Kettle Brand Chips - Tias

Kettle has a lot of flavors of chips! They remind me of Frito-Lay's except they are gluten free. They even have a newer line called Tias! The Tias! remind me of Doritos, except that Tias! are gluten free and Doritos have wheat.

Do you miss the nacho cheese or cooler ranch flavored Doritos now that you are gluten free? I don't. Because Tias! taste just as good if not better.

Look for them in places like Wal-mart, Target, Whole Foods and many of your favorite grocery stores as they are becoming a store shelf staple with their own little section down the chip and snack aisle.

Riceworks Chips Take Two

So after being mailed a coupon to try a free bag of Riceworks to see if there was a flavor I would like better than the first ones I tried, I landed on Sweet Chili.

Although I still found these chips to be considerably dry, I did like the spice factor which boosted the flavor and made them more tolerable.

However, I still do not prefer this brand.

Stay Tuned for My Gluten Free Life's First Ever Blog Giveaway

More details will follow after I have a chance to work out some of the logistics, but as it stands now, there may even be a possibility for not just one, but TWO giveaways! See, part of the background on that is because Rudi's had a little bit of a technical glitch and instead of one set of coupons for me to get some free Rudi's gluten free bread loaves for blog reviews, I ended up with two sets. Now I have the media packet with my coupons and an additional set which will be the first giveaway. But I will take TWO winners and TWO alternates, and proceed to also contact Rudi's for the second prize winner.

Here are the preliminary rules: Winner MUST reside in the United States. Winner must be at least the age of majority in their state of residence (which is 19 in Alabama). All entrants will need to be following my blog via Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs or subscribe. All entrants will be required to leave an e-mail address in their comments. Friend request or request to follow me on Twitter if you would like. My blog syndicates with both, and this will be optional. Sharing on Facebook or Twitter will earn extra entries as well. All entrants will be asked to go to the Rudi's website and answer one question based on something from their website. I haven't decided yet what it will be.

The giveaway will be announced as soon as the first product review of my first loaf of bread has been published and will be open for two or three weeks depending on what day of the week the review is posted. The giveaway will close on a Friday to allow the entire weekend to try to determine the winners from all entries. The winner will be announced by the following Wednesday and have one whole week to reply before an alternate will be chosen.

The approximate retail value of the three coupons that the winner(s) will receive varies according to sales, stores and other factors, but is estimated around 15 dollars.

Just keep your eyes open for more announcements as the big giveaway approaches in the next few weeks (it may be after Labor Day). Please consider sharing with any and all friends and family you know that would benefit from this giveaway. It will be more fun than it sounds so far, but these are just the preliminary logistics.

Katz Gluten Free

I contacted Katz Gluten Free recently about opportunities for samples for blog review and agreed to coordinate efforts to try to spearhead getting the local area Whole Foods to carry their products.

Katz Gluten Free is another company that is not only gluten free and wheat free, but also nut free and dairy free. Beyond these, the other ingredients that the products are free of vary from product to product.

They sent out boxes consisting of rugelech, cookies, bundt cake and two apple pies. Pies are their newest addition to their product line. They also make challah, muffins, breads and rolls.

Since we received two apple pies, I thought I would try one and give it a review. I was surprised that it contains high fructose corn syrup. Most gluten free products do not have HFCS because most of the time, gluten free is all natural or organic and HFCS is anything but all natural or organic. But, other than that flaw, I found that the small piece that I tried reminded me of my grandmother's homemade apple pies. It was only minimally dry, but it was perfect.

MI-DEL Arrowroot Cookies - Are They Really Gluten-Free?

The front of the bag says gluten-free in nice bold letters. Whoo-hoo! Look at the allergy warning where it says they are processed in a facility that also processes or handles wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts and then scream in horror and disgust.

There are far too many companies proudly claiming to be gluten free but how gluten free are they if their facility or equipment also processes or handles wheat?

This company is now joining the ranks of many that have to be placed on my unsafe or high risk foods list. Which of course means that my list of safe companies is becoming all the more narrow every day. Literally.

I'm not thrilled about this as the cute animal-shaped cookies are tasty, but the fact they are processed with the only two ingredients that can cause me to have an asthma attack bothers me greatly. Well, so does the fact that they are claiming to be gluten free yet are processed in the same facility that also processes or handles wheat. Bummer.

Butternut Squash

Okay, confession. Butternut squash is one of my newest and most favorite vegetables EVER! I've never cared for any squash because usually when I've had cooked squash, it's been extremely slimy and tasteless. But let me tell you, I was exposed to butternut squash at a TACA event at Organic Harvest in Hoover a few months ago when the presenter snuck it into some gluten free macaroni. I couldn't even taste it! Which is a good thing because I am probably one of the world's most finicky eaters. But I loved it so much that I wanted to try it again. So we bake the squash in the oven and we usually butter it using a vegetable spread. I've had this habit of dumping loads of sugar on it as well. I find it tastes similar to the yam, a.k.a. sweet potato, and it is similar in color and texture. Today, I reheated the meat of one we cooked over the weekend in the microwave. But used a honey vegetable spread instead of dumping sugar all over it. And it is the best thing EVER! Like it or leave it, but in my personal opinion, butternut squash is the greatest vegetable ever and worth the introduction in any diet.

The End of the Nut Thins Era in My House

Blue Diamond Nut Thins. They support the Celiac Disease Foundation and the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. They tout gluten free logos quite prominently. But they are manufactured in a facility that processes wheat. This is the sad reality that has ended the Nut Thins era in my house.

A few weeks ago I ate my last Nut Thin ever. All because it made my tongue itch. Because that is what only two of my food allergies - peanuts and wheat - do.

So alas, it is the end of the Nut Thin era in my house.