More Gluten Free Products I've Tried

A while back, I shared Some of My Favorite Gluten Free Breads, and now I'd like to share some more gluten-free products I've tried.

I had way too much fun making this on PicMonkey!

We (my mom, my gf brother, and myself) had a really hard time finding decent gluten free tortillas. Some were brittle and cracked instead of rolling up nicely. Others were tough and chewy. For a bit, we even used our gf crepe recipe, minus the vanilla, as a tortilla recipe. Those tortillas had the opposite problem: they were too soft and fell apart. Finally, we discovered
that Meijer carries gf corn tortillas in the refrigerated section near the cheese and regular wheat-eaters tortillas.

Not only do these tortillas hold together, but they are also healthy. A couple friends told us that the gf tortillas at Aldi were great, but when we looked at the long list of ingredients, including soy, we did not buy any. (We did purchase some other  gf food at Aldi-- more on that in a moment.)

These Tortilla Land corn tortillas from Meijer only have 6 ingredients, if you don't count repeating ingredients. The actual ingredient list reads: Water, Corn (corn, water, lime, cellulose gum), Salt, Lime, Guar Gum. That means they are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free, sugar free etc. There are no preservatives, no cholesterol, and no saturated fat according to the label. It might be hard to read, but the package also says "Fresh Uncooked Tortillas Heat & Serve in 60 Seconds." There are more detailed instructions on the back, but you can literally heat up the tortillas in a skillet in 60 seconds. The package has 14 tortillas, which are approximately 6 inches in diameter. They recommend eating within 7 days of opening, but sometimes if they still look and smell normal, we keep eating them. (C'mon, we don't want to waste food!)


And, saving the best for last, they actually taste good. They have a mild corn flavor that goes with spicy, savory, and sweet toppings. I have eaten them with refried beans for dinner, and then spread with Nutella for dessert! They would also go well with taco meat, just cheese for quesadillas, or peanut butter and honey. Mmm, now I'm hungry.

In this picture, I put refried beans and cheese on the tortilla, broiled it to melt the cheese, and then added fajita chicken, rice, and sour cream. You can see the last three ingredients spilling out of the burrito because it is so full of yummy-ness.








Another gluten free product I tried was gluten free pretzels. Someone actually gave me these Glutino pretzels, otherwise, I might not have picked them up. I'm just not much of a pretzel gal. I'm more of a chip eater, especially since original flavor chips are naturally gluten-free. However, these pretzels are quite good and salty, and they pair well with Nutella.

As far as noodles go, we rotate around more on what we buy. For lasagna noodles, we use DeBoles gf noodles, or Gluten Free Cafe gf noodles. I don't know which taste better because I have not done a strict side-to-side comparison. I just know the lasagna turns out best if you make it at least a couple hours ahead of time so that it can sit and soak. If you make it and bake it right way the noodles are a bit chewy. We usually make a double batch of lasagna ahead of time, because it is a decent amount of work, and then we can freeze one for later and put the other one in the fridge till we bake it.

There are fewer ingredients in the DeBoles noodles-- just rice flour and rice bran extract to be exact-- making the DeBoles noodles all natural with no preservatives or chemicals added. Not to be outdone, the Gluten Free Cafe boasts that it is all natural and fortified with vitamins and inulin, a prebiotic fiber. Their ingredient list reads: Whole Grain Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Inulin, Rice Bran Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3.







Regarding regular spaghetti noodles, the blue ribbon goes to Lundberg. I had some at an out-of-state relative's place, and they were perfect-- not mushy, or starchy or grainy. They are made of only one ingredient-- organic brown rice flour, so they are non-GMO, whole grain, vegan, and kosher, in addition to being certified gf. The only drawbacks are, we can't seem to find any stores near us that carry it! And the price might be a bit high for some.
Enter Aldi, of all things!
We found single-ingredient brown rice spaghetti there. It's not organic, but it is gf, dairy free, sugar free, nut free, egg free, sodium free... you get the idea. Daniel especially likes the genuine stringy spagetti shape, as opposed to rotini or penne shape. The LiveGfree brand is exclusively at Aldi.

And last but not least, we picked up some gf chicken nuggets to try.

I cannot tell you the last time I had chicken nuggets, in part due to the fact that long before I went gf, mom stopped patronizing McDonalds. I used to enjoy Chick-fil-A's chicken nuggets or strips before I went gf. I don't think Aldi's chicken nuggets compare to Chick-fil-A. They are a bit dry, and if it weren't for Daniel, I don't think we would buy them again. However, Daniel likes to eat them as a quick pre-game snack before he rushes off to soccer. In case you can't read it, the fine print under "Gluten free" says "Fully cooked chicken nuggets" and the next line reads "Breaded nugget shaped chicken breast patties with rib meat."

That's all for now, but I hope to continue this series as we keep testing gf products. As always, I'm not being compensated for these reviews.

Part One: Bread, Part Two (this post), Part Three, and Part Four.