Gluten Free Food Reviews

OK, I have had enough bread for a few days, and wanted to share this breakfast cereal with you. I purchased it to share with my sister before her wedding at Christmas. We were staying with my parents and needed a gluten free breakfast cereal option in my parents’ pantry for a satisfying breakfast in a short amount of time. Getting ready for a wedding is serious business, and not a second is wasted! (Well, almost, right Kristina?) . I purchased this 12.8 ounce box of gluten free cereal for $5.29 at a nearby grocery store.

I admit the picture on the box looked really good- the clusters of granola amongst plump juicy berries- yum,! Oh boy was I in for a surprise. I opened the box to discover that it was only half full. Nope, the contents just hadn’t “settled”, but the inner sealed bag was only as large as half the box. Very deceptive!

Then I poured some granola into my bowl. My first thought was. “Where are the berries?!” I saw large one to two inch chunks of granola cereal with a bits of color, but I had to look really hard. I started to get that sinking feeling that I had wasted my money. However, wanting to give it a fair shot, I poured some milk and dug in.

Thankfully, I was surprised- it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Even though the freeze dried berries were hard to see, this gluten free granola cereal had a pleasant strawberry and raspberry flavor that blended well with the granola. This cereal wasn’t too sweet, but lacked a traditional “granola” flavor since it does not contain nuts or oats. The texture is also hard to describe, since it consisted mostly of brown rice flakes and rice bran. I also noticed a strange aftertaste, but couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was from.

This cereal did not get soggy and remained crisp and crunchy in my milk. However, it was almost too gard to eat and enjoy. I found this cereal to be quite filling thanks to the 5 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein per serving half cup serving.

Overall, I found this cereal to be quite unexpected. I enjoyed the berry flavor but found the rest of the “granola” a little strange. I feel this is a good option for those that cannot have nuts or oats. However, for myself I think I will stick to a more traditional variety of granola cereal.

PROS: nice berry flavor, allergen-free

CONS: deceptive packaging, very large chunks, aftertaste, hard to chew, appearance is less than appetizing

Rating: 2 stars

Want to try it? Click the picture and link below:

Enjoy Life Foods Very Berry Granola Gluten-Free Cereal- glutenfreemall.com

Read more Enjoy Life gluten free product reviews:

Enjoy Life Soft Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies

I was very curious about these cookies. How wonderful would it be to have a ready made gluten free chocolate chip cookie that was soft and yummy? I hoped this was the answer.

I purchased these cookies at a local grocer near my parents home the last time I was there for a visit. I paid $3.99 for a package of 12 very small cookies. Inside, the cookies were encased in a plastic sleeve to protect from mashing together ( I assume). The packaging worked! The cookies made it to my home, intact, separated and ready to eat.

I found these cookies to be very soft, but dense; a cookie you can really sink you teeth into. They hold their shape with no crumbling or graininess with just a hint of dryness. The cookies are dotted with miniature chocolate chips. Unfortunately, the chocolate chips looked and tasted stale, and the cookies had a strong date flavor that added a fruity sweetness to the cookies.I was disappointed at the lack of chocolate chips, despite the box boasting of “more” chocolate chips. I started to wonder if this cookie even tasted like a chocolate chip cookie! In reality, it tasted OK, but not quite the traditional tasting soft baked C.C. cookie I was hoping for. I am starting to think I am just too picky. I am not sure if that is good or bad!

Pros: soft and chewy, naturally sweetened

Cons: not a traditional chocolate chip cookie flavor, strong date/fruit flavor

Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Where Can I Buy These Cookies? Click the link below:

Enjoy Life Foods Soft Baked Chewy Chocolate Chip Gluten-Free Cookies at GlutenFreeMall.com

Ingredients: Sorghum Flour; Grape, Apple & Pear Juice Concentrates; Pure Cane Brown Sugar; Date Paste; Expeller Pressed-Safflower Oil; Chocolate Chips(sugar, chocolate liquor, and non-dairy cocoa butter); Water; Natural Rice Dextrin; Xanthan Gum; Baking Soda; Salt; Vanilla; Rosemary Extract.

Read more Enjoy Life product reviews:

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies

Enjoy Life Very Berry Granola

These small, round cookies come 12 to a package, and since it has been literally years since I have had a snickerdoodle, I thought I’d give these a shot. I found them while shopping at a natural foods store with my mom in the twin cities area in Minnesota, where I grew up. ( And no, I do not have the MN accent anymore! If you are from there, or have visited, you know what I am talking about.) Plus, I haven’t tried any of the Enjoy Life cookies yet.

When I opened the box I was impressed that the clear a packaging was shaped to separate these soft cookie. Too bad the packaging didn’t work. Each row of cookies was mashed together in one large snickerdoodle tower. I think the cookies need to be a bit larger to fit the grooves in the packaging. Anyway, the cookies separated with minimal damage, so it wasn’t a big deal.

When the packaging says that these cookies are soft baked- they are not joking. They are, in fact, very soft and chewy with no crumbling. You can literally sink your teeth into one of these small cookie confections. There isn’t any chalkiness or grittiness, and the texture is pleasant and not at all gluten-free tasting. These cookies are coated with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, and for me, this was the only resemblance of a snickledoodle flavor. The cookies themselves are sweet and fruity tasting, thanks to the healthy dose of date paste and fruit juices in the ingredients. In fact, I could see and taste small chunks of the date paste. (Too bad I am not a huge fan of dates.) There is a strong spice flavor comparable to soft gingerbread. Overall, they are decent cookies.

Pros: Soft and chewy, nice spice flavor, excellent texture
Cons: Doesn’t really taste like a true snickerdoodle, fruity flavor, flawed packaging

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Where Can I Buy these cookies?

Enjoy Life Foods Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Gluten-Free Cookies - glutenfreemall.com

Ingredients: Sorghum Flour; Date Paste; Grape, Apple and Pear Juice Concentrates; Pure Cane Brown Sugar; Expeller-Pressed Vegetable Oil (Safflower Oil and/or Sunflower Oil); Natural Rice Dextrin; Ground Flaxseed; Water; Baking Soda; Xanthan Gum; Vanilla; Salt; Cinnamon; Rosemary Extract

Read my other Enjoy Life gluten free reviews:

 Enjoy Life Soft baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy Life Very Berry GranolaÂ

Feel free to check out what Bittersweet Blog, VegFamily, and OnlySometimesClever have to say about Enjoy Life soft baked cookies!