Jules Gluten-Free Mixes
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The kind folks at Jules
Gluten-Free sent the group a Jules Gluten-Free Bread Mix and
a Jules Gluten-Free Cookie Mix.
We use Jules Gluten-Free Flour Mix all
the time for a variety baked goods, but this was
our first look-see at the bread and cookie mixes.
Cookies
Since we [when I say we, I mean Peg since
she's the one with the baking
skills] were short on time, we
[Peg] decided to mix up the
cookie dough Thursday night and store it in the
fridge until Friday night. These cookies require the
dough to be chilled before baking anyway.
Peg had one pan in the oven and one pan of dough
balls on deck. As I peeked into the oven and saw that
the cookies were a good 3+ inches in diameter, I
mistakenly asked if the dough balls were the
right size.
Yeah, that remark got me "The Look", Hey, my only
concern was that we'd have enough cookies for the
entire group, that's all.
Peg prompted me to take a look at the large bowl of
dough that was waiting to be made into cookies and
said not to worry. As in most cases, Peg was right.
This mix makes 50-60 cookies! I bow to her baking
prowess - I am not worthy...I am not worthy...
*I slunk back to
living room to finish prepping for the
meeting*
Most of the cookies survived the night and made it to
the meeting. Indeed the cookies were a hit! One
member exclaimed - "These taste just like Toll
House cookies!" Sure'nuff, they do!
If you run out of your own ideas on how to use this
cookie mix, Jules sells an eBook with recipes for twelve
different cookies.
"C is for cookie,
that's good enough for me"
Bread
Peg was a bit nervous about the bread. The dough was dense, not the texture of most gluten-free breads that she is used to making, as well as not rising very well in the warm oven.
Learning my lesson during the "cookie incident", I decided it best to play the supportive spouse...
This means nodding, actively listening and quietly being "the canvas" in which she can "paint the picture" of her concerns. It does not involve me offering up any suggestions on how to "fix" said problem - something guys are genetically programmed to do.
I may have mentioned that my baking skills and knowledge are limited, but the primal, in-born male instinct to "fix things" often times overrides the fact that males may lack the proper knowledge to offer up any type of useful suggestion...this is how arguments start. :-)
Hmmm, it appears that being the supportive spouse had paid off. Whoohoo!
As you can see by the pictures, the bread turned out well. In fact, my pictures look very similar to those found on Jules' website.
I was surprised at the size and height of this loaf of bread! It did not suffer from shrinkage that I've seen in other gluten-free breads. [My uneducated guess has to do to with the fact that this dough was drier than some of the others, but what do I know?] Any guy will confirm that shrinkage is not a good thing...
Just like the cookies, members liked the bread.
One member suggested this bread would work great for French Toast. Yeah Toast!
Another member said "I really liked it!"
One of our "chronologically enhanced" members specifically requested to take home the heals of the bread. Bless you Don!!
The bread must've been good, because at end of the meeting, there were only 3 slices left for me bring home.
Certification
I like that Jules' products are certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (one of several programs offered by the Gluten Intolerance Group of America). Actually, I applaud any company that deems it important enough to certify their products, either through GFCO or CSA.
Where to find
Jules' products are not found locally, but they can be ordered from her website.
If you are lucky enough to live in a handful of states, you can find it locally.
If you are a first time customer, there is a Welcome Pack and an upgraded Welcome Pack. Either one is a good deal. It just depends if you want 1 or 2 bags of flour.
Thanks again
Jules Gluten-Free for
sharing your products with our group!
Jules, LLC |
7120 Minstrel Way, Ste 206 | Columbia, MD 21045
Customer Service: 877-236-3940 or email: support at
julesglutenfree.com
Snyder's of Hanover Gluten-free Pretzel Sticks
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They are indeed as good
as my fortunate GF friends that tried them before me
said they were! They do look a bit different from the
non-gluten-free pretzels in that they are bigger in
diameter. It's really not an issue (at least for me)
since they have that familiar pretzel taste, crunch,
and snap! Besides, it just means there's more
pretzel-y goodness per bite.
Certification
Beyond the taste and texture components, I like that they are certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (one of several programs offered by the Gluten Intolerance Group of America). Actually, I applaud any company that deems it important enough to certify their products, either through GFCO or CSA.
If you want read more about Snyder's certification process, you can read the press release from GFCO. Please take the time to do so, it gives you an insight as to what goes on in the certification process.
Snyder's offers a web page that lists their GFCO Certified gluten-free products, gluten-free products, and products made with gluten-free ingredients. It states that their GF products are tested for 20 parts per million or less. Their made-with-gluten-free- ingredients could contain trace amounts of gluten.
Testimonials (from gluten-eaters at that!)
We had a bag left over from the meeting, so I took it to share during Adult Education Hour at church.
Those are really good! Where did you get them?
~ Lisa (a gluten-eater)
I like those pretzels
~ Shirley (a gluten-eater)
It turns out our local Pick n Save does carry these pretzels, so during the holidays we made a batch of Chex Mix using Synder's GF pretzels. As it was disappearing from the bowl, I asked my wife's niece her favorite item...
The pretzels!
~ Jackie (a gluten-eater)
Where to find
Closest place to get Snyder's Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks:
Ripon Pick n Save
Snyder's Store Locator does not list our Pick n Save at this time. I have brought this to the district sales manager's attention. Hopefully it will get resolved.
Thanks again
Snyder's of Hanover for
sharing your products with our group!
Snyder's of
Hanover | P.O Box 6917 | 1250 York St. | Hanover, PA
17331
Phone: 1-800-233-7125 Ext. 1410
Gluten-Free Turkeys
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Always, always, always check the ingredient list!
Jenni-O Products.
Jenni-O is a Hormel Company. Hormel will clearly gluten (wheat, barley/malt, rye, oats).
Jenni-O's website shows a Gluten-Free icon on each GF product.
http://www.jennieo.com/products/WholeBirds/PremiumBastedYoungTurkey.aspx
A
moist and delicious whole bird available in two
sizes: 12-14 pounds and 16-18 pounds.
*The
meat does not contain gluten, but the gravy packet
does.
http://www.jennieo.com/products/WholeBirds/FreshYoungTurkey.aspx
A
fantastic whole bird available in two sizes for your
convenience: 10-16 pounds and 16-20 pounds.
The
meat does not contain gluten, but the gravy packet
does.
http://www.jennieo.com/products/WholeBirds/FreshYoungTurkey.aspx
Please
note, the meat does not contain gluten but the
accompanying gravy packet does.
Honeysuckle
White
http://www.honeysucklewhite.com/FaqNutrition.aspx#nutrition1
The
majority of Honeysuckle White® products do not
contain Gluten.
However, the following list of products do contain
Gluten:
Asian Grill Marinated Turkey
Strips
Teriyaki Flavor Turkey Breast
Tenderloin
Frozen Italian Style Meatballs
Fresh
Italian Style Turkey Meatballs
Beer Smoked Turkey
Brats
Purdue
http://www.perdue.com/util/faq.html#gluten-free
Purdue's
Gluten-Free List
Do
you have any gluten-free products?
Yes. Many PERDUE® products are free of gluten. Perdue
chickens, chicken parts, and turkeys are all
gluten-free. These are sold fresh as well as frozen
and some are flavored with seasonings. Feel free to
check the ingredient listing on individual packages,
download the list here or order the list by phoning
us at 1-800-4PERDUE® (1-800-473-7383).
Butterball
http://www.butterball.com/contact-us
Verified
by phone: All turkeys are GF except for the stuffed
turkeys. They are in the process of switching over to
rice flour for their gravy packets. Check the
ingredient list for rice flour instead of wheat
flour.
Do
Butterball® products contain any allergens like
gluten?
Butterball product labels let consumers know whether
any of the top eight allergens may be present in the
product. For example, a label may read “contains
wheat and dairy.” Specifically, gluten is not present
naturally in turkey. Two retail products contain
gluten: our stuffed turkeys and our Italian Style
Meatballs. Our gravy packets have been reformulated
to eliminated gluten; check the labels to be certain.
HoneyBaked
http://www.HoneyBakedOnline.com/HBOnline/Shop/Help.asp?Ref=21126446:1951070990#10
Do
your hams or turkey breast contain glutens?
We have reformulated our glaze to be considered free
of allergens. This means our hams and turkey breasts
DO NOT contain glutens.
Rudi's Gluten Free Bakery
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Our samples for
November's meeting came from Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery in
Boulder, CO.
Rudi's bread is another one of those gluten-free
breads that are amazingly good. We got to try their
products at the GIG Conference in June.
To top our wonderful bread, we had some of Peg's
homemade Blueberry and Raspberry jam. YUM!
Two of our group members were going to have garlic
bread with their GF lasagna later that night for
supper.
At the end of the meeting, there was only a few
slices left for me to take home. That means everybody
liked it!
While Rudi's Bakery is not a dedicated GF facility,
they have excellent manufacturing processes. Their
bread is certified by the Gluten-Free Certification
Organization. This means the bread must test
below 10 parts per million of gluten.
How We Make It
Our master bakers worked with gluten free experts and consumers for more than 15 months to get our formulas to taste like real bread. Our passion is baking better bread and we’ve been doing it since 1976. We used our extensive baking experience to create gluten-free bread that tastes and feels like the real thing.
Although we do not have a dedicated gluten-free facility, we do have a segregated, separate manufacturing approach. We bake our gluten free breads on separate, dedicated equipment and on separate production days. You can feel assured our gluten free products never come into contact with something used to make a product containing gluten. As part of our manufacturing process, we also do the following:
• Our organic and gluten free equipment is color-coded for easy segregation
• Our gluten free breads are baked only after our facility has gone through an extensive, full day clean-up process
• All incoming ingredients are also tested and certified to be gluten free
• As part of our gluten free certification, every batch of our gluten free bread is tested and must test below <10 ppm of gluten for distribution
• We also send product to an outside lab to validate our test results and ensure we have less than 10 ppm of gluten
Rudi's: Where to Buy
The closest places to get Rudi's products are:
Festival Foods
Oshkosh & Fond du Lac, WI
The Red Radish
447 S. Commercial St.
Neenah, WI 54956
The Free Market Inc.
1000 W. Wisconsin Ave
Appleton, WI 54914
Thanks again
Rudi's for sharing your
products with our group!
Rudi's
Gluten-Free Bakery | 330 Walnut St. Unit C | Boulder
CO, 80301
Phone: 877-293-0876 | (303) 447-0495 | Fax: (303)
447-0516
Pacific Foods Condensed Gluten-Free Soups
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ECWGFG's Website will no longer be updated. Any new updates will be found here:
We have not spotted any
of these "in the wild", but The Free Market in Appleton
carries Pacific's products. You can use their
Where to Buy Page to see if
there's a store in your area.
Make sure you check out Pacific's Special Diets Page to find
products that match your needs. Also look at their
Processing & Allergen Handling
Page.
Cream
of Celery
Cream
of Mushroom
Cream
of Chicken
Pacific
Foods of Oregon • 19480 SW 97th Ave. • Tualatin, OR
97062
Be-Udi-full Udi's!
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Some how they've figured out how make gluten-free bread smell, taste, feel and act like "real bread".
Is it possible they captured some of those "magic elves" and enticed them to use their magic for good and not evil?
How ever they do it, they were gracious enough to send us a sampler box of their fine products.
In May, we had a bread tasting event, Udi's bread was the hands down winner. In fact, one of our members had never heard of Udi's.
After our tasting event, he now has added sandwiches to his lunch repertoire.
When Udi's say "We're bringing sandwich back" , they really mean it!
In our box of goodies we found: Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry Muffins, Lemon Streusel Muffins, Double Chocolate Muffins, Plain Bagels, Pizza Crusts & Bread.
Cinnamon Rolls
These guys are great at room temperature, but they'd be even better after a short stay in the microwave.
After we got home from the meeting I had heat up a leftover piece.
Ahhhh....yeah...that's the ticket.
There's just something about a cinnamon roll that requires it to be eaten warm.
Blueberry & Lemon Streusel Muffins
Several of the members said the these muffins were their favorite
Double Chocolate Muffins
Strangely enough, I think this was my favorite. I don't always like chocolate baked goods, but these had just the right amount. They are rich and chocolatey.
Mmmmmm chocolatey...
Plain Bagels & Whole Grain Bread.
Our most recent diagnosed member, really liked the bagels. Before I was gluten-free, sometimes I'd have my chili con carne on top of a bagel. I can now have Chili Bagels again! WhooHoo!
The bread - well, what else can I say but...
Udi-licious!
In the Ripon vicinity, Udi's bread can be found at Ripon's Pick n Save, Festival Foods in Oshkosh. The Village Market Shop in Fond du lac. Woodman's & The Free Market in Appleton has the bread and muffins. Need to find other Udi's locations? Try their Store Locator.
Thanks again Udi's for sharing your products with our group!
Udi's Gluten Free Foods | 7010 Broadway Suite #430 | Denver CO, 80221 | Phone: (303) 657-6366 | Fax: (303) 657-5373
12/3/2010 - Edited to add Ripon's Pick n Save as a location to buy Udi's bread.
Wisconsin Gluten Free Expo 2010
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Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Lakeland Union High School
9573 State Highway 70
Minocqua, WI 54548
11:00am - 3:00pm
We attended this event last year when it was in Wausau. Great event - well attended by visitors and vendors alike! Looks like this year will be no exception - over 60 vendors.
Take advantage of the pre-register option. It will cut down the wait time to get in.
Good luck Julianne & crew!
View Larger Map
Gluten-Free Oats® from Powell, WY
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The acceptability of oats in a celiacs diet has been debated for years.
Currently the general consensus is that pure, uncontaminated GF oats are acceptable for most celiacs with medical supervision.
Some celiac have reported reacting to the protein found with oats.
Mainstream oats have been shown to contain unacceptable levels of cross contamination due to growing, harvesting & processing.
To find out where many medical and support organizations stand on oats - click here.
The Beginning
In October 2009, we attended Wisconsin's Largest GF Expo in Rothschild, WI.
As we were browsing through the products Gluten-free Trading Company had on hand we purchased a box of Gluten Free Oats® from Powell, WY.
The brand of gluten-free oats we previously used had a much coarser texture and had a "feed mill" smell and taste. Anyone raised in a rural area knows the smell I'm talking about. It's a very earthy-grainy-cerealy smell. When used in a baked good, the chew factor was almost overwhelming. Non-GF Peg noticed the same differences between said previous brand of GF oats and non-gf oats.
I opened the box when I got home and took a big whiff.
Hmmm, no feed mill smell!
Since I prefer my oats in bar or cookie form, I asked [begged] Peg to make some oatmeal cookies for me.
Hmmm, no feed mill taste with a great chew factor!
Peg made some gluten-free oatmeal for breakfast one day. It cooked up just like the oatmeal she loved as a kid. Peg confessed that she likes Gluten Free Oats® better than her non-gluten-free Quaker oats! "Hey go eat your own oats!"
I have since learned that the "feed mill" smell & taste usually comes from rancidity.
Gluten Free Oats® meet the group. Group, meet Gluten Free Oats®
We were so impressed with Gluten Free Oats® that we wanted to share them with support group members. I sent off an email to see if I could get some samples and before I knew it, there was a big box of flakey gold sitting on my front step.
Peg and I decided to have a build your own oatmeal bar for our March meeting. Toppings included brown sugar, raisins, dried cherries, Crasins and milk. We cooked the oatmeal and placed it in a crock pot before we left for the meeting.
Two of our members were quite excited about the prospect of having oats again. They grew up eating it for breakfast. In fact, both of them went back for seconds! The entire group liked the oats immensely! Smiles were on everyone's face.
Just the other day, I received a bulk order of Gluten Free Oats® for the group. Sounds like satisfied customers to me!
I want to publicly thank Seaton and his entire family for their ingenuity & generosity!
Gluten Intolerance Group Annual Conference - June 2010
We were lucky enough to meet face-to-face the family that produces these oats. The more I talked to them and got to know them, the more impressed I got. If you are not familiar with the history of Gluten Free Oats®, it's a great story.
Over breakfast, I found out they are in the process of building a larger processing facility. This will allow them to produce quick cooking oats and steel cut oats.
If you look closely in the picture below, you'll see a blue plate. They were handing out oat pancakes and oatmeal cookies. Yes, they were delicious! Yes they do have the recipes on their website.
Katz Gluten-Free Bakery
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I chose the popular Challa Bread and their Whole Grain Bread. As a bonus [I didn't request it, didn't want to appear piggish after all], they sent us some Chocolate Rugelech! Cool!
I must apologize, I did not get a chance to take any pictures of our event. I know, I know - very uncharacteristic me.
The Challa Bread was popular. I had fun finding out the history of Challa bread. Several members particularly commented on the crust and how well they liked it. It's a great tasting bread with great texture. A good all around sandwich bread.
The Whole Grain Bread was liked, but not as much as the Challa. Everyone loved the taste, but texture was a bit chewy [at least for my tastes]. To be fair, the bread was not completely thawed, so we put it microwave a few seconds right before the tasting. I also noticed that Katz's website states...
We recommend toasting this bread to achieve a maximum level of taste and crispiness.
I think everyone commented on the fact that either bread did not fall apart when applying the butter or jelly. So many GF breads tend to crumble in your hand while doing that - not Katz's!
The Chocolate Rugelech was a new experience for me and I think for the rest of the group. I admit, I had never even heard of Rugelech before, let alone taste it. Rural Wisconsin does not have a large Jewish population, so we tend to miss some of the world's cultural foods. German, Polish & Scandinavian cultures, we got covered. Yah, you betcha! . :-) Now that I think of it, a good GF beer would pair nicely with the Chocolate Rugelech.
I think the most common comment I heard was..."Interesting". I will say, they do have a taste that is not usually found are this part of WI. They are not overly sweet [which is what you usually find around here], there's a slight bitterness that takes you by surprise. These look like a mini-cinnimon rolls, so perhaps my brain was expecting something more along those lines. After my third or forth one, I found that I was sad because they were gone.
After I contacted Katz's, I happened to find their bread at Woodman's Grocery in Appleton - it's in the freezer section by the GF foods. I'm not sure if they are carried at all Woodman's locations or not.
A special thanks to David at Katz's for being so generous with their products. I tip my hat to any and all companies like Katz's that provide us foods to make us happy and feel "normal".
Until next time...
Al
General Mills Gluten-Free List
Campbell's Gluten-Free List Online
For you Pace fans - hang in there a bit longer. It hasn't made the list yet because it's still going thru it's testing process.
Hi. My name is Susan Baranowsky. I am the Director of Consumer Affairs at Campbell Soup Company. We understand your interest and are pleased to share with you an easy way to access our most up-to-date list of Campbell’s gluten-free products.
Please visit us at www.campbellswithoutgluten.com where you will find our gluten-free product list as well as answers to some frequently asked questions.
Campbell offers a wide variety of gluten-free products. Our list is always growing, so visit us often.
Cookie Daze 2009 here we come!
Nothin' like waiting till the last possible minute. Today was the last day we could register. After all, the event is on Saturday...yeah...this coming Saturday...as in...August 1st.
It's a good thing we've done this a few times before (2007, 2005, 2004), at least we know what to expect . We missed competing last year, however we did get to take part in something Cookie Daze related. We got to appear on WLUK-TV 11 to promote it! It was fun and quite the learning experience. Click here to see the pictures.
We started doing Cookie Daze in 2004. I started my GF Journey in 2003. We wanted to bring awareness to the community about Celiac Disease and gluten-free food. We wanted to show that gluten-free food does not have to crappy; it can be every bit as good as glutenous food - and often times better!
We didn't enter the contest win to anything, it was all about education and awareness. There was a small write up in an area newspaper about our story. This brought out a lot people to see what it was all about. They came out strictly to see US. Celiacs going to a cookie baking contest - who woulda figured...
We were award winners every year, we'll see if this year is any different. Peg is really fired up about this recipe. She thinks she'll do well.
If you like to see pictures from past years contests, be my guest: Cookie Daze 2007 Pictures & Cookie Daze 2005 Pictures
Ripon's Pick n Save Has Betty Crocker Mixes
They are 3.69 per mix.
Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Baking Mixes
As you can see the cookies turned about quite well. Yes, they do taste as good as they look! Be aware, they do contain an entire stick of butter. The good thing is that these cookies freeze quite well, as to most GF baked goodies.
The frosting she made is from an old family recipe. It's from her Aunt Elsie's "Funeral Cake" recipe. It's called funeral cake because Elsie would always make it to take for funeral gatherings.
Even the "gluten-eaters" approved of them. They're a bit denser than wheat cupcakes, but tasty none the less!
One thing I've noticed in these two products is the lack of grittiness. Often times rice flour that is not ground fine enough feels gritty in the mouth as you chew it. You'll find that the asian rice flours will have this very fine [almost powdery] grind. It appears that General Mills is using such a fine grind in these products.