Gluten-Free Bisquick Review

A few weeks ago while I was shopping for baking groceries at Target, I stumbled upon the new Gluten-Free Bisquick. I didn't even think twice, I just grabbed it to give it a try! It's main ingredient is rice flour and, I gotta tell ya, I don't like rice flour very much. I feel that it gives everything a very gritty texture that bothers me when I eat it. So I was not expecting to like the outcome, but it turned out I really liked what I made with it!

First, I made waffles exactly following the recipe on the box. They were great. Surprisingly light and fluffy. I got 5 small Belgium waffles out of it and was very pleased! They were fast to make and really good!

Yum!

Then this afternoon I wanted to try the biscuits. I have to tell you that the thing that I was not happy about was the quantity of mix. I had used 1 1/3 cup of mix for the waffles and needed 2 cups for biscuits. There was only a cup and a little extra left after the waffles so I made half a batch of biscuits. I think this is a bit of a rip off! There should be enough mix in there to make at least 2 DIFFERENT ITEMS!!!

The biscuits did turn out very well though, the whopping 5 of them it made!

They were very light and fluffy which I found really impressive.

I believe the box cost me around $6 at Target (sorry, I have no idea where my receipt is and I've learned with gluten-free shopping to not really look at the price tag or else it gets depressing!). So I'm not sure if $6 for 5 waffles and 5 biscuits is worth it, but it definitely tasted good. I am really impressed that it has a good texture considering that it's mostly rice flour.

Overall, just be aware that there is not very much mix inside of that box, but that you will probably be pleased with the results if you do buy it!

Glutenfreeda Burritos

Oh my goodness, a gluten-free burrito?!?! I seriously flipped out when I just found these ">Glutenfreeda Burritos at Mother's Market. I haven't had a burrito since before I was gluten-free so about 8 years. So I happened to see this in the freezer section of my local Mother's Market and had to try one. I tried the Vegetarian Bean & Cheese flavor. I had it for dinner tonight once I got home and it was really good. I highly recommend it and will soon be purchasing any other flavors I can get my hands on.

The tortilla was very good, it's made with corn, rice and potato flours as well as a few other ingredients. The bummer for me was that there were actual corn kernels in it and I can't eat whole corn kernals. I can occasionally eat it ground up in tortillas but I was able to easily pull out the corn kernels! Again, this is only if you have problems with corn - it's not at all related to gluten!

It has rice and all sorts of great flavors. It was a little tiny bit spicy, but I can't eat anything spicy so it wasn't overly spicy if I could eat it and enjoy it!

The price at my store was $3.19. For the size of the burrito, it's higher than I would like as it would take more than one burrito to make a full meal. However, considering it's gluten-free, fast and can be filling...it was worth it to me!

I don't know about you, but I missed the ease and convenience of a quick and filling microwave burrito that tastes good. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely eat more in the future! I'm also looking forward to trying other Glutenfreeda products when I see them (see the site here). Thanks Glutenfreeda!!

P.S.~Sorry if the pictures of the burrito wasn't super flattering...it's still a microwave burrito but it tasted good and that's all that matters to me!

Gluten-Free in New York-Shake Shack!

Hi Everyone! I'm so sorry for my long absence. I was on a vacation to New York, then very unexpectedly had to move (and quickly!) and then, of course, the holidays! It's been a very hectic but great December!

I wanted to give you a quick little review from one of my absolute favorite places to eat when I'm in New York...the Shake Shack! Yum! I'm sure you're expecting some sort of fancy steak restaurant, but nope, this place is my favorite and I pray that they bring one to Southern California as soon as possible!

So, the Shake Shack started with one location in Madison Square Park and I'm proud to say I went there before it started to spread! Here's a picture of my lunch:

So their burgers are GREAT bunless, the meat actually tastes terrific. The fries are great, not too soggy, not too crisp. The best part is the frozen custard. When I first heard of this, I was seriously nauseated! I thought it sounded so gross. But it is SOOOOO good, I promise! If you like ice cream, you'll love the frozen custard. In the picture above you'll see a "concrete" where they mix the custard with a topping, I had chocolate toffee. Yum yum yum!

The other AWESOME thing about the Shake Shack is that they are so wonderfully awesome about Gluten Allergies! When I ordered my food without a bun, they asked if it was a gluten allergy and I said yes. All over my receipt that goes to the cooking crew were big red letters saying "****GLUTEN ALLERGY****!!! I couldn't have been more pleased!

Of course, it's still eating out and there is always the possibility of cross contamination but it sure makes you feel safer when you see that written all over everything and that they are aware of and understand the allergy is a tremendous advantage to eating out!

For their gluten-free menu, click here. To find all locations (including Miami and various New York areas) and see their main site, click here.

As for price, it's New York City, for all the food shown in my picture above it was about $15.50. Trust me, it was worth every penny both trips I made to the Shake Shack on this visit!

Just to leave you with something festive, this was from our visit to Rockefeller Plaza while it was snowing! Such a beautiful sight and I'm so glad my mom and I got to be together in New York during the Holiday Season!

I swear it was freezing cold and we're from Southern California, so yes, we may be a little over-bundled compared to East Coasters!!!

Review: Skinny Crisps Crackers

Do you need a great GF cracker? Check out these Skinny Crisps:

These are really tasty and low in carbohydrates. I get them at Whole Foods but you can order them at the Skinny Crisps website!

They are very crunchy but packed full of flavor. The brownie crisps are amazingly chocolaty and taste fantastic:

Do you see those chocolate sprinkles!!!!

The Plain Jane flavor reminds me of what I remember a Wheat Thin tasting like (not that I'm an expert on what a Wheat Thin tastes like at this point!!).

The ingredients can be found here for all of the different flavors to see if they work for you.

Every flavor I've tried is terrific!!! I highly recommend them. They are also made with nuts and beans so they have protein making them a very terrific and satisfying snack!

The only downside is that they are a bit expensive. Great for a special treat though when you really need a tasty cracker!

*Please Note: The manufacturers of Skinny Crisps do not know me and do not pay me to say these nice things about them!!!

Review of BJ's GF Menu

Yesterday I had the pleasure of trying out BJ's Brewhouse Gluten-Free Menu instead of cooking! To sum it up: PIZZA!!!

I loved this pizza! The crust has herbs infused in it and tastes great. It's very thin but tastes so great I actually wished it was thicker. The crust is even a little sweet. The best part is that you can get any of the pizza toppings BJ's offers (with the only exception being their meatballs), which is a pretty wide selection of toppings. Considering that the gluten-free menu seems small, the selection of toppings could provide for many varied meal options.

I thought the size was just right and priced just below $10.

I had ordered the pizza with ham and pineapple and it came out with only pineapple. The waitress brought the ham out for the pizza and told me she had the chef do it twice because the first time he didn't do it for someone with "allergies." She waited for him to change his gloves and do it again. I was very pleased to see that the staff had been trained to understand the need for the separation of gluten-free food.

If you're not in the mood for pizza, the Giant Stuffed Potatoes are also terrific as are the salads. They also offer two soups, which rarely occurs in eating out. I haven't tried those yet but plan on it for a future visit!

To find a location near you, search the BJ's Brewhouse website!

Enjoy eating a pizza you don't have to cook. I give it my highest recommendation for dining out!