Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin Mix

Yum, yum, yum

My wonderful sister sent me this box for my 18th wedding anniversary. She knew I wanted to try their products and had this waiting for the right time to send it along. I am so glad she did.

I was thrown by the statement on the box “Includes wild blueberries can”! It did indeed include a can of blueberries!! I was in awe and they smelled ah.maz.ing when I opened them.

Following the instructions exactly on the back, I quickly whipped up the mix. Not only did the blueberries smell delicious, the mix itself smelled so sweet and exactly like a blueberry muffin. I was hopeful and excited.

I baked them first to 14 minutes but they did need 2 more minutes in my oven. I let them sit longer than stated but that did not cause any issues that I could determine.

The muffins were perfect. Golden, soft, and again they smelled amazing. I took the smallest one, bit into it and oh my goodness it was delicious. Soft, warm, blueberry, sweet and exactly as I wanted it to taste. Thank you sister for sending this along to me!

I say run out and buy this mix. I do not know the cost but personally I would spend what it costs. These reminded me of gluten muffins of long ago and they were so easy to make. This will become a staple in my house for sure.

Sorry for the squished box but recall I did state me sister sent the box to me in the mail. Thank you again, sister!! Yum1

Brazi Bites

A few years ago I used to order cheese rolls from a Brazilian Cheese Bread store - the name has long escaped me. At one point I remember they closed and I was sad as I would no longer be able to eat their amazing rolls. Then a year ago or so, Brazi Bites showed up.

Apparently they were a Shark Tank item and I even think they may be the people I used to buy from and they decided to go mainstream.

Brazi Bites are found in the freezer of the grocery store and are quickly stating to show up in most stores. I know Target is their newest store and I will also state that pricing can be significantly different between stores. In Giant in PA they can cost approximately $6 and in Wegmans in PA they can cost approximately $4. You can get coupons and if you are lucky to get to try them for free, do so.

I love these little cheese rolls. They are slightly lighter and different than their predecessor but I would not turn these away. I have tried the two flavors I would eat: Cheddar & Parmesan and 3 Cheese Pizza. I do not like Garlic or Zesty Pepper so try those if you like those flavors.

Be sure to follow the instructions and you should end up with warm soft cheesy rolls. They are so delicious and I have been known to just eat these for dinner. I even like them cold and a few days old. They are best though warm out of the oven, so I would not suggest making the whole bag unless you want to eat them all... no judgement from me ;)

I prefer the Cheddar & Parmesan to the 3 Cheese Pizza but they are both very tasty.

Be sure to check out their website and be on the lookout for their coupons. Enjoy!

La Rosa Pasta

In one of my gluten free boxes I received a box of La Rosa Pasta. So last night we have pasta for dinner.

Specifically Tagliatelle.

For some reason it took me way too long to find the cooking instructions and 12 minutes seemed way too long also but it worked. Also please note this was “out of date”. Not sure how that happened but alas it did. It did not seem to affect the outcome but of course I have never eaten this brand while in date so take that into account.

In the box was one bag and in it was 4 “nests” of noodles. I decided to make all of it as one nest each didn’t look like enough food for myself and my husband. I am glad I did as we ended up eating all of it with no left overs. (Note: we were really hungry)

It cooked up nicely but I would say after pouring it into the colander it did stick to itself more than I like it to. This could have been due to age or could be due to gluten free. The taste was very good along with the texture. It reminded me very much of gluten pasta.

For those interested, here are the nutritional facts. I liked it enough that I would try this brand again.

Halelife Bakery Cupcakes in a Jar

I have been following Gluten Away, now known as Halelife, for quite some time now and always appreciated their information. So when they offered cupcakes in a jar I decided I wanted to support them and try them out. The cupcakes are gluten free, vegan and allergen friendly.

I purchased their deal of buy 4 get a Cookies N Cream jar for free. It was $39.95 and luckily free shipping. This seemed to be more than I would like to spend as it works out to $8 a jar but they state the jars are 2 cupcakes, so that is $4 a jar which seemed worth it then. I waited patiently for my shipment and was very excited when it showed up on my doorstep 7 days later.

I received Vanilla Raspberry, Dulce De Leche, Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Caramel and Cookies N Cream.

I started with Vanilla Raspberry and ate it all on my own. It didn’t seem like I was eating two cupcakes but when I ended up sharing all the others it was definitely better to just eat half the jar. It was very sweet which I don’t usually mind but it was a nice tasting of vanilla cake and raspberry flavor and maybe because I ate the whole jar myself, I would say that it was too sweet overall.

Next was sharing Cookies N Cream and this was soooo tasty. It was very sweet but in this I didn’t care because these two flavors are my favorites and in combination, yummmm. Moist, sweet and oh so tasty.

Next I shared Chocolate Caramel and while the chocolate cake was very moist and tasty I could not taste the caramel. If I just tried the icing, then I noticed the caramel but with the cake it was not noticeable to me.

Next Chocolate Ganache and this was too much chocolate and while I LOVE chocolate I prefer to not have chocolate on chocolate. The tastes were very good overall but just too sweet and too much chocolate but if you love chocolate on chocolate you can’t beat this one.

The last one was Dulce De Leche and I have no idea what flavor this was or what it should have been. This was not very moist and I did not like it. In fact it was this one that made me realize what I didn’t like about the Vanilla Raspberry, the vanilla cake is too dry. This doesn’t allow for the vanilla flavor to come through enough.

I wish I could rave about these but I definitely have to say I am glad I ordered them to try and I might be tempted to order them again if there was a future deal ... especially if Cookies N Cream is involved! If you like cupcakes, and don’t mind spending a little more than usual, I say go for it and enjoy all the sweetness.

Peohe's

San Diego, Coronado, October 2016

Found this place by accident.

Best accident ever

Not only can you sit outside and over look the bay and downtown San Diego but the food was spectacular. I mean spectacular.

I can still remember the flavors 1.5 years later.

I wish I could have gotten back here in July 2017 but being across the water from Comic Con, makes it a little difficult.

I expected the prices to be high here but they really weren’t. Again worth it.

I’ve been very lucky to find such wonderful places to eat while in San Diego and I always appreciate places that can make me feel comfortable eating gluten free.

Mahi mahi with bananas and macadamias, white rice

Hot chocolate

Creme Brûlée 

The Broken Yolk

San Diego, October 2016

Oh my goodness the options here.

Oh my goodness the yumminess here

I did return here July 2017 and had the identical meal and it was as wonderful as the first time.

Best part, fresh squeezed orange juice!!

Again, another long line but worth every second/minute of waiting.

Run, don’t walk here when in San Diego!

Seasons 52

San Diego, Ocotober 2016

We have a Seasons 52 in Pennsylvania but I finally got to Seasons 52 in San Diego

Excellent gluten free options and they will do their best to make what you need from what they have.

These were amazing scallops on a butternut squash risotto. Yum yum yum

Check out Seasons 52 website to see if there is one near you. Warning, prices are higher here than some places but I sincerely believe it is worth it. Clean, fresh, seasonal food made with care.

Richard Walker's Pancake House

San Diego, October 2016

Fantastic waffle, possibly the best I have ever had.

Long line for a small place and worth it no doubt.

Make sure to stop in on your next stay in San Diego.

Return to the blog

Hi there

Sorry I have been missing for quite some time.

I plan to re-commit to this blog for this year and I hope you will join me.

I found 4 posts from 2016 and I am going to publish them but there will not be too much write up as the posts only had photos and I am not sure I can recall what I wanted to write from a 1.5 years ago :)

Please always feel free to share any gluten free finds in the comments of any post. I love trying new things and finding new options for gluten free eating.

-dangrdafne