A Guide to Gluten-Free Goods: Jeanette's Healthy Living

The following Gluten-Free Guide was first published in Jeanette's Healthy Living blog.

About a year ago, I discovered my youngest son was allergic to wheat, and I have been on a journey ever since to learn how to cook and bake gluten-free. There are times, however, when I don’t have the time to bake. Also, when we travel, I pack a whole suitcase full of gluten-free bread, bagels, cereal and snacks since I never know what will be available nearby.

Compared to ten years ago, there are so many more gluten-free products on the market, some healthier than others. Gluten-free products can be expensive, and we’ve had our share of buying some products that ended up in the trash, so I’m hoping this list provides a starting point for anyone new to the gluten-free diet. Don’t be afraid to ask your local health food store to order any products you’d like to try – they’re more than likely to be willing to accomodate your request.

Gluten-Free Grains/Flours/Blends

• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free grains (rolled oats, amaranth, quinoa, millet, medium cornmeal) – for hot breakfast cereal, meatballs, cornbread, and cookies
• Trader Joe’s Quinoa – a good value; nice as a pilaf or hot breakfast cereal
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free flours (amaranth, quinoa, millet, sorghum, teff,  corn flour, garbanzo/fava bean, brown rice) – great for making your own gluten-free flour mix, and terrific in chocolate chip cookies
• Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes – perfect for granola bars and cookies
• Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flour – great in muffins
• Honeyville Almond Flour – wonderful for donuts and coffee cake
• Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour – perfect for hot pretzels
• King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour Blend – makes nice fluffy pancakes
• King Arthur Ancient Grains Flour Blend and King Arthur Gluten-Free Whole Grain Flour Blend – perfect way to up the fiber in muffins

Gluten-Free Baking Mixes

• Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix – great for pancakes, muffins and quick breads
• Pamela’s Cornbread and Muffin Mix – an easy cheat for Cornbread Stuffing Muffins
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix – perfect with a bowl of Turkey Black Bean Chili
• King Arthur Gluten-Free Pancake Mix – nice in a pinch
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix – contains sorghum flour which is high in fiber, iron and phosphorus
• King Arthur Gluten-Free Cookie Mix – good for birthday parties; add chocolate chips or other mix-ins

Gluten-Free Breads/Baked Goods

• Canyon Bakehouse San Juan 7-Grain Bread  – great for sandwiches, French toast, grilled cheese, croutons, or as a binder in meatballs
• Canyon Bakehouse Hamburger Buns – a must for traveling
• Udi’s Whole Grain Bagels – a must for traveling
• Udi’s Pizza Crust – prebaked; the best crust we’ve found that comes closest to regular pizza crust
• Udi’s Bread – good for Thanksgiving stuffing (it’s firmer and dryer than the Canyon Bakehouse bread) 

Gluten-Free Pasta

Turkey Bolognese served with Corn Pasta

• Ancient Harvest Pasta (quinoa and corn flour) – multi-colored Garden Pagodas andmini shells are fun for kids
• Schar Anellini (corn and rice flour) – perfect for chicken noodle soup and tomato pasta soup
• Le Veneziane Pasta (corn flour) – my kids like their fettuccini pasta and butterfly shaped pasta
• Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Pasta – very similar to Tinkyada, but less expensive, perhaps a private label brand
• Trader Joe’s Corn Pasta – much more inexpensive than other brands

Gluten-Free Cereal

Creamy Amaranth Porridge

• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free grains (rolled oats, steel cut oats, amaranth, quinoa, Mighty Tasty Hot Breakfast Cereal)
• Erewhon Brown Rice Cereal – I crush this cereal and use it as a coating for chicken strips for baked crunchy chicken tenders, or in no-bake “Clif” granola bars
• Barbara’s Gluten-Free Puffins Multigrain Cereal

Gluten-Free Snacks

• HomeFree gluten-free mini cookies- the chocolate chocolate chip (yes, double chocolate) and chocolate chip were my son’s favorites
• Kinnikinnick S’moreables Graham Style Crackers, for snacking or s’mores
• Mary’s Gone Crackers Onion Crackers and Chipotle Tomato Pretzel Sticks
• Trader Joe’s Savory Thins (rice crackers), perfect as base for Soy Sesame Salmon Tartare
• Crunchmaster Rosemary & Olive Oil Multi-Seed Crackers, terrific with Kalamata Olive and Caper Hummus
• Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Crunchy Cookies
• Food Should Taste Good The Works! Tortilla Chips, great with Roasted Corn, Avocado and Black Bean Salsa
• Glutino Gluten-Free Pretzel Twists and Sticks

Special Gluten-Free Items

• Mary’s Gone Crackers Just The Crumbs – the Savory bread crumbs are a nice crunchy topping for Roasted Cauliflower and coating for Buffalo Chicken Nuggets
• Kinnikinnick Panko Style Bread Crumbs – great for coating chicken tenders and onion rings (for green bean casserole)
• Kinnikinnick S’moreables Graham Style Cracker Crumbs – perfect for Pumpkin Pie
• Orgran Gravy Mix – good in a pinch, especially during the holidays
• Bell & Evans Gluten-Free Chicken Tenders and Applegate Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets – great for vacations or lazy days
• Annie’s Rice Pasta and Cheddar

Comments

[Lauren]

Kudos for doing a gluten free column but I have to strongly disagree with most of this list. There are so many great products put there that have flavor and great qualities!! Kind granola, rudis and glutino bread, crunchmaster crackers, trader joes oats, tinkyada pasta joy, de puma pasta, rts fresh pasta, , tates gluten free cookies, french meAdow chocolate chip cookie diugh. Sorry for the list, but most of the products above ARE products i throw out and have thrown out in the past 6 years... Dont want to mislead people!!! Also- What about the restaurants in the area that do such an amazing job at providing gluten free options too?

[Stephanie Webster]

@Lauren-The above list reflects a well researched group of products that appeal to a family working with the constraints of a gluten-free diet. Everybody will have their own preferences, and I hope we can start a dialogue and a running list of products.that work for others as well. You clearly have some experience on this topic. It would help the community if you could continue this thread and include some more of your favorite gluten-free products below.

[Lauren]

Stephanie- I am actually meeting a newly diagnosed Celiac at Whole Foods today to help them start out with the basics. I will update with what I think can help! I TRULY thank you for having a gluten free post! Until I get back with an update on the local products I like best... people can peruse my blog: http://gfmoments.blogspot.com/ (to be honest I need to keep on it better, but it's a place to start :) )

Thank you again!

[Jeanette]

@Lauren, I put together this list based on products my 9-year old son has tried over the past year after finding out he was allergic to wheat. My intention was to provide a resource of healthier gluten-free products (most of the items included in my list do not consist of white rice flour and starches as the key ingredients) that he's enjoyed, so many of these products include whole grains. There are certainly plenty of gluten-free products that he has not tried. We have thrown out our share of bad tasting gluten-free products as well, so I would love to hear your thoughts on your favorite healthier gluten-free products.

[Travels4Food]

I just want to say thanks for this post, and to add a few of my own favorites. As pastas go, Schar makes the best I've had in terms of taste and similarity to semolina pasta in texture. Trader Joe's corn pasta is also surprisingly good. Trader Joe's also makes a gluten-free brownie mix that is pretty outrageous, and have newly begun offering gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, though they've had gluten-free gingersnaps for quite some time (both are very good).

Pamela's has a website with very successful recipes, and I like their cornbread mix very, very much.

NPR just published an article about some flour-free desserts that I thought was interesting and appealing - there's a lot that can be made without flour of any kind.

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/14/146872166/baking-without-flour-brings-sweet-results