JeanC Reviews...

I am seriously addicted to Ritz Bitz peanut butter crackers and have been missing them since going gluten free. I think I have found a suitable replacement for them. I miss the buttery flakiness of the Ritz and the  Lance GF peanut butter crackers  is very similar. They have a nice salty, buttery flavor that goes well with the peanut butter. The texture of the little sandwich cracker is just about right. Like most gluten free products, these are not as inexpensive as the regular name brand, but I found them for a reasonable price of less than $3 a box at my local Winco. I do hope they will be carrying them on a regular basis. Looking them up on the web Walmart sells them, at least thru their website. I have to wander in one day and see if they sell them in the local stores. The package lists a serving size as 12 little sandwiches with 5 servings per box, so the pic below shows 1/2 a serving. Problem is, they lied, one serving is the whole 5 ounce box LOL!!!!! Once yo...

A Tavola Together Gluten Free Pizza 5 Minute Pizza Dough Mix 4 PACK (Google Affiliate Ad) Was in my Local Winco the other day to find they have finally stocked Franz gluten free breads / HAPPY HAPPY! JOY JOY!!!! Since I've already had the 7 grain, grabbed the white to give it a try. I had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner two nights running and I was in bliss. The white is as good as the 7 grain for holding up to being made into grilled sandwiches. It also held up wonderfully well as toasted sandwiches; These weren't wimpy little light sandwiches, I loaded on the cheese and pepperoni and into the toaster oven they went. The bread was wonderfully toasted and held up to the fillings. Some GF breads tend to crumble, but these didn't. While the price still gives me pause, I think the bread is definitely worth it. Hubby can still eat regular bread, so the GF is mine, all mine BWAHAHAHAHA!!! So, between the 7 Grain and the Mountain White I have even more choice ...

and in specific, their gluten free apple pie! We've been driving past this little bakery on our way out to North Division in Spokane  but we usually were driving by at times we'd either already had lunch/dinner or were on our way to a specific place for said meals. So when we were up in Spokane this last weekend visiting my aunt, we were out and about early enough Sunday morning that we wanted a little more coffee and realized we were very near, so we stopped in. We got there right at opening and went in. A nice little place, very friendly staff and a big display case: I quickly perused the case and saw: Gluten free apple pie. They had other gluten free goodies, but it had been so long since I've had apple pie I had to go for it. Besides, what better breakfast, apple pie and coffee LOL! MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! It was delish! Now, I've made my own pies and made pie crusts that were okay, but this is the pie crust I want to aspire to. It was tasty, ...

I am forever looking for a good gluten free bread. While I've made some pretty tasty ones at home, for the ultimate sandwich (grilled cheese) I have not found one I truely love.  While shopping in Lewiston a while back we'd passed the Franz Bakery Outlet and saw they had a sign saying they had gluten free bread. We stopped, but they were out (seems it tends to sell out as fast as they bring it in). So the next time we were there we stopped and they had a few loaves left. It was priced at $4.98 a loaf, so I only grabbed one. The price is a bit more then I would usually pay, esp since I was used to 89 cent a loaf wheat bread, but I decided I had to try it. I hadn't seen any fresh GF in the stores and the ones they do have, while tasty, are found in the freezer section and are rather small for $5 a loaf.  The loaf was a hefty 1 lb 2 oz and felt substantial. I couldn't wait to get home to give it a try. Since it was brutally hot that day we opted for dinner of cold c...

I picked up and tried New Planet Beer's Off the Grid Pale Ale and Oh MY!!! If I didn't know any better I would have said this was a regular wheat beer. A little sweeter perhaps, but the taste and mouth feel was very good. I have been missing beer of late and I am glad to have the option of picking up a bottle or two to enjoy on a hot day.

We had a friend give us some ground elk and we decided on burgers for dinner. We stopped at the Co-op to pick up some buns and a couple other things (beef to mix with the elk) and found they had the Udi's Whole Grain hamburger buns . I thought this was great as for something as special as elk burgers I needed something other then a standard hamburger bun. These buns are more of an artisan bun and have a great texture and flavor. Broiled with a bit of butter and they were perfect with the burger. The flavor of the bun complimented the elk burger and my taste buds were in heaven. The price for them was good, less the $4.00 a package. They thaw nicely and don't get soggy.

We'd stopped in at the Co-op for some chicken breasts they had on sale and I decided to see if by chance they had any gluten free beers. And lo and behold, they did! A small selection compared to all the rest of the yummy beers they have, but as yet there aren't too many breweries making gluten free. So we picked up a couple bottles, one from Anheuser-Busch and the other from New Planet (that will be a subject for another review). Took them home and decided I would try the Redbridge  first since it was from a big brewer. Opened the bottle and took a sniff. Smelled like beer. Took a taste and it tasted a bit like beer. Handed the bottle to hubby so he could have a tiny taste and he thought it tasted like beer. Grabbed a glass and poured in the beer: Good color, a bit of a head, lots of bubbles. So I started sipping. Didn't quite have the full body feel of regular beer and it had a rather interesting aftertaste that wasn't unpleasant. It was also somewhat fizzier th...

A couple weeks ago I had a seriously stressed day and the only thing I wanted for dinner was lasagna. While my lasagna usually takes two days to make (sauce first day and then the dish the next day) I can and will make a quick and dirty one. So I hit the store for ground beef, spaghetti sauce and the cheeses. Couldn't find a 'sketti sauce that didn't have some amount of HFCS in it, even a little bit makes the sauce too sweet and icky, so got a can of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs and spices and tomato sauce. We then hit Rosauers to get the brand of GF brown rice lasagna noodles I like, only to discover none of the shelves. Off to the Co-op where I was able to finally find some GF lasagna noodles by De Boles. Only thing was, they were the no cook variety.  I have never used the no cook type for the very simple reason I use a round deep dish casserole for my lasagna. I would have to break up the noodles to put them in. Since I didn't feel like going to another st...

I am always on the look out for pasta that I can eat. I have one brand of brown rice pasta that I love, but it is a bit on the pricey side for our budget, so I usually only buy the spaghetti for special occasions. So I was happy to see that the Grocery Outlet we shop at in Lewiston ID has started carrying more gluten free products and in specific brown rice spaghetti. So I grabbed a couple of packages. I decided that I had to do spaghetti for dinner that weekend, so I started my sauce and when it was close to dinner time, broke out my favorite pasta pot. Filled it with water, tossed in some salt and set it to boil. Once boiling I added the spaghetti and set my timer for 7 minutes (instructions were for 7-10 minutes). At 7 minutes it was getting there and was pretty much at the right texture by 10 minutes. I drained the pasta and then set to plating and topping with it with sauce and cheese and it was dinner time. The flavor of the pasta was good, hubby actually prefers bro...

Last month I was in Vancouver WA and wandered into the Grocery Outlet there on the advice of a friend who said they carried gluten free pastas and picked up a few packages of various types the above tube pasta, shell pasta, fusilli, spaghetti and fettuccine. I haven't tried the long pastas yet, opting for the shell pasta to start as I wanted to do a pasta salad on a recent hot weekend. I read the instructions and grabbed my favorite pasta pot and set to work. At 9 minutes I found the pasta to be still very crunchy, so kept it cooking. I also found the water thickened quite a bit and that my favorite pasta pot was much too small to cook a whole package (it works with regular wheat pastas) and even cooking it longer couldn't get it to the texture that would be acceptable for both hubby and I (I prefer al dente, he prefers softer and I can usually come up with a compromise). I drained the pasta and rinsed it and let it cool down and then proceeded to make a pasta salad with ...

I do love going to the dollar store, you can find all sorts of things that are good (and a few that aren't, but that will be another review. On one of my most recent trips I found a corned beef hash I'd never heard of: The one problem with dollar stores tho is you can't always get the same brand of something you like. I've been haunting their food aisle for a while since they used to carry another brand of corned beef hash I loved, but haven't stocked it in a while. So I picked up the can to check the ingredients list and saw the lovely words "contains no allergens". YAY! Gluten-free! Food manufacturers manage to sneak gluten products into some of the oddest items, so it was nice to see I could eat it safely. My favorite way to have corned beef hash is fried, topped with an egg or two, sunny side up. Alas, since I decided these were for lunches at work I had to settle for heated up in the microwave. Corned beef hash is naturally greasy, esp th...