Gluten Free, R U?: May 2016

Friday, May 27, 2016

Tomato Sauce

On Instagram I follow @alexisgfadventures for lots of great gluten free finds and tips. A little bit ago she posted about Rao's Tomato Sauce that she found at Whole Foods. She said in the post that her aunt told her it was as good as the homemade sauce she makes. Then a follower posted that there is a Sensitive version without garlic and onions! Color me impressed by both pieces of information and now I was on a mission.

Unfortunately after a trip to Whole Foods two weeks ago I had forgotten to look for the sauce while we were there. Luckily, a trip to the local Giant Food Store the next day had us finding Rao's ... and it was on sale. It was $6.99 on sale and I was a little sticker shocked. But I couldn't pass it up. So off we went with a bottle of the Rao's Tomato Basil sauce as they did not have any of the Sensitive version left on the shelf. My Mom, luckily found it at her local Giant still at the sale price and brought it to me last weekend.

Jump to today, the start of the three day Memorial Day weekend, and a taste test of Rao's Tomato Basil, Rao's Sensitive Marinara and Wegmans Tomato Basil (my current favorite sauce). I used Schar pizza shells and longhorn cheese to top the pizzas.

I followed the directions to a T on the pizza shell box so that all the pizzas would be the same except for the sauce. I used a colored toothpick to symbolize each sauce so that we would know which pizza was which and then carried the toothpick matching through to the pieces of pizza too so we wouldn't get confused.

12 minutes later, we were ready to eat pizza. Mmmmmm

I'm not sure I can move right now after all the yummy pizza but here is my take on the three sauces.

1) Rao's Tomato Basil - thick, "spicy", tasty but less tomato taste than the other two

2) Rao's Sensitive Marinara - excellent taste, a little thinner than the Tomato Basil, it tastes exactly, I mean EXACTLY, how I remember my Mom's homemade pizza tasting

3) Wegman's Tomato Basil - in between the thickness/thinness of the two Rao's, sweeter taste, I called it a childish version of tomato sauce unlike the Rao's but I still really like it

My order of choice:

1) Rao's Sensitive Marinara

2) Wegmans Tomato Basil

3) Rao's Tomato Basil

Mind you, they are all very good and I would not turn any of them down. Please also note I do not like a lot of spice nor do I like overly chunky sauces. All three of these fit my criteria without an issue.

Another huge reason for this test, in addition to wanting to compare taste, was cost. Rao's brand on sale was $6.99 at Giant. Wegmans' brand has all the time pricing of 3 bottles for $2.99. I am happy that if I could not afford Rao's brand that Wegmans' brand is more than an acceptable option for me.

What are your favorite tomato sauces? Maybe I will have to do another taste test if offered intriguing choices.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog!

My plans here are to post about gluten free foods and restaurants I find in my town and in my travels.

I plan to review the items and restaurants I find and I would love to hear of any items and places you know of in your area or in your travels.

Please see the bottom of the blog for my disclosure policy.

Let's get to the round up...

My gluten free history

When I turned 30 years old, I started to gain weight that I couldn't lose and I was getting back to back colds. The final straw was I got bronchitis and I had to take an antibiotic to help me get better. The side effect for 4% of people on this antibiotic was gastrointestinal issues. Yes, I was part of that 4%. The medicine basically stripped away whatever had been protecting me through my first 30 years of life. You see I have always had gastrointestinal issues since I can remember. My father also had the same issues and my paternal grandmother too. I was so sick from the medicine (or so I thought) that I had to go back to the doctor and do a series of tests. During this time I was following the BRAT diet (Banana, rice, a, toast). Saltines and toast were my go to comfort, little did I know they were NOT what I should be eating. My co-worker gave me an article about food allergies and there was a quiz. You only needed to answer 4 of the 8 questions with yes to fall under their designation and I had answered 6 of the 8 with yes. I was on my way. My husband and I cleaned out all our cabinets of the 7 allergens… all that was left was rice. After a few weeks, I was feeling somewhat better when I stayed at a home where they told me to eat whatever was in the fridge. I saw the rice and started eating. Within a hour I was violently ill. I couldn't understand. I took the rice with me to work the next day and when I told my other co-worker about my issue she asked to see the rice. It was orzo… pasta… gluten/wheat filled pasta! I had my first allergen to check off the list as being an issue. It turned out at the time dairy and eggs were also triggers but I have since been able to add them back. My husband and I went on a full gluten free diet and within a few months I had lost my weight, stopped living in my bathroom, looked healthy and was not terrified to eat things any more. Now it has been 15 years and while I have gained some weight back (darn those yummy gluten free cookies and pretzels) my issues are still in check and I couldn't be happier to figure out what was wrong with my body and be able to fix it.