Enjoy Life ProBurst Bites

I received this product to try from Enjoy Life. 

There are four different flavors. 

Mango Habanero which is an interesting blend of spicy and sweet and chocolate. This one is not for people who are not fans of spicy. But the flavors do blend together well otherwise.

Sunseed Butter with chocolate. I would describe this as similar to what Reese's peanut butter cups might have tasted like at some point. Or for people allergic to peanut butter like I am now, they might taste similar to Sun Cups. I think these are one of my favorite flavors. 

Cranberry Orange with chocolate. Sort of tastes a little like a chocolate fruitcake. 

And then the Cinnamon Spice with chocolate. This one is just an odd combination. It doesn't impress me, but it is not bad either.

Overall, these remind me a little bit of cake pops and they are dry, so you would want to make sure to hydrate after eating them.

Each bag has 5 servings with a serving being 3 pieces, and as you can see from the pictures they are a good two bite sized. The package describes them as being "truffle-like." Most of them have 6 grams of protein and one of them has 7 grams. As the name suggests, they are protein bursts. 

They are currently available for purchase online at Enjoy Life and should start hitting stores sometime after March 1, 2017 and are priced at $6.99 per pouch. 

As with all Enjoy Life products, these are free of the top 8 allergens. The pouches are resealable. And there are no artificial ingredients or GMOs. They are also certified kosher and halal. 

Personally, this is not one of my favorite items, but for those looking for this kind of product, I would highly recommend them! 

Enjoy Life Mini Cookies Review and Giveaway

Winner Announcement: Congratulations Kim Ledford-Burley!

I received a lovely package from Enjoy Life Foods consisting of three boxes of the new mini cookies, a lunchbox, and a t-shirt in size small.

This is the t-shirt. And because I am definitely not able to wear a small, I have decided to do a giveaway with it which I will explain a little further down. 

Here is the other side of the lunchbox. It has their logo on it. In terms of what all it can fit, I carried an 8 oz bottle of water in it along with three of the packs of the cookies the other day. I'm sure it can fit more as it deeper than it would appear. 

The inside of the lunchbox. 

These are the three varieties that I received. 

Just a demonstration of how well they can fit in the lunchbox. 

Seriously, these cookies are tiny. But the taste is still big. I'm not a huge fan of the double chocolate brownie cookie. It just seems a little overkill to me.

I mean these things ARE really tiny! I love the flavor of the vanilla honey graham, but this took crunchy to a new level. I am currently wearing Invisalign and my teeth hurt a little more as a result. Not the fault of Enjoy Life on this one. I just have not been a fan of their crunchy line.

And last but not least the chocolate chip. And I am telling you, they are tiny!! This one is one of my favorites. Though if I had to choose one favorite, I would undoubtedly love the snickerdoodle ones. 

At any rate, they are participating in the social media campaign of #eatfreely and #minifreely. Each of the seven varieties - soft baked chocolate chip, soft baked double chocolate brownie, soft baked snickerdoodle, crunchy chocolate chip, crunchy double chocolate, crunchy vanilla honey graham, and crunchy sugar crisp - come with 6 single serve 1 oz packs per box. They are definitely great for on the go snacking and school lunches.

Now let's get to the giveaway.

As I mentioned, they sent me a t-shirt in a size small. And I definitely will not be able to wear it. So I am going to give it away to one lucky reader. This giveaway will be quite simple as I don't like complicated forms. And I will use a random number generator to pick the winner.

It is not required, but I would appreciate a like on the blog's Facebook page: My Gluten Free Life.

The only real requirement I will hold is this: Visit Enjoy Life Foods at the link posted at the beginning of this post. Then come back and leave a comment with the following information: Which Enjoy Life product would you most like to try and your e-mail address in the following format - yourname [@] yourserver [dot] com/org.

Legal terms of the giveaway - Winner must live in the United States. The giveaway will officially close at 11:59 p.m. Monday, September 5 and will be announced and contacted by the end of the day Wednesday, September 7. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to their message. If after 48 hours, the winner has not responded, a new winner will be selected. The winner be chosen using a random number generator at random.org. After the winner responds, if they are a fan on Facebook, their name will be announced like this: first name, last initial.

Love With Food Gluten Free Box Sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods

I received a Love With Food Gluten Free Box from Enjoy Life Foods to promote for the month of May, which as you may or may not know is Celiac Awareness Month. 

I must confess that while I do love the Enjoy Life brand for being one of the most allergy friendly lines, this box left a little bit to be desired. As it came through Fed Ex and was not marked fragile or keep this side up, the cookies and the chips both came quite broken and in crumbs. This is a deterrent for me wanting to actually order one of these boxes myself. 

However, I must also confess that these are some excellent goodies to have when you have a lot of food allergies! Some of these products can be quite expensive at the store. 

Also, this month, readers have the opportunity to win one of these boxes simply by posting on social media how they are celebrating Celiac Awareness Month using the @enjoylifefoods and #EatFreeLove by 11:59 p.m. May 31. So I encourage everyone to get involved. 

By the way, I cannot stress enough how much I truly love the Enjoy Life Foods products. 

http://enjoylifefoods.com/project/enjoy-lifes-love-food-gluten-free-box-takeover/

Birthday Week and Veterans Week with Food Allergies

So birthday week usually falls at the same time as veterans week. Not my fault, of course. But with food allergies, it can be quite challenging. However, the wonderful thing about birthdays is being able to try some restaurants you might not otherwise be able to try. Sign up for their loyalty clubs! You will be treated like royalty. Most of the time. 

For the Birmingham, Alabama area, I have compiled a list of somewhat safe places to eat that have excellent service to boot. Bear in mind that safe is contingent upon what you feel comfortable with and how severe you are.

These are my safe places:

1. Ruby Tuesday. Did you know they now offer gluten free buns? That's right! You can now get a bun for that delicious and juicy burger! It costs $1 extra, but what the hey, it is well worth the cost! I would however like to mention that the servers may need more education about what gluten is and they do need to compile a printed allergy free menu for perusal. I asked if the fries were gluten free and she said she did not know. I substituted a baked potato and she assumed that gluten free meant no butter or sour cream. However, I would say that they are pretty great with food allergies. Especially if you get the chance to speak with a manager.

2. Red Robin. The sad thing is there is only one about an hour away in my area. But they have gluten free buns and gluten free sides. The only thing I am not liking is the new Ziosks because at Red Robin they do not have the allergy free menu on them. Maybe soon.

3. Chick-fil-A. The grilled nuggets. I never get the fries because I am the weird one that is allergic to peanut and peanut oil. So fries are a no go for me.

4. Joe's Italian is my new local favorite here in the 'ham. Why? Let's just say that up until I won that gift card this summer from summer reading, I would have never given them a try because I did not know they had gluten free on the menu. And when I arrived, they had an accordion player, gluten free ravioli (get out of town with that!), and every sauce was gluten free including a creamy pesto. No meatballs here though. They are made with flour. My second time was with some new people working so there was confusion about the sauces, but I did get official confirmation. The sauces are made with corn starch instead of flour. I also had the chance to try this amazing new flourless brownie they have! Had to give my mom the strawberry (allergic) and whipped cream though. Next up for Joe's Italian will most likely be the gluten free pizza. If the prices on the menu are any indication, the gluten free should not be too expensive. 

5. Bonefish Grill. Mom, when are we going back?!? I need that flourless brownie of theirs. Their gluten free options are pretty good, but they are on the pricey end of the scale. 

6. Mellow Mushroom. This place offers a gluten free and dairy free pizza option!!! And they use separate counters. At the table, if two pizzas are ordered and one is regular and the other gluten free, they will put the gluten free on top and there will be separate cutters provided. They minimize the risk.

7. Chipotle Mexican Grill. The bowls mostly. 

8. Moe's Southwest Grill. Pretty much everything except the tortillas here is safe, like with Chipolte, but the bowls are the best choice for that. 

9. Scholtzsky's. Okay. Did you know they use Udi's gluten free sandwich rolls now? Yep! Found that out last year. 

We have a few other places as well that have great service and gluten free options, but these are the ones I will gladly go to again and again.

Some not so safe places: 

1. Chilis - pretty much what threw me here was peanut oil. Apparently my location uses it? 

2. O'Charley's - this place is a disaster if you have food allergies. We thought it would be nice to give them a try. Little did I know what to expect. Never again. Not that the service was bad, but they just did not have very many safe options. 

3. Olive Garden. Anyone else ever have their location run out of gluten free pasta or find a rogue gluten noodle? Typically I will order the steak tuscano or they now have a new chicken entree that is not on the kid's menu. However, our last visit this year was a disaster all around. THREE servers. No cheese offered for the salad. No cheese offered for the entree. No drink refill. Overcharged on both tickets for tip. And overcharged for the meal itself and no discount was applied for the veteran's day promo on my ticket. Yeah. It was pretty bad service overall. They failed to meet the expectations we had of them and mom said never again. 

4. Applebee's - remind me why you have steak on the gluten free options then not have steak in the restaurant? Yikes!!! This was the Ozark, Alabama location. I refuse to go back to one. 

I have a dream though. And I hope it is a good dream. But one day I would love to own a restaurant free of the top 8 and employ individuals with special needs. 

Oh, we also have some movie theaters selling the Go Picnics and some of those are gluten free as well. 

Also, I have to say this here where I know I cannot be attacked by cyber stalking cyber bullies, but Facebook really needs to reign in the bullying. I posted about the negative experience to Olive Garden and immediately got attacked by multiple bullies. I posted a POSITIVE experience on Ruby Tuesday's page and again I was immediately attacked by the same bullies. Then I posted the question to Joe's to confirm about the sauces and got attacked by some of the same bullies. Seriously. To the bullies out there, GROW THE HELL UP. People have the right to post experiences, compliments, feedback, and questions to restaurants without being attacked. Matter of fact, if not for the Facebook posts in many cases, restaurants would not know how they can improve things. I am going to keep posting away so my companies will know why I like them, why I am frustrated with them, and what they can do to improve. And bullies will be blocked and dealt with to the fullest extent the law says they can be dealt with. Creating a fake page after being blocked just to continue stalking and harassing someone is disgusting and mentally sick. 

One more note, the next time I post will hopefully include some pictures from the upcoming vacation. It is a much needed one as it is not only the first one but it may be the last one. Not just due to financial stress caused by my immune deficiency, but my immune system has gotten to the point that I will be having to wear masks soon until and unless infusions get approved. My body is pretty much no longer making the IgGs and my gut is reactive to everything. Constant pain and bloating. The hope is that IVIG might actually help me see some improvements. In the meantime, I will continue to make notes on how the world around is working to help more food allergic people enjoy life in general. 

Hey, Long Overdue Update

I am now GFCF and peanut free. But I have been through the ringer of late. Testing for ulcerative colitis came back with mixed results. Now being treated for allergies that inflame the gut. I am making a shift on my diet to closer to paleo. Fortunately, my area now has a Sprouts and is about to get a second Sprouts and a Trader Joe's. These complement the other stores in my area that carry limited safe foods: ALDI, Wal-mart Marketplace, Wal-mart, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Super Target, Organic Harvest, Whole Foods, Earth Fare, and the occasional trip my mom makes to the commissary. Feedback though: Where do you shop for your dietary needs?

Enjoy Life Chewy Bars Review

 I received product for review. All opinions are my own.

I received four boxes of Enjoy Life Chewy Bars. They come in Cocoa Loco, Caramel Apple, Mixed Berry, and SunButter Crunch. The Chewy Bars are made with Ancient Grains which include quinoa (KEEN-wa) and buckwheat.

All Enjoy Life products are free of the top 8 allergens: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, and shellfish. They are also free of casein, sesame and sulfites.

Mixed Berry. Both my mom and I tried one. I was hesitant because I had previously been diagnosed with strawberry allergy. And unfortunately, I do not care much about strawberries, so the Mixed Berry was unimpressive to me. My mom said that it was too dry. And too plain.

Cocoa Loco reminded me a little of the cocoa powder and again was a little too dry for my personal preference. But the flavor was a hit.

Caramel Apple was my favorite. It, too, was dry, but it tasted much better than I thought it would at first. It even reminded me a little of apple pie.

SunButter Crunch tastes like sunbutter, which is the allergy free substitute for peanut butter. Although I am not the biggest fan of sunbutter because it reminds too much of peanut butter, I actually liked the SunButter Crunch bars and they were not as dry as the others.

For readers, Enjoy Life has an offer to save 10 percent on the first order of Chewy Bars in the online store. Just visit the Enjoy Life Shop and enter the code CHEWY10 at checkout.

If you would like to connect with Enjoy Life Foods, they can be found on their website, on Twitter, on Pinterest, and on Facebook.

Enjoy Life Decadent Soft Baked Bars

I received this product for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own.

With four flavor options, there is sure to be one that pleases!

Chocolate Sunbutter, Cherry Cobbler, S'mores, and Cinnamon Bun.

My family is not a fan of the sunbutter bars because the taste is a lot like peanuts, and we thought the Chocolate Sunbutter bars tasted like peanut butter cups. Sunbutter is derived from sunflowers. 

I found the S'mores to be a little dry. I was pleasantly surprised by the Cinnamon Bun which contains raisins and the Cherry Cobbler both of which are very moist. 

Overall, these decadent soft baked bars are a hit! 

All Enjoy Life products are free of the top 8 allergens: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, and shellfish as well free of casein, sesame and sulfites.

With no artificial ingredients, these under 150 calories bars are a perfect, guilt free, on the go snack! 

Get a 10 percent discount on the first order of Decadent Bars from the Enjoy Life online store using the code DECBLOG10. 

Perdue Simply Smart vs. Tyson

Side by side:

Perdue is the flatter, skinnier, lighter color strip and Tyson is the fatter, thicker, darker strip.

Tyson also now has gluten free nuggets which I look forward to trying. 

I can find Perdue at most local stores. I found the Tyson with coupon attached to the bag at a Target in my area, but they are still not everywhere. 

Personally, I prefer the Perdue because they are more moist, easier to handle, and less spicy than the Tyson. The Tyson has a kick and I needed to use some kind of sauce to add more moisture. 

But both are a great option and much cheaper than previous alternatives. 

Perdue has more strips than Tyson, so Perdue seems more economical. 

I look forward to trying the Tyson nuggets though which I will probably like simply because they are more economical than the alternatives. 

Trying New Things

I saw this in an area Target and had not seen it before I love garden lites so far, so I gave this a try.

I am not a huge fan of cornbread and this was a little spicy, but it was much better than I anticipated!

I also thought I would try this one:

But it was not my favorite one.

Then there was also the carrot raisin and I like the carrot raisin salad at Chick-fil-A, so I figured why not try this?

It was the best one!

I'm still waiting for their new muffins to hit local stores now.

Another good find? Daiya gluten free dairy free pizza. It's well worth the cost and I plan to buy two the next time I find them. Pizza is a frequent hit in my household. I tried the cheese one the night my group had pizza and it gave me a chance to feel and to be more "normal."

Other new favorites:

Van's has new crackers. The Say Cheese! reminds of those other cheese crackers.

And their cereals ? I love both the cinnamon and honey and I like mixing them together for a more varied taste with my almond mill! 

Loving Bell Peppers

Decided to pair a raw bell pepper with pulled pork. It was good!

Gluten Free Getting Easier?

Is gluten free getting easier or are more companies becoming more sensitive to the needs?

Chick-fil-A certified their grilled nuggets. Moe's Southwest Grill, Chipolte Mexican Grill already use mostly gluten free ingredients. Chuck E. Cheese has joined the ranks. Jason's Deli.

Even in the grocery stores. Post Pebbles, Most Chex cereals. Kellogg's Rice Krispies. Van's has even introduced gluten free cereals and granola bars alongside their gluten free waffle line up. Perdue Simply Smart with chicken tenders (approved!). Gorton's grilled fish. I read Tyson now has gluten free crispy chicken nuggets (haven't seen them yet). And Garden Lites is releasing muffins and other meals alongside their soufflés (again I haven't seen them yet).

But I'm not sure if gluten free is getting easier? Mueller's now makes gluten free pasta at a fraction of the cost ($1.79 as compared to Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta at $3.59/79). But they are manufactured in the same facility as their wheat pasta.

I have seen more juice and now even Silk Almond Milk touting to be gluten free. I was almost excited yesterday when I saw McCormick had some new flavored rices. Seemingly gluten free until on one of the boxes I read "natural flavors (..., ..., WHEAT) (caps added)." Oops! No thank you.

Mellow Mushroom has a great gluten free, vegan pizza though. And even goes to great lengths to reduce cross-contamination.

But is gluten free getting any easier? It's still expensive. And some states won't let you do tax deductions and still have tax on groceries. Not to mention the rules for IRS leave out anyone who is not fully diagnosed as celiac. The treatment for gluten intolerance is the same.

I'm torn. More products are available (although my local stores are weird about carrying them, apparently if even just one item doesn't seem to sell well, they stop carrying it and if you want it, you have to be willing to buy a WHOLE case). Alas, I miss my Rudi's Gluten Free Spinach Tortillas!

On a side note, gluten free has eliminated most of the harmful additives that apparently triggered most of my ADHD symptoms. I am now off of medication (a long vacation from it anyway). And being off of it has helped my ASD stims and tics not be as bad. However, I will not condone going gluten free for anyone other than those who become physically ill from exposure (headaches, joint problems, gut issues, fertility issues, skin issues, breathing issues, fatigue). It is not a cure all diet. And it is not a lose weight diet.

Now, if only the casein free would be as easy, although I was glad to see a new store carrying Daiya yesterday which is promising since Daiya is releasing some new products (including a gluten free pizza) this year!

So, please, let me know what you think about this? Have you found gluten free to be getting easier?

Gluten Free Getting Easier, but Casein Free Not So Much.

So I have actually decided to try to add casein free to my gluten free diet. And it isn't as easy as I would like it to be. Gluten free is getting easier and I've come to terms with it. I feel better when I'm gluten free. Here's the thing though. Gluten free is gaining more attention, but not all good. You see, more celebrities are turning to gluten free. Did you hear about Lady Gaga? The woman is already skinny and looks great! What woman wouldn't want a body like hers, right? Well, what "normal" woman wouldn't anyway? She apparently decided to go gluten free to lose more weight. Really? To lose more weight? When she doesn't have any weight that she actually needs to lose?

Misconception about going gluten free: Lose weight. Gluten free does not guarantee any weight loss. There are just as many unhealthy foods in the gluten free diet as there are in a regular glutened diet. Muffins, cookies, pizza, chips. Sound familiar? Yep.

Misconception about gluten free: That it's only for celiacs. It isn't. I have been tested repeatedly the past couple of years for celiac. Most of my tests have come back completely negative. My genetic test came back with one half of the two elements of the two genes (four elements basically) positive. Given my history of celiac-related issues, I personally would take that test to actually mean that I am likely to develop celiac later if I don't take precautions now if not that I may actually be celiac and have actually managed to prevent full development of the disease later if I continue to stay on the diet. I am what is considered gluten intolerant (even though I have celiac symptoms with iron anemia and other nutritional deficiencies). So, gluten free is not just for celiacs. It is for those who have gluten intolerance and wheat allergy as well. It might be beneficial to those who have ADHD and autism spectrum disorders. For me personally, a whole plethora of medical problems have eased up or gone into remission since I went gluten free two years ago. YAY! I benefit from the diet and I plan to keep it up.

Now as to the casein free. I decided to give it a try because of a dairy allergy that was under minimal management but it is so much more difficult for me to adhere to than the gluten free. There really are not as many options for casein free as there are for gluten free. Bummer! But I decided to try casein free because of a new allergy that has been very consistent and progressively worsening: orange and orange juice. I don't know if the orange and orange juice allergy were in conjunction with dairy consumed or seasonal allergies starting, but I decided not to chance things. I do periodically have what I affectionately call "cow's milk cheese" or other "cow's milk" products, but I am mostly dairy free with the exception of what's in other products (like gluten free breads or other foods). I have goat cheese (and like it) and as far as I know am not having any issues with it. But see, dairy allergy is also a little tricky. There are TWO proteins for dairy: casein and whey. Remember that Little Miss Muffet was eating her curds and whey? Open a container of cottage cheese. The curds are the casein and the liquid/slime part of the cottage cheese is the whey (milk mud). Yeah. Kind of gross. But see, there are still a lot of dairy products that don't yet have non-dairy versions yet. And some of the products that have dairy free versions are not casein free. Yep. Shocker. I'm just as flustered at seeing a dairy free product that contains casein as I am about a product labelled gluten free processed in the same facility or on the same machinery as something that is not gluten free. EERRGGHH!! Seriously?!?

Anyway, that's an update on things right now. I am hoping to get back into posting more including more reviews in the next few weeks. Now if only my life would kind of slow down just a wee bit with all of the appointments I'm being sent for.

Oh, and if anyone ever has any questions, I would like to see them! Around my area, I'm sort of seen as an "expert" on the gluten free diet and get approached a lot with questions from people who are considering going gluten free themselves. So I don't mind if anyone has questions doing what I can to answer them. 

I'm Back and Healthier Than Ever!

It's been a while since I have been able to post on this blog, but last year I got really ill just after Labor Day. My white blood count was at a steady 14,000. The bad news: My vitamin D and folic acid were deficient. The good news: It was not cancer or leukemia. However, when my vitamin D and folic acid levels came back up, my white blood count dropped, but then my iron also dropped. In December, I would get up out of bed only to end up having to go back to bed. I was pale and weak and literally a shell of a human being barely walking around. In January the anemia was at its worst. I actually began falling asleep in the middle of the day, including at church!! Something was wrong. They checked my iron after two months of being on a long-term use antibiotic for which I also take a probiotic, and my ferritin was 41. But I was passing out and fainting. I was miserable. I received my first iron infusion in March this year. My ferritin soared to 283 and I have more life and more energy now than ever before.

Now, I have a different focus for My Gluten Free Life. You see, in December I was confirmed to be on the spectrum. At the age of 33, I am now diagnosed as not only having ADHD, but also having a high-functioning autism. This has changed some things. The gluten free diet helps alleviate symptoms of both conditions, but it's not enough for me.I am beginning a journey onto the GFCF (gluten free casein free) diet, which is good because I am allergic to cow dairy anyway. But to further complicate things, I am now on a crusade. I am trying to eliminate ALL products that contain HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) from my diet. Not only is that chemically processed substance bad for the body, but it tastes gross and makes me more symptomatic.

Why do they still use HFCS? Sugar is now cheaper. HFCS was created in a lab because at the time sugar was expensive due to war-related shortages. But that's not the case now. So why do they still use this offending substance?

So anyway, that's why I have been so silent on this blog lately. I have been processing things and recovering from life-threatening iron anemia.

Oh, I should say that I recently discovered that I was NOT allergic to chickpeas (I now LOVE hummus) or mushrooms (although I'd rather not eat them if I can avoid them). I also discovered that I was NOT allergic to raspberry (I just don't like the taste of it). Each of these were cross-contaminated with gluten containing food products. However, I am developing an allergy to oranges and orange juice. And that is in isolation. So now, I am seeking alternatives to oranges and orange juice to get my vitamin C.

But I'm back and I'm better than ever and I'm ready to start reviewing some more of my favorite (and not so favorite) gluten free products. Beginning with that Against the Grain pizza I had a couple of weeks ago that was so good that I actually ate some cold slices the next morning for breakfast!! Now, I'm going to buy their pizza shell and make my own all natural, dairy free pizza using a new favorite of mine: Daiya. Oh, and what goes better with that than Silk Fruit & Protein in Mango Peach?

Udi's Lemon Streusel Muffins

Udi's has these Lemon Streusel Muffins. They sent a pack to me for review when I inquired about writing a review on some of their items.

I will be honest. I don't like lemon. And these muffins are HUGE. But I absolutely LOVED these muffins.

The texture was crumbly and dry, but the taste was exceptional. I would recommend having some kind of beverage on hand when enjoying these. I had one of them for breakfast and it kept me quite full for a while.

These muffins are gluten free, soy free, dairy free and nut free, so they are a good product for a variety of allergen free diets.

My recommendation is to give them a try.

Enjoy Life Foods Crunchy Cookies

When Enjoy Life offered to send me their newest line of crunchy cookies for review, I was elated to say the least. Like a child at Christmas, I opened the box and assessed the contents.

The newest line includes Crunchy Chocolate Chip, Crunchy Double Chocolate, Crunchy Sugar Crisp and Crunchy Vanilla Honey Graham.

As a reminder from an earlier post, Enjoy Life products are free of the top 8 allergens: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish; they are also free of potatoes, sesame, sulfites and casein.

These crunchy cookies go great dunked in almond milk!

When I bit into the chocolate chip and the double chocolate (which is basically a chocolate chip cookie) cookies, I could not believe that they had no milk ingredients. They were very much like the chocolate chip cookies I remembered from before going gluten free. The vanilla honey graham reminded me of graham crackers. And as to the sugar cookies, they were not my favorite. The sugar cookies were too sweet for my liking and were only made tolerable when dunking in the almond milk.

Aside from the sugar cookies, I give this new line of crunchy cookies my strongest recommendation.

New Winner Announced for Rudi's Gluten Free Giveaway

I announced a winner October 3 and because it has been a week since I contacted the winner and have not heard back from her, I went back to Random.org to generate a new winner. Congratulations Diane721! You will have a week to respond to the winning e-mail.

AND THE WINNER IS...

12 entries, 5 people. 2 people did not complete the mandatory entry and had to be disqualified, so after subtracting the five entries that were ineligible, I went to random.org and fed it 1 for the lowest value and 7 for the highest value. Random.org then generated a random number. The lucky number is 3. Using a spreadsheet to keep track of entries, lucky number 3 is Rebecca! Congratulations Rebecca! I will send you an e-mail to verify your mailing information right now and you will have one week to confirm. The prize will have three coupons, each for one FREE Rudi's gluten free bread item. Enjoy!

Rudi's Gluten Free Multigrain Sandwich Bread Review and Giveaway

When I asked Rudi's if they work with bloggers who want to write reviews on their products, the response was greater than I imagined! They not only offered to send coupons for me to get the bread that I choose to review, but they even offered to work with me on doing a giveaway on the blog!

Due to a computer glitch, I ended up with two sets of three coupons sent to me, so this round of the giveaway, the winner will receive the coupons directly from me.

But before I dive into a run through of the rules which were stated in a prior post and post the trivia question, I want to tell you that the reception to this particular bread is tremendous!

I chose for the first review to try the Multigrain Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread. I am a skeptic with multigrain and I have had other brands of gluten free bread that have not been very impressive to me, so I was hesitant. But I decided to try this bread out with homemade egg salad.

From the first bite, I was in heaven! Every bite was just as good as the first bite. The bread is moist. It has texture, and not a grainy one like one might expect with traditional multigrain bread. It even brought out the flavors in the egg salad! My second sandwich with this bread was yet another egg salad sandwich. I have a confession. I usually throw the heels of a loaf out because they tend to be dry and crusty. But I tried the heel of this loaf and I LOVED it! It tasted no different than the main loaf. I still have enough of this loaf to make a few more sandwiches or slices of toast, but I am so excited about the prospect that Rudi's has created that I want to make sure to go ahead and give one lucky reader a chance to also try it out.

When I contacted Rudi's about the extra set of coupons they had sent, they told me that it might be possible that I might be able to have another giveaway and with that one, a winner would receive the coupons directly from Rudi's. But I will post more about that should that come up.

For this first giveaway, I wanted things to be as easy as possible. So this giveaway will be quite basic.

Here's the first request, but as I have no way to verify age, I will ask you to just be honest. I would prefer that the winner be of the age of majority in his/her state of residence.

The first requirement is that you live in the United States. All 50 states are eligible.

The second is that you leave a valid e-mail address. I have posted a form that is supposed to accept e-mail addresses, but not knowing for sure how it will work, this is what I suggest to deter someone from just copying it without some work involved. You may leave it in this format: susanelizabeth31 [at] gmail [dot] com.

The third and final requirement is that you correctly answer one question that can be found if you read the Rudi's Gluten Free site. The question is:

How many formulas did Rudi's test before landing on a recipe?

If you go to the Rudi's web site, you have an opportunity to download a coupon for $1 off.

Here are some things you can do for EXTRA entries:

1. Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect or NetworkedBlogs.

2. Follow Rudi's via Twitter.

3. Like Rudi's on Facebook.

4. Like this blog on Facebook.

5. Blog, tweet, or share about this giveaway, and leave a link for each thing you do to spread the word.

The required entry may be one comment. Please leave separate comments for each additional entry.

The giveaway goes live as soon as the post is live and will run through midnight September 30, 2011. The winner will be announced after going through random.org by October 7, 2011 and will have one week to confirm after receiving his/her e-mail.

Let's keep it clean and keep it fun!

Udi's Snickerdoodle Cookies

Udi's very graciously sent me some food items to try out for reviews when I inquired if they work with bloggers. One of the items and the first one that I tried was the newest Snickerdoodle Cookies. These are gluten free, soy free and nut free. They do contain egg and milk ingredients.

I had to look up information about snickerdoodles because I had a misconception about the name. Basically they are just a cinnamon sugar cookie that used to have a snail shape.

I have had other gluten free snickerdoodles. They are very soft and chewy and quite cinnamony. The Udi's snickerdoodles are larger than most, but still just as good.

With the exception of the egg and the milk which can cause some allergy sufferers issues, I highly recommend giving these a try.

Enjoy Life Foods Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks

Enjoy Life Foods sent me a package of their newer Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks to review. As hesitant as I was about trying them, I decided to give them a blind taste test next to another brand that was not allergen free. And, I was impressed. I could not tell the difference in the blind taste test.

So, I tried them in my first ever batch of gluten free chocolate chunk pancakes. I was impressed.

In a side-by-side comparison, the Enjoy Life chunks do not look much different and they do not taste like they are allergen free, but they are free of dairy, nut and soy as well as gluten and wheat free.

Enjoy Life Foods is a brand I strongly recommend anyone with multiple food allergies to try.