Review | Elite Daily Diet and Fitness

Jan

Maninis Gluten Free Review & Giveaway

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Flour-Blend.jpg"> style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="Maninis-Gluten-Free" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Flour-Blend_thumb.jpg" alt="Maninis-Gluten-Free" width="200" height="300" align="left" border="0" />Here is another gluten-free company that you may not have heard of before. I’m happy to introduce you to href="http://maninisglutenfreeblog.com/" target="_blank">Maninis Gluten Free.

“MANINIS® GLUTEN FREE is a company whose products were developed ten years ago by a mathematician mother and a chemical engineer father. Their mission: develop good tasting and nutritious gluten-free bread products for their five year old daughter diagnosed with celiac disease. The challenge was to produce gluten-free products that have the consistency and flavor they craved in wheat-based breads.”

The company only produces gluten-free products in a gluten-free facility. Their products are href="http://www.gfco.org/" target="_blank">GFCO certified. They are free of rice, soy, beans, and casein and use organic ingredients when possible.

Maninis Gluten Free produces several bread mixes, a multipurpose flour mix, and a pasta mix. I tried the bread mixes and flour mix and was pleased with the results of each one. They also offer five fresh gourmet pastas which I did not sample.

The Bread Mixes

The bread mixes all made very nice, soft bread which everyone loved! I have one concern and that is with the bread falling apart when it is not fresh. Except for once, the bread was eaten for dinner and was finished off. One loaf, the rustic multigrain bread, had a little left which I saved for my son’s lunch.

He didn’t go to school the next day, but took a sandwich made with the bread on the following day. The bread was still nice and soft. However, he came home with a baggie full of broken bread pieces and said the sandwich was impossible to eat.

I don’t know if that would have happened on day two or with the other bread mixes, but keep that in mind if you are thinking of using this for sandwiches. Adding more xanthan gum might solve the problem.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Rustic-Bread.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="Maninis Rustic Multigrain Bread " src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Rustic-Bread_thumb.jpg" alt="Maninis Rustic Multigrain Bread" width="400" height="300" border="0" />

I made loaf bread with the rustic multigrain mix (shown above) and the classic peasant mix. The directions were easy to follow, but there are no bread machine instructions. The recipe uses a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan which made a nice sized loaf that rose very well and did not cave in. Both had a very light, soft texture.

The country oat bread mix I used to make rolls. There were no instructions for making rolls, I simply mixed the dough as called for then dropped it onto a baking sheet. The rolls puffed up nicely but deflated as they cooled. However, they were still nice and soft in the middle.

My husband thought they were great and said they reminded him of his mother’s dinner rolls.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Muffins.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="Maninis Muffin" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Maninis-Muffins_thumb.jpg" alt="Maninis Muffin" width="400" height="300" border="0" />

Multipurpose Flour Mix

I followed the directions on the package for making blueberry muffins except that I did not add the crumb topping. They turned out well and everyone liked them. I think this would work well for a multipurpose mix. I like the flours they include in the mix.

Ingredients: Flour blend (organic millet, tapioca, teff, organic sorghum, organic amaranth), corn starch, organic cane sugar, GF xanthan gum, organic Atlantic sea salt, and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). All ingredients are gluten free and no bioengineering has been used to produce this product.

style="text-align: center;"> class="size-full wp-image-5216 aligncenter" title="giveaway" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/giveaway.jpg" alt="giveaway" width="406" height="181" />

The Giveaway: One winner will receive $25 worth of Maninis Gluten Free mixes. The giveaway is limited to US residents.

To enter you must leave a comment on this post, not on my Facebook page and not an email. If you receive my updates by email, click on the underlined title and it will take you to my blog page where you can leave a comment.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post telling me which href="http://maninisglutenfreeblog.com/" target="_blank">Maninis Gluten Free mix most interests you.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/hoovoolu" target="_blank">Maninis Gluten Free on Facebook (you might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, January 13 at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product to sample, but was not paid to write this review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Jan

Euforia Gluten-Free Cakes Review & Giveaway

Happy New Year! I trust that everyone had a safe new year’s celebration. I’m looking forward to blogging and interacting with you in the year ahead.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/euforia-thousand-layer-cakes.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="euforia-thousand-layer-cakes" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/euforia-thousand-layer-cakes_thumb.jpg" alt="euforia-thousand-layer-cakes" width="400" height="278" border="0" />

If you’re like me, you’ve probably never heard of href="http://www.euforiaconfections.com/" target="_blank">Euforia all natural thousand layer cake, but it definitely intrigued me. 1,000 layers? Each individually baked? That’s impressive.

Euforia makes a regular and a flourless gluten free cake. I was very skeptical of the gluten free status given that they use regular flour in their other cakes, but they do take precautions and their products are independently tested to less than 5 parts per million gluten. Here’s what they said about manufacturing:

“The gluten-free cakes are made in the same facility/on the same equipment as gluten-containing products. However, the GF cakes are produced on dedicated days when ONLY the GF products are prepared. We do a thorough cleaning/sanitation of all surfaces and equipment on the days in between the gluten baking days and the gluten-free days. Also, the volume of product we make with gluten is very small compared to the quantities of gluten-free product.”

Unfortunately, these cakes do contain butter and milk so I did not taste them, but the rest of my family sampled them. The cake comes in individually wrapped slices. It is available in vanilla and spice flavors.

The cake was moist, I could see that. My family preferred the spice flavor. Vanilla seemed plain to them. They thought the cake was good, but not great. Being a flourless cake, it has an eggy sponge cake taste and texture to it.

I really wish I had been able to taste them because my family is not good at critiquing finer foods. That’s what these cakes are. They are probably not something you would buy to have for your child’s after school snack. They would be perfect for accompanying coffee or tea while you chat with a friend.

class="konafilter">Where to Buy: You can order from the href="http://www.euforiaconfections.com/" target="_blank">Euforia website. If you use the code “euforia1k” (no quotes) you will receive $5 off any cake purchase. You can also but from title="Amazon affiliate link" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JFAVOQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theglutfreeho-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005JFAVOQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon style="margin: 0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theglutfreeho-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B005JFAVOQ" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" />. A box of twelve small cake slices sells for about $30.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5216" title="giveaway" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/giveaway.jpg" alt="giveaway" width="406" height="181" />

The Giveaway: Euforia is giving away one box with 12 slices of their gluten-free cake. You must be a US resident to enter.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post telling me if you have ever heard of Euforia.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/EuforiaCake" target="_blank">Euforia on Facebook (you might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, January 6th at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product to sample, but was not paid to write this review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Dec

Nature’s Minerals by The Body Shop Review

Read full story on The Green Beauty Guide

Itâ??s never a good idea to leave home without a lip gloss. Usually I end up buying the gaudiest albeit least toxic lip goo available in a local drugstore.

This day, I stepped into a heavily scented The Body Shop haven – and yes, I managed to find a lip balm without parabens (a rare treat!) but most interestingly, I was surprised to enjoy a mineral makeup range that’s free from all the toxic nasties that normally pollute The Body Shop shelves.

The Nature’s Minerals range by The Body Shop is in fact the purest, greenest line in the whole store. Free from preservatives, bismuth oxychloride, synthetic fragrance, or other ugly ingredients, the line is made up of long-lasting foundations and cheek colors.

The shades are unfortunately too matte, and for a reason: they contain kaolin which is really good for acne-prone skin and is far less sensitizing than bismuth oxychloride. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide play the major role, along with some mica for shimmer. Kaolin still contains aluminum but in an inert form, kept inactive by the salts.

The only drawback in the lovely mineral range by The Body Shop is the color selection. Foundations are all a bit too deep and yellowish for Brit skin tones, and cheek colors are too rusty and intense to apply them safely.

I would probably go for a shimmery light peach or golden pink (think NARS Orgasm in minerals, of course, not the real “orgasm” filled with FD&C colors and parabens) but the lightest shade in mineral cheek colors, Pink Quartz, left my cheek bright pink in a merciless, 1980s style.

Women with deeper skin tones, however, will find this line godsend. And the prices are very reasonable!

What I really see myself digging in to is The Body Shop’s mineral eye colors. Rich in clay that, according to the website, |Itâ??s never a good idea to leave home without a lip gloss. Usually I end up buying the gaudiest albeit least toxic lip goo available in a local drugstore.

This day, I stepped into a heavily scented The Body Shop haven – and yes, I managed to find a lip balm without parabens (thatâ??s a rare treat) but most interestingly, I was surprised to find a mineral makeup range that’s free from all the toxic nasties that normally pollute The Body Shop shelves.

The Nature’s Minerals range by The Body Shop is in fact the purest, greenest line in the whole store. Free from preservatives, bismuth oxychloride, fragrance, or other ugly ingredients, the line is made up of long-lasting foundations and cheek colors.

I would probably go for a shimmery light peach or golden pink (think NARS Orgasm in minerals)but the lightest shade in mineral cheek colors, Pink Quartz, left my cheek bright pink in a merciless, 1980s style.

Women with deeper skin tones, however, will find this line godsend. And the prices are very reasonable!

What I really see myself digging in to is The Body Shopâ??s mineral eye colors. Rich in clay that, according to the website, @Itâ??s never a good idea to leave home without a lip gloss. Usually I end up buying the gaudiest albeit least toxic lip goo available in a local drugstore.

This day, I stepped into a heavily scented The Body Shop haven – and yes, I managed to find a lip balm without parabens (thatâ??s a rare treat) but most interestingly, I was surprised to find a mineral makeup range thatâ??s free from all the toxic nasties that normally pollute The Body Shop shelves.

Women with deeper skin tones, however, will find this line godsend. And the prices are very reasonable!

What I really see myself digging in to is The Body Shopâ??s mineral eye colors. Rich in clay that, according to the website, “Mediterranean clay is an absorbent mineral that helps bind make-up to skin for long-lasting coverage,” the loose eye shadows look like serious players and may be even prone to creasing and smudging. I am planning to get some Grey Graphite to play with disco look, and pale Pink Opal to add to my liquid foundation for some playful shimmery glow.

Good job, The Body Shop!

Mediterranean clay is an absorbent mineral that helps bind make-up to skin for long-lasting coverage,â? the loose eye shadows look like serious players and may be even prone to creasing and smudging. I am planning to get some Grey Graphite to play with this yearâ??s disco look, and pale Pink Opal to add to my liquid foundation for some playful shimmery glow.

Good job, The Body Shop. Itâ??s about time you offered us, green beauty junkies, something to muse about.

Petite Marie Organics: Holistic Skincare for Problem Skin

Dec

Grandpa’s Kitchen Mixes Review

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-flour-blend.jpg"> style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="Grandpas-Kitchen-flour-blend" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-flour-blend_thumb.jpg" alt="Grandpas-Kitchen-flour-blend" width="138" height="224" align="left" border="0" /> href="http://grandpas-kitchen.com/" target="_blank">Grandpa’s Kitchen is a company that sells gluten-free mixes and a flour blend. Here’s what they say about why the company was created.

“Some of our family members were diagnosed with Celiac Disease and after trying many gluten-free products, we realized there was a lot to be desired. Whether it was the texture, taste, or consistency, the products we tried were nowhere near the regular gluten-filled foods we were used to.

That is why we experimented with our own flours and recipes until we found the perfect blend. Our gluten-free flour blend can be used cup for cup in regular recipes. It already has the xanthan gum in it, so it’s ready to go. Our gluten-free mixes include pizza, bread, and pancakes and they’re all equally delicious and easy to use.”

I sampled the flour blend, bread mix, and pizza crust mix. The mixes are gluten and dairy free, but the directions call for ingredients such as buttermilk. I used substitutes.

Overall, we enjoyed the food made with these products. Here are my thoughts on each one.

Flour Blend

I first used this for coating pork chops. It was not the best for that. It think it contained too much starch for that type of coating.

I also used it in my href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/2008/09/cherry-chocolate-cake/">cherry chocolate cake. I hadn’t made the cake in a long time, but it turned out very well and everyone enjoyed it.

Bread Mix

The directions called for 12 oz. vanilla yogurt or soy yogurt or buttermilk I used plain coconut yogurt.

Although there were instructions for using a bread machine, they didn’t give exact times for programming a machine, so I thought it was safer to use the oven method.

The directions say to “Knead at least five minutes.” I thought that was a bit odd since gluten-free dough isn’t kneaded. I mixed it for five minutes in my stand mixer.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-bread.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-bread_thumb.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="265" border="0" />

The bread rose up beautifully, but as so often happens with gluten-free bread in large loaf pans (9 x 5 inch), it deflated when I took it out of the oven. The directions said to bake it 30 – 40 minutes. I baked mine for 35 minutes. Next time I would bake it longer and possibly cut back on the amount of yogurt.

Despite it’s deflation, it was nice bread. It was soft and spongy. The second day it was not as soft, but still reasonably soft.

Pizza Crust Mix

One thing I did not like about both mixes was that I had to add several dry ingredients including baking powder, baking soda, and salt (even though the mixes do contain yeast). A mix is something I like to use when I’m short on time, and having to add several other dry ingredients as well as the wet ingredients makes it seem like much less of a time saver.

The pizza crust called for buttermilk. I used almond milk. The directions did not say to warm the milk, but I did for the sake of activating the yeast.

The mix says that is makes two 12 inch pizza crusts. I had two twelve inch pans and there was no way I could make the dough stretch enough to cover both pans. I ended up making a 12 inch pizza and a 9 inch pizza.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-pizza.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Grandpas-Kitchen-pizza_thumb.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="300" border="0" />

The dough didn’t rise much, but when it baked it did get puffy and expand some. When I pressed the dough into the pan it was flat, but you can see from the picture that it spread out and up at the edges.

I probably could have made the dough stretch to about 11 inches in each pan and let it expand, but I didn’t know it would do that.

It made a very good thin crust pizza. We all enjoyed it.

Summary

The final products were very good.
It might take a few tries to figure out the best way to use the mixes.
Dairy free substitutes work well.
Several dry ingredients need to be added to the mixes making them less of a time saver.

Where to Buy: You can href="http://www.shop.grandpas-kitchen.com/" target="_blank">order online. There are also a href="http://grandpas-kitchen.com/GK/Location.html" target="_blank">few stores, particularly in Utah that carry their products.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1646" title="Giveaway.jpg" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Giveaway1.jpg" alt="giveaway button" width="342" height="265" />

The Giveaway: /> One winner will receive a bag of Grandpa’s Kitchen flour blend, pizza crust mix, and bread mix. The giveaway is open to US residents.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post telling me if you have tried any Grandpa’s Kitchen products.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grandpas-Kitchen-Gluten-Free-Mixes-and-Flour-Blend/298658244211" target="_blank">Grandpa’s Kitchen on Facebook
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, December 23rd at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with products to sample but was not paid to write this review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Dec

Jovial Pasta Review & Giveaway

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Jovial-spaghetti.jpg"> style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="Jovial-spaghetti" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Jovial-spaghetti_thumb.jpg" alt="Jovial-spaghetti" width="340" height="237" align="left" border="0" />

There’s a new pasta in my life and it’s name is Jovial brown rice pasta. I have been perfectly content with the brown rice pasta I have been using for years, but I have to admit that this one is better.

Jovial makes pasta from einkorn, which does contain gluten, and from brown rice. Be sure if you purchase any of their pasta that it is the gluten-free variety.

Jovial’s href="http://www.jovialfoods.com/products/brown-rice-pasta-gf.html" target="_blank">brown rice pasta is organic and certified gluten-free by the href="http://www.gfco.org/" target="_blank">GFCO. They have five gluten-free pasta products: penne, fusilli, caserecce, spaghetti, and capellini.

I wouldn’t say that Jovial pasta is way better than any other gluten-free pasta I’ve tried, but it is noticeably better. My family noticed it the first time I served it. They have liked the pasta I’ve been using, but when I served Jovial I received comments like, “This pasta is really good.”

align="center">Jovial Brown Rice Spaghetti href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Jovial-spaghetti-closeup.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="Jovial gluten-free spaghetti" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Jovial-spaghetti-closeup_thumb.jpg" alt="Jovial gluten-free spaghetti" width="400" height="300" border="0" />

One big difference I noticed is the flavor which is more similar to a regular semolina pasta than other gluten free pastas I have tried.

Another difference is the texture. It wasn’t mushy and leftovers that were kept in the refrigerator were not as hard and brittle as other pastas. I’m not sure I would use it in a cold pasta salad, but I might.

I found the pasta to be consistently good among the different shapes. I particularly liked the capellini which is a very thin spaghetti, like angel hair pasta. I have not found that in other brands of gluten-free pasta.

Free Sample: You can receive a href="https://store.jovialfoods.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=01122TR" target="_blank">free 4 oz. sample of Jovial brown rice pasta! Add the sample to your cart and check out. I don’t think you have to pay shipping.

Where to Buy: Jovial pasta prices are comparable to other gluten-free pastas. You can find a store near you with their href="http://www.jovialfoods.com/jovial-store-locator.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">store locator or order online from their website or from title="Amazon affiliate link" href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=theglutfreeho-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=jovial%20brown%20rice%20pasta&url=search-alias%3Daps&sprefix=jovial%20br#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon style="margin: 0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theglutfreeho-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" />.

Win Jovial’s Tuscan Dream Vacation! /> Join Shauna Ahern from href="http://glutenfreegirl.com/" target="_blank">Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef on a culinary getaway. The prize package includes transportation to and from Lucca, Italy, 6 nights in a Tuscan villa, and more.

You have until December 20th to enter which you can do by filling out the information on their href="http://jovialfoods.com/getaway" target="_blank">getaway page.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1646" title="Giveaway.jpg" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Giveaway1.jpg" alt="giveaway button" width="342" height="265" />

The Giveaway: One winner will receive six boxes of Jovial brown rice pasta. This giveaway is limited to US residents.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post telling me if you have tried Jovial brown rice pasta.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/jovialfoods" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jovial on Facebookyou might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, December 16th at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with boxes of Jovial pasta to sample, but was not paid to write this review. style="color: #ff0000;"> The opinions in this post are my own.

Dec

Columbus Salame Review and Giveaway

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/columbus-salami.jpg"> style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="columbus-salami" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/columbus-salami_thumb.jpg" alt="columbus-salami" width="210" height="154" align="left" border="0" />Salame is not a food I eat very often at all, but I was curious about trying href="http://www.columbussalame.com/" target="_blank">Columbus salame. I was sure that their products were a higher quality than any I had ever eaten. To start with I don’t think I had ever eaten anything with truffles!

I was sent two dry salames that are part of their limited edition cacciatore which is only available in November and December. One was truffle and the other porcini mushroom flavor.

The bottom line is that I really enjoyed them. My immediate family was mixed on it and my picky eater wouldn’t even take a small bite. However, I knew that some of my extended family foodies would like it.

My family gathered Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and as we sat around the kitchen snacking, I brought out these salames. I was right. The foodies liked them.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cacciatore-salame.jpg"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;" title="Columbus salame " src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cacciatore-salame_thumb.jpg" alt="Columbus salame" width="450" height="338" border="0" />

The verdict is that the mushroom has a much stronger, distinct mushroom flavor. But the truffle variety was really good also; it simply had a more subtle flavor. I , of course, couldn’t pair it with cheese, but others did. It was perfect holiday snacking food.

All Columbus Food’s salame is gluten free. You can find nutritional information on href="http://www.columbussalame.com" target="_blank">their web site.

Where to Buy: You can href="http://www.columbussalame.com/where-to-buy" target="_blank">find a retailer near you or see title="Amazon affiliate link" href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&x=0&tag=theglutfreeho-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&y=0&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=columbus%20salame&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">what Amazon has to offer. I don’t think Amazon has the limited edition cacciatore, but they do have other Columbus salame.

class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1646" title="Giveaway.jpg" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Giveaway1-300x232.jpg" alt="giveaway button" width="300" height="232" />

The Giveaway: One winner will receive the limited edition truffle and mushroom salames. This giveaway is limited to US residents.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post and tell me if you have ever tried Columbus salame.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/ColumbusFoods" target="_blank">Columbus Salame on Facebook (you might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry) The giveaway will end on Friday, December 9th at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with the above pictured salame to sample but was not paid for this review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Nov

Swanson Health Products Review & Giveway

style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline; float: left;" src="http://images.swansonvitamins.com/en_US/images/health-library/logos/logo-with-tan.jpg" alt="Discount Vitamins and Supplements - Swanson Health Products" align="left" />For a few years now I have bought a number of my vitamins and supplements from href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com" target="_blank">Swanson. They have good prices and carry a variety of brands. They are a family owned business that’s been around since 1969, and you can return any product up to 1 year–no questions asked.

Of course you all know that since vitamins and supplements are consumed like food, you have to be sure they are gluten free.

Thankfully, Swanson recently made that easier. They now have a href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com/_/n-3if" target="_blank">gluten-free category, as well as categories for vegetarian, vegan, kosher, and organic. In addition, they have added symbols to represent the dietary categories. For example, in the image below the little colored circles tell you that this product is vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and kosher. When on the site, hovering over each symbol will tell you what it stands for.

href="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image1.png"> style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="image" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image_thumb1.png" alt="image" width="300" height="126" border="0" />

I noticed that the Swanson brand products are not labeled as gluten-free which concerned me since I have used some of their brand products, including the href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWU363/ItemDetail" target="_blank">gluten peptide enzymes.

When I inquired about the gluten-free status of their products, I was sent the following information:

“Since we do not specify “gluten free” for our manufacturers, their facilities may handle gluten-containing products, introducing the possibility of airborne cross-contamination even though a particular product may not contain any inherent gluten-containing constituents. The same is true in our warehouse since we do bottle products containing barley, rye, oats and wheat; there is still the possibility of airborne cross-contamination even though no inherent gluten-containing components may be present in the product.”

In addition, they recommended two companies,

“Country Life is a certified “Gluten-Free Manufacturer.” They do not handle any gluten-containing products, nor do they get components from any manufacturer that handles anything with gluten.

Now Foods is another good choice for “Gluten-Free” since they have separate areas in their warehouse for gluten-containing products and separate bottling lines for gluten and non-gluten containing products. Both of these manufacturers are excellent choices that will specifically label their products as “Gluten Free.””

That was very helpful to know. If you are interested in products from either of these two companies, there is a “shop by brand” option in the left column of the site.

I have decided to start using href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com/ET355/ItemDetail" target="_blank">Gluten Defense which is an enzyme product similar to what I was using. It is not manufactured by one of the two companies listed above, but it is labeled as gluten free.

The Giveaway: Swanson is giving away a $25 coupon to one winner. The coupon can be used towards products and shipping costs.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Find a product at href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com/" target="_blank">SwansonVitamins.com that you already purchase somewhere else then leave a comment telling me what place has the better price.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/SwansonVitamins" target="_blank">Swanson Health Products on Facebook (you might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, December 2nd at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a Swanson coupon code to purchase products free of charge, but I was not paid to write this review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Nov

Rice Works Review & Giveaway

style="display: inline; float: left;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5187CNHLzgL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="" align="left" /> href="http://www.riceworkssnacks.com/new_index_USA.html" target="_blank">Riceworks is a gluten-free snack that comes in five flavors: Sea Salt, Tangy BBQ, Sweet Chili, Salsa Fresca, and Parmesan.

When I was recently contacted by the company, I looked into the gluten-free status of the crisps.

I had eaten them before, based on the ingredients list, but I always want to find out more before I recommend a product to you.

Riceworks is well informed about celiac disease and understands the importance of people having safe gluten-free food to eat. Here is their response on their href="http://www.riceworkssnacks.com/faq_USA.html" target="_blank">FAQ page about the gluten-free status of Riceworks:

“We can assure you riceworks is 100% gluten free. We send our samples to an outside lab, which have returned “none detected at a 3ppm level”. We rely on good manufacturing practices in our plant and with our suppliers. Although the plants are not gluten free, the lines that are used to manufacture riceworks^® are. There are only a small number of ingredients that include gluten in our plants. These are well marked, stored separately and used on different lines, and even in different rooms in the plants. After running any allergen containing materials, a full cleaning of the line is completed before moving back to non-allergen products.”

All five flavors contain sesame seeds. Only the Parmesan flavor contains milk, and only the sweet chili flavor contains soy.

style="display: inline; float: right;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41za5CCXutL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="Riceworks Salsa Fresca, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)" align="right" />

With that out of the way, lets talk about the snacks. Officially they are called crisps. I think that’s a good name for them. They are a little sturdier than many chips, and might even be able to be used like a cracker, but they are not as thick as a cracker.

They are plenty crunchy and come in a variety of flavors. Until recently, I had only tried the sea salt flavor which I liked. The company sent me free product coupons and I was only able to find small bags of sea salt and salsa fresca at a nearby RiteAid store.

My son and I both enjoyed the salsa fresca flavor. Neither of us are big on spicy hot foods. These chips had just enough spice for our tastes and reminded us of Doritos chips. I’m betting that the other flavors are pretty good too. These snack would be a great addition to a holiday party.

class="konafilter"> Where to Buy: You can find title="Amazon affiliate link" href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&x=21&y=20&field-keywords=rice%20works&url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&_encoding=UTF8&tag=theglutfreeho-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Riceworks on Amazon and in some local stores. Use the href="http://www.riceworkssnacks.com/retailers_USA2.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">retailers map to find one near you. style="margin: 0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=theglutfreeho-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" />

Coupons: You can also visit the href="http://facebook.com/riceworkscrisps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">riceworks Facebook page to confess your snacking sins. Once your conscience is clear, you’ll receive a coupon for $1 off your next purchase.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1646" title="Giveaway.jpg" src="http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Giveaway1.jpg" alt="giveaway button" width="342" height="265" />

The Giveaway: Six winners will receive one coupon for a free bag of Riceworks. Please be sure you can use the coupon by checking the href="http://www.riceworkssnacks.com/retailers_USA2.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">retailers page. This giveaway is limited to US residents.

Leave a separate comment for each entry:

Leave a comment on this post.
Like href="http://www.facebook.com/riceworkscrisps" target="_blank">Riceworks on Facebook (you might want to let them know I sent you)
Subscribe to this blog via href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=glutenfreehomemaker">email or href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/glutenfreehomemaker">RSS (or tell me you already do)
Post this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or mention it in a blog post (only one entry)

The giveaway will end on Friday, November 25th at 11:00 pm eastern time. The randomly chosen winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond after being contacted.

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product coupons but was not paid for writing this post. style="color: #ff0000;"> The opinions expressed here are my own.

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Swanson Health Products Review & Giveway

Rice Works Review & Giveaway

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