Last week, I offered up a primer to all the possibilities your grocery store offers when it comes to gluten-free grocery shopping. This week, we explore the interior of the store!
After you’ve taken that first deep breath and toured the safest spots in the store, noting all the foods you can eat, expand your horizons. Wander the other aisles. Look, rice! Not that over-salted prepared stuff, but plain rice. White rice. Brown rice. Forbidden rice (which, well, isn’t so forbidden after all). Perhaps even quinoa. Continue reading “Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping, Part Two”
I’ve gotten some questions about facing the daunting task of grocery shopping while maintaining a gluten-free diet. Conventional wisdom holds that a gluten-free lifestyle requires lots of expensive, special food. This cannot be further from the truth, and as I explore grocery stores for a couple of weeks, I want to start with the basics.
A friend of mine toured the Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free facilities and was so enthusiastic about what she learned, she bought a very large bag of Bob’s gluten-free all-purpose flour. For the record, my friend is not gluten free. Some marketing messages are very powerful.
She went home and baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies using her own tried-and-true recipe. Needless to say, the cookies were not good (her description of her family’s reaction is much more colorful!). She had to dump the whole batch. On the plus side, I was the grateful recipient of the rest of the bag of gluten-free flour. Continue reading “(Mostly) Easy Gluten-Free Cookies”
One thing I don’t love about gluten-free baking is the amount of effort required to “recreate” the properties and flavors of wheat. It is inevitable that I’ll be missing that one obscure gluten-free flour required to make a perfect cookie.
Of course, I always have plenty of rice flour on hand. I use it constantly for various recipes, so when I encountered this cookie recipe featuring rice flour, I was thrilled. I was even more excited by the short list of ingredients. Talk about easy to whip together!
But even better, these are delicious (if a bit crumbly) cookies. I brought them to the office..and they were gobbled up quickly. One co-worker confessed to eating more than a few all by herself. These would be great for afternoon tea, holiday parties, or even as a dessert after a dinner of small plates.
Lately, my local grocery store has kicked up the gluten-free offerings…or rather, food producers are expanding their gluten-free product lines. However you want to look at it, this is good news. Particularly if you’re in the market for decent tasting ready-to-eat meals.
The Evol product line caught my eye because of the catchy name and clear packaging. The gluten-free label was clear, and for the first time in a good couple of decades, I picked up a couple of frozen chicken burritos to see how they’d taste. Evol also makes about 18 other gluten-free products (list here), ranging from tacos to chicken tikka masala to mac and cheese.
This great gluten-free burrito from Evol includes guacamole in addition to chile-lime flavors, chicken, corn, and beans.
I decided to try the two chicken burritos. One is your basic gluten-free chicken. The other was gluten-free chicken with a side of guacamole. While the instructions suggest you should thaw the burritos in advance — great if you pop one in your lunch bag for later — I hadn’t planned that far ahead, so it took about three minutes cooking time in my microwave instead of the two noted on the package.
This gluten-free burrito from Evol is great for quick lunches.
While the burritos cooked, wrapped in a damp paper towel (to keep the tortillas from drying out), I popped the frozen guacamole packet into some hot water to thaw. I also pulled out some chile sauce from our local taco joint.
Step two in cooking the Evol gluten-free burritos: wrap in a damp paper towel to help the tortillas remain soft and moist.
I loved the chicken burrito with the side of guacamole (green packaging). It had a cilantro lime flavor, black beans, rice, and corn. For a frozen burrito, it had a lot of flavor. I’ll definitely buy this one again.
While the Evol burritos are in the microwave, thaw the guacamole in hot water. It takes just a few minutes.
The other chicken burrito (blue packaging) didn’t have as much flavor for me. It was good if a bit bland, but won’t be my first choice the next time I’m at the grocery store. Both burritos cooked well, and, thanks to the damp paper towel, the tortilla wraps were chewy but not tough.
Overall, I’m pretty impressed with these burritos — and am eager to try other products in the gluten-free line…especially the lemongrass chicken.
Have you tried the Evol products? What do you think?
Tip of the Week
Like all gluten-free breads, gluten-free tortillas dry out very quickly. If you purchase a package, either use it quickly, or keep it frozen — refrigerators dry them out. The paper towel trick I used on the Evol burritos will help refresh dry tortillas to a degree.
Menu of the Week
After writing the above, I made a trip to the grocery store where I picked up another burrito and the chicken lemongrass (I love the flavor of lemongrass!). I also priced gluten-free tortillas — the ones that mimic flour tortillas, I mean. At $6.99 for eight tortillas, I suggest you stick with traditional corn tortillas unless you really need a burrito or wrap.
One overlooked aspect of corn tortillas is how delicious they are as quesadillas. They are also ridiculously easy to make — perfect for snacks or one of those evenings when you just want to eat, not think.
Even though I know I can’t have them, I always find myself studying the Eggs Benedict section of brunch menus. They always seem like the perfect item…yet I must move onto another section so I can eat something that won’t make me sick.
At home, however, I am not so constrained. Of course, the chance of me having gluten-free English muffins on hand — or having the time to make them from scratch — is pretty much non-existent. Luckily, there are lots of great substitutes, letting you focus your energy on making a perfect Hollandaise sauce and building your own Benedict. Continue reading “Gluten-Free Eggs Benedict”
I’m thinking a lot about great sauces for meals. Particularly about sauces that elevate meats and vegetables without adding a whole lot of effort to the overall meal. Most of these sauces take just a few ingredients and a few minutes.
Why sauces? Mostly to liven up meals. Sure, a well-cooked chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper is delicious, but how about a well-cooked chicken breast with a tangy tahini dipping sauce on the side? Or roasted vegetables with a great vinaigrette? Continue reading “Fast Gluten-Free Sauces for Meats and Veggies”
