Enjoy Life Foods: New Chocolate Products

July 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Enjoy Life Foods is one of my favorite brands. All of their products are allergy friendly, free from top eight allergens… and other common allergens as well. They use only dedicated gluten-free and nut-free facilities and maintain strict standards to ensure that their products are safe for people with food allergies. The company was founded in 2001 with the goal of making “delicious products that just about everyone can EAT FREELY!” I believe they have done just that.

When Enjoy Life Foods contacted me and asked me to taste test a couple of their new products I jumped at the opportunity. I’m sure I would have enjoyed any of their products, but I was super excited that these were both new chocolate products. How could anyone turn down chocolate? Ever since my food allergy diagnosis (wheat, soy, and corn) Enjoy Life is the only chocolate I ever buy. I know it’s safe and it doesn’t taste any different from “normal” chocolate.

The two NEW products they sent me were Double Chocolate Crunch Granola and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks. Typing that makes me feel like I might need another chocolate snack!

Package arrival

First I tried the granola. Honestly, I was a little worried that all that chocolate in a breakfast would be too sweet, but it really wasn’t. It was definitely super chocolaty without being over-powering. They granola is crunchy enough that it didn’t get all soggy as soon as I poured the milk on it. It was a filling and satisfying snack… just yummy!

GranolaGranola with milk

Then I tried the chocolate chunks. I had a hard time deciding what to use them in first, so in the end I went with the the picture on the package as my inspiration, blondies. I mixed a handful of chocolate chunks into my gluten-free batter, added another handful on top, and into the oven they went.

Baking blondies

We tasted some of the chocolate chunks plain while we waited. My non-allergic family said they tasted great. My chocolate-loving mom tried a few extra just to make sure they were really good. These were mother approved!

Mom testing chocolate

I have no complaints, the blondies were very yummy. I would love to use this chocolate again in future baking.

BlondiesBlondieDessert timeMe eating dessert

Thanks for the treats Enjoy Life Foods! And thanks for making so many great, safe products that I can enjoy! I can’t wait to see what else you come up with in the future.

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Namaste Foods: Breakfast for Dinner

July 13, 2011 By 3 Comments

I love having breakfast for dinner, don’t you? Last night I finally tried a new recipe for pancakes that I had been wanting to make for a while now. I used my favorite brand of baking mixes, Namaste. I can’t even remember the last time I had pancakes. Back when I was a kid I used to be able to eat as many pancakes as Dad could make. Dad’s pancakes are THE best… super light and fluffy. And although these weren’t as good as Dad’s, they were still pretty darn good!

Pancake mix

As always, Namaste mixes are super easy to make. I added only two eggs, some oil, and some water. I also added some of the blueberries that I picked myself for extra fun. The only down side was that they weren’t as thick as regular pancakes, I guess because of the lack of “normal” flour. They gave new meaning to the phrase flat as a pancake. So the blueberries didn’t really have enough room to sink into the pancake like they were supposed to, but they still tasted the same.

Blueberry pancakes

I added oh-so-yummy pure maple syrup on top. I’ve been spoiled my whole life with only ever buying pure maple syrup. It may be a lot more expensive, but it is definitely worth the price. And now I have an excuse to only ever buy the real stuff because I can’t have the ingredients in the fake stuff.

Maple syrup

And… guess who else had the pleasure of enjoying breakfast for dinner? Jesse isn’t a huge fan of pancakes and would usually need more protein and calories in a meal, but since he wasn’t feeling too well last night it worked out okay. Plus I’m pretty sure this is only the second time since we’ve been married that we’ve had breakfast for dinner. That’s just sad! Especially since there is nothing to not love about pancakes.

Jesse eating pancakes

Are you craving some pancakes yet? Maybe you should put them on the menu for tonight!

Yummy pancakes

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Millet

July 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Bulk milletMillet is another one of my new allergy friendly snacks. I never would have thought to try it if a friend hadn’t recommended it to me. According to my limited (Wikipedia) research, millet has very similar nutritional value to wheat and is a much more common food in other parts of the world. Since it’s gluten free it’s a regular ingredient in many of new my new snack foods, but I like to eat it plain as well.

I buy millet at my favorite health food store, Nutrition S’Mart. It comes packaged or we like to buy it in bulk since it’s much cheaper that way.

Preparation is very similar to the way you would make oatmeal. The millet first has to be rinsed and then boiled in water. I measure out one cup of water and 1/3 cup of dry millet. The millet is brought to a boil and then cooked at a lower temperature until all the water has been absorbed.

Rinsed millet

I’ve found that the best way to eat it is with lots of brown sugar sprinkled on top. It’s a filling snack and is super satisfying when you are in need of something sweet.

Millet cereal

Yummy!

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