Gluten Free Food Reviews

Another muffin from the Bread of Life Bakery! Their muffins are individually packaged for freshness and portability.

This muffin seems exactly like the Bread of Life Chocolate Chip muffins, except plump juicy blueberries are substituted for the chocolate chips. Look at the picture above to see for yourself- the blueberries are huge!

I won’t bore you by repeated what I’ve already written ( read the review here) since the basic review is the same, but will reaffirm these muffins are great- soft, moist and sweet with no graininess to be found. They slice easily and pair well with fresh fruit or a hot drink for a tasty snack or dessert.

Try microwaving these muffins for a hot, fresh from the oven taste.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Pros: soft, moist, easy to slice, flavorful, stays fresh for about a week

Cons: You have to like sorghum flour to like these muffins,

Feel free to check out my other Bread of Life products reviews or gluten free muffin reviews!

Another product from Joan’s GF Great Bakes to continue my “new products” theme for the month, and it is a good one!

This Joan’s GF Great Bakes gluten free english muffin comes frozen in a package of six and is “mostly” baked- I say mostly because when thawed, the edges of my muffins were slightly gooey and undercooked. This is a product that definitely has to be toasted before consumption.

Straight out of the package, these look almost exactly like gluten containing english muffins. The top is a golden brown and the edges are pale and sprinkled with corn meal.  They are fairly soft and easy to slice when thawed. I sliced my english muffin with a bread knife and toasted it on a medium setting. In honor of my dad, who LOVES egg sandwiches, I cooked up an egg, melted some cheese, and made a breakfast sandwich.  The muffin held up quite well in the sandwich with no mushiness and crumbling.  The edges and surfaces of the muffin crisped up and provided a satisfying crunch without tasting dried out.

The inside of this gluten free english muffin is more dense than a traditional english muffin- there aren’t as many nooks and crannies. I also noticed the rice flavor of the GF flour mix was a bit heavy- I could taste the rice. It didn’t keep me from eating the whole thing though, so I guess it isn’t that big of a deal.  This may also be because I am almost paranoid about tasting rice flour because Iwon’t settle for products that taste gluten free- and rice flour is my flavor association with that.  I didn’t notice a weird texture or aftertaste though- another bonus!

This is the tastiest gluten free english muffin I have had. In reality, I didn’t really love them before going gluten free.  However, these are so tasty I think I have a new favorite breakfast sandwich.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Pros: looks just like a “regular” english muffin, tastes fresh and toasts nicely, doesn’t dry out, no crumbling

Cons: the flavor of the rice flour comes through- this may be a turn off to some, 23% DV of sodium in each muffin

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Want to try these gluten free english muffins? Check out Joan’s GF Great bakes website for ordering and shipping details.

**Update! I got an email from Joan’s stating their english muffins are 15% off this week! Nice!!**

Ingredients: GF flour blend ( rice flour, corn starch, tapioca), water, sugar, canola oil, gelatin, GF baking powder, egg replacer (potato starch, tapioca flour, calcium lactate ( not dairy derived), calcium carbonate, citric acid, sodium carboxymethlcellulose, methlylcellulose), xanthan gum, salt, cornmeal.

Check out my other muffin reviews and Joan’s GF Great Bakes reviews!

What a great idea! Joan’s GF Great Bakes reminds me of the take ‘n bake pizza chains like Papa Murphy’s. The concept is that Joan’s GF Great Bake sells packaged, frozen dough to make “homemade” gluten free bagels,  sandwich rolls, pizzas, cookies . . . and the list goes on. No more dried, crumbly gluten free products.

I agreed to review their products to see if this really is the case. The fresh gluten free products arrived safely packed in an insulated box with plenty of ice packs to keep the products frozen and fresh. I was very impressed!

First, I tried the onion sandwich rolls. The bread dough comes packaged in a rectangular metal tray, ready for baking. I baked these rolls for 20 minutes until they were golden on the top.  I must admit, it was so great to have hot, fresh baked gluten free bread in my kitchen and not have to mix a sticky bread mix or measure a lot of flours to measure.

First and foremost, these 3 pack of rolls are large enough for a hefty deli sandwich, and could even be sliced in half to make six smaller sandwiches.This bread is quite good, compared to other gluten free breads I have tried. It is a thick, textured bread that is a bit course. It does taste “gluten free”, but I think that is what makes it good in this case.  This is not a gluten free bread imitating a gluten based bread. It is just a good tasting gluten free bread that does not get soggy or fall apart when you eat it. I piled my sandwich with grilled veggies and chicken, cheese, tomato and a slathering of mayo, and ate it with only slight crumbling- nice! The onion flavor was a bit strong and may compete with the flavor of sandwich toppings. However, it complimented my hot sandwich nicely.

Overall, I think this is a great product that I would buy again.

Rating: 4 stars

Pros: fresh baked benefits with minimal fuss, holds lots of toppings without sogginess, no trans fat, nice flavor

Cons: texture is course, tastes “gluten free”

CLICK HERE for ingredients and nutritional information

Click HERE to purchase from Joan’s GF Great Bakes website or HERE to view store locations in east coast states

Sorry for the delay! I have felt so frustrated this past week- my IP address was blocked from my my site host, so not only could I not update my site, I couldn’t even view it! This is the second time in two months. I am hoping it is the last or I am switching!

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Yum! These hearty fruit & nut bars from Desire Tree International are very tasty and boast no refined sugar or corn syrup (sweetened with honey), no additives or preservatives. I also like the description on the back: ” if you can pronounce it, your body will recognize it.”

What I like about these bars is that they taste fresh and chewy. The fruit is big, plump, and slightly sweet. The nuts are big and pack just enough crunch to be satisfying. I was impressed with the high quality ingredients.

I sampled two flavors:

Almond-Apple-Cranberry: This flavor tasted like a “traditional” fruit and nut bar with tons of plump raisins and cranberries. The apple flavor is very mild. This bar was fairly soft with a slight crunch from the almonds and crisped rice.

Cashew-Almond-Pineapple: This flavor is the sweetest of the two. The pineapple flavor is much more bold and blends well with the cashews.

Overall, these are high quality, portable snacks that can curb your appetite on the run.

PROS: fresh, high quality ingredients, portable, very tasty!

CONS: You have to buy them by the box ( 16 bars) if you buy from their website

To purchase these bars, check out their website HERE, or check your local natural foods store.

As promised- my belated monthly give-away is here again! For the month of September, my theme will be:

New Gluten Free Products!

OK, so the theme for the month isn’t clever or witty, but it’s something I am excited about. This month most of my reviews will feature products from new start-up gluten free bakeries and businesses, and new gluten free products from companies we have have heard from before. Sometimes it is nice to try something new!

Mary’s Gone Crackers sent me these gluten free crackers to try out in the following gluten free flavors: sea salt, chipotle & tomato, and curry. I thought the flavors sounded unique and was curious what they would taste like.

Fresh out of the bag, I took the above photo. Quite honestly, I thought the chipotle tomato ( reddish) and curry (yellowish green) flavors looked really unappetizing and gross- the weird colors and lumpy shapes did not appeal to me at all.

All three flavors provided a satisfying crunch like a pretzel, with very little crumbling. Some pieces were almost hallow, like they took the circle of the original crackers, rolled them up and repackaged them. These seem ideal for travel and snacks on the go and would also be perfect for dips and appetizers.

This is what I thought of these three flavors:

Mary’s Gone Crackers Gluten-Free Sea Salt Sticks & Twigs: These, I actually really, really liked. The taste and texture closely resemble the Mary’s Gone Crackers original flavor with the added sea salt flavor. I felt the sea salt enhanced the natural flavor of these hearty and healthy tasting crackers, and was a winning combination. Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Mary’s Gone Crackers Gluten-Free Chipolte Tomato Sticks & Twigs: This flavor tasted a bit spicier, but I really couldn’t place it- it didn’t seem like tomato, and the chipotle was mild, but lingering- very intriguing. To me, this flavor was “ok”. Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Mary’s Gone Crackers Gluten-Free Curry Sticks & Twigs: Ok, if you like curry, you might like these. Unfortunately the color and appearance of these crackers looked so unappetizing that I am sure it affected my perception of the flavor. I didn’t like them at all, even though the curry wasn’t overpowering. Rating:  1 star

Have you tried these gluten free snack crackers? What did you think?

Edited after publication . . I reduced the rating of the curry and chipotle flavors one star  because the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really, really did not like them. The revised rating accurately reflects that.