Dec 7, 2015 | Musings
As most of you are aware, the holiday season has hit North America like the Polar Express steaming into the North Pole. Some of you know that I am a family man with a wife and girl/boy twins. Some of you may also know that I work in retail – and that’s the reason why this blog post is a tad late.
I will be and am currently in a bit of a hiatus. Life gets hectic with family during the holiday. Well amp that up by about 10 when you actually are responsible for a retail establishment and your job does not end after a normal 8-hour shift.
So I will be back with new recipes, new reviews and potentially some more news after the new year dawns!
Happy Holidays from me to you! May you and your families have a great time and may you never be glutenized!
Oct 29, 2015 | Reviews
As you may have noticed from my blog and from numerous social media posts, I LOVE cookies. Home-made are always the best – made with love and those beautiful passed down recipes.
Unfortunately, life has a way of making things busy. You know – kids, kids’ activities, holidays, work, family, significant others, and the list goes on and on. Thankfully, there are ways to get a cookie fix other than homemade.
And thankfully, there are store-bought cookies that are better than others.
Now there is a caveat. Many of these store bought cookies go to extremes trying to suit everyone – so they are GF, Nut Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free … thankfully after all that they aren’t taste free! Rather than the typical restaurant review, I will be talking about different kinds of cookies that I have tried and potentially do some comparisons as well. After all this is all about store bought cookies and what I like. It’s my opinion and like the extreme Allergy Friendly (AF) cookies – if you like ’em, eat ’em!
Oreo Sandwich-Style Cookies
When I could eat any old cookie out of a bag, I would literally devour a row of Oreos without a second thought. Sure it’s not healthy, then again, have you seen my recipes?! I love food and I love cookies. So AD, I had to change my ways and I intentionally or unintentionally started hunting for Oreo-style cookies. And I’ve tried two types of these cookies – Kinnikinnick KinniToos Chocolate Vanilla Sandwich Creme Cookies and the Wal-Mart brand Good Value GF Chocolate Sandwich cookies.
Kinnikinnick KinniToos Chocolate Vanilla Sandwich Creme Cookies
Allergy Alert – GF, Nut Free, Dairy Free (though they are processed in the same factory as eggs), and Vegan
Texture – These are the closest cookie I have found to an original that was not homemade! I think anyone who loves Oreos would be hard pressed to tell the difference if they were blind-folded despite the fact that they are so AF. Typically an AF cookies like this would have a bit of a granular feel to it, but not these little morsels!
Taste – What can I say? While I can’t go back and try it myself, I really do think people wouldn’t be able to taste the difference between a real Oreo and the KinniToos!
Price/Availability – While in Canada, the chocolate variety is a little harder to find for some reason than the Vanilla cookie version. As for the price, they are not as cheap as the Wal-Mart brand, but you pay for what you get.
Good Value GF Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Allergy Alert – Gluten Free
Texture – These cookies are almost as good as the KinniToos, but not quite. They’re a little harder, which might be closer to the OG Oreo.
Taste – However, that doesn’t mean that they taste as good as the OG. Like most imitations, this one is just found lacking.
Price/Availability – There are three Wal-Marts within a 20-mile radius, you do the math! And yes, they are more expensive than regular Oreos, but less than the KinniToos – for a reason.
Drop-Style Cookies
There are a number of different styles of cookies, both on shelves and in cookbooks. Another favourite of mine is the other classic – Chocolate Chip. Unfortunately there has never been a store-bought version that can beat homemade – either GF or not. So we will talk about other types of drop cookies – such as chocolate cookies or these next delectable morsels.
Udi’s Salted Caramel Cashew Cookies
Allergy Alert – Gluten Free
Texture – They were soft, chewy, crunchy – delicious. Just how a drop cookie should be – not some rock hard discus that’s only good for skeet.
Taste – OMG! If I could figure out how to make these at home, I would! They are fantastic and should not be shared with anyone else – except me if I’m at your house for some reason! The combination of the cashews and caramel is really inspired and makes an amazing flavour, especially for someone like me whose go-to cookie has chocolate as the main ingredient.
Price/Availability – I have only been able to find these once – at Costco. And they were a little more expensive than your other average store bought cookies, but so, SO worth it.
Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Allergy Alert – I don’t know what they make these things from … they’re GF, Peanut, Tree Nut, Soya, Potato, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Sulfites, Dairy, Egg and Casein Free.
Texture – While they are soft and chewy, they do have a bit of that granular texture to them.
Taste – Despite the granular taste, they are tasty. There’s a rich chocolate flavour that you would expect in a brownie cookie and it’s a worthwhile alternative to chocolate chip cookies.
Price/Availability – I’ve found these in a few different supermarket chains. And they’re still GF, so they’re still more expensive than non-AF food.
Cookie It Up Gluten-free Chocolate Chip
Allergy Alert – While these cookies are GF and nut free, they do contain milk and soy.
Texture – Very grainy. If you look at the ingredients for these cookies, you will see that only one type of flour (rice) is used. So far in my two years eating GF, it seems like that is a recipe for granular baking – not using a mix that mimics regular wheat flour.
Taste – Even without feeling like I was eating sand, these cookies were not worth the price I paid for them.
Price/Availability – There was only one place I’ve seen these in Canada and that is at Indigo. Hopefully the non-GF cookies are better quality than these.
Oct 14, 2015 | Dairy Free, Entrees, Nut Free
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon … oh wait, that’s another post.
Pork, Pork, Pork. There we go! That’s much better. I’ve proclaimed my love for the other white meat many times on this site. And I’m about to do it again!
With my wife and children not doing GF as a standard, I have been given free reign to come up with my own dinners for the most part. I usually cook sides or the main dish that we can all eat and then I deviate from there. So this recipe came from one of those evenings of my deviating from their planned meal.
I’ve always loved what has been lovingly termed country-fried or chicken-fried pork chops. It seems a little odd to me to call something chicken-fried, especially chicken-fried chicken, when it’s just breaded and fried. But I digress …
Since normal flour is verboten with Celiac Disease, one is left to use either GF flour or come up with alternatives. I’ve always been intrigued by different breadings as well, hence the pretzel crust!
With the added seasonings, the pretzels form a nice crunchy crust that proves without a doubt that GF is Not Taste Free!
Jerk Pretzel Pork
2 eggs
9 pork chops
2 cups Glutino pretzels
1 tbsp Caribbean Jerk seasoning
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp seasoning salt
- As your oil heats in your frying pan, tenderize your meat and beat your eggs.
- To make the coating you will need to grind your pretzels. I used a food processor and got a very nice blend on the pretzels, not quite dust but processed enough that it wasn’t large chunks.
- Mix the seasoning with the crumbs.
- You should have enough crumbs and eggs to double dip your pork: egg, crumbs, egg, crumbs, frying pan.
- Try to flip them as little as possible to let the crumbs create a crust – and don’t have your heat too high. If you burn the crust before the meat is cooked, it will crumble off and just be a disgusting mess. Try about 3-4 minutes each side on about medium heat and then check them. A little pink won’t kill you and remember that your meat cooks up a bit as it sits anyways.
Oct 6, 2015 | Appetizers, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Nut Free
Ever since CD, it has been harder and harder to find food that does not have gluten. And not all GF products are of the same quality. So finding something to snack on is not as simple as just walking down the chip aisle.
That said there are a ton of GF products out there. And there are more hitting the market every day. But with my penchant for the spicy, they are few and much, much farther between. I had to take matters into my own hands.
I’ve always been intrigued by the recipes featuring flavoured pretzels. This is my version featuring GF pretzels and my Cajun seasoning.
Cajun Pretzels
8 0z. GF pretzels (Glutino)
1/3 cup veggie oil
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
- Mix all the ingredients except the pretzels in a freezer bag. Ensure the oil and seasoning are mixed well before pouring over the pretzels.
- Bake at 200 degrees for an hour, turning every 20 minutes.
Sep 14, 2015 | Breakfast, Nut Free
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but I love breakfast foods and I love pork. Such a versatile meat, bacon, sausage, bacon, roast, chops – it’s all good. When I can combine the two it’s even better!
And one of the other things I like is breakfast casseroles. This is a fantastic new version – based on nachos and fused with Italian flavours. Featuring Italian Baked Potato Chips as the bottom layer, then some cheese and Italian sausage, it’s finally topped with eggs and more cheese. This could just as easily feature Mexican flavours – use Mexican Chorizo, Mexican Seasoning on the chips and Cilantro instead of Oregano.
It all sounds really good and really there’s nothing about this breakfast that doesn’t make me giddy and hungry!
Huevos Nachos Italiano
Italian Baked Potato Chips
8 oz. spicy Italian sausage
1 red onion
8 oz Pepper Jack
4 eggs
1 tbsp minced garlic
Oregano
shredded Cheddar
diced tomatoes
diced green onions
- Make a recipe of Italian Baked Potato Chips.
- Fry the sausage out of its casing along with the diced red onions.
- Layer the chips on the bottom of a pie pan or small casserole pan and then put the sliced Pepper Jack on top of the chips.
- Next layer the sausage and onions on top.
- Scramble the eggs along with the garlic and oregano.
- Layer the eggs and then the shredded cheese over the top of the eggs.
- Bake at 475 for about 6 minutes.
- Once baked arrange the diced tomatoes and green onions over the top. Serve hot!
