Our celiac summer has transitioned into a glorious, gluten-free fall – and we’re still out here falling for new GF foods all the time.
Z is making us so proud the way she continues to try new foods and discover new favorites! She feels amazing and it’s so good to see her glow and GROW.
Did I mention she has gained almost an inch in height since getting off gluten? It’s as if that “poison” had caused her body to stop growing, but she’s back at it now!
Our gluten-free favorite foods list is getting pretty long. Here are five new-to-us, celiac-friendly foods that immediately made it into our regular pantry rotation. They are that good!
- Schar Bagels – As a former New Yorker, I’m serious about both pizza and bagels. I normally don’t like store-bought bagels, so I was very skeptical about these Schar ones which looked scrawny and skinny to me. However, to my surprise, Z absolutely loved them! Pop them in a celiac-safe (never used for gluten-containing bread) toaster, smear on some cream cheese and voila – it’s not Panera, but it’s pretty darn good. I’m so glad we found a quick alternative for breakfast or lunch! They come in plain and everything flavors – Z prefers the plain. We found these at Meijer.
- Schar Marble Loaf – You know those times in the afternoon or late at night when you want a snack that is a little sweet, but not too crazy? This pound cake loaf is perfect. It’s chocolatey, but not too chocolatey. The taste is that of a muffin, not a cupcake. It would be great warmed up with some ice cream on top, or just sliced thin and enjoyed right from the package. I also think this marble loaf would make adorable tiny tea party sandwiches with a thin layer of Nutella or cream cheese and some fresh strawberry slices on top. We love to get fancy sometimes! We found this at Meijer.
- Amy’s Mac & Cheese x 2! – We recently tried two different varieties of Amy’s gluten-free mac & cheese, and both were terrific. Z preferred the traditional, classic taste and appearance of Amy’s gluten-free Rice Mac & Cheddar Cheese. It tasted and looked the most like normal, typical mac & cheese of any GF options we’ve tried. I really liked the Amy’s GF Aged Cheddar mac & cheese bowl, which had more of a garlicky white Alfredo-style sauce for an elevated look and flavor. Both will be staples in our freezer and can be found at Kroger in the freezer section.
- New York Bakery GF Texas Toast Five Cheese – we’ve told you about this brand of Texas Toast before, but there’s also a cheesy version. Now that we’ve tried the five-cheese variety we’re never going back to plain butter and garlic. These bad boys dipped into a little Rao’s red sauce are pure deliciousness! I have found this at Wal-Mart and Meijer in the freezer section. It’s another one you’ll want to stock up on.
Now that we’ve been gluten-free life for four months, I need to vent a bit. Why can’t stores create a gluten-free section and put everything celiac-friendly in that section? That would make life SO much easier! Instead, every trip to the store ends up being a treasure hunt to try and find the gluten-free items we love as well as new ones we’d like to try. The GF offerings are shoved into the shelves alongside regular food, which makes them annoyingly hard to find. Just a tip for any shops that would like to give themselves a competitive advantage: give us our own GF section, please!
As always, let me know if you’ve tried anything deliciously gluten-free lately that we should put on our to-try list. We’re always keeping our eye out for new snacks and foods!
