Gluten Free, R U?: June 2021

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Wegmans Gluten Free Cheese Tortellini

Yum yum yum

So good. The pasta is a good amount and the cheesy inside is delicious and savory. I really enjoyed these. It also make a lot!! Like two meals worth for two people. I was surprised. In the package it looked like one meal for two people but when I went to dish it out that way, it was way too much.

$4.99 for two meals for two! I am on board with this.

Follow the instructions exactly and you will be happy. Overcooking is definitely not good for the pasta but the inside stays tasty. The second servings I had, I left in the pot because we were ready to eat and I didn’t have time to pull the rest out. Well, they were no longer perfect and the pasta was pretty mushy but again the insides tasted good and it didn’t stop me from eating the leftovers 🙂

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Wegmans Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix

So anyone who knows me knows I love Wegmans. I am a loyal shopper and appreciate all that they do for people who need to live a gluten free life. I especially love when I get digital coupons for their gluten free items. I am always up for trying new gluten free mixes and items.

One of the coupons recently was $1 off their $3.99 gluten free mixes. The options were: Pancake and Waffle Mix, Honey Cornbread Mix, Cookie Mix, Chocolate Brownie Mix, Biscuit & Scone Mix, Muffin & Quick Bread Mix, Golden Cake Mix and Chocolate Cake Mix.

You can see I chose the Chocolate Cake Mix. Note, I did have a second coupon that I used to get the Pancake and Waffle Mix and I will write that up when I get a chance to prepare it :)

I made the Chocolate Cake as cupcakes this past weekend. I pulled together all the very simple ingredients and started mixing it up as I usually do when I make a mix. Whoops!! If I had actually read the instructions before I started, I would have seen that I was doing it wrong. I am not sure if it affected the end product but I do think I will get the mix again sometime in the future and follow the instructions correctly to see if it is different. I will follow up on it on the blog when I try it again.

The chocolate was very good, not overwhelming. It definitely was not too sweet and it was just a touch dry but I didn't mind that. I wonder if any of these things would be different if I had made it the correct way. Regardless of how I made these cupcakes, I would buy this mix again. I did like it better than the Betty Crocker version, as this was more like traditional cake and seemed further along in the gluten free world. Meaning it seems like lots of testing went into this Wegmans mix to make it as close to what I remember for chocolate cake. Of course it has been over 20 years since I have had gluten filled chocolate cake so perhaps my memory is skewed :)

For $2.99 with a coupon, I definitely recommend this mix. I can't wait to try the others over time and I will write them up as I try them. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 6, 2021

California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza

Waaaay better than I thought it would be. It was on sale and I wanted to try it. Turns out it’s the first frozen pizza in awhile that had a crisp crust and you could hold a piece of pizza without it flopping over.

It wasn’t too spicy and all of the flavors worked well together. The cheese was perfect. Nothing overwhelmed and the cauliflower taste was very mild if I even tasted it at times.

The directions were spot on for my oven. I loved that it only needed 375 degrees to bake. All other pizzas I get are 400 plus. This was extra welcome for our 90 degree day.

I really enjoyed this pizza. I will definitely buy it again.

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.