Foods I'm enjoying now and a GIVEAWAY!

    It's my goal to write more this month as it is Celiac Awareness Month. I've been trying quite a few things this week, and thought I would share them with you...and try to do my very first giveaway!


    I was at the Grand Blanc Walmart yesterday while wearing my Udi's Gluten Freedom shirt, and an Aunt Millie's rep saw me and told me, "You know, we carry gluten free bread now." I probably need better manners, because I didn't believe him at first. I asked him, "Since when?" He told me that the Grand Blanc store is a test market for "their" product, and proceeded to take me to the gluten free aisle (and not in the freezer section) of the store. He showed me the stand of soft, fresh, gluten-free bread (by Canyon Bakehouse, not Millie's) and I was astounded. There were multiple varieties- white, multigrain and cinnamon raisin, plus they make hamburger buns. I was also shocked because it was almost $6 a loaf! But, in the sake of "research," I bought a loaf of the multi-grain bread. It has all sorts of tasty and health gluten free grains, like teff, millet and amaranth. It's pretty good fresh, but it still has that gluten free bread texture. If I can behave myself, I'm going to take the rest to our support group meeting next weekend so they can sample it. All in all, tasty and handy on an emergency basis, but I still prefer my "homemade" bread that I make in my bread machine with Bob's Red Mill mix.


    I had read about Hilary's Veggie Burgers in a healthy eating magazine a few weeks ago, and ever since then I've been interested in trying them, especially to see if they would be interested in coming to the Lansing Gluten Free Fair. I finally found them at a local health food store in Burton, MI called Ojibway Foods. (They have a great deli case with gluten free salads and they make gluten free wraps on premises.) I bought Hillary's Original Burger, which is made with all sorts of interesting things, including sweet potato, millet and quinoa. Although my husband and I had originally agreed on pancakes tonight, I was able to convince him to try these instead, along with sweet potato fries and a deli salad from Ojibway. I served them on toasted bread with some sauteed mushrooms, smoked cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and spicy brown mustard. My husband really enjoyed the burger, stating that although it doesn't taste like beef, it was incredibly good. I definitely hope they can make it to our event in October!


    Earlier for lunch today my husband and I tried Purdue Simply Smart Gluten Free Chicken Tenders. I had purchased these last month for my nephew to eat during my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. (Not too many 11 year olds are interested in paella.) We ended up not cooking them that day, and we were waiting to use them on a later date. There are 150 calories per 2 chicken tenders, so their a little calorie dense. They cooked up quickly in the oven, only 16 minutes at 400 degrees. I cut my portion up and placed it on a salad...my husband had his with San-J dipping sauce and some pomegranate Greek yogurt on the side. We both enjoyed them, especially with a little bit of ketchup. But because of the calorie count, I don't know that I would purchase them again for us. I do imagine that kids would really enjoy them.


    I went to an event at Meijer a couple of months ago, and I got a ton of samples. One of these samples was an assorted bag of Enjoy Life products. The great thing about their products is that they are free of ALL 8 common allergens. Enjoy Life has 4 new soft baked Decadent bars- cherry cobbler, Smore's, cinnamon bun, and chocolate sunbutter. I was going to try saving these for my upcoming trip to South Carolina, but I keep finding myself grabbing one when I want something sweet. I had already tried the Smore's and Cinnamon Bun, and was honestly not impressed. Last night I tried the chocolate Sunbutter bar and LOVED it. It was the perfect amount of chocolate, not overly sweet, and not overly nutty. I was especially pleased with it because I had some SunCups earlier in the week and did not enjoy them. The filling was dry and hard, nothing like a Reeses', although it's a great alternative for those who are allergic to peanuts. I would definitely buy this flavor again, and they're only 140 calories.


    And now I'm saving the best for last. There is a new company called TruRoots. They carry all sorts of grains, like sprouted brown rice, sprouted lentils, and sprouted quinoa. They also make pasta with all of these grains that are firm and don't fall apart when you cook them! They also make cookies, which they call "Qookies," as they are made with quinoa flour. My favorites so far is the Sprouted Rice Trio, which contains red, brown, and wild rice. And it only cooks in 25 minutes, instead of the traditional 40 minutes.

    And it just so happens that I have some coupons for packages of free TruRoots product! If you live in the Genesee County MI area, you can find their grains at Ojibway Foods and Dale's Natural Foods. In the Lansing area you can find ALL of their products at Foods for Living and some of them at the Better Health Stores. Outside of those, you can look on their website at their store locator nearest you.
    To enter to win, comment below and tell me what new gluten free food that you have tried lately that you think everyone should know about. I will pick a winner at random who will receive 13 coupons, in honor of September 13th, which is Celiac Awareness day. I received these coupons from an event at a Meijer store, and I thought I would pass them on to you! This giveaway will run through May 23rd and then I will place the coupons in the mail and then send them on to you, just in time for Memorial Day Weekend. When commenting, please include your name and email so I can contact you to let you know that you won!

    Happy Celiac Awareness Month! And make sure to follow my blog too, as I plan on writing another post about dining gluten free in Flint, MI! You can follow through Google Friend Connect (and you don't need a Google account to do this) or you can follow by email.


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