Amy's Spinach Rice Crust Pizza

I tried this a few days ago and I have to say that I think my review is slightly tainted. Nothing can taste as good to me as that Glutino Pizza I reviewed a few posts ago. But, in all fairness, let me back this up:

• this crust was not nearly as crunchy...in fact I couldn't pick up the pizza and just eat it. A fork and knife were required.
• the taste was good but the Glutino taste was better
• the price of Glutino pizza was less at my local Sprouts Market!

Would I eat this again?

Sure

Would I purchase this again?

Sure...but not if I spot the other pizza first!

The final verdict:
This pizza is so-so!

The Stats:
I suck and I forgot to write them down before I threw out the box...sorry! Um...don't eat the whole pie and your waistline wont cry?? Does that cover it?

I heart Ring Tings!

The Review:
(Steph...I stole these pics off your blog...I was such a glutton that by the time I remembered the take my own picture, I didn't think it would look that pretty...let that be a testimonial to how good they are!)


One of my best friends and fellow blogger, Stephanie, had a box of Gluten Free Ring Tings sent to my house!
She reviewed these on her blog a while back and they sounded so good! I have to admit my mouth watered after reading her review about cream filled delights! She told me a few weeks ago that she was sending me some and I was waiting for the post man ever since!

They arrived at the perfect time! The night prior I had been sniffing a cupcake for two hours. I know...WHAT IS THIS GIRL TALKING ABOUT? Well, it was my boyfriend's birthday and he had to go in for to work to do some accounting in the middle of the night to help out. I took the opportunity to surprise him by decorating his room and I had this Hostess cupcake sitting next to me for two hours until he got home. I could smell it and I wanted it and then I watched him eat it!

When I got home from my boyfriend's house, the UPS box was waiting for me! I opened it up and after my gluten free dinner I ate one of these delicious items!

Ring Tings have cured my eclair craving! Yes, that is right! For those of you that have heard me complain for months, I no longer am on the search for a gluten free eclair...but, if you find one, you can send it my way!

Thanks Stephanie! These were awesome!

The Stats:

Serving Size: One Ring Ting
Calories: 220
Fat:13 grams

-Gluten Free
-Casein Free
- Lactose Free
- Soy Free
- Zero Trans Fat
-Kosher

Made by Shabtai Goumet

WTF? WHEAT IN LOTION?

I know that the sellers of the Seacret products in Arizona are super pushy. They do not take NO for an answer. I was forced into buying this a few years ago when Jacob was maybe five months old and having a major meltdown/ crying fit. The lotion came with a nail kit they were pushing and I just bought the kit to get out of there and they brought the price down from $75 to $20.

I know, where were my hypothetical balls? I had none! My son was having a tantrum, these people didn't care that I was a new mother! They just wanted a sale and they had my hand in their possession and they kept rubbing oil on my cuticle.

So, this brings me to yesterday...

I had just gotten out of the shower and I was in a rush to get ready. My standard lotion had run out and I saw the unused and untouched Seacret lotion bottle sitting on my shelf. I opened the bottle and smelled it. It smelled like cucumber mellon and I decided to rub it all over me! It smelled like heaven. I got dressed and then I started to itch.

WTF?

WAS IT OLD? I have used older lotion than that. Lotions are like Twinkies ( well, when Twinkies were on the approved food list) they don't have expiration dates...

The itching got worse.

I grabbed the bottle.
It looked like that but said Cucumber Mellon on it. Upon further inspection I found out that there was wheat in the ingredients.

Remember, it was Christmas, I guess Santa did not like me this year :(

Happy Holidays!

Last night I went to a really fun Christmas party! It was freezing and required my mom and I to have a million layers of shirts under our jackets! It was a chili party and almost all of the food was off limits :(

Aside from taking my own microwavable dinner ( I decided on going last minute..review will be added soon) there was some food I was able to eat!

This one lady made her own tamales! She told me everything that was in them and she swore up and down that I could have them. I ate them and I was fine! They were so good!

I also ate homemade fudge that just consisted of chocolate, condensed milk and vanilla extract. I was a very happy person! When I made fudge long ago, I would put a tiny amount of flour in it.

_______________________________________________________________________

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY!




Michelle :)

Foods to Avoid...I am sure I am missing some ... please..add them in the comments!

So, I have a list of items I personally avoid written on my fridge. I am going to share the list, if there is anything missing, please add to it if I am missing anything!

• wheat
• spelt
• triticale
• kamut
• rye
• barley
• einkorn
• emmer
• wheat starlen
• wheat bran
• wheat grerm
• cracked wheat
• hydrolyzed wheat protein
  
• durum flour
• bromated flour
• enriched flour
• farina
  
• graham flour
• plain four
• self rising flour
• semonina
  
• white flour
• matzo
• OATS
  
• MSG ( it affects me)
  

An Amazing Lunch With My Boyfriend's Family, Contaminated At My Own Hanukkah and Really Good Cocoa Mix!

Yesterday my boyfriend and I went over to his families house for lunch. Luckily, Karmen, Jared's sister reads this and my other blogs so she is familiar with gluten free living. The night prior to us going over, I was babysitting my friends son and Jared told me that they were making us enchiladas! I panicked over the sauce! Then he quickly said that Karmen the looked at the ingredients and she saw that there was wheat in that so she found another thing to make.

I cant tell you how touched I am that the whole family worked so hard to make me a meal that I could enjoy too. They hand made me tacos and taquitos . They read everything that they put into it and they made sure not to cross contaminate me. I had a wonderful time!
Review of lunch:

* * * * * * * * * * ** ** ** **

Last night started Hanukkah. It was my first gluten free Hanukkah and my mom told me she would make everything gluten free so I wouldn't have to worry. So, while I was gone, she was cooking. We sat down to eat and she served this rice with chicken and carrot meal, this lentil and turkey bacon dish and a Middle Eastern salad. I bit into the rice and I knew something didn't taste right, sometimes I can just tell. Am I the only one who can just tell? Like sometimes I blindly eat something and get sick but sometimes I can just tell.

So, I ask her if she put chicken broth in the rice and she said yes. I knew...most broth...MSG {I know MSG is a hot topic amongst us! I get a rash:( } I got a rash and my tongue got itchy.

She didn't read the ingredients. She knows that she needs to read everything. She told me that she didn't think she needed to read it! URRG! I hate getting sick! Even if it is a rash. So, it wasn't horrible but still uncomfortable.

The rest of the dinner was good. Review of just being contaminated:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

As I type, I am sipping this amazing Hot Cocoa that Jared's family made me. Karmen got the recipe from a magazine (I forgot the name, so I cant give credit to where it is due). It is really yummy and gluten free! I love cocoa!

HOT COCOA MIX

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 1/4 c. sugar
6 oz semi -sweet chocolate chip cookies
1/4 tsp. salt


Directions:
Mix 3 tablespoons cocoa mis with 1 cup milk in microwave safe mug. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 min -2 min or until blended and HOT, stirring once. * Add whipped cream on top if desired.

Amy's Gluten Free Rice Mac & Cheese

The Stats:
There are 400 Calories and 16 grams of fat in the serving. There are no trans fat, no preservatives & no engineered indigents. Easy to cook. I made it in a microwave!


The Review:
I have been enjoying this gluten free mac & cheese for a while now. It is the best comfort food! I have eaten this three times now.

Woo hoo, now for the first time I get to use my handy dandy rating system!

New Rating System!

From now on, when I do food reviews, I will add a photo of me in all of my glory! So, if I liked a food, you will see this lovely photo:
Notice the obvious excitement! Wow, gluten free is yummy! Wow, try this!


If I thought a food was so-so:

I cant decide...did I like it...did I not? Hum... so hard...

And if a food was less than stellar:



Yes, that is a thumbs down in the picture...my sadness for the food over shadows my thumbs down though :(

Nana's Cookie Bars...

Excuse the side view of the first picture, I am having issues with blogger today, but you are getting two reviews for one today.

I saw these on clearance at Sprouts the other week with my mom. They were two for five dollars. They are not only gluten free but also vegan. They are also made with fruit juice, no refined sugar, no artificial anything and no...well...not much of anything...which you will find out once you try them...hence being on clearance.

I did like the fudge flavor much better than the chocolate much. I would eat these in a pinch but these would not be my go to snack, but they are edible. They are no where near as bad as that soup I once reviewed.

Oh, and there were these weird little crunchy things in them. What was that? Does anyone know? The whole time my internal dialogue was freaking out about what I was consuming. All natural my gluten free bum, I bet I was eating something artificial! There was something not right about Nana's Cookie Bars.

Has anyone else had these?

And she is usually so supportive...

My friend Kelly is usually so supportive of my gluten intolerance. We bake gluten free together (check out our chocolate creations a few posts down!) and she even made me a gluten free birthday cake, but today she was just not feeling like dealing with a celiac like myself :(

Case in point:



These are from a bakery that I sometimes walk by. They usually advertise that they have hot gluten filled items ready to ruin my intestines and make me curse the day I started suffering from this awful thing called celiacs. Ok, so maybe the sign doesn't actually say that but it does say something about hot baked goods :(

Trader Joe's Sweet Bail Pesto Smoked Chicken & Turkey Sausage

These are all natural, MSG free, gluten free (obviously), 170 calories per link (4 links in a package) low in carbohydrates (1g) and high in protein (21 g) . They are also easy to cook, you just decide on if you want to pan fry, bake, BBQ, or broil for 12-14 minutes on medium heat.

The taste is really good. I totally recommend these yummy sausage links! They are not overwhelming with the pesto and they are perfect for a quick lunch or dinner. These will make it on my standard Trader Joe's Shopping List.

Glutino Gluten Free Pizza: Spinach & Feta

I have been wanting a good pizza for a few days. When I was at Sprouts with my mom & son today and I saw this on sale and I couldn't resist ( I couldn't resist a lot of items, so a lot of items will be reviewed in the next few days) .

I think of Glutino as a really good brand, a brand that I have come to trust. I cant really say that I have been let down by Glutino before.

The directions were super easy. All you do is place the pizza in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F or 200 C and bake for 15 to 17 minutes.

Here is the finished pizza:
It is a personal pizza but it looked and smelled so delicious that I offered some to my mom. She tried some first and thought it was delicious. I tried some and also thought it was delicious!

Here is why this pizza gets a stellar review:

1. It is freaking yummy! I would eat it even if I didn't have to eat gluten free.
   
2. It had great texture. It was crunchy!
3. The whole pizza was 430 calories. I think that is pretty good.

Disappointed

I have been craving an éclair for months now. It is freaking ridiculous. I made an éclair wannabe on Thanksgiving that ended up tasting like a Boston Cream Pie.

Well, there is this Gluten Free Bakery around here called

Gluten-Free Creations Bakery

I have been calling them since I have been craving éclairs and they told me that they would have them for the holidays. I checked the holiday page on the website and éclairs are not listed. I called and éclairs are not part of their holiday menu.

I feel cheated. I kept thinking on Thanksgiving that an éclair was only a few short weeks away from entering my mouth. I wanted an éclair so bad.

I am sure some of you can relate to my disappointment. You get something stuck in your head that you have to have. Maybe not an éclair but something that you cannot find in this sometimes non-gluten free friendly world.

And this post is not a dig against Gluten Free Creations. I am glad they exist. I am glad they are around to give people with celiacs options. I just wish they followed through with their promise of éclairs.

For the love of chocolate!

Yesterday, my adorable friend Kelly and I had a very domesticated day. We decided to make our own chocolate bars ! Kelly has molds that are perfect for making bars and it was a fun way to spend our day!

Kelly mixing the chocolate:
Just some of the molds we used with the end result (these were the Hazelnut Coconut Chocolate Bars, shaped like owls) :

All of our chocolate, well what was left by the time I remembered to take a picture...

A mommy has to brag...





PREPPING CHOCOLATE FOR BARS:

- 2 bags of chocolate chips (we mixed semisweet & milk chocolate)

- for glossy chocolate (we didnt do this, but you can) add vegetable oil, go by sight...start out slowly with oil. Do not drown chocolate!

-Melt chocolate until it is in a nice smooth constancy and stirs well.


CHOCOLATE LAVENDER BARS:
- Use the prep method listed above.
- Add lavender extract a few drops at a time. In the case of lavender, taste as you go because it is very strong and too much can cause it to taste like soap. If you mess up, just add more melted chocolate and stir very well until the lavender taste is more even.
- Fill molds with mixture and place in refrigerator or freezer until firm.
*DO NOT PUT OIL IN PLASTIC MOLDS, just tap it out and it will slide out.


HAZELNUT COCONUT BARS:
-Use the prep method listed above.
- Add a 2 tablespoons Hazelnut spread to melted chocolate, such as Nutella. We used a different spread.
-Mix well
- Fill molds with mixture and place in refrigerator or freezer until firm.
*DO NOT PUT OIL IN PLASTIC MOLDS, just tap it out and it will slide out.