Wednesday's "What do we like?"

My son chose todays featured item.

So Delicious brand  Purely Decadent Dairy Free

Peanut Butter Zig Zag ice cream!

This is a soy-based ice cream, so those of you with soy and or peanut allergies, this won't work. But, if you can eat it, I highly recommend doing so! Before we found the less expensive choices at Trader Joes, this was our go to ice cream. This one can break the bank at about $5 though, so it's probably not a daily indulgence.

Great taste, great texture, enough said!

Wednesday's "What do we like?"

So once again, I planned to post this last week and just didn't get around to it. I promise I have more on my mind to share soon! For now I leave you with this.

What do we like this week????

Red Robin Restaurants!

My kids and I went to Red Robin this last weekend. This was by no means our first time.  I love that Red Robin understands Gluten-free dining. They now offer Udi's GF/DF buns as a regular menu item. No more lettuce wraps!! My son was able to enjoy a kids burger with bun and fries for lunch. They even grilled the bun for us.
Some of the Red Robin servers still aren't quite there with really "getting it" with gluten-free (some are) but we have eaten at 3 different locations and at each,  the managers knew exactly what was going on and were very competent in helping the servers.
I always start by asking for a GF menu, even though I already know what I want. I feel this gets the server thinking GF from the get-go.
Only once my son's order was mixed up, but it was super easy to spot. The reason was that if your kids order is GF, it should be served in a yellow basket rather than red. I knew right away when they brought the red basket that something was wrong. They quickly fixed the issue.
I will say that when you order GF fries, they do take longer to arrive. But that's a GOOD thing! That lets you know that they are being fresh cooked separately.

I am so thankful that there is a family restaurant that we can enjoy! I am hopeful that they will continue to expand their GF offerings.

Disclaimer: As always, I am in no way affiliated with Red Robin (or any product I have reviewed). I am simply offering my opinion. I paid for the meals I have eaten there and was in no other way compensated for this review.

Wendnesday's "What do we like?"

I can't believe it is Wednesday again!

This week is

Chocolate chips!

See the little g on the label? These are Trader Joe's Gluten-free Chocolate chips. They also do not contain milk ingredients, although they are made on shared equipment. My kids do not react to them but if you have a more severe milk allergy, these may not be for you. Please read the label and decide what is right for you.

These are one of the few semi-sweet chocolate products that I have found that my kids can eat. Neither of them likes a dark chocolate.
I posted here another chocolate chip that we love. Those were the mini's. These are full size. Great for snacking on or melting down for making candies. You can use these in GF cookies but it makes the cookies more fragile.

I apologize but I cannot remember the price. I can tell you that it is right around $3.00 a bag. These can be chopped up to a smaller size if you want to use them in cookies or granola bars.

Disclaimer: As always, this review is of a product that I purchase for my own personal use. I am in no way affiliated with Trader Joe's. I am simply offering my personal opinion.

Wednesday's What do we like?

What do we like?

Trader Joe's Dairy free Ice cream!

We have two favorites, the soy-based vanilla and the coconut milk based chocolate.

Both are fantastic.

First, the chocolate. It is $2.99 for the pint. While still pricey, that is better than the almost $5.00 a pint for brands like Coconut bliss. The Trader Joe's brand is smooth and creamy. My son describes it as creamy and yummy with just the right amount of chocolate. "Pretty dang good" was his way of summing it up! If you knew how selective my son is with food, you would realize just how high praise that is!

The Vanilla Soy ice cream is the closest to "regular" ice cream that we have found for vanilla. Creamy and smooth. A very light hint of aftertaste but not strong.

It is $3.99 for the container. I can't remember what size this is but I think it might be a quart.

My daughter likes hers with chocolate syrup.

I have a great home-made ice cream recipe as well, but the Trader Joe's brand is great when I don't have time to fuss with making it.

The only issue I have with Trader Joe's is that they don't carry the ice cream year round, so stock up when you see it!!

Weird Food Names

While in Trader Joes today I was looking through some of their candies. I noticed that several had an ingredient called Glucose syrup. Have you heard of this? It is made from wheat! It can also be made from corn, barley, potato or rice.

I would not have thought that given the name. Nor would I have guessed that the box of jelly beans I was looking to buy had wheat in them.

Thankfully, Trader Joe's does a great job with their packaging.

 The label read like this... Glucose syrup(wheat).  Can't get much more clear than that.

Always read the lable. If you don't know what something is, look it up. If this product had glucose syrup made from barley, it would still contain gluten but since it wasn't from wheat, it would not have to have an allergen warning.

**Sigh** when did food get so weird???

Wednesday's What do we like?

There are so many great Gluten free products out there that we like, today's post includes several.

Yesterday, I made Chex Mix. Yum! My husband gave it two thumbs up (He almost ate it all before I could get a picture, lol!!) At first, my son didn't really like it but then later decided it was "pretty good". My daughter didn't care for it. I loved it as much as the hubby.

Here are the great products I used.

Chex are great because, well, they are just chex! Familiar and easy, we were eating them before going gluten free. The only downside is the preservatives they use.

Glutino products. I love the pretzel sticks you see here. They have a great taste and texture. For some reason, I do NOT like their "pretzel" shaped pretzels, they have a funny after-taste. But the sticks are great. So far the best price has been at Wal-mart. This is the larger bag and it was a bit over $6.00. We don't generally buy these for straight snacking, I try to use them in a mix of some kind.
The glutino bagel chips are great. They taste good and have good texture (my son will sit and eat the box if I let him!). But, at just over $4.00 a box at wal-mart, I also try to use these in a mix. (my son ended up eating the rest of this box!)

Earth Balance butter spread. Works great in baking, tastes great. The only thing we don't like it on is melted on popcorn. It tastes a bid "odd" that way. This is our go-to "butter". Trader Joe's sells it for $3.64 a tub. They do sell a soy free version as well. I haven't tried it since Trader Joe's doesn't carry it and it is more expensive in the grocery store. The soy free version is the same style container but the label is red.

Peanuts. Simple salted peanuts from the bulk section at Fred Meyer.

Here is the recipe for making the Chex Mix.

In addition to the above products, you will need Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder and seasoning salt (I don't use seasoning salt so I just put in 1/4 tsp salt).
I followed the lower fat version and did mine in the oven.

I used a wooden spoon to break up the pretzels and the bagel chips since the recipe calls for "bite-size"

Here is the finished product

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Sharing our struggle

I know that when you have an allergy or sensitivity to a food, you simply stay away from the food and all is well, right? It really isn't that easy, as some of you may know.
In our house, we have been attempting to be Gluten free/Dairy free for several years. I say attempting because as much as I know we need to eat this way, I get frustrated sometimes with the difficulties and financial challenges of sticking with it. Sometimes I just want to drive through McDonalds and be done, you know? So, I have been going through the McDonalds phase again. I would say we have been eating Gluten/dairy on and off for about 2 weeks now, but more on than off.
The results? My son is back to having regular, repetitive twitching, sleeping disturbances and bowel issues. He is also back to having issues with sensory overload, mostly to noise.
My daughter is back to having bowel issues and as for myself, I am having skin issues (I break out on my face and look like I have Rosacea when I eat gluten).
So, as of two days ago, we are back to Gluten/Dairy free 100% at home and the only exception will be birthday parties & holidays. I find that if my kids and I stay off G/D 95% of the time, our symptoms retreat to a tolerable level.
I am sure for others with Celiac, they would rejoice in being able to do the "sometimes" thing. For me it is a difficult compromise I have come to with my kids. I used to insist on staying GF/DF even at parties. It was VERY difficult. My kids were to the point of not wanting to attend parties rather than stay GF/DF at them. I am not sure I am sending the right message when I allow it "for special occasions" as if gluten is a treat they are being denied. I hope as they grow and mature, they will choose to stay off G/D on their own. My son is now able to identify the symptoms he suffers as a result of eating the offending food but is not always able to make the choice he knows is best for his health.
My goal is to control our home environment and keep us away from fast food for the moment. I am going back to stocking up on the many, many great GF/DF foods that are out there.