Gluten Free Food Favorites

I'm always looking for a new favorite GF food.  I live on a tropical island so we don't always have the same items people on the mainland have.  Or sometimes we don't get it until months later.  So I need your input.  What's your favorite GF food??

Also, feel free to email me recipes you'd like to see posted or pictures of your GF adventures.

New GF Product

One of the newest GF products that I was so happy to find was GF Bisquick.  As a mom with a gluten intolerance there is no better thing when I'm in a rush to whip something together.  It's so great there are more companies out there that are creating all these GF mixes.  I love baking but when I switched to a gluten free diet you really have to learn how to bake all over again.  I was so use to using a wheat flour that when switching to bake with GF flours I had to learn to add more things.

I'm very excited to use my GF Bisquick.  I'll post a review soon!!

GF Kirkland Cashew Clusters

Kirkland's Cashew Cluster is another one of my favorite anytime snacks.  It is sold at Costco and here in Hawaii it's sold for $9.99 for a 2lb bag.  In my opinion it's worth every penny.  I normally buy 2 packages at a time because it disappears fast at our house.

It comes in small cubes so it's perfect for snacking.  It's sweetened with honey so it provides the perfect salty and sweet combination.  Like it says on the package it's naturally gluten free, high fiber and a great source of protein.

The GF Life: What NOT to Eat

One thing that amazes me is how much gluten is in everything.  It's called different things on ingredient lists which confuses people more.  For instance another word for gluten is modified food starch.  I think the reason I have a resistance to gluten is the over abundance of whole wheat things I ate.  Yes it was healthy but you can build up a resistance to gluten if you have too much of it.  Your body goes into attack mode.


I think our society has pushed too much of the whole wheat thing because it makes you feel full.  It takes your body longer to process but that's not always a good thing.  Your body working slower or taking longer to digest foods normally means your body is struggling.*  


White flour has been processed so much that it's working against our bodies.


Here is a list I've compiled from research I've done on what GF people should avoid.

Abyssinian Hard (Wheat triticum durum)



Amp-Isostearoyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein 


Atta Flour

Barley Grass 

Barley Hordeum vulgare


Barley Malt
Beer 

Bleached Flour 


Bran


Bread Flour


Brewer's Yeast


Brown Flour


Bulgur 


Bulgur Wheat

Cereal Binding


Chilton
Club Wheat

Couscous
Criped Rice

Disodium Wheatgermamido Peg-2 Sulfosuccinate 


Durum wheat 

Edible Starch
Einkorn (Triticum monococcum)


Emmer (Triticum dicoccon) 


Enriched Bleached Flour


Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour


Enriched Flour

Farina 


Farina Graham 


Farro
Filler
Flour 

Fu (dried wheat gluten)

Germ 


Graham Flour


Granary Flour


Groats (barley, wheat)

Hard Wheat


Heeng


Hing


Hordeum Vulgare Extract


Hydrolyzed Wheat Gluten


Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein


Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Pg-Propyl Silanetriol


Hydrolyzed Wheat Starch


Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein

Kamut (pasta wheat) 


Kecap Manis (Soy Sauce)


Ketjap Manis (Soy Sauce)


Kluski Pasta

Maida (Indian wheat flour)


Malt


Malted Barley Flour


Malted Milk


Malt Extract


Malt Syrup


Malt Flavoring


Malt Vinegar 


Macha Wheat (Triticum aestivum) 


Matza


Matzah


Matzo


Matzo Semolina 


Meringue
Meripro 711


Mir

Nishasta

Oriental Wheat (Triticum turanicum) 


Orzo Pasta

Pasta


Pearl Barley


Persian Wheat (Triticum carthlicum) 


Perungayam
Poulard Wheat (Triticum turgidum)


Polish Wheat (Triticum polonicum)

Rice Malt

Roux


Rusk


Rye

Seitan


Semolina


Semolina Triticum
Shot Wheat (Triticum aestivum) 


Small Spelt
Spirits

Spelt (Triticum spelta)


Sprouted Wheat or Barley


Stearyldimoniumhydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein

Strong Flour
Suet in Packets

Tabbouleh 


Tabouli


Teriyaki Sauce


Timopheevi Wheat (Triticum timopheevii) 


Triticale X triticosecale


Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Flour Lipids


Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract


Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil

Udon


Unbleached Flour

Vavilovi Wheat (Triticum aestivum) 


Vital Wheat Gluten

Wheat, Abyssinian Hard triticum durum


Wheat amino acids


Wheat Bran Extract


Wheat, Bulgur 


Wheat Durum Triticum 


Wheat Germ Extract


Wheat Germ Glycerides


Wheat Germ Oil


Wheat Germamidopropyldimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein


Wheat Grass (can contain seeds) 


Wheat Nuts


Wheat Protein


Wheat Triticum aestivum 


Wheat Triticum Monococcum


Wheat (Triticum Vulgare) Bran Extract


Whole-meal Flour


Wild Einkorn (Triticum boeotictim) 


Wild Emmer (Triticum dicoccoides)

*All of these statements are my opinions.

Bob's Red Mill GF Brownie Mix

If you like dark chocolate you will love these brownies.  It makes a 9 x 13 size pan of the yummiest brownies EVER!!!  I've tried a few other GF brownie mixes but this one tops the list for rich chocolaty goodness.  These brownies aren't thin either.  Given the size of the pan I needed I thought they would be flat.  They are thick like what you'd expect for non GF brownies.  All in all they were simple to make and they are the best brownie I've tasted.  It's great to see companies like Bob's Red Mill expanding their GF products.

GF King Arthur Flour Bread

  

I was really excited when I saw this GF mix on the shelf.  Most mixes I see for GF bread is around $10.  This one was $6 so I was pretty happy.  I'm a big fan of King Arthur Flour's products.  However, this mix jolted my opinion.  It was pretty sponge like in appearance and taste.  It was really dry which is pretty common with some GF breads but this was too much for me.  The crust was super hard and like I said everything else just tasted like a sponge.  It maybe ok if you were to add some honey to the mix or even some sort of spice like cinnamon or even almond meal.  I'm going to try it again and see if I get the same results.  Like I mentioned in a previous review...some GF products you just need to practice with to get the taste results you like.

This wasn't one of my favorites though.

Hodgson Mill GF Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Recently tried these muffins out.  You add 2 eggs, butter/oil, and sugar/honey/agave nectar.  They were really good and moist.  The apple cinnamon flavor gave them a perfect apple sweetness to every bite.  As with most gluten free baked goods they were good only the first day.  After that they got really dry even sitting on my counter vs. refrigerating them.  I suppose you could warm them up a little bit in the microwave to make it a little moist.  I was a little hesitant to try these because I made some GF Hodgson Mill bread a couple of months ago and was not happy with how it tasted.  I was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out on my first try of this mix.  Sometimes, as with all GF mixes, you have to test it out a few times to tweak it a bit.  In my opinion, spices are key to all GF cooking/baking.

I highly recommend this muffin mix!!!

GF Chex Cereal-Cinnamon

One word sums up this cereal:  YUM!!!  This is by far my favorite gluten free cereal.  It tastes like you're eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I've been really happy with the whole Chex line of gluten free cereals.  They have about 5 different varieties of them out and I haven't been unhappy yet.  My favorites are rice and cinnamon.  I've been also happy they haven't added a million other ingredients like some other brands that aren't really beneficial.