Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Top Gluten Free Gifts



If you have a friend, coworker or loved one who has Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance then you know how hard their lives may be. They have to be diligent in looking at labels and watch the restaurant staff with a microscope. Then there is the price tag that comes from these gifts. We are listing below the top ten Gifts to get your loved ones. By the way all these items come with the seal of approval from The Gluten Free Consumer, The Only Nationwide Review Magazine. http://www.thegfconsumer.com.


Crunchmaster has recently sent me a package of their current line. I was amazed at the amount of flavor they were able to fit in their small crackers and crisps.  My favorite is their Rosemary and Olive Oil Crackers. It tasted as I was in a herb garden. The cracker had a refreshing feeling. What I found to amazing was the low sugar and salt. They did not use sugar or salt to enhance the flavor of their crackers. I would highly recommend these crackers to my friends.

9. Canyon BakeHouse: http://canyonbakehouse.com/

Canyon Bakehouse produces great quality bread. We were impressed by the quality and texture. It had the feel of normal bread. The taste was great. They have a great range of flavors. The cinnamon raisin bread made great toast for breakfast.  Our team ranks this company and their products with five out of five stars. The comment was made this was the best gluten free bread we have tasted.

8. Cool Juice: http://cooljuice.com .

Our team loved the samples from Cool Juice. They had a great blend of flavors in each of their drinks. Each serving brought 2 daily servings of fruit. The juice had a smooth velvety feel. The children who were sampling the drinks where begging for more.  The favorite flavor was Tropical Blue. The nice thing about Cool Juice was that it did not have any high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and colors. In fact there was no added sugar. This was of particular interest to a mother with an Autistic child. We rate Cool Juice with 5 of 5 stars.


It is a difficult thing for a gluten free eater to find uncontaminated, purely gluten free grains, especially when it comes to oats. Many grains that are naturally gluten free, such as oats, are processed on the same machinery as gluten containing grains, causing the grains and the resulting flour to not be gluten free. Our team tried GF Harvest products, and we were pleased with what we saw. GF Harvest is a great source of gluten free oat products that are versatile and safe for those eating gluten free. Our team tried their Old Fashioned Rolled Oats, and the oatmeal cookies we made with these were heavenly! (Some of our tasting team had been really missing a good oatmeal cookie.) We used GF Harvest Whole Grain Oat Flour in many of our own recipes, substituting some oat flour for part of the flour blends in pancakes and muffins. The results were great. The oat flour tasted more naturally sweet than the other flours we were using in the blend, so it was a tasty addition to the food we made with it. GF Harvest Oat Groats were a completely new thing to many of us on the tasting team. We followed the slow cooker directions and cooked them overnight on low in order to make our cereal for the next morning. The taste was much like the regular oats, but the texture was different and very pleasing. Cooking the oat groats overnight in cinnamon, like the recipe suggested, made the cereal a cinnamon-infused morning treat. We served it up in a bowl with some applesauce stirred in. What a great way to start the day! If you love and have been missing oats, give GF Harvest a try. We have not met a product of theirs that we did not like.

6. Chebe:  http://chebe.com/

Chebe has a great line up of baking mixes. These mixes are great for those who have multiple food allergies. Chebe mixes are made of Manioc flour or Tapioca. Our staff loved the texture and flavor of their products. There is never a foul aftertaste with any of their products.  We loved their pizza and breadstick mixes. They make a friendly dinner for children. The Cinnamon roll mix made great cinnamon rolls. The flavor is wonderful. The convenience is second to none. It is easy to cook for groups who have more than one food allergies with these mixes. We would highly recommend these mixes to those who have little time to make items from scratch.

5. Snikiddy: http://snikiddy.com/

Snikiddy has a great variety of fries that are baked. These fries are amazing. They have a crisp and great crunch. Snikiddy products are all made of all natural ingredients.  The Cheese Fries are the favorite amongst our review staff.  What we like is that these fries have 50% less fat than potato chips. The crunch and taste is very addicting. We suggest you get a second bag at the store.  Snikiddy also have baked cheese puffs. The staff loved the Mac N Cheese puffs. We were amused at the shape. They truly looked like Mac N’ Cheese noodles. We would recommend this company and their great products.  You can find Snikiddy at major grocery stores nationwide.


Another exciting company is Gopicnic. They provide box lunches that are gluten free. They have the feel of lunchables. You will be surprised at how nutritious they are.  You can find them here in Salt Lake City at Costco. Their website is http://www.gopicnic.com/ . If you have a child who needs gluten free diet this is a great choice.

3. Cheesebread Mania: http://www.cheesebreadmania.com/

I met Debora Hammond at the Saturday Farmer’s Market where she introduced my team to her wonderful products. Debora’s oven emits wonderful aromas. The aroma lasts a lot longer than the bread does. It is impossible to stop at one or two with these amazing cheese breads. She uses an authentic Brazilian recipe handed down from her Great Grandmother. Her family uses this recipe to make the cheese bread the traditional Brazilian way, using manioc starch, a flour-like substance made from the yucca plant. This leads to the wonderful qualities of the bread, which resembles a cheese infused roll or dumpling, and is naturally gluten free. Debora’s products can be found in 25 stores around Utah. More information can be found at www.cheesebreadmania.com. We would rate her products 6 out of 5 stars if that where possible. The taste is over the top and can become very addictive.


Safekeepers are a wonderful concept and product. They comprise of plastic food containers. They are labeled either with a big stop sign or a large green safe sign. This allows parents to bring safety to their children. If this system is used appropriately it removes all chance of having cross-contamination. This is a big benefit to school children because the plastic protects them in two ways. First those supervising will know the child has some type of food allergy. Additionally, this product prevents any chance of mix up in lunch pails. You can also use this system at home to prevent cross-contamination. This product is a valuable tool in living a Gluten Free Lifestyle. We rate the product with 5 of 5 stars.

1.       El’s: http://www.elskitchen.com/

It was a pleasure in sampling and testing the various products from El’s. Zesty Mix Melodies was our favorite. The flavor really punched out my taste buds. There was a sweetness brought by the brown sugar and heat from the cumin and paprika. The crunch was crisp.

My only complaint was the bag seem to empty too fast. We would rate the Zesty Mix Melody with 5 of 5 stars. This is the best snack mix that we have come across in today’s market. This mix even kept the attention of our Non Celiac staff.

These are my top ten picks. You can visit http://www.thegfconsumer.com for more tips and reviews.

No comments:

Post a Comment