Nueva Cucina, Chipotlé Taco Seasoning

After learning about Nueva Cucina’s gluten free seasonings from the CeliacChicks I requested, and received, a sample. Last week in the mail came a packet of Chipotlé Taco seasoning. After a few days racking my brain about what to so with it I decided to make a meat loaf.

I tasted the spice mix before using it and it seemed pretty good, I always sample all my ingredients as I’m cooking. I mixed two thirds of it with the meat and mixed the remainder with tomato sauce to make a glaze. As I was cleaning up I tasted what was left of the sauce, which was tangy and sweet, with a definite kick.

The mix itself has dried onion, garlic and raisins along with the ground spices. The meat loaf turned out very well. I’m no connoisseur of chipotlé seasonings, but this one was very flavorful. The package says medium, and I would say that’s accurate. The meat loaf itself wasn’t too spicy, but man, the glaze had a punch!

This would be great with tofu if you lean that way, or in any type of tomato based chili or stew. For those of us who need a different, flavorful quick fix, I say go for it. It beats Hamburger Helper any day. Nueva Cucina makes rice mixes, soups and beef seasonings. Several of their items are not gluten free: Black Beans & Rice, Red Beans & Rice, Pumpkin Soup, and Sweet Corn Soup with Chilies. The gluten free items are made in the same facility in which the others are made but the machines are carefully cleaned between batches.

Cherrybrook Kitchen, Fudge Brownie Mix

In my goody bag from the Worry Free Dinner I found a box of Cherrybrook Kitchen brownie mix, along with a cute little spatula with their logo on it. The day after the Worry Free Dinner I was gushing about it to my coworkers and I listed all the treats I found in my bag, As soon as I said “brownie mix” all eyes turned on me greedily. “So, you’re going to make us brownies?” my boss asked. “Don’t forget, I won’t be back till Monday.”

Foot in mouth. I was committed. Not that I would pass up an opportunity to make brownies, no sir. Making brownies means I get to eat brownies.

Sunday night I commandeered the oven, emptying it of pots, setting up my thermometer and started to prepare the mix. Now, the instructions call for margarine and vegetable oil, but being the health conscious type I decided to use what I had on hand: Smart Balance Light and olive oil. Perhaps not conventional, but I don’t think it made to much difference. Although, oddly enough, when I got to work in the morning the brownie had shrunk, pulling away from two sides of the pan. Unusual.

They were a great hit. By 10am the bookkeeper was already eating one, the boss tried one shortly after she arrived. I got everyone to try them, even the UPS pick-up guys and the woman who collects our office trash.

Everyone thought they had great flavor, perfect for chocolate cravings. The Designer pointed out that the texture was a bit off, while moist, it was more crumbly than expected. We decided that this was more like devil’s food cake than brownie, but delicious all the same.

Andean Dream Quinoa Cookies

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to meet the lovely couple responsible for Andean Dream quinoa cookies. For those of you not yet familiar with quinoa, it is one of the world’s super foods. It has more protein and complete amino acids than any other grain.

Andean Dream cookies are made from Royal Quinoa, which only grows around one salt lake in the Uyumi Region of the Bolivian Andes. Because of that environment Royal Quinoa is the most nutritious type of quinoa and has the most protein of any variety.

Andean Dream cookies come in five flavors: Coconut, Orange Essence, Chocolate Chip, Raisin & Spice and Cocoa Orange. All the flavors are equally delicious. The cookies have a great texture, crunchy and smooth. None of the varieties is too sweet and the individual flavors are balanced, rather then over powering.

The cookies came prepackaged in the box and two cookies contain one gram of protein. They are gluten free and vegan. The quinoa farmers are certified organic and the farmers who produce the other ingredients are also organic, not yet certified.

Andean Dream works with a Bolivian company La Francesa to manufacture the cookies. Together with the Andean Valley S.A. they formed an association to work to improve the conditions of the Royal Quinoa farmers. They have built better homes for the farming families and a school for the children.

Andean Dream cookies are available on the east and west coasts in Whole Foods, in independent stores and online at the Gluten Free Mall.

I highly recommend these cookies. They’re tasty and nutritious, and individually packed they make a great snack to carry in a bag, purse or in a lunch box. In buying these cookies you are also helping the farmers support themselves.

See's St. Patrick's Day Potato

In honor of St. Patrick's Day one of the jewelry contractors my company works with sent us a big box of chocolate. See's chocolate to be precise. Lucky gold coins and St. Patrick's Day Potatoes. Everyone else's first response is to rip open the box and start stuffing their faces. My first response is to go on the website and look for nutritional information.

Tired of waiting for a response to my email, I called costumer service directly. I was transferred once, to a woman who was very helpful. She told me that all of the candy and chocolates that See's manufactures themselves are gluten free and produced in a gluten free facility. The only exceptions are the decorated items; Easter Eggs, St. Patrick's Day and other decorated Candy Canes and decorated candies. She said that they do not make the decoration materials and cannot guarantee that they are gluten free, she believes that the facility they are made in is not gluten free. It was nice to talk to someone informed, she said that they have been receiving more and more calls on this matter in particular and she had a ready, educated answer for me.

And so we come to the much-anticipated St. Patrick's Day Potato. The girls in the office were agog when they arrived, almost fighting over them even though there were more than enough. I was told that, despite its humble appearance, this is a phenomenal treat. And it really does look like a potato, dirty and dusty, it even has 'eyes'.

The 'skin' is a packed mixture of cocoa and cinnamon and the inside is soft nougat with walnuts and pine nuts for 'eyes'. This tastes nothing like a potato. Good thing too. It's creamy and luscious and indulgent. I was afraid it would be too sweet, but the outer layer of cocoa and the walnuts inside balanced out the nougat and the cinnamon adds bite. Because I'm one of those 'healthy' girls, I got my spud in half and then cut a quarter and that was chocolaty sweet, satisfying enough that I don't feel like I have to eat the whole thing (which often happens with lower quality sweets). I packed this one up to enjoy for another day or two or three (I hope).

As much as I love chocolate I'm not a big indulger, especially since I had problems with so many that have 'malt flavoring' or it's kin. Being from the Mid-west, I don't have much experience with See's, although I see their chocolates in the Detroit airport now. If this is any indication of the rest of their chocolates, I'd say See's is an excellent choice for gluten free, delicious chocolate confections.

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Bakery on Main Apple Raisin Walnut Granola

This morning with my yogurt I tried a new gluten free granola from the Bakery on Main. The Apple Raisin Walnut Granola is exactly that. The first bite was a burst of apple cinnamon flavor. I love cinnamon, and this had enough, even for me.

The granola is a mix of seeds, nuts, fruits, crisp rice and cereal like pieces. These cereal things are like concave discs that seem to collect all the flax and sesame seeds. This makes for a great crunchy-chewy combination. The walnuts, raisins and dried apple pieces are very visible; whole walnuts and large pieces of apple.

As she tapped away on her computer my coworker absently tried them when I put them in front of her. She stopped and declared them delicious. I had visitors in my office throughout the day; I could hardly keep the bag closed.

The Bakery on Main makes these granolas in small batches, and they’re right: great things come in small batches.

****A special thanks to the Bakery on Main for providing these samples****

Gluten-Free Pantry Old Fashioned Cake and Cookie Mix

Since it was my first time preparing the Gluten-Free Pantry’s Old Fashioned Cake & Cookies Mix I decided to follow the directions on the box, as written. Since I don’t have a cookie sheet I made it as a cake, besides the one on the box looked so good, and it’s been a long time since I’ve had real cake.

The directions were easy enough to follow; I guess that’s the point of a cake mix to begin with. I am a chronic batter taster and an unabashed bowl liker, and this batter looked and tasted delicious. I managed to leave enough to fill my spring form pan and put it in the oven to bake.

Now, my oven is a little shifty, it doesn’t have any numbers on the dial and I have to rely on an oven thermometer and monitor it constantly. Even with the temperature variations the cake baked beautifully. I think it rose in the middle a little more than it was supposed to, but who cares? It looked so good I had trouble leaving it to cool over night.

Soft and moist this cake tasted like heaven to me. My memory may be a bit foggy but I would say this is one of the best cakes I’ve had, gluten free or not. It was a big hit in this house; always curious of my cooking my boyfriend’s mother tried a sliver. She declared she liked it, “mas rico” and not to sweet. Since everything in this household is share and share alike, she gave our two gerbils some of the treat as well.

My boyfriend and his brother and father are planning to have some for breakfast tomorrow. I don’t know if cake for breakfast is such a good idea, but this one is so good I just might have some too. If I don’t, I might not get another piece!

I prepared a sugar free chai spiced glaze for the cake, but it didn’t need it. I think it would also go very well with a cream cheese frosting or a chocolate glaze. This is a great base for whenever you need a yellow cake, it can stand up to some spice or to fruit, like a coffee cake or an upside down cake.

***I would like to give special thanks to Glutino and the Gluten-Free Mall for providing samples for me to try***

Brown Cow Yogurt

I’m always eager to find anything that is labeled gluten free. It’s surprising how many yogurts I’ve had problems with. One doesn’t usually think yogurt would contain gluten, but many of us know better.

When I found out that Brown Cow yogurts are gluten free, I was excited. They sent me some coupons and I rushed out to get some. All I could find was the cream top version, which has more fat that I would normally choose to have, but I was so eager I got it.

I selected three flavors for my taste testing, raspberry, cherry vanilla and plain. I was surprised at how much sugar there was in the two with fruit on the bottom. The first one I tried, raspberry, was so thick and creamy it felt like I was eating melted ice cream. The fruit tasted like raspberries, but it was more of a syrup than fruit. Altogether too rich and too sweet.

After the raspberry I was prepared for the texture of the cherry vanilla which was also thick and rich. This one was not as sweet, and I think I tasted a small piece of cherry in the fruit syrup on the bottom. Neither of these was really a satisfactory breakfast, but with the amount of calories and sugar in each I didn’t want to have anything else.

The last one I tried was the plain, this one was just as rich and creamy, but it didn’t have the bite I have come to expect from the fresh yogurts I have now. I mixed it with gluten free granola and it was pretty good. Not like the first two, which reminded me of eating melted ice cream. The one nice thing about the more mellow taste is that I didn’t feel the need to add any sweetness when I mixed it with my granola.

I’m very pleased that Brown Cow is making all of their yogurts, with the exception of the Fruit & Whole Grains, gluten free. I’m certainly not giving up on Brown Cow, it’s great to know that there’s a yogurt out there that I can safely eat, especially when I’m traveling. Next time I’m going to hold out and try the low fat or fat free version.