Udi's gluten-free foods

My husband and I went on a little road trip last weekend to Austin. My mom and my brother are also diagnosed celiac's so it's nice to get together with them and have lots of gluten-free treats. My mom picked up some muffins, blueberry and lemon, from Central Market. The brand was Udi's These are hands down the absolute best muffins I have ever had. Sorry, I didn't take a picture, but I can assure you that I will be repurchasing more of these so I will have a picture in the future. We ate them much too fast this time! The texture of these was very surprising. They are the most moist bread that I have ever eaten gluten free. Very springy texture. We carried a couple of these back to Dallas with us and after sitting in our refrigerator for a week (we were kind of muffined out) I had one this morning for breakfast and they tasted exactly the same! I could not believe it. Normally it would have dried out. I have done a little bit of exploring online with this company, and I do believe you can order online, but you may have to call them to place the order. I did not see an online order form. Trust me on this, please order from them or find a local store that carries their products. If you don't have a Central Market or Whole Foods in your area ask your local grocer to carry them. Lots of stores will do this! Gluten free is so popular now that many people that don't even need to eat this diet do because it is so healthy. Please, please, PLEASE trust me on this one and get your hands on these products. If you live in Denver or are visiting stop by and try them in person. You won't be sorry!

pasta, pasta, pasta!

I will admit, I am not very adventurous when it comes to trying different gluten-free pastas. I have heard horror stories about a few brands. The one I liked the most and would eat pretty often after I was diagnosed was the tinkyada brand. You can view the website here This brand tastes pretty much exactly like regular wheat pasta. You have to be careful not to overcook gluten-free pasta or it becomes mushy and gross. I have never had that problem when using this brand. The only grocery stores that I have found it at are the more upscale, specialty-type stores like Whole Foods or Market Street.

One of my new favorite brands that I find myself buying a lot now is Mrs. Leepers. There are so many different types of pastas with this brand. The only thing so far that I have tried is the spiral rainbow colored pasta. So good. This brand also offers many quick-fix type pasta dinners, similar to hamburger helper. I personally have never had them, but they look good.


Another favorite of mine is the gluten-free mac & cheese. I eat this stuff all the time. My absolute favorite brand is the Annie's brand. It is a little more expensive, but when it is on sale I stock up. The other brand I buy (which you will see in the picture) is the Debole's brand. This one is more like a white cheddar style mac & cheese. This one is good too, just not my favorite.

I have a new pasta that I have not had the chance to try yet, but when I do I will post a review of it here. The brand is bionaturae I have heard from a few people that this one is the best.




and a picture of my mac & cheese

Gluten-free pancakes

All I can say is wow! These are so good. I have gotten myself used to not eating many bread products in the mornings now. Face it, if you are a celiac or eat gluten free just because, breakfast is not an easy meal. On the weekends I take more time preparing breakfast than I do during the week. I am a huge fan of Pamela's products. Everything I have tried is very good. (see my previous post about the cookies/cookie bar.) Pancakes have endless options too, try them with blueberries or cinnamon apples. YUM!

Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie is a great comfort food. Potatoes, ground beef, and veggies make this a satisfying meal. It is easily made gluten free which is even better! It is up to you on what veggies you put in it. I chose to use carrots, onion, corn, and green peas. I use the leanest ground beef I can find. (97/3)

Now for the recipe-

1 1/2 pounds of extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of your choice of veggies (carrots, celery, corn, peas, etc.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2-2 cups potatoes
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken gravy


Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking coat large frying pan with olive oil.

Saute onions in olive oil. Add vegetables according to cooking time. Carrots first, then softer vegetables after carrots are mostly cooked.

Add ground beef and brown until no longer pink. Add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. (I add quite a bit more Worcestershire sauce than this recipe calls for because we really like it. I use more like 2 tablespoons.) Add 1/2 cup of beef broth and cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Gradually begin adding cornstarch (dissolved in water) to thicken the sauce into a gravy. I didn't thicken mine quite as much as I would have liked, but it still tasted fine.

Mash your potatoes. (I use a stand mixer for mine, but you can easily do this with a potato masher that you can find in a grocery store if you do not have a stand mixer.) I throw in 2 teaspoons of unsalted butter and salt and pepper in mine as well.

Place beef and veggies in a baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes evenly over the top.

Cook in a 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown. (about 25-30 minutes) Broil for the last 5 minutes to brown the potatoes.

Chipotle, one of my favorite gluten-free fast food meals

Okay so I will admit that I am afraid to eat out, but I do love Chipotle. There are not many people that understand what celiac disease is and sometimes it can be hard to trust a restaurant and the wait staff not to make you sick. I have never gotten sick from eating at Chipotle, so I do go there often. I think I could eat it a few times a week and not get sick of it. I used to always get the burrito, but of course I can't eat it anymore since the tortilla is a flour tortilla. Luckily they have a few other options. I always get a salad because anyone that knows me knows that salad is my favorite food. There are so many endless options with a salad. The picture above is what I always get. The scoop of guacamole is my favorite. They have the best guac. You can also get a bowl instead of a salad which is basically a burrito in a bowl without the tortilla. I prefer more lettuce and dressing which is why I get the salad. I have also read from a couple of different celiac blogs that you can get hard tacos too. Check with the chipotle team before trying them just to make sure they aren't fried with anything that has gluten in it.

Another gluten-free lunch idea

One of the fastest and easiest things to make is stir fry. I love stir fry. There are so many different ways you can make it, different sauces, different veggies, different meats. There are endless choices. I almost always make mine veggie only, just a personal choice. This one has broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and sliced almonds. The sauce is a brown sauce that I use a lot in stir fry's using beef broth, brown sugar, red pepper sauce, soy sauce, and a little corn starch to thicken it. I paired mine with a serving of brown rice.

Pamela's chocolate chunk cookie mix

Out of all of the gluten-free baking mixes that I have tried Pamela's is the best hands down. She has many different products out there, but the ones I have tried are the cookie mix, brownie mix, and chocolate cake mix. She also has packages of cookies that are so great too. I have used the pecan shortbread cookies as a pie crust before. Just break the cookies up into a fine powder and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 7-8 minutes or until it starts to turn a light brown. It tastes exactly like a graham cracker crust. Today I decided to try the chocolate chip cookie mix as a cookie cake instead of cookies. It is so good! Another thing that I really like to do is spread icing over the top to make it like a true cookie cake. You can never have too much icing!

I have found that most major grocery stores chains carry the Pamela's brand. I have found them at Market Street, Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Kroger. You can view the website here