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Review: Gluten-Free Ice Cream Cones

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Sometimes I dream of owning a summer home – where it’s not hot in the summer. Last year, we had a nice break from scorching temperatures in the Metro Atlanta area. It was nice in so many ways. Not feeling like you stepped into a warm tub when you went outside was nice, but saving $100 a month on the power bill was even nicer! It doesn’t look like we’re going to be that lucky again this year. Summer arrived quite early and it seems like it’s here to stay.

The only time I like ice cream (or any related cold treats) is during hot summer months. For whatever reason, we really didn’t have a spring season this year. We skipped right to summer even though it’s only April. Last year, I went on the search for the best gluten-free ice cream cones. Sadly for me, the only ones I found edible are not sold in a store here. The gluten-free cake style cones from “Let’s do Organic” are is sold at many health food stores here and at Whole Foods. That cone tastes very much like styrofoam to me. However, I never liked cake cones when I ate gluten either and think those taste only slightly better than the gluten-free version.

The only gluten-free cones I’ve had that I like are the waffle cones from Barkat. They are available from the gluten-free Mall. The gluten-free Trading Company sells three different brands of cones, including one I plan to try, Cerrone waffle cones. According to the description of those cones, they are large. Therefore, I hope they are at least normal sized. The delicious waffle cones from Barkat are like a toy cone – resembling something you might serve a doll. My husband who loves ice cream any time of year broke into boisterous laughter when I showed him the size of the Barkat cones last year. He actually felt bad for me. I didn’t mind the size that much, but people who want a normal serving of ice cream might feel ripped off to find the tiny cones inside the package.

Most of the time being gluten-free doesn’t bother me. It can be inconveniencing at times, of course. I’m a planner and that trait comes in super handy when you have to follow a special diet. But when I drive by the Brewter’s ice cream shop around the corner from our house and see a line of people waiting to order an ice cream cone, it reminds me that we really can’t do everything others can do. Something as simple as ordering ice cream – even without a cone isn’t that easy either. Most ice cream parlors don’t claim that any of their products are gluten-free due to cross contamination issues. I’ve had good luck sticking to frozen yogurt in a cup at Brewster’s, but the company does not claim anything they serve is gluten-free. Also, I’ve not had issues with soft serve vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce at Dairy Queen.

As an adult who doesn’t really love ice cream in the first place, my life isn’t affected by not being able to order an ice cream cone at a parlor. However, when I think of the children with celiac or food allergies who can’t do what other kids can, I realize why so many parents avoid having their kids tested for celiac. They want their kids to be normal and don’t think that’s possible if they are on any type of restricted diet. Wouldn’t it be nice if at least one major chain offered a gluten-free ice cream cone and a certified gluten-free ice cream? Even if they offer something that tastes like styrofoam to some of us, most kids would absolutely love them. Kids just want to be kids, after all.

Delicious Gluten-Free Gelato and Sorbet

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Last year, I reviewed a coconut gelato by Talenti, a Texas based company that makes gelato reminiscent of what you’ll find in Italy. The only place I’ve seen the product line is Publix. The products I’ve tried so far are exceptional and also frightfully expensive. One pint is $4.99 at Publix and more than that online. In my opinion, you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to sorbet and gelato. The gelatos from Talenti are the only versions I’ve found in the U.S. that taste like they came from Italy. I’ve not tried all brands of gelato sold here,  of course.

Talenti products are not made with high fructose corn syrup and don’t contain artificial ingredients. The gelatos are blended with hormone free milk. The chocolate flavors are made with chocolate from Belgium – not chocolate flavored syrup. When I first started reading labels, I was shocked to see how much fake food was in many well known ice cream brands. Finally, I found a couple of options that only contained cream, sugar and vanilla bean but those are still few and far between today.

Talenti products are made with quality ingredients from around the world. The taste is simply incredible and the flavors are very intense. The Caribbean Coconut gelato is excellent, but Lisbon Lemon is my new favorite sorbet. It’s also the best lemon version I’ve had to date. The next time I feel like treating myself, I’ll pick up the Roman Raspberry sorbet – or rather sorbetto.

From the Talenti website –

We are dedicated to the strict principle of authenticity by committing ourselves to the 500 year old tradition of handcrafted gelato e sorbetto created with unparalleled artisanship.  We make everything from scratch using the finest ingredients available regardless of cost.  We combine these ingredients by hand in small batches using classical Italian gelato making equipment.  To this we add our innovative spirit and passion in order to offer our customers a myriad of flavors from which to choose.  This wonderful gelato e sorbetto selection is available either by the pint or by the scoop.  The end result is an amazingly tasty treat to be enjoyed as one of life’s greatest “simple pleasures”.

Products made with pure, real ingredients really do taste best – no matter what the food is. If there is an upside to having to constantly read food labels, it’s the fact that those of us that do it are much more educated about what we’re eating than the average consumer is. Talenti uses a symbol system to indicate what items are gluten-free. The website still does not seem to have a list of the gluten-free varieties, but the containers generally have several symbols on the back. The symbols indicate if the item is gluten-free, dairy-free, fat free, etc.  Most of the products are in fact, gluten-free except for the obvious flavors with “cookie” or “crunch” in the name.

It’s already air conditioner season in much of the South. We usually get a month long break when the heat or a/c isn’t need to make the house comfortable.  This year that break never came. It went from being quite chilly to flat out hot in a flash. With what is expected to be an unseasonably warm summer in “Hotlanta” on the way, Talenti gelatos and sorbets are the perfect gluten-free treat to cool things down!

Review: King Arthur Gluten-Free Pancake Mix

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

When someone representing King Arthur Flour contacted me via e-mail about the new gluten-free mixes from the company, I could hardly believe the words I was reading. King Arthur Flour has long been a premier gluten product manufacturer so finding out that they decided to get into the gluten-free market was pretty exciting news. More products in any given industry usually bring more competitive prices which is something we are all looking for these days.

The gluten-free mixes from King Arthur Flour include pizza crust, cookies, bread, brownie, muffins, cake, pancakes, and a flour blend. The boxes for the mixes indicate that the products are gluten, wheat, soy, and nut free. However, as noted on side of the boxes, the gluten-free products are produced in a gluten-free, allergen-free (8 most common food allergens) manufacturing facility. The mixes are also Kosher and have GIG’s esteemed GFCO stamp of approval.

When asked what items I’d be interested in reviewing, I told the representative that anything except the bread mix would be welcome. The company sent me the flour blend and the pancake mix to review. The ingredients in the pancake mix are brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, more rice flour, sugar, cornstarch, salt, xanthan gum, natural flavors, and some stabilizers. The instructions call for whisking 2 eggs, butter (or oil), and milk together and then stirring the mixture into the pancake mix. We opted for the oil recipe version and used skim milk.

Right away I noticed that the pancake batter was much thinner than I was used to. I could not add more mix since all of it was already in the bowl. The box said the yield was 16 4” pancakes. I got 24 (some larger than 4”) out of it, making it clear that using skim milk might have affected the thickness of the batter quite a bit. We’re not going to buy regular or even 2% milk to make pancakes but would cut back on the amount of milk to thicken the batter up in the future. If you added a little more milk than called for, the batter should make perfect gluten-free crepes.

Since the batter was thin, the pancakes were also. However, the taste of the pancakes was absolutely delicious. You could serve them to the pickiest gluten eater and they’d never know they were gluten-free. In fact, my husband ate 11 of them at one sitting. We had to freeze a lot of pancakes to thaw, reheat and enjoy at a later date. With limited freezer space, this is not an optimal pancake mix for the two of us to use. If the company offered alternative instructions – for instance, to make a half batch – that would be excellent. I can figure out how to half two eggs, two cups of milk, and four T. of oil, but don’t know exactly how many cups of the mix are in the bag. For a family of four or more, using the whole mix at once would work fine, of course. For two people (at our house anyway) exactly half a batch of pancakes is perfect.

After reading a rave review of someone who found the mixes outside my area and these reviews for the chocolate cake mix, now I’m anxious to try that – and other – gluten-free mixes from the line soon! I’ve not been able to find the new King Arthur Flour gluten-free mixes in my area yet. The products can be purchased online, but I hope that at least Whole Foods locations here will soon have them. They carry several gluten products from King Arthur Flour so hopefully, they can make room for the new gluten-free mixes on store shelves. After all, the 365 gluten-free Bakehouse mixes were discontinued a couple of months ago.

Pizza Crust Bake-off: Udi’s vs. Kinnikinnick

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 9 Comments

Friday night in our house is pizza night, and since going gluten-free we have changed that from ordering pizza out to making our own pizzas.  We were quick to realize not only is this healthier and cheaper, but tastes better too. There are a growing number of pizza places serving gluten-free pizza, however, they are usually more expensive than their gluten-filled counterpart, so in the end, we have found that creating our own pizzas makes it a fun family activity for all of us.

I started out making pizzas at home by creating my own pizza crust using recipes I found in my favorite magazines, or using Bob’s Red Mill pizza crust mix.  But then I discovered some ready-made pizza crusts that I enjoyed more than my homemade ones, and my family was hooked.  I am always a proponent of making things from scratch, but sometimes it is just easier to get parts of the dish ready-made.  I like to justify this with the fact that I make my own sauce.

There are two pizza crusts of which we have become loyal fans, Udi’s and Kinnikinnick.  Udi’s pizza crust is a round, individual-sized thin crust.  It tastes just like it came out of a wood-burning pizza oven and gets nice and crispy.  I have had my gluten-able friends eating this and not be able to tell the difference. These sell for $5.19 at Woodman’s, my local grocery store which is stocked with gluten-free goodies, and are two to a pack.  The ingredients according to their website:

Water, Tapioca Starch, Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Egg Whites, Canola Oil, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Salt, Yeast, Cultured Corn Syrup, Ascorbic Acid (Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Sulfate), Enzymes Contains: Eggs

Kinnikinnick offers a 7″ square pizza individually-sized pizza crust with four to a pack, and sells for $8.69 at Woodman’s.  There is also a 10″ available, or one could put all 4 together to make a 14″ pizza, as a local pizza place, Aurelio’s, does in the Chicago-area.  This crust is a thin crust, but a bit fluffier than Udi’s.  The longer it is cooked the crispier it will get.

The ingredients according to the Kinnikinnick website:

Sweet Rice Flour, Water, Tapioca Starch, Whole Eggs, Sunflower and/or Canola Oil, Sugar, Dextrose, Cellulose, Yeast, Pea Protein, Sodium Carboxy Methylcellulose, Salt, Corn Meal

Both are free of dairy, nuts, and soy.

The verdict: While both pizza crusts are comparable in size, they are delicious in different ways. Both are equally enjoyable eating experiences. As a family, we will go through phases where we prefer one over the other, and after months of eating Udi’s every Friday night, we are now on a Kinnikinnick kick. I really like the slightly chewy and fluffy texture of this crust.  I also like how it comes with four to a pack and ends up being a bit cheaper than Udi’s. Both are floured on the bottom, I assume with corn meal so that when they come out of the oven, they really taste as they came out of a brick oven.  I must say I like them equally, it really just depends on the mood I am in at the time. The Kinnikinnick is a bit more filling and dense, and the Udi’s crust is a bit lighter, which shows in the nutritional data. Kinnikinnick says a single serving is half a crust, whereas Udi’s says it is a full crust, and realistically I think an adult would eat an entire crust to themselves of either brand.  Yet, each crust holds up well with many different toppings added to it.  My personal favorite is the homemade sauce, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onion, Kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, and spinach.

What is your favorite gluten-free pizza crust?

Get Creative with Gluten-Free Chicken

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

We eat a lot of chicken at our house. Some times we get bored with it so I try and make up different versions of chicken dishes to enjoy that don’t take a lot of work on my part. I didn’t avoid the kitchen in our house for the first sixteen years of our marriage for no reason. Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I rarely cooked except during the holidays and on weekends when I occasionally made pancakes from a mix.

Recently, I was in a rush to throw dinner together and all I knew going in was that skinless chicken breasts were involved. After a quick survey of the fridge, I pulled out the BBQ sauce, spicy brown mustard and white American cheese. Had we had sliced cheddar I would have used that, but as always, I use what we have on hand. I mixed up two thirds BBQ sauce to one part mustard and brushed it on both sides of the chicken. Those went into a baking dish that was sprayed with canola oil. When the chicken was almost done, about 20 minutes later in a 375 degree oven, I topped the breasts with cheese and returned to the oven until it bubbled. My husband concluded that this dish should be added to our rotation of chicken recipes and I agreed. It was super simple to make and delicious to eat.

One of our favorite chicken dishes was from a now closed Virginia Highlands restaurant called Capo’s. Recipe Zaar has the Chicken Diablo recipe posted, which I was thrilled to find out when Capo’s was no more. However, this recipe is fairly time consuming so more often than not, we save it for special events. It’s a very wonderful recipe and really impresses dinner guests. Another similar dish, albeit with different ingredients and flavors is much easier to make and tastes excellent as well. For lack of a more creative name, it’s simply called “Bleu Cheese Chicken”.

One day when I really wanted to do something different with my plain old chicken breasts, I created a stuffing mixture with crumbled bleu cheese, softened cream cheese and fresh chopped spinach that turned out surprisingly tasty. Ingredient amounts vary based on how many chicken breasts you have to stuff and how much cheese you want in them. My mixture was about 1/3 bleu cheese, 1/3 cream cheese and 1/3 finely chopped fresh spinach. After pounding out the chicken breasts quite flat, I put a scoop of the filling in the middle of each one and wrapped the chicken around cheese and used toothpicks to hold them closed.

Depending on how much time you have for prep work, you can flour the wrapped chicken or not. Plain rice flour works fine and a flour blend works great as well. Whether you use flour or not, sauté the chicken in a little olive oil on each side until brown before placing them in a 375 degree oven. This dish usually takes about 20-25 minutes to cook thoroughly. Though most bleu cheese seems to be gluten-free, not all makers of it will state whether theirs is or not. Therefore, I like using brands that will declare their bleu cheese is gluten-free. Many bleu cheeses are gluten-free these days, but it’s tough to kill outdated info in cyberspace.

When I feel like I just can’t come up with another chicken recipe on my own, I look to the zillion chicken recipes on Recipe Zaar. Most of them will be able to be modified to be gluten-free, without losing anything in terms of taste or texture. There really is something to be said for eating lots of chicken instead of overdoing it with red meat. Since heart disease runs in my family, we eat plenty of fish, chicken and turkey and that diet really seems to agree with us both.