Congratulations, Erica! I will send you an email to get your shipping information. :-D

If you haven’t already done so, there is still time to enter for the GoPicnic Giveaway!!

Filed under: Gluten Free Giveaway, gluten free | Leave a Comment »

GoPicnic Ready To Eat Meals Product Review and Giveaway!!

Posted on February 3, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

Giveaways are intoxicatingly fun for me, especially when they are products that I absolutely love and that have made my family’s gluten-free life easier and infinitely better. It is difficult for me to rave about a gluten-free product on my blog and leave it at that. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a taste-test is unquantifiable!  :-D   So for this giveaway, I am going to bump up the “GF Love,” because thanks to GoPicnic, there will be 3 winners! Woo-Hoo!

TUm, did you know I am a die-hard Dr. Alessio Fasano groupie? I need to start a fan club! :-)

Check out some of GoPicnic’s Gluten-Free Offerings:

So last month I received a few complimentary ready-to-eat meals by GoPicnic to review on my blog. When GoPicnic contacted me and asked if I was interested in reviewing their gluten-free products, it was like the answer to a GF mom’s prayer. In case you didn’t already know (especially now that it has been brought to my attention that my “About Me” page didn’t survive my Blogger to WordPress transfer back in September… another item on my “list”!), I am the mom to 2 young animals boys, ages 6 and 2. This is my first year entering into the world of peer influence by means of kindergarten.

Prior to kindergarten, Sam was very chill on food, he ate what I gave him to eat and that was that, no big deal. Now it seems each day Sam comes home from school with a new list of requests for me to either make or find a GF equivalent for him to take in his lunch box so he can be like his little buddies. GF “Lunchables” have been sitting at the top of this list for quite sometime. I had bought the Laptop Lunch system a few years ago for preschool to make homemade healthy “Lunchables,” but now apparently that is just not “the same,” because it is still “mom’s” food!

The day the GoPicnic ready-to-eat meals arrived, Sam was beside himself with pure joy. He decided to take the ExploreMunch meal to school first. ExploreMunch has a Turkey Snack Stick, a White Cheddar Cheese Slice, Baked Snap Pea Crisps, Natural Strawberry Applesauce, a Sunflower Seed Crunch, a Surf Sweets pouch of Gummy Bears, a Temporary Tattoo, Utensils and a Towelette inside. The inside of the box is also loaded with games, jokes and fun food facts! Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables cannot hold a candle to that!

When Sam came home that day from school, he COULD NOT stop talking about how cool his GF “Lunchable” was, and how all his friends really liked his tattoo! No one in my “real” world really seems to “get” the true impact of that. This was such an emotional moment for me (especially since I was the obvious celiac gene donor), that I am actually fighting the tears again as I write this! The simple fact that Sam can have a special treat like this in his lunch box means more to me than all of the other very useful ways to use these meals:

  • Take them on an airplane (BTW, we should all start contacting the airlines and ask them to carry the gluten-free version of these!),
  • To stash in the car (non-summer months) for unexpected hunger pangs,
  • Throw in your backpack while going on a long bike ride or hike,
  • To take camping,
  • I think this would be a great thing for college students to have.
  • Emergency preparedness.

Heck, I could have used one of these when I was in the hospital after having Luke because the HOSPITAL could not accommodate my gluten-free needs!

GoPicnic meals do not require refrigeration, so this is a great item to keep on hand in your car for you or your kiddos in the event of a gluten-free food emergency!,  Yea!!!

GoPicnic ready-to-eat meals contain none of the following:

  • No Trans Fats
  • No High Fructose Corn Syrup.
  • No Added MSG.
  • No Artificial Flavors or Colors.

In addition to the gluten-free meals, GoPicnic also has many meals that are suitable for people who have other dietary needs like Halal, Kosher, Vegan, and Vegetarian diets (as well as mainstream meals that contain gluten ingredients).

So here’s the skinny on the contest, and since this is such a fabulous product I know you are all paying attention!

Each of the 3 winners will receive a 3-pack of GoPicnic ready-to eat meals! You are guaranteed one meal of your choosing, the other two will be based on availability.

Follow this link to the GoPicnic website and sign up to receive the email updates (follow the link located at the top of their page). Even if you do not win, there are great sales each week and you will get a heads up on those.

After you sign up for the newsletter, just leave a quick comment on my site about what you are happy to see in GoPicnic’s ready-to-eat meal lineup (or even what you think is missing).  Remember, all of these folks are entrepreneurs and we need to encourage their creativity, so any suggestions/ideas/criticisms need to be forthcoming so they can adjust to their market…meaning US!!! :-)

I am adding a new “twist” to this giveaway. You can “earn” bonus entries if you do any (or all) of the following things:

  • Follow @GoPicnic on Twitter, then shoot me an email at heidikelly13@gmail.com to let me know you did this (1 bonus entry).
  • Tweet about this contest and include a link to this page on Twitter, be sure to include @adventuresgfmom in your tweet (2 bonus entries).
  • Become a Fan of GoPicnic on Facebook then send me an email at heidikelly13@gmail.com to let me know you did this (1 bonus entry).
  • If you are the author of a blog, mention this contest in one of your posts and include a link back to this page (2 bonus entries).

I will use a Random Number Generator to pick the 3 winners on Monday, February, 8, 2010.

Good Luck! :-D

GoPicnic is also offering my readers a 20% discount on orders until February 24, 2010, when using the promotional code GLUTENFREE at checkout!

Filed under: GF Fastfood, GF Kid Lunch Ideas, Gluten Free Gift Ideas for Adults, Gluten Free Gift Ideas for Kids, Gluten Free Giveaway, Gluten Free for Young Children, Gluten-Free at School, Kids Birthday Party Ideas, Kindergarten, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Product Reviews, Tools to Make the Gluten Free Lifesyle Easier, gluten free | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments »

Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Review and Giveaway

Posted on February 1, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

I am so excited about this! Back in December I received a complimentary sample of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour to review on my blog. It arrived on Christmas Eve, just in time to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning! I made the Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Clone recipe that I found on the Better Batter Website. As I was rolling out the dough for the cinnamon rolls, I had to stop and just enjoy rolling the “real” dough between my fingers. I never thought I would ever experience that feeling again after my celiac diagnosis 5 years ago.

When the boys came down to see what “Santa” had brought the most amazing thing happened. They could smell the cinnamon aroma coming from the kitchen and they pitter-pattered right past all the loot and asked me what I was making. As I pulled the tray of hot gooey cinnamon rolls out of the oven, their eyes grew about an inch. We took a pause from the impending chaos of opening presents and just sat at the kitchen table and enjoyed our fluffy pillows of warm cinnamon goodness. The only sound that could be heard was of little lips smacking with delight. Our gluten-free life is now complete, there is nothing that we cannot have if we want it bad enough (Better Batter even has a recipe for GF Filo (or phyllo) Dough and GF Pizza Rolls… like the Totino’s Pizza Rolls!). This is a very powerful thing for me (and hopefully for Sam) because knowing we can have something if we want it, makes sticking to a permanent dietary regimen a lot easier to accept and embrace. I don’t know about you, but for me, if I know I cannot have something… it just makes me want it all the more (even if it is something I didn’t normally eat pre-gluten free, like Twinkies!). We were so into the cinnamon rolls that I forgot to take a picture!

I have also made the Cinnabon Clone Cinnamon Rolls (click here for the vegan version of the recipe), and I do have a picture to show you:

I was so impressed with Better Batter’s Gluten Free Flour, that I ordered a 25 lb. bag of flour before I was even finished with my sample package! That 25 lbs. is now gone too… it “left the building” a week after I got it! Mike just ordered me another 25 lbs. today! :-)

I also made Pigs in a Blanket using Better Batter’s Super Versatile Bread Dough recipe.

This is where most of my 25 lbs. of Better Batter Flour went! My husband can eat his entire body weight's worth in one sitting and Mike is not a big eater (he is 6'5" and 180 lbs., he is a pretty thin guy!). I have a ton of these in my deep freezer, ready to pull out when needed!

Then there was the Better Batter Flour Tortillas! Oh my gosh, these are the best! I wholeheartedly believe they taste better that the store-bought glutinous flour tortillas. Not a doubt in my mind. They are super easy to make and by making your own, you can easily sub out the lard or fully and partially hydrogenated oil that is in Crisco. I used Spectrum Shortening which is non-hydrogenated.

Real Chicken Soft Tacos have re-entered our gluten-free meal time! WOO-HOO!

We have also made GF Breakfast Burritos, Huevos Rancheros and Burritos! Yum.

The dinner rolls I made came from a recipe I found on Recipezaar, I wanted to try out the Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour in other recipes to see if it worked just as well. So far, so good!

Check out the Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies I made yesterday:

And the Gluten-Free “Nutter Butter” Cookies:

I think they taste just like Nabisco's, even if they don't look the same! :-D

And this has been this biggest seller of all to me: Gluten-Free Puff Pastry! Yes, you heard me right, GF Puff Pastry…

Now, please keep in mind that I have never made Puff Pastry in my life, gluten-free or otherwise! Another thing to keep in mind is that this was not well thought out by me in advance. I am quite often driven by impulse, a sidekick companion to my ADD. There are positive sides to this trait of mine and some not-so positive sides. One positive? I can watch the movie Julie and Julia (GREAT movie by the way!!) on a Sunday night and wake up on Monday morning ready to tackle GF Puff Pastry, having not taken the time to think it through and risk talking myself out of it! The downside? I can get so involved in a project like this that I completely miss an appointment! I am currently working on some tactics to overcome this issue of mine and I think I will start by taking some wardrobe advice from Flava Flav (I might even do the hat!). Just call me Flava GF Mom! :-D :

See what I mean? ADD tangent! Back to the GF Puff Pastry…

I watched an online video of Michele Richard and Julia Child making the gluten version of puff pastry and followed another blogger’s (Irina at Pastry Pal) tutorial for making glutenous puff pastry. Okay, so as I am sitting here writing this post, and copying links from the Pastry Pal’s blog to show you where I got my inspiration, I just happened to go to Irina’s home page and guess what I found? A recipe for Nanimo Bars that are gluten-free! The Nanimo Bars recipe was part of a 2010 Daring Baker’s Challenge hosted by Lauren of The Celiac Teen! Apparently, Irina has a wheat sensitivity and is going to be making more gluten-free recipes! That is either total dumb luck on my part or we really do live in a small world!

This is my first attempt at Gluten-Free Puff Pastry using Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour

For comparison purposes, here is Irina’s gluten puff pastry from the Pastry Pal Website:

This is Wheat Based Homemade Puff Pastry that Irina of PastryPal.com made.

My Gluten-Free Puff Pastry is not quite as “poofy,” as the wheat based puff pastry but I am not willing to chalk that up to it not having any gluten, not yet anyway. Right now I would say the “poof-lite” outcome is due to operator error. I am going to keep practicing to see if I can’t make the GF puff pastry equally as puffy as the gluten version. Outside of the puffy factor, the taste was AMAZING! I used it last night to make Chicken Pot Pies (using a Rachael Ray Recipe), check it out:

I made a bunch of these and put them in individual foil pie plates and froze them! Homemade Gluten-Free “Fast Food!”

One last example. I really miss Shrimp Gumbo. Pappadeaux’s Shrimp Gumbo to be specific. I cannot find a “copycat” recipe anywhere to do a “GF recycling.” I know it has a really dark base but every time I have tried to make a dark roux using different GF flour blends, it always comes out a light beige, at best. I found a recipe for Dark Roux on the Better Batter website:

Better Batter Gluten Free Dark Roux

Not quite as dark as Pappadeaux's, but much more visually appealing than a white gumbo! It was yummy! :-D

I also use Better Batter GF Flour in my Gluten-Free Magic Mix, which I use in my gluten-free condensed soup recipes.

But don’t just take my word for it, check out Kim Bouldin’s Review of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour on her blog, “Gluten-Free Is Life.”

I will eventually get all of these recipes posted but until then, you have a chance to win a free sampling of Better Batter’s products!

Better Batter Complete Product Sampler Giveaway

The winner of this contest/giveaway will receive a fabulous prize package consisting of: (1) 2.5 lb. package of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, (1) 2.5 Lb. package of Better Batter Gluten-Free Pancake and Biscuit Mix, and (2) 20 oz. packages of Better Batter Gluten-Free Fudge Brownie Mix!! A prize package worth $24.25!! Woo-Hoo!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment to this post about which Better Batter recipe you would want to try first should you win. Click here to look through Better Batter’s recipe archive.

In addition to leaving a comment, you need to do one of the following things:

  • Sign up to follow @BetterBatter on Twitter and “tweet” about this contest, including a link to this post. Please include @adventuresgfmom in your tweet so I have a record.

OR

If you are a blogger:

You will need to mention this contest in a blog post (thank you!) and include a link to this post in order to enter.

I will use a Random Number Generator to pick the winner on Friday, February, 5, 2010.

Good luck! :-)

Filed under: Appetizer and Dips, Autumn Foods, Breads, Breakfast, Celiac Disease, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Entrees, GF, GF "Replicas", GF Fastfood, Gluten Free Giveaway, Gluten Free for Young Children, Gluten-Free Magic Mix, Miscellaneous, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Pies, Product Reviews, Recipes, Soups, Thanksgiving, Tools to Make the Gluten Free Lifesyle Easier, Website Links, Winter Foods, gfree, gluten free, gluten intolerance | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 52 Comments »

Surf Sweets Organic and Natural Candy Review

Posted on January 31, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

A while back, I received a complimentary sampling of Surf Sweets Organic and Natural Gummy Candy and Jelly Beans to review on my blog. I have to admit, I received these back in December and I am embarrassed that I am just NOW reviewing them at the end of January! I am a big “out of sight, out of mind” girl and the candy has long been gobbled up, so I have not had a package laying around to trigger my memory!

When the candy arrived, I swiped a bag to try for myself and stashed the rest away to put in the boys stockings for Christmas. I was very curious about the gummy bears because I happen to consider myself a gummy bear “expert” of sorts. I actually had a problem a while back and I am happy to say that I am now in gummy bear recovery. :-D I am very picky about my gummy bears, and I have only ever liked the “Gold Bears” by Haribo, which are also gluten-free. The reason I like Haribo is because of the “firm and chewy” texture and the slightly tart punch. I personally do not care for the “soft and gummy” (and super-sweet) types of gummy bears.

I was eagerly anticipating trying out the Surf Sweets Gummy Bears to see where they fell in the texture category. I was extremely pleased with the chewy texture that I found! :-) They taste great too!

Not only are Surf Sweets candies gluten-free, but they are also free of the following:

  • Casein (and Gluten)
  • Peanuts (and they are produced in a peanut-free factory)
  • Artificial Colors, they are Stage 2 Feingold Approved. (Did you know: Artificial colors are primarily coal-tar derivatives made from chemical compounds which are made when coal is distilled?? I did not know that! It is amazing how once you find out what some of these ingredients are, you suddenly lose your appetite!)
  • Wheat, Dairy, Soy, Eggs, Tree Nuts, Nuts, Fish, and Shellfish (and they are manufactured in a facility that is 100% free of those ingredients).

They even have some Vegetarian and Vegan products:

Four of their products are Vegetarian (Fruity Bears, Gummy Swirls, Jelly Beans and Sour Worms). The Gummy Bears and Gummy Worms contain gelatin so they are not vegetarian.

Three of their products are Vegan (Fruity Bears, Gummy Swirls, and Sour Worms).

Surf Sweets candy provides 100% of your Vitamin C per serving. All of their products are free of trans fats, GMOs, corn syrup, gluten, artificial colors and flavor.

Surf Sweets, in my opinion, are candies that a mom can feel good about (teeth brushing still required though)! ;-)

Filed under: GF Kid Lunch Ideas, Gluten Free Gift Ideas for Kids, Gluten Free Stocking Stuffer Ideas, Gluten Free for Young Children, Gluten-Free at School, Halloween, Holidays, Kids Birthday Party Ideas, Kindergarten, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Product Reviews, gluten free | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Great Organic Uncured Hot Dog by Applegate Farms

Posted on January 30, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

I got so excited when I found these the other day at Whole Foods! Grass-Fed Beef Hot Dogs by Applegate Farms!

And they were only $4.99!

And they are really really good!

I cannot recall exactly but I think these actually cost a little bit less than the Nathan’s Famous (now gluten-free) hot dogs that I bought back in December. Organic and grass-fed beef for LESS than the cost of a mainstream supermarket package of hot dogs, with all the extra “stuff” in them! Applegate Farms does not add any Nitrates or Nitrites to their hot dogs and deli meat products, in case you are sensitive like my mom is (I never knew what they were exactly until the moment of this post!).

(Please forgive the following photographs. It’s embarrassing really, my lack of camera skills!) ;-)

Only 8 grams of fat, (Nathan’s Famous Beef Franks have 15 grams of fat).

And they are Gluten and Casein Free!

Sam wanted me to show a photo from the Rodeo we went to tonight. It was fun to watch the boys having a good time, but I found myself rooting for the bulls after watching the film Food, Inc. and seeing all the poor feed-lot cattle. :-(

Filed under: GF Kid Lunch Ideas, Gluten Free for Young Children, Kids Birthday Party Ideas, Kindergarten, New GF Products, Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease?, Summer BBQ Foods, gluten free | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

blue dominoes Safe Art Finger Paint Winner

Posted on January 29, 2010 by adventuresofaglutenfreemom

I used the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winner of a free 4-pack of blue dominoes gluten-free finger paint.

And the winner is… #3! Karla, if you will please email me at heidikelly13@gmail.com with your mailing address, I will get the fingerpaints out to you!

Thank you all for participating! Check back on Monday for a new giveaway of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour! Click on Better Batter’s link and start looking through their recipe archive, the question for the contest will be: “What recipe would you make first with Better Batter Gluten Free Flour if you win?” :-)

Filed under: Gluten Free Giveaway, gluten free | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

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