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Review: Jamaican Shrimp Cake from Organic Bistro

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I’ve been enjoying meals from Organic Bistro from time to time since late 2009.  All of the frozen meal options in the line are gluten-free and made with real ingredients that are easy to read and pronounce. That is definitely something I appreciate these days, considering how many packaged foods are not all that healthy. See the ingredients in my latest find from the line, the Jamaican Shrimp Cake meal, and some of the company’s philosophy about food below:

Ingredients:

Wild caught Oregon pink shrimp cake (pink shrimp, water, wild caught salmon, wild caught pollock, organic potato, organic pasteurized egg, organic corn starch, organic red pepper, organic jerk spice, organic lemon juice, organic green onion, organic celery, organic garlic, organic parsley), organic green beans, organic cooked brown Basmati rice, organic red pepper, organic onion, organic black beans, organic celery, organic mango, organic extra-virgin olive oil, organic onion powder.

Wellness is a journey, not a place. Smart, everyday choices keep you going.  Organic Bistro Whole Life Meals are here to help you maintain your momentum by eating better and feeling well, even in the middle of your busy day.  Every single-serving frozen meal is balanced with the best sources of lean protein, fiber-rich whole grains, plentiful vegetables and healthy fats.  Our wholesome ingredients keep their flavor because they’re unprocessed.  So our recipes taste great without added salt and artificial flavors.  Additionally, our meals are low-glycemic, gluten-free and based on smart nutrition science.

Organic Bistro Whole Foods meals are low in fat and sodium, high in protein and offer a good source of fiber. The Jamaican Shrimp cake meal has only 320 calories. When I read that on the label, I checked to make sure the serving size per package was listed at one. Thankfully, the meal was meant for only one. It’s also an exceptional value from a nutritional standpoint.

Even though I really like some of the other meals I’ve tried from Organic Bistro (some reviewed here), the Jamaican Shrimp Cake meal is by far my favorite to date. The rice in the meal was just so-so, but the veggies and the shrimp cake were both awesome! I was surprised that I enjoyed this meal even more than the Wild Salmon meal. Immediately I began wondering if I could create my own shrimp cake. It’s slightly similar, in texture, to crab cakes so I’m thinking I can concoct something decent in terms of a shrimp cake recipe.

*In case you missed it, you can also read Kim Bouldin’s review of the line here.

Tip: Avoid Dining Out at Peak Times if Possible

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We eat out as much as we did when I could eat gluten, but just like we did in the past, we tend to visit our favorite places and choose to venture out to new ones pretty infrequently. I enjoy trying new places when meeting friends for lunch. We usually go early or late, avoiding the crunch time for the kitchen staff and servers. This way, we feel like there is a better chance our meals will be prepared and served safely.

As a general rule, we don’t usually go out to eat on Saturday night. That is because everyone another person in Atlanta goes out that night and there is no way to beat the crowds unless we go to dinner at 4:30 pm. One day I might be thrilled to enjoy early bird specials, but I’m not there yet.

For some reason, I had a hankering for a steak at Ted’s Montana Grill last weekend. The weather here was gorgeous and we could have easily saved money and grilled our own steaks at home. But the truth is our steaks are never as good as those we get at steak houses. I assumed that as long as we arrived plenty early on Saturday, I should be able to get a safe meal at Ted’s.

We were seated at 5:50 and the restaurant was not on a wait. It was busy, but not overly so, and not as much as it would be an hour later. It turned out that we were seated at one of two tables with a clear view of the kitchen. We both ordered our meat medium well so of course, it took a while to complete our ticket.

My husband always enjoys watching the kitchen since he used to cook for a living. Finally, two plates that looked like they could be ours were placed on the counter for pick up. Before the ticket was put with the plates, the expeditor dressed them. That meant the plate with the steak got a roll. My husband saw the roll get tossed onto the plate and said “I hope that’s not our food”. In a flash, the line cook looked at the ticket and swooped in and threw the roll into the trash. It had been on my plate and my meal was served as if nothing had happened. Needless to say, I did not accept it. I asked for a new baked potato and for the steak to be taken off our bill. I was not in the mood to wait for another steak to be prepared by that time.

We witnessed a little pow-wow with the expediter and manager and the latter appeared at the table to apologize for the mistake. She offered to have some chicken grilled for me, presumably because it was much faster to cook than a medium-well steak, but I declined the offer. I did not have a lengthy conversation with her about what happened because, by the time this happened, the place was crazy busy and very loud. I would have had to yell in order for her to understand what I was saying. Instead, I sent a complaint to the corporate office.

We were charged for my drink and my husband’s meal. The salad and potato I had were comped, but I would much rather have had my steak. I left the restaurant annoyed and disappointed. I was disappointed with the staff at Ted’s and annoyed with myself. It was too busy for them to take the time to prepare my food safely and for that part, I take some responsibility. But when they messed up, someone should have known not to serve my food as if the bread had not been placed on my plate, touching my steak. That part was Ted’s bad – not mine.

Clearly, the staff at our location needs to brush up on gluten-free service and be told why people order off the gluten-free menu. Maybe a color-coded plate system would be feasible there. It’s no problem that people make mistakes, but it’s a huge problem when whoever does it pretends it never happened when it comes to serving allergen-free meals. Would I end up in the hospital if I’d eaten the meal presented to me? No, I would have just been doubled over in pain and wondered what they did to mess up my food.

In the end, I made a poor choice and paid for it. While I did not get sick and I’m very grateful we sat where we did that night, I’m not sure how I feel about going to Ted’s again. One thing is for sure, we will not be going back on Saturday night and will do our best to avoid dining anywhere on Saturday night unless at a gluten-free restaurant or on vacation. This choice increases the chance that I’ll be served safely and is respectful of the staff at places trying hard to serve our market.

Thai Kitchen’s Gluten-Free Products

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Thai Kitchen makes many more gluten-free items than those that contain gluten. For some reason, I’ve not tried that many of them. Their gluten-free products are easy to spot, with ‘gluten-free’ usually posted on the front and/or back of the package. Many of their items are free of other allergens besides gluten. You can find out which items suit your dietary needs by checking out the company’s allergen information.

Recently, I checked out some Rice Noodle Soup Bowls and a Rice Noodle Cart meal. The Spring Onion and Roasted Garlic soups bowls are both very easy to prepare and quite tasty. You add water and the contents of the spice pack and flavored oil pack to the included bowl if noodles. Then you cook it in the microwave for a short time. If I had to choose a favorite flavor, the Spring Onion would just edge out the Roasted Garlic.

For some reason, I picked up the Spicy Thai Basil Rice Noodle Cart meal, even though I don’t care for spicy dishes generally speaking. The container includes a bag of noodles, a bag of dehydrated vegetables/spices and a bag of sauce. With this product, you add very little water, the spice pack and the sauce to the noodles and cook in the microwave briefly. I used the entire spice pack to get a feel for exactly how spicy the flavors were even though the smell of them indicated they were very spicy for my taste.

The taste of the Noodle Cart meal was excellent, but it was way too hot for me. It was actually so spicy it opened up my sinuses. In the future, I’d leave out most of the spice pack because I really loved the noodles and sauce which didn’t seem very spicy at all. The one serving Spicy Thai Basil meal contains 6g of protein and 24% of the RDA for fiber which is quite impressive.

The soup bowls are perfect for a quick lunch or to pack for a car trip when you need to supply your own safe meals when visiting friends or family. The packages are a bit bulky to pack when flying since baggage frees are so exorbitant these days. The Rice Noodle Cart meals ares very compact and would be easy to pack (in checked bag) even for trips that involve flying. Also, an added bonus is that if you want to save the lidded container, it’s reusable.

In addition to the Noodle Cart meals and Soup Bowls, there are several cooking sauces, simmer sauces, curry pastes, coconut milks, some rice, some noodles and canned soups in the line that are currently gluten-free. When shopping for Thai Kitchen products, remember to always look for ‘gluten-free’ on the package. This page lists the stores that carry some items in this line. If you can’t find them at a store in your area, you can purchase them online from the company and on Amazon.com. Again, all Thai Kitchen products sold at stores and online are not gluten-free. Carefully check the label or website description to choose the right products for your needs.

Review: Dr. Praeger’s Gluten-Free Fish Sticks

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

It seems like I’ve been hearing about the gluten-free fish sticks from Dr. Praeger’s forever, but I only recently found them at my favorite health food store. The fish sticks are potato crusted which didn’t sound all that appealing to me, but I decided to give them a try anyway.

The preparation of the fish sticks is the same as with any other version with or without gluten. You put them on a baking tray and bake on each side for a set amount of time. For Dr. Praeger’s product, it took about nine minutes per side. The fish sticks were a deep golden brown which is not the norm for gluten-free fish sticks. The others tend to look a bit more yellowish than golden brown when baked in the oven. Frying them generally improves the color of most of them, but it also adds a whole lot of fat and calories.

As the fish sticks baked and started turning golden brown, I could only hope that they tasted as good as they looked. We all know that looks, and even smells at times, can be deceiving when it comes to gluten-free foods.

There was no need to worry about Dr. Praeger’s Potato Crusted Fish Sticks. They were surprisingly delicious! The potato crust was crunchy, but not too much so and the fish inside was some of the best we can remember having in any type of fish sticks.

The odd thing about them was that there was not much of a potato flavor to them. Before I tasted the fish sticks, I was worried that the crust would be kind of a soggy mashed potato-type coating which was hardly the case. The batter was pretty light and only slightly hinted that potatoes were a part of it at all. I used lemon juice and cocktail sauce (separately) on the fish sticks and each was a very good accompaniment for them.

The ingredients in the fish sticks are the cleanest I’ve seen in this product category. Ingredients: Pollock fillets (wild), potato flakes, potato starch, expeller-pressed canola oil, eggs, salt, and brown sugar. In addition to being gluten-free and made from all-natural ingredients, the product is also certified kosher. All the products in the line are kosher and there is no MSG added to any of them either.

Dr. Praeger’s makes both gluten-free and gluten-containing products so to make it easy to spot their gluten-free items, there is a color coding system for their packaging. Boxes with a red stripe on the top contain gluten and those with a green stripe are gluten-free. Below is some more information about the company:

Tasting is believing.

Dr. Praeger’s philosophy is that good-for-you food should actually taste good, especially if you don’t let artificial ingredients, colors and fillers get in the way. That’s why our products are made with ingredients you recognize, including flash-frozen vegetables and fish from cold Northern waters. Our hearty California Veggie Burger doesn’t conceal its tasty spinach, broccoli, peas, carrots and onions – it puts them right where you can see and taste them! And our gluten-free options are an easy way to keep wheat out of your diet, while keeping the good things in, like fiber and taste bud-pleasing flavor.

Now that I’ve tried the tasty fish sticks in this line, I’m really looking forward to trying the fish fillets eventually. I also want the Sweet Potato Pancakes. Those are low in fat and calories and high in fiber – sounds like another winning Dr. Praeger’s product to me!

Review: Udi’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 8 Comments

It is no secret that I love all things Udi’s, so I picked up some of their chocolate chip cookies the last time I was in Kroger. Udi’s makes 3 different kinds of gluten-free cookies – chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin & snickerdoodle. The unique thing about their cookies is that they are only sold in Kroger stores.

Each package of cookies contains approximately 6 servings or 12 cookies. The cookies are not only gluten-free but soy- & nut-free as well.  Upon first glance, the cookies did not appear as appetizing as some of Udi’s other products, but knowing what I know about the quality of their products, I went ahead & purchased the cookies.  I am extremely glad that I made that choice because these cookies were some of the best-packaged cookies that I have ever had – gluten-free or not. I considered eating the whole container in one sitting, but am happy to report that I was able to restrain myself. I thought it would be nice to share with my son when he got home from school.

Based on the form/shape of the cookie, I thought they would be a crunchy-type cookies.  I was wrong.  These cookies were moist & chewy, but not overly so. The flavor was full of buttery, chocolatey vanilla goodness. My son dove into the cookies as soon as he got home from school and had the same opinion as I did – these cookies rock!  I had to put a limit on the number he could eat and ended with “Please make sure to leave me 2 more”. Like most teenage boys, this kid can eat.  I blink & food disappears around here.

I believe that I will be making a return trip to Kroger this week to pick up the other 2 varieties of cookies that Udi’s has in stock there. I am sure that my son will love the snickerdoodles and I know that he won’t touch the oatmeal raisin, which means they will be all mine!  <insert evil laugh here>

Another product that I keep seeing in stores all over Udi’s that I have yet to try is the granola.  I haven’t picked any up because I have several packages of gluten-free granola in my pantry and can’t justify stockpiling anymore.  Once spring hits and I start eating more berries and yogurt, I will begin to go through my stash again.

Udi’s cookies can only be found in Kroger stores, but their other products can be found online and in stores across the US.  Have you tried Udi’s cookies or granola yet? What did you think?