Chinese-style Pork Dumplings and Kikkoman Soy Sauce?!?

Feel Goods Foods has developed a line of Chinese-style dumplings. The offerings include pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, vegetable dumplings and chicken dumplings. You can purchase the dumplings in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Florida. If those locations aren't convenient for you then you also can purchase them at glutenfreemall.com.

You might also want to pick up a bottle of Kikkoman's new gluten-free soy sauce to serve along with those dumplings!

June Tasting

Many thanks to the following companies who provided us with samples to try at our June meeting:

1. King Arthur's Flour Gluten-Free Mixes

• The tasting included: bread, brownies, chocolate cake, cookies and muffins. The donation also included pizza, pancakes and flour which a few of you got to take home. Thanks to those who prepared the delicious King Arthur mixes that we sampled!

2. Bob's Red Mill

• Our friends at Bob's Red Mill sent us Quick Cooking Oats and Whole Grain Rolled Oats
  
which some of you may have tried in the form of Mary's oatmeal cookies.

3. Sandwich Petals

• Warmed in a panini maker these interesting wraps were tasty and have lots of possibilities. We tried the Chimayo Red Chile, Agave Grain and Spinach Garlic Pesto.

If you should order any of these products please tell the manufacturer that you tried the samples they sent at a Gluten-Free Wikaduke meeting!

Udi's Tests Negative!

When the group ordered the Udi's bread, many of us expressed surprise and disbelief that a gluten-free loaf of bread could really taste so good and have such a soft texture. After a short discussion, we decided to use the remaining Elisa's EZ Gluten Test to verify that the Udi's bread is indeed gluten free.

The test was not conducted at the meeting when we picked up our Udi's orders, but Tracy did run the test at her home. You all will be pleased to know that the Udi's Whole Grain Bread tested negative for gluten. So, all of you who placed orders yet still wondered if it was really possible for gluten free bread to taste so good, wonder no more!

Enjoy your Udi's!

Mixes from the Heartland

Many thanks to Mixes from the Heartland for generously donating mixes to GFW to sample at our March meeting! Mixes from the Heartland's facility is free of wheat, rye, barley, oats, tree nuts, peanuts, soy and eggs. In addition no bean flours are used in any of the products. Mixes from the Heartland has its products tested by University of Nebraska in order to validate its gluten-free claim and is CSA certified.

The mixes we tasted at the meeting included:

• Chocolate Pound Cake prepared by Mary Bell
• Rice Pudding prepared by Wayne Jr.
• Corn and Pasta Salad prepared by Nancy
• Harvest Chicken and Rice Soup prepared by Cathy
• Navy Bean Soup prepared by Eric
• Sweet Corn Casserole prepared by Mary Ann
  

Mixes from the Heartland is offering a free package on all orders over $25 and free shipping on all orders over $99.

Thanks again to Mixes from the Heartland allowing us to sample your products!

Discount at French Meadow Bakery

Several months ago, Wendy arranged a group purchase of pizza crusts and other items from French Meadow Bakery. The pizza crusts are those that are used by our local Biaggi's restaurant. They are really quite tasty, to some of us, as long as they are pre-baked on a rack or pizza stone prior to topping.

Now may be the time to stock up on more 'za crusts or other items as French Meadow Bakery is offering a 20% discount on online orders for those willing to participate in a survey. The survey is visible upon entering the website.

Market Day Gluten-Free List

For those of you with access to Market Day, you might be interested to know that the Market Day website has a gluten-free section of products which will make your shopping significantly easier.

Many thanks to Jasenia for sharing this information!

Gluten-Free Brownie Mix Voted Best by Epicurious!

Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Brownie Mix was voted 'best brownie overall' by Epicurious.com in a taste testing that ranked 21 gluten free and not gluten-free brownie mixes. Unfortunately, Epicurious.com listed the price incorrectly at $.99 per mix. It's sold locally for $3.89 - $4.99 per mix.

The Reallly Great Food Company Gluten-Free Brownie Mix also ranked in the top four!

Click here to read the entire article.

Gluten Free Cookie Passion

If you weren't able to join us for today's Gluten-Free Wikauke meeting you certainly missed out on lots of tasty treats presented in pretty packaging!

Gluten Free Cookie Passion provided us with German chocolate cupcakes, jam filled sugar cookies, Valencia orange almond tea-cakes with cranberries and three varieties of their brownies! Each of which were mouth watering delicious.

The entire line of Gluten Free Cookie Passion products, nutritional information and prices may be found on their website. Orders can be submitted online or by calling 847-651-3550 and can be picked up at their (non-storefront) site in Mundelein or shipped to you.

She who's writing this post suggest you not forget to order the Valencia Orange Tea-Cakes! If you had the opportunity to try the products, please leave a message in the comments section of this post.

Many thanks to Janet, Stuart and their daughter for going out of their way to make sure Gluten-Free Wikaduke had freshly baked products for the meeting!

Favorite, Go-To, Never-Ever-Fail-Me Products

If I was a betting woman, and I'm not, I would bet big money that we have all purchased gluten-free products that are terrible and have vowed to never waste money on those products again. I'm going to also bet that we each have a list of our favorite products, our go-to products, our never-ever-fail-me products. These are the products that we don't even have to think about. We simply write 'pasta' or 'pizza crust' on the shopping list and get the same brand every time knowing full well that it will be satisfying.

Every day people are diagnosed with Celiac Disease and begin the gluten-free diet journey. They spend their money on those terrible products in hopes that they will taste delicious and they're sadly disappointed when they don't.

Even though our tastes are different and we certainly won't all agree, I think it would be helpful to share a list of our favorite products, our go-to products, our never-ever-fail-me products. Maybe, just maybe, we'll save someone the torture of spending $7 on a loaf of shelf stable bread that tastes one hundred times worse than cardboard!

Tracy's List of Favorite, Go-to, Never-Ever-Fail-Me Products*:
Bagels: Kinnikinnick Plain or Sesame Bagels (gently defrost and then toast)

Bread (Prepared): Udi's Whole Grain or White

Bread (Mix): Breads by Anna Original and Schar Sandwich Bread (although Schar is dense)

Cake Mixes: Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Cake Mix or Vanilla Cake Mix

Crackers: Schar Table Crackers

Flour/Starch: Bob's Red Mill

Pasta: Bionaturae for penne, spaghetti and elbows; Tinkyada for lasagna (don't pre-cook it!)

Pizza Crust (Prepared): Schar Pizza Crust (pre-bake the crust a bit before topping)

Pizza Crust (Mix): Chebe All Purpose Mix (roll thin and pre-bake before topping)

Quick Dinner Entree: Farm Rich Italian or Plain Meatballs

Salad Dressing: Litehouse Original Bleu Cheese

Soy Sauce: San J Reduced Sodium Wheat Free Tamari

*Please add your lists in the comments section of this post.

Smart Ones frozen dinners GF!

I bought three types of Smart Ones frozen dinners today. They are marked GLUTEN FREE! They are:
Chicken Santa Fe
Cranberry Turkey Medallion
Santa Fe Style Rice and Beans
They are on sale at Meijer for $1.80. There are coupons on the boxes, buy 10 get $4.00 off. I think the sale ends Jan. 19th.
Thanks Smart Ones!!

Smart Ones offers other gluten-free meal options. The listing may be found on the Heinz gluten-free product page.

Gluten-Free 'Za at Sam's Club?

For those of you living in select areas of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, New Jersey, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Maryland and have access to a Sam's Club, you may be able to purchase Isabelle's Best gluten-free pepperoni pizzas. According to John Libonati at Gluten Free Works, Sam's Club is testing the products in select markets to determine how well the Isabelle's Best pizzas sell.

A list of the Sam's Club carrying the pizzas may be viewed at Gluten Free Works.

Go Picnic Packs

Go Picnic Packs makes a line of ready to eat gluten-free meal options that one can use in a plethora of different situations.

Great Gluten-Free Bread Roundup

Tracy had the opportunity to participate in the Great Gluten-Free Bread Roundup last week organized by Free From Market in Orland Park. Like others, she was very critical when scoring the breads and considered four factors when giving a score. They included: taste, texture, cost and whether or not she would prefer to eat no sandwich than a sandwich using this bread. The majority of the breads she tried earned the lowest possible scores, but she did give the highest score to one loaf, Udi's Whole Grain Bread, which turned out to be the favorite by the majority of the tasters.

Here's an excerpt from Free From Market's Newsletter:

And the Best Bread Is ...

Many thanks go to our generous bakers and the many refined tasters who participated in the Great Midwestern Gluten Free Bread Roundup. Tasters ranked Gluten Free breads from dedicated GF and allergen friendly facilities throughout the country. Breads were identified only with icons (dog, cat, bird, etc.) and ingredients. Tasters ranked those breads they tasted on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the best). Afterwards they were given a key that identified the bakers. Out of over 300 ballots, here are the top three:

1. Udi's Bakery (aka "Bumble Bee") 1.736 / 5.000

2. Andrea's GF Fine Foods (aka "Fish Bowl") 2.238 / 5.000

3. Sinfully Gluten Free (aka "Panda") 2.321 / 5.000

Tasters were very critical, so it was difficult to score in the 2.0 range and only one bread at all scored in the 1.0 range. The top complement received by "Bumble Bee" and "Fish Bowl" was that they could be served un-toasted. If your bread did not score in our top three, remember, you have the key and can if you wish purchase directly from the bakers. 'Bumble Bee" is already a regular addition to Free From Market and 'Fish Bowl" will be arriving late next week as a regular addition. We still have several loaves of "Panda" in the freezer, and if there are enough requests, it too will be a regular addition. Thanks to everyone for participating. It was a lot of fun!

BRM Does it Again--Grits, Corn Flour and Cornmeal!

Bob's Red Mill recently expanded the facility that processes their gluten-free grains. In doing so, they've added three new hard to find products which include grits, corn flour and cornmeal.

Bob's Red Mill unexpectedly sent Gluten-Free Wikaduke a large donation of these products. Mary and I will turn them in to something tasty to try at the June meeting after which we'll still have a few to raffle off!

The next time you get a taste for cheese grits or cornbread you need not look any further than Bob's Red Mill for safe corn products!

Calling All Toaster Ovens for Crispy Battered Fish!

Starfish has recently introduced a line of crispy, battered, gluten-free cod, halibut and haddock that tastes like the 'real thing.' Wanting the new line to succeed and for all of you to try it, we called and asked for a donation. Starfish has agreed to provide Gluten-Free Wikaduke with a very generous sample of their battered fish for tasting at our June meeting!

However, we need to cook it. In order to do so we're in need of toaster ovens. So, if you have a toaster oven, a dedicated gluten-free toaster oven, and you would be willing to bring it to the meeting, please leave a message in the comment section. I think three or four toaster ovens should suffice. We have one thus far!

Also, if you make killer tartar sauce or something else that goes along with battered fish, feel free to bring it and we'll make a meal of it! Please post a comment so we know what else might be coming.

To see a photo of the battered cod that will make your mouth water, click here.

More GF Chex on the Way!

General Mills' Rice Chex has been clearly labeled as gluten free for some time now much to the delight on many celiacs. To make the Rice Chex gluten free it was a seemingly simple process of subbing molasses for barley malt extract. If only all conversions could be so simple!

As of June 1, General Mills will be adding five new gluten-free flavors to their Chex lineup. They include: Honey Nut Chex, Corn Chex, Strawberry Chex, Chocolate Chex and Cinnamon Chex.

On Saturday, May 2, the Meijer store in Plainfield had Honey Nut Chex on the shelf. It was easy to spot as it said gluten free right on the front of the box!

Betty Crocker Goes Gluten Free!

In June, Betty Crocker will be releasing a line of gluten-free mixes. The mixes include a devil's food cake, yellow cake, chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Each will be processed in a gluten-free facility! For more information check out the gluten-free page of the Betty Crocker website.

Crispy, Battered Fish...GF of course!

Starfish which is a subsidiary of Pacific Seafood Group has developed a line of gluten-free battered fish that includes cod, halibut and haddock. Whole Foods is carrying the products. A 10 ounce package costs $11.99 or $12.99 depending on the fish.

A press release from Pacific Seafood Group with information regarding the gluten-free products can be found here.