GF Products

Product Ratings and Reviews
These are a few of my favorite things:
Bakery on Main Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal
Do not let the name fool you!  This cereal is made from 5 whole grains, not just Oats.  It utilizes nutritional powerhouses like Amaranth and Quinoa to make this delicious blend.  They make several other flavors as well, all in a dedicated facility, but this is my favorite by far.
Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
Made with brown rice, almond flours, and more, it is Gluten Free heaven in terms of pancakes.  I actually used to eat this before I became GF because the taste was divine and was made from whole grain.  I will sometimes add an extra egg, for more protein, and I often use milk when it calls for water.  I prepared this without egg or milk one day for a friend with dairy allergies and I was surprised to find that this product tastes delicious without egg or milk.
When I am baking from scratch, adding this product to other recipes as a flour substitute works very well, just be sure to cut down on your leavening agent, as this already contains one.
    Pamela’s Chocolate Brownie Mix
This is a staple when a chocolaty baked treat is required.  I add extra chocolate chips, milk, and egg.  Try the oil or butter recipes on the package.
Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams
They make many delicious products.  Their Chocolate Cake Mix is virtually indistinguishable from a regular store bought variety.  Yeah!!!  Make according to package and add frosting, or add an egg and substitute milk for the water.  Their Pancake and Waffle Mix is also very good, it is more like a confection, and less hardy than Pamela’s pancakes. It depends on what you are in the mood for.   I was not thrilled with their Yellow Cake Mix.
Tinkyada Pasta Joy
Any of their pasta products are great substitutes for regular pasta (including Lasagna noodles).  This is made with brown rice, which is a whole grain, so it has more nutrition than one made with white rice.  They have dedicated their whole facility to the production of rice pastas so there is no cross contamination.   I have served this product at parties and people never knew it was GF.   The one drawback to this product is that it cannot be served cold from the refrigerator.  When refrigerated, it becomes quite hard and unpalatable.  If you wish to serve it as pasta salad you can serve it at room temperature, without prior refrigeration.
Gillians Bread Crumbs, a wonderful product, is produced in a gluten, wheat, and nut free facility.  Available in many supermarkets as well as online.

     Breads
For the most part GF breads are a lot smaller than their glutinous counterparts.  This is due to the fact that gluten is missing from the equation.  Remember from our discussion in What is Gluten and  Why is Gluten Popular that gluten is so sticky and elastic, as well as being such great yeast food, that it allows breads to rise higher and be bigger.  Get used to it.  In my opinion the best tasting GF breads tend to be the smaller ones.
The other thing with GF breads is that they all taste better toasted.  If you are bringing bread with you, I would recommend toasting a bunch of it ahead of time.  That way you can get sandwiches made for you at places that serve GF deli meats.
Because GF breads and other items are harder to come by, I keep a variety in my freezer.  This prevents them from spoiling, and allows me to have different products at different times over several months.

Udi’s Whole Grain Brown Rice Bread is by far my favorite for sandwiches.   Like all GF breads its flavor is improved by toasting.  I cannot tell the difference!!!  Yeah Udi’s!!!
Udi’s Bagels are 4” to 4 ½” wide 1 ¾ “high.  That is the largest eating surface I have seen in the GF world.  They are great. I keep mine frozen and then stick them directly into the toaster oven, on medium when I want one.  This produces a lovely crunchy exterior, and a hot, soft, moist interior.  Yeah Udi’s!!!

Udi’s Classic Hamburger Buns (about 3” H and 3 ½” wide) because of the size (very thick and somewhat small surface area) I tend to use the bread as my hamburger roll, as it is hard to eat with a sizable burger in it!  LOL.  These are very yummy, I recommend the same heating technique I describe for their Bagels.

Glutino Flax Seed Bread is far hardier and more like eating whole grain bread than any of the others.  Toasted, the bread is dry (but not unpleasantly so) and light with a nutty flavor.  I love this product toasted with nothing on it!!!!  Served like that it makes a great low calorie snack and it is completely yummy.  Also great topped with almond butter!

Food for Life’s GF Millet Bread is very small (3 ½ “by 3”) but very worth having in my freezer.  It is dense but yummy.  Toasted it remains moist, I like it with butter and or with Polaner’s All Fruit Strawberry spreadable fruit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>