Foodie Friday 2: Gluten Free Cereal Guide

There are SO many gluten free cereals on the market, I had a hard time deciding where to even begin with this post... but here goes. My first attempt at summarizing the g-free cereal brands on the market. In order of BEST to WORST, in my opinion. 

1. Hot Cereal I really don't advocate cereal because, as you'll see from this summary, MOST g-free cereals are empty calories. They are made of corn or rice (practically void of protein and fiber) and contain way too much sugar. I'd rather eat a bowl of plain oatmeal where I get to choose my own toppings, fillers, and sweeteners. Alternatively, homemade granola is an amazing 'cereal' option. 

An old picture of oatmeal with almond butter swirl and strawberry jam.

2. Enjoy Life Enjoy Life is a company that focuses on allergen-free foods. Their flax crunch cereal (pictured below) is stellar. The ingredients? Sorghum flour, flax, honey, raisin juice (for sweetener), and salt. No junk, no refined sugar, no corn or rice. The nutritional stats are great too (7 grams of protein per serving! That is very high for a g-free cereal). If it is too 'plain' for your liking, try dressing it up with berries, a vanilla nut mylk, chopped banana, or a sprinkle of cinnamon. If you find it super bland, you could eat it with a sweetened nut or soy mylk to add some more sweetness. 

3. Barbara's Similar to Enjoy Life's products, Barbara's uses some alternatives to refined sugars, like molasses. Their products are mostly made of oat flour, but beware because others are mainly corn-based. Overall, I still like Barbara's because their ingredients lists are pretty straight forward. Just be mindful of the corn based varieties and that some of their cereals do contain gluten. 

4. Nature's Path Nature's Path is the gluten-free cereal king! They have TONS of varieties. They have g-free granola, puffed cereal, flake cereal, etc. However, they are mostly made of corn and rice and I find them to be very, very sweet. Mesa Sunrise is probably the most nutritious because it contains ground flax... but it's still corn based. *Sigh*.

5. Glutino Not a fan of these cereals. While Nature's Path is corn and rice based, and is sugary, they at least have flax, hemp, and other healthy ingredients added. Glutino cereals are pretty plain and pretty nutritionally void. 

6. General Mills/Kellogg's/Post Oh, boy. The big cereal brands are now making gluten free versions of their classic cereals! You can get g-free Rice Krispies, Chex, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Fruit Pebbles, and more. Don't be tricked into thinking that these are healthy cereals now that they have been dubbed gluten-free... they are still the same old candy cereals that they've always been. 

More to come! Next week I'll be featuring a homemade cereal recipe...

The best (in my opinion)! Image source here.

The Grand Finale.

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: The Grand Finale!

I felt the need to do just one more gfree bread guide because I had some remaining thoughts in my head that I wanted to put on the blog. Last one, I promise!

To the left: the most amazing local gfree bread I've ever tasted (covered with pumpkin seed butter). The company that made the bread is here.
To the right: another acceptable store-bought gfree bread I tried this month (I'd add to my list, ranking it as #5). The ingredients aren't stellar, but the bread toasts really nice. Glutino is the brand.

A couple of remaining thoughts: 

1) I've made some new additions (see above) to the guide. Glutino bread isn't that bad! Also, last month I tasted the best local gfree bread ever that just I had to share a picture.

2) Although I am making these recommendations, we must remember that taste is so so subjective. I made love one gfree bread, and you may absolutely hate it. For example, I love the bread featured to the left, but Tony can't stand it (we've both tried many gfree breads and tend to agree, but not on this one). Unfortunately, even though I've really tried to take the guess work out of buying/preparing gfree bread, it is still up to you to navigate the world of gfree bread based on your needs (cost, taste preference, availability, texture, etc).  

3) Lastly, when aiming to eat gfree, it is important to ask is whether you are sensitive/intolerant to gluten or rather to wheat? Wheat is the casing while gluten is the innards. Some people are really just sensitive to wheat and not actually to gluten. If only wheat is the problem, then maybe you can still enjoy flours like kamut and spelt? There are many awesome kamut and spelt breads available at major grocery chains and I suspect most bakeries. Talk to a Naturopathic Doctor about an elimination diet or a food sensitivity blood test to help you determine whether it is a wheat or a gluten problem.

...and with that, The Gluten-Free Bread Guide is finally over! *Phew* Thanks for sticking through those six posts.

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Five.

Part One: Store-bought

Two: Local is best

Three: Outside the loaf

Four: Do it yourself

Five: Let's go alternative

Part five in the gfree bread series.  Today's post will revolve around alternative breads.  Thinking-outside-the-loaf kind of breads. How about breads that are made not only without gluten, but without flour of an kind.  Yep, I'm talking about breads made with whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. Featured below are baked flat breads, skillet breads, and other unique breads from around the web.

1) Baked Flat Breads: combine all of the ingredients listed for each bread in a blender or whisk well in a bowl, then pour the batter into a parchment-lined baking pan. Bake at 400 for 20-40 minutes.

Chickpea Bread - 1 cup chickpea flour + 1 cup water

or

Lentil Bread - 2/3 cup dried lentils + 2 tablespoons flax seeds (grind seeds and lentils in a coffee grinder to make 'flours') + 1 cup water. Inspired by this recipe.

 or

Almond Butter Bread - 1/2 cup almond butter, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons honey. Inspired by this recipe. 

2) Skillet Breads: prepare this bread like you would pancakes! Blend or whisk well all ingredients and then pour batter onto a greased and hot frying pan or skillet.  Flip the flat bread once bubbles start to appear.

Buckwheat Flat Bread - 1/2 cup buckwheat flour + 1/4 cup oat flour (buy the flours or grind in a coffee grinder) + 1 tablespoon corn or arrowroot starch + 1 teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt + 1 cup water

or

Millet Flat Bread - 1/2 cup millet flour + 1/4 cup brown rice flour (buy the flour or grind in a coffee grinder) + 1 tablespoon corn or arrowroot starch + 1 teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt + 1 cup water

Lentil flat bread, cut into squares to spread pesto on.

Millet flat bread, perfectly round.

Bread made from almond butter!

3) Other flourless breads from around the web:

Cashew Bread - made using cashews and eggs.

Almond Flour Bread - made with almonds, ground to simulate flour.   

Whole Rice Bread - this one uses cooked rice to make a bread.

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Four.

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Four.

 Part four of my gluten-free bread guide. Today I'll talk about baking your own gfree bread.

Part One: Store-bought

Two: Local is best

Three: Outside the loaf

Four: Do it yourself

Five: Let's go alternative
.

Can't find good gfree bread at the store or unsatisfied with the stuff at your local bakery? Then take matters into your own hands and make your own gluten-free goodness. Here are some links to fabulous gfree bread recipes from the web:
.

- My bread recipe (seedy and doughy) 

- A compilation of Gluten-Free Goddess' bread recipes (she has many and they are all divine).

- Sandwich bread from Nourishing Meals. They also have other bread recipes on their website including teff bread and hemp seed bread (check out the bread section of this recipe page). 

- Gluten-Free Girl's take on bread.

- This bread recipe won a contest for the best gfree bread recipe from Living Without magazine.

Now I completely understand that baking gfree bread is easier said then done.  Making anything homemade takes time and resources (the ingredients and the baking equipment).  I find baking extremely therapeutic but I know it's not for everyone. I do recommend, however, that if you are living gfree, that you try out a homemade bread recipe at least once.  You never know: the recipe you try may give you the bread that you've been craving! Also remember that the weird ingredients required for gfree baking are there for a reason!  Baking (especially without gluten) is truly a science and requires the right 'chemicals' to get the perfect end result.

Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Three.

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Three.

 Part three of my gluten-free bread guide. Today I'll talk about thinking outside the loaf.

Part One: Store-bought

Two: Local is best

Three: Outside the loaf

Four: Do it yourself

Five: Let's go alternative

Although bread is doughy, squishy, warming, filling, and comforting... it is not needed for a complete diet.  To speak the truth, you don't need bread at all in your diet to be healthy, and the less bread you eat the better.  The horror! (I know). ...but everyone gets more than enough carbohydrates each day from fruit (all kinds), vegetables (most kinds, and a ton from potatoes and other starchy veg), other grains (rice, quinoa, oats, etc), and of course all the sugar that we North Americans love to devour each day.

According to the Paleo Diet, we should never eat bread because our digestive system is not evolved to eat it (note: I personally think that we as a nation have to stop eating a whole heck of a lot of other bad foods and clean up our diets in other ways, and need not take such drastic measures as the Paleo Diet, but the logic seems sound. Read more about the Paleo Diet here if you are interested).

Anywho, there are lots of other foods that can fill your bread (and gluten) void, such as:

Image source here.

Image source here.

Image source here.

Eat toast for breakfast? How about oatmeal or cereal instead?

Love crackers and cheese? Rice crackers to the rescue. 

Need a roll at dinner? Cornbread or savory muffins.

Like burritos and fajitas?  Fill your Mexican craving with hard shell tacos (made of corn). 

Sandwich fan? Wrap up the ingredients in lettuce wraps, rice paper wraps (think of those that wrap spring rolls), stack toppings between large rice cakes, or gluten-free tortillas (in the frozen section grocery stores).

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part Two.

 Part two of my new gluten-free bread guide. Today I'll talk about sourcing gluten-free bread locally.

Part One: Store-bought

Two: Local is best

Three: Outside the loaf

Four: Do it yourself

Five: Let's go alternative

Like many areas of life, choosing the local/close-to-home option is best for your taste buds, your health, your finances, and your planet. Note: today I won't go into too much detail on the overall importance of localness (I'm saving that for an Environmental Medicine blog post in the future).

In my experience, the best store-bought gluten free breads (other than those commercial brands I mentioned in part one of this series) are the ones made by Ma-and-Pa bakeries. You know, the independent one that's just around the corner? I strongly encourage those looking for gluten free bread to ask around their community to see if anyone local can bake it. The reason why local is important is because freshness is important.  One of the reasons why many commercial gluten free breads have awful texture is because they are frozen.  The fresher you can get gf bread, the better!

One of the exciting things about moving to Toronto was that I got to try out new, local gf bakeries!  And like the local bakeries that I loved in my old hometown, the fresh gluten free breads I've tasted here have been good too. 

The Gluten-Free Bread Guide: Part One.

Since going gluten-free has become almost trendy these days (apparently due to several popular books on gluten, everyone is trying out this new "diet" to lose weight), companies have been quick to respond to the need for gluten-free breads. Yet, the majority of these breads are bad. Yep, there are a lot of bad gluten-free breads out there these days and I've unfortunately wasted money on many of them. While you are welcome to experiment with these breads yourself, you can save some money by taking my advice.  I've done the dirty work for you and present part one of the five gluten-free bread solutions. However, buyer beware, because a bread sans gluten will never taste as fluffy and doughy as a regular, gluten-loaded bread.  Gluten, my friends, is the protein responsible for the squishy-fluffy-softness that so many love about regular 'ol bread.  In the coming days (or weeks), I'll present the following five solutions:

Part One: Store-bought

Two: Local is best

Three: Outside the loaf

Four: Do it yourself

Five: Let's go alternative 

Part One: Store-bought. I've rounded up the top four store-bought (commercially produced) gluten-free breads I've tasted. Here they are a couple of snippets about them all.  I really wanted to give my top five breads, but I honestly can't recommend any other store bought bread because they are either too pricey, have crappy ingredients, or just aren't that tasty. Sad, I know!

1) Chia Bread Soft, chewy, toastable, doesn't crumble or fall apart, super simple ingredients, awesome chia seeds, Canadian, and organic! 
2) Flax Bread Chia's sister bread. Same goodness, only with the addition of flax!    
3) Udi's bagels Whole grain, satisfies the bagel craving, not quite the cleanest ingredient list, but pretty tasty!  
4) Brown Rice Bread Chewy, chewy, chewy!  Toasts well.  Perhaps a bit too gummy for some, but I don't mind the texture.  Simple ingredients.  Small bread slices, however.