Category: Gluten Free

Gluten free cookies have come a long way in the past six or so years. 

This is both good and bad. Good for my taste buds but bad for my waistline. I feel like I’ve been inhaling cookies for the past few months. 

When I was first diagnosed pickings were slim. And it seemed every cookie was “thin and crispy” which have never been my favorites. But lately we’ve gottne so many more options. 

Even though they are thin and crispy the new gluten free Pepperidge Farmhouse cookies are quite tasty. I had to try them. You know, for science. Surprisingly, I liked the butter cookies better than chocolate chip. Usually I love a chocolate chip. Would buy these again.

Then Oreo came out with their gluten free version. I had to try them. The regular gluten free oreos were ok. I would not get them agin. But then I finally found double stuf version. Yup, these are far superior to the regular ones and I would buy again.

Then Goodie Girl, you know the woman behind the best cookie next to original thin mint,, came out with a s’mores cookie. You may know that I am obsessed with s’mores. These cookies taste quite like the classic campfire snack BUT are way less messy. Would buy again.

All these cookies. So good.

I just need to only keep one of them in my house at a time. I currently have double stuf Oreos, glutino sandwich cookies (a great Oreo substitute), and Goodie Girl S’mores.

Send help.

Or larger pants. 

We eat a lot of salsa in our house. There is usually a jar in the fridge and two to three backups in the pantry. We put that ish on everything.

Tacos. Burritos. Eggs. Chips. Salad.

I am always willing to try new salsa. And this week I was lucky enough to receive a box of salsa from Sam’s Famous Salsa. We happened to be having carne asada tacos for dinner that night so the timing was perfect!

I immediately opened the hot because well that is always a favorite in our house. Everyone in this house likes things hot, probably more so than most people. Sam’s Famous Salsa is delicious but for us, the hot was more like medium. It could use a little more kick for us but most people would consider it hot. The flavor is delicious and I love the texture. It reminded me a lot of homemade salsa.

• 

• 

• 

I also had it the next day with some tortilla chips and it seemed to be a little hotter than on the tacos. Maybe it just needed a day to “air out”.

This weekend I will try it on scrambled eggs.

I haven’t tried the medium and mild but will get to that soon as we’ve gone through almost all the hot in a few days!

I love the marketing material they sent along with the salsas. The colors are bold and bright and it has a modern feel to it while staying true to the companies Tarahumara Indian roots. Plus who doesn’t love a mild salsa that is described as “all of the mmmm a with non of the ow”? Brillant. And hilarious.

Sam’s Famous Salsa is gluten-free, low sodium, and contains no artificial preservatives. Find Sam’s in the deli section, not the aisle, and be sure to keep it in your fridge!

Disclosure: I received salsa in exchange for a blog post. All opinions are my own and I will tell you what I really think about any product.

Many people tend to equate a gluten-free diet with low carb.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I find that hilarious. I am gluten-free and completely addicted to carbs. They are some of my favorite foods! And I’m always excited to try new carbs.

As a blogger for the Nourished Festival, I received many samples. So many, I am combining two into this post (plus I am going to have more reviews with the next Nourished Fest this month). So this post contains two of my favorite carbs: pasta, crackers, and chips.

Gluten-free pasta is one of the things I’ve noticed is either really great or a pile of mush. Thankfully, the Barilla pasta I received fell into the former category. Barilla sent a box of red lentil penne. They also sent some Wasa Sesame crispbread.

The pasta was great on day one and reheated well. Through trial and error, I’ve learned it’s best to cook gluten-free pasta for the shortest time listed if you want to reheat it the next day. Otherwise, it’s mush. The lentil pasta stood up very well for reheating.

The legume line from barilla includes chickpea and lentil pasta. I can say I didn’t get a strong lentil or legume taste from the pasta. Legumes are a great source of plant protein and fiber. barillas gluten-free pastas are certifed GF and non-GMO.

I also enjoyed the Wasa sesame crackers. They were light, airy, and crunchy. I inhaled them after a 14-mile run/hike with some turkey and cheese. I haven’t seen this brand in my grocery store but I would definitely purchase if I came across them!

Now, for the chips!

For a while, I didn’t eat a ton of chips. I enjoyed them but tried to find healthier alternatives to eating chips every day. But I’ve been plowing through chips much more lately. I’m enjoying all the fun flavors that are coming out.

But you know what I miss? Pringles.

Pringles have gluten so they are on the no list. But now I’ve found an alternative! The Good Crisp Company makes a variety of chips that rival Pringles. They even come in a similar container.

The chips are certified GF, non-GMO. and have no artificial colors or flavors. They are also free of egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish & shellfish, sesame seeds, mustard, and celery.

They come in five different flavors and they are all tasty! The flavors are aged white cheddar, classic original, sea salt & vinegar, outback bbq, and sour cream & onion. I received four of the flavors, with sea salt & vinegar being left out. I think my favorite was the aged white cheddar. It’s hard to pick one! And, I’d love to try the sea salt & vinegar. I have recently come to love that flavor in kettle brand chips!

I would buy those chips again. I haven’t seen them at my grocery store but it looks like they are available at some stores nearby. It might be time to take a trip!

What is your most recent favorite gluten-free find?

Oatmeal makes a great pre-run meal. And when you eat it every weekend, you need a variety of flavors. It also doesn’t hurt to find one that does good.

Enter The Soulfull Project.

The Soulfull Project is like the Bombas of oatmeal. With every serving you buy, a serving is donated to your local food bank. They also have granola.

I sampled a variety of gluten-free oats. I did not react to them, but please note they are not certified. If you have celiac disease and are sensitive to oats, this may not be the oatmeal for you.

I used two packages/servings for my breakfast. It’s about 320 calories, so filling enough to power me through a long run or hike. I mixed a flavored package with an unflavored. I wish the flavors were a bit stronger. They weren’t bad; I was just expecting a stronger flavor profile.

You can see everything I received in my unboxing video!

Per their website:
We take our gluten free testing very seriously, although we are not certified by the Gluten Intolerance Group. Our products are tested at an independent lab and each production run is tested by that lab for gluten parts per million before we sell the product with the note that reads: Gluten Free.

You can order your own Soulfull Project items here.

What is your favorite flavor of oatmeal? Are you more likely to try a company if they have a give back program?

It’s peanut butter jelly time!

I’m always looking for new bars to add to my afternoon snack rotation. Of course, they need to be gluten-free. And there is a lot of BAD gluten-free bars on the market. So I jumped at the chance to try a new to me bar, Grab the Gold, as a blogger for the Online Nourished Fest.

These bars are great! Seriously.

I was a little skeptical because, as I said, I have had a lot of bad bars but Grab the Gold has made it into my afternoon snack rotation. (Hang around to the end, and I’ll have a code for you to try them!)

The bars are round and heavy, kind of like a hockey puck, with 193 calories and 11 grams of protein each. They are the perfect size for a snack. They also work well as a pre-run bar when I have to get out early in the morning.

My first thought when I opened the package was you can really smell the peanut butter! The actual PB flavor is perfect. It’s not overwhelming. The little bits of cranberries give you the jelly flavor. They balance each other out well. There is also a chocolate peanut butter bar, which is great when you want a hit of chocolate but don’t want to shovel an entire Reese’s bar in your mouth.

My only issue with the bars is a texture issue. And it’s totally me. I am a texture person, and there are little chunks in the bar. I think it’s the oatmeal. I haven’t quite figured out what it is. It doesn’t bother me enough not to eat the bars, though.

They also sent me an immune boost shot. I was a little hesitant to try because I saw it has stevia in it. My tastebuds are very sensitive to stevia in some products. Luckily for me, this product did not have the bad stevia taste! It is a berry flavor and quite tasty! I don’t know if it actually boosts my immunity, but it does have elderberry, vitamin C, echinacea, and zinc, so it can’t be bad.

If you are interested in trying Grab the Gold for yourself, head over to their website and use the code NEWYOU10 to save 10% through January 10, 2021!

Some interesting info on Grab the Gold

• They are woman-owned
• They’ve been around for 30 years
• The bars are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility
• They give over 40,000 meals annually through Feeding America
• The bars are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan
• They have no high fructose corn syrup and no preservatives
• They are Kosher certified

I love sweets.

If I could, I would eat candy and cookies all day, every day. Going gluten free has been difficult because gluten makes all those baked goods (and pizza) yummy. But over the years, I’ve found brands I like and would buy again. I’ve also eaten a lot of bad cookies.

As a blogger for the Online Nourished Festival, I received a box of cookies from Homefree. They sent me six different flavors in the perfect afternoon snack sized bags. Now, these are crunchy cookies which aren’t always my favorite BUT I really enjoyed these.

My favorite flavor ended up being the lemon burst. I do love lemon desserts, so this is not totally shocking. I am more of a lemon pie or lemon bar person usually. But these cookies were so good! The lemon wasn’t too overpowering. It was the perfect amount. They were almost refreshing. And the crunch worked really well with the lemon. I will definitely buy these cookies.

Vanilla ended up being my least favorite flavor. I was a little disappointed. It tasted like they used a mix of real and imitation vanilla. And I’m just not a fan of imitation vanilla. It leaves a bit of an aftertaste.

Surprisingly, I really liked the gingersnap. Ginger is not something I normally go for. It is a bit overwhelming of a flavor for me. Like rosemary. I like the flavor, but only in small amounts. This was the perfect amount. The chocolate mint was a bit underwhelming for me. I tend to like chocolate mint flavors, but this one just didn’t do it for me. But I’d totally get both of these flavors again. I think the chocolate mint would be really good crushed up and top off some ice cream.

The other flavors, chocolate chip and double chocolate chip, are exactly what you expect from a cookie. No surprises. I would get these flavors again as well.

Overall, I will get more Homefree cookies. I will stay away from the vanilla, though.

Homefree is dairy free, egg free, nut free, peanut free, and gluten-free. They also offer a holiday sugar cookie that I will have to try out. Homefree is also environmentally conscious and manufacture responsibly. Per their website: Further, most of our packaging is made from recycled materials, and most of our cookie boxes additionally are made using wind power. We only use the packaging we need: You will find little extra space in our boxes. From reusable cups in our staff room, to efficient appliances in our kitchen, we at Homefree are careful stewards of our environment. We proudly are a certified B Corporation because of our strong commitment to environmental as well as social responsibility. I always love to see a company doing what they can to help the environment.

Have you tried Homefree? What are your favorite flavors? If you haven’t tried yet, which one do you think you’d like best?

For some reason, I was hesitant to try Flax 4 Life. In my head I thought flax = healthy and it will be awful. Except I’ve had flax before, and I like it. Apparently I was having some sort of out-of-body experience. Because I was wrong.

Everything I’ve had from Flax 4 Life has been delicious.

I’ve eaten almost everything they’ve sent already! I have tried all the muffins (except for the carrot raisin because I don’t eat carrot or raisin in baked goods). I have also tried half of the brownie flavors. So far, I have liked everything. I would definitely buy the brownies. They are just the right amount for an evening treat. I probably would not buy the muffins, but only because I don’t buy pre-made muffins. I don’t really buy muffins, period.

• 

• 

Flax 4 Life is certified gluten-free, dairy-free, but-free, and kosher. Since they use flax as the key ingredient there is plenty of fiber and omega-3’s. Plus, a little bit of protein! They do use pure oats in their products, so if you are also sensitive to oats, these may not be the products for you.

As with a lot of gluten-free companies, it all started because family members were diagnosed with celiac disease.

I browsed their website a bit. I do like they have compostable packaging. It’s definitely something I think about when ordering online. I like as little packaging as possible and love when it’s all recyclable.

They also have some other flavors that sound good. One of the muffin flavors caught my eye… Hawaiian! It has pineapple and coconut plus ginger. That actually sounds really good. They also have granola and the Hawaiian granola also has mango.

Oh my. I might have to get me some of that!

They offer two cakes, carrot and chocolate, and toaster buns. I had to look at toaster buns because I wasn’t quite sure what they were based on the name. I assumed they were like hamburger buns, but one is cinnamon raisin. The other two flavors are everything and original. Once I looked at all of them, I think these are a cross between a bagel and bread.

Overall, I liked the products from Flax 4 Life. I would recommend them and I will definitely buy the brownies again. If I came across the muffins and needed something gf, I would buy those too. Muffins just aren’t my thing in general. If you are in Arizona, they carry Flax 4 Life at Sprouts and Natural Grocers.

View my unboxing video.

It’s always stressful to try a new restaurant or a different dish somewhere. You never know if it’s safe or if you’ll end up glutened.

I’ve been missing pizza. Real pizza, not the frozen stuff I get at the store. I want to eat thick crust, greasy pizza. All the gluten free pizza I eat is thin crust. And never gooey and greasy.

But pizza is always a risky thing for someone with celiac disease. Some places are super careful. Others, not so much. So I tried pizza at a restaurant where I normally get pasta.

Well, there must have been the tiniest bit of cross contamination.

I woke up the next morning extremely bloated. My digestive system was upset, and I was incredibly fatigued. Although it wasn’t nearly as bad as some past glutened experiences. I skipped my workout, teleworked, and then relaxed in the evening.

Saturday I woke up feeling hungover. But the bloating had gone down. I was even more fatigued. I took the day off. I sat on the couch and did a little work on my photography business in the morning. The afternoon I binged the new Unsolved Mysteries and attempted to nap. The evening? I was so tired I barely remember what we watched and fell asleep on the couch at like 8:30.

Sunday I was feeling much better but didn’t want to push too hard. I relaxed most of the day and lifted weights.

The worst side effect of being glutened is I get extremely hungry and want to eat everything. I didn’t track my food this weekend and definitely ate more than I should. I allow myself to eat because I hate the feeling of being ravenous. I also chug water like no one’s business.

If you have celiac disease, what do you do when you’re glutened?

Follow me on Instagram for (almost) daily updates!