Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Enjoy Life cookie review...

This past week I received four crunchy cookie varieties from Enjoy Life to sample. All these cookies are made in a dedicated nut and gluten free bakery and are products of the USA. I have tried a few of Enjoy Life's products recently and was curious to see if their already baked cookies were going to measure up to their other products, and I was not disappointed.
 It was one of those days when everything that could go wrong seemed to do so, and I needed a "sweet" fix bad, so I tried all four varieties at once!

I hadn't had a sugar cookie for quite awhile so I started with this variety. The cookies were thin and crisp, with just the right amount of sweetness to them, great for dunking in milk. They had that buttery taste and texture like recipes I have made in the past where I have substituted butter for the shortening or margarine called for in a recipe, which results in a flatter and crisper cookie.
I enjoyed the rich taste and even used these to make a crust for a "No Bake Cheesecake." Each variety comes packed in quantities of fourteen cookies to a box, so there are plenty to share. 

Ingredients:

White rice flour, Millet flour, Buckwheat flour, Evaporated cane juice, Palm oil, brown pure cane sugar, Natural flavor, Salt, vanilla, Baking soda, Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Xanthan gum, Rosemary extract

Rating: 4 1/2  Stars

Next I tried the Honey Vanilla Graham cookie. These cookies resemble a graham cracker in taste, loaded with vanilla. I do like graham crackers on occasion, but the slight buttery flavor of these cookies seemed to contradict with the graham taste for my liking.

Ingredients:

Brown and white rice flour, Buckwheat flour, Millet flour, Palm oil, Brown pure cane sugar, Evaporated cane juice, Honey, Natural flavors, Vanilla, Salt, Baking soda, Xanthan gum, Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Rosemary extract.

Rating: 3 stars

The third variety was the Double Chocolate crunch. If you love chocolate this is going to be a big hit. The cookie was loaded with a rich chocolaty flavor, and each cookie is loaded with chips.

Ingredients:

White rice flour, Buckwheat flour, Millet flour, Chocolate chips (evaporated cane juice, chocolate liquor, non dairy cocoa butter) Palm oil, Brown pure cane sugar, Evaporated cane juice, Natural process cocoa powder, Natural flavors, Vanilla, Salt, Baking soda, Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Xanthan gum, Rosemary extract.

Rating 4 1/2  Stars

The last variety was the crunchy Chocolate Chip. What can I say about these except that they were rich, crunchy and tasty! I must admit that if it is a dense doughy cookie you are looking for,  these will not fit that bill. Yet, if it is a buttery, crunchy treat you desire, than these are right down your alley.

Ingredients:

White rice flour, Buckwheat flour, Millet flour, Chocolate chips (evaporated cane juice, chocolate liquor, non dairy cocoa butter) Palm oil, Evaporated cane juice, Brown pure cane sugar, Natural flavor, Salt, Vanilla, Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Baking soda, Xanthan gum, Rosemary extract.

Rating 4 1/2 Stars

Enjoy Life offers quite a variety of Gluten Free products on their home site. All their products are gluten free and contain No artificial ingredients, trans fat,s or genetically modified ingredients

You might have seen their products featured on numerous programs such as Food Network's Unwrapped,"or the Today Show's segment "Healthy Lunch Box Finds," to name a few.

The company just  introduced "Plentils...Enjoy Life's first salty snack product in March 2012.
To visit their site to order, or for information, visit....Enjoy Life You can also find many of their products in your local supermarket nationwide.
        
As always, have a wheat free kind of day!



















Friday, July 13, 2012

Namaste Foods Pasta Pisavera Review...

Tonight my husband and I decided to have a light dinner. A nice green salad and a Pasta Pisavera meal kit from Namaste Foods sounded just about right. I was hoping this Italian Pasta kit was going to be as good as others were saying it was.
Now to know me, you would know I have never been a great lover of meal kits. Hamburger Helper has never reached my pantry shelves, SORRY!) So to try a meal in a bag is a adventure in itself for me.
The directions looked simple enough. All I needed was 3 Tablespoons of oil.

Ingredients:
Vegetable pasta (brown rice, spinach powder, tomato powder, carrot powder, water).
Shelled Hemp seed, tomato powder, salt, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, granulated onion, and silicon dioxide (added to prevent caking).
*Namaste products are made in a dedicated facility free of: Gluten, Wheat, Soy, Corn, Potato, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Dairy and Casein for those with these food allergies.

Okay...I wasn't sure what shelled hemp seed was but I didn't have to look far as they tell you right on the bag. It seems that it is an excellent source of easily digestible, gluten free protein. It has more protein than nuts, fish, meat or poultry. It also has essential fatty acids your body needs as well as all essential amino acids. Tasty, and good for you? ...I'm in!

When I opened the bag there was a package of spiral noodles in three different colors. Great, as I love vegetable noodles! The second packet was a small packet of seasonings.
After the noodles cooked all I had to do was add the packet of seasoning to the oil, toss into the cooked, drained pasta and I was done. Quick, easy and painless!
The bag does offer suggestions on adding a variation of other ingredients but I skipped this part because tonight I wanted quick and easy, besides  I already had fresh ingredients and veggies in the salad.

I must say this dish was a big hit. Not only was it easy to prepare but delicious also. I am now anxious to try their two other varieties of meal kits which include the Say Cheez and Taco Pasta meal. All sell for $4.79 on their site and currently the Say Cheez meal  is on sale for $4.49. This kit makes 4 side dish servings or 2 entree servings, so it was perfect for the two of us. This kit will soon become a handy staple in my pantry for those hectic, or not so hectic days.
You can view these and all other Namaste products at http://www.namastefoods.com

Rating: 5 Stars

Buckwheat - Gluten Free -- Grass Free

 Buckwheat, which is actually not in the wheat family at all, has somehow gotten a bad rap over the years. I personally have avoided it basi...