It's a Christmas miracle!

A faux gluten-free redux that doesn't taste bad!



This "chicken alfredo" was pretty good!

It cooked up creamy, the pasta was good - I used soy milk, and not quite one pound of chicken.

It was really easy, just like these things are supposed to be! The flavour of the sauce was good - I didn't bother adding stuff when I reheated, like I had to do with that last mac & cheese.

Unlike most gf side dishes, wherein I decided it'd be just as easy/cheap/much tastier to make it myself, I would actually keep one or two of these on hand, for those nights when you just want to eat right out of the pot!

Are you one of the chosen few?

The blessed? Oh ye who live near a Whole Foods?

If you are, you are prepared, if you do not. Have a seat. And behold:

their gluten-free bakery

Yes, that's right. Pies. Rolls. Muffins. Banana bread. Biscuits.

Yes. Biscuits.

Smallish and thin biscuits, but they taste like biscuits. They are good. Expensive, but good. My mom gets them, and saves them in the freezers for emergencies (like a bad day, or a migraine).

And the praririe bread? I almost don't miss pumpernickel. Still the little gluten-free sized slices, but big on taste, big on texture and consistency, toasts up like normal bread...if you are one of the chose few, let me know, ok? I have a shopping list.

cheese and macaroni?

Me and Kraft had a thing for years and years...when I went to college, my mom would send me institution sized packages of Kraft macaroni and cheese. I learned to add tunafish, broccoli - spinach, when they came out with the white one...none of that Velveeta nonsense. Blech.

Gluten-free is many things, convenient not one of them. GF mac and cheese meant cooking pasta, melting cheese...sure, with enough butter and cheese it was great. But what if you don't feel like donning an apron?



What if you feel like macaroni and cheese? Don't get this, if you do. If there was a word in the dictionary to describe "bland," I'd use it. The little macaronis' are the right shape and size, but the powdered cheese is...powder. Flavourless powder.

And it had this...smell. Leftovers got garlic, black olives, yellow pepper and a salmon filet and another thumbs down.

Palak paneer!

I found an "instant" palak paneer, from Swad, that is might tasty!

A little skimpy on the paneer, but the overall flavour was very nice. It'd be easy to beef up with some more spinach and cream...

Heat and serve over rice, heaven.

Idahoan "Loaded Baked"

Well, of course you can't really expect powder to turn into a tasty loaded baked potato. Idahoan tries, though, to make you think so.

They couldn't be any easier to make. Add hot water, stir, let 'em set. At first taste, they're not too-too bad.

But then the sodium kicks in, and it gets nearly unpleasant. That flake consistency hits, and I was wishing to bad for the real thing...chunky, soft taters swirled in a rainbow of butter, salt and pepper...mmmm....

They were on sale, and I won't be trying them again.

Well, of course you can't really expect powder to turn into a tasty loaded baked potato. Idahoan tries, though, to make you think so.

They couldn't be any easier to make. Add hot water, stir, let 'em set. At first taste, they're not too-too bad.

But then the sodium kicks in, and it gets nearly unpleasant. That flake consistency hits, and I was wishing to bad for the real thing...chunky, soft taters swirled in a rainbow of butter, salt and pepper...mmmm....

They were on sale, and I won't be trying them again.

Two more Amy's...

Amy's Gluten Free Rice Mac and Cheese

Delicious!


At first.

I cooked it stovetop, figuring it'd be quicker than the 30 min. stove time. First few licks at the cheese on the spoon I stirred it with were "mmm...creamy..." but now, a little over half way through, I don't really want anymore - filling, though.

The pasta got that sort of...al dente toughness to it, and the cheese flavour wore off quickly.

It could be doctored, but at $3.99, for a single serving, I could make my own.


Amy's Gluten Free Garden Vegetable Lasagna

Not a lot of sauce, but the filling is moist, so it's not dry at all. The noodles were good, tasted "normal."

Nothing really stands out. It just sort of tastes like mass-produced lasagna. But it does have a certain freshness to it. Sometimes those microwave meals can taste more like cardboard than food, but not this one.

Worth five bucks? Nah. If they went on sale, I'd buy them to keep them at work for snacks, but otherwise I'll stick with my own snacks.

Amy's still leads the charge into gluten-free ease, though, that's for sure!

Like avacado and mango diced up in a bowl, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Yum!