Gluten-Free Food Review - Pine 22

Not only is it a Gluten-Free Food Review, it is a gluten-free food review from a meal at a restaurant!!!

A few weeks ago, a group of us were chilling downtown.  After much chit chat and several of these

 we decided it was time for some grub.

A couple in our group knew of a burger place just right around the corner called Pine 22.  Due to the fact the place was on Pine Street #22.  Clever?  Yes, I agree.

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It was very cute inside.  It is a build your own burger place... I was completely overwhelmed...

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I am not the best when I have to make a decision.  And this menu made it 100 times harder.  I mean there were things I knew I didn't want, but still there were sooooo many choices!  Oh and this is only one side of the menu!!

Once I had decided to go with the lettuce bowl someone mentioned the sign in front of them said they now had gluten-free buns.  Choice now = 1000 times harder.  My dilemma: Do I go with the g/f and maybe it taste horrible or do I go for the safe choice and go with the lettuce?

My bf and the order taker helped me decide to pick the bun.  I was nervous.  Would it be millet based and hard?  Would it be more like Udi's and softer?

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised!

The bun was soft and squishy and cut very easily.  It did not taste bad at all!  I wolfed it down (I almost forgot to take a picture!) and wished I could have another one without busting my tummy.

The bun reminded me very much of a bun I had had long long long ago.  I did a quick little search and I couldn't find the brand that I am thinking off.

If you are in the Orlando area and need a gluten-free option, Pine 22 is a must stop.

Makes me want to go and have one right now!!

Gluten-Free Food Review - Udi's Chocolate Cookies

Welcome to my second gluten-free food review!

Today's item is ..... DRUM ROLL!!!!....

More Udi's!! (yea it is kinda obvious that I like their stuff)

I recently was at the grocery to prepare to attend a party.  Now as a wheat-intolerant (possibly gluten-intolerant) person I hate going to parties were I know yummy gluten/wheat filled food will be (yes at times I am weak and end up eating some bad things).  So in my rounds of the store I decided I needed to make sure that I bought some yummy things for myself.  I desperately wanted to buy some Oreos and just pretend they were good for me... but alas I was trying to be honest with myself and be good.  I had seen these chocolate chip cookies a few times in browsing the "sweet" Greenwise Section of the freezers and resisted buying them (I am sensitive to sugar too).  So I opened the door and grab them.

At the party everyone else was snacking on things and I just could not wait any longer.  I grabbed a few out and patiently waited (well lets be honest, very impatiently) for them to thaw.  I have to say that I very much enjoyed them.

Since then I have paced myself because each container has about 10 cookies.  Very disappointment when comparing the price for 10 cookies against how many you can get when you buy Oreos... but that is how the gluten-free food world works.  Also they are slightly smaller than what I would considered a normal sized cookie.  See my hand side-by-side comparison.

I will definitely be buying them again when I have a cookie craving.

Try them out, I think you'll like them. :)

Gluten-Free Food Review - Udi's Pizza

This weekend the bf and I went to Whole Foods and it gave me an idea.  They had tastings of some gluten free products and I decided "why don't I do that?!".  So I am.  :)

Introducing.......

The first item I would like to review is Udi's new line of oven ready pizzas.  Very exciting I know!  I will tell you what Udi's has some of the best products I have ever tasted.  Don't worry I will be sure to share more of the products later.

There were two or three other options but I thought this one sounded fabulous with the mozzarella bits.  I don't have the exact price but I want to say it was around $7 or so.

This is what I saw upon opening the box.  It is freezer packed tight and on a cardboard circle to hold it flat.  I felt the ingredients were fairly evenly placed on the pizza.  I was surprised the mozzarella was in the shape of balls and thought it was so cute!!

 I wanted some meat on the pizza so I added some turkey pepperonis.

 What it looked like after I put on the pepperonis.

The directions call for the pizza to cook for 12 minutes from a frozen state.  I did that but I felt as though some of the edges were cooking faster than the middle.  I would have wanted to cook it a little longer but I didn't rotate the pizza until it was almost done and I was worried about burning the sides (what good is a review of a burnt pizza???).  I think that if I rotated it in the middle of the cooking time and cooked it for a few minutes longer it would be perfect.

Some of the mozzarella pieces did not melt as must as the others and this might have been because of my not rotating it at the right timing.  There was a collection of what the bf and I thought was olive oil on one side (but we think that might have been due to how we were not able to get the pizza in the freezer right away - yea we were running errands).

The verdict???  It was delicious!  The crust was crispy and didn't have that gross grainy taste like some other crusts I have experienced.  I would definitely choose to purchase this product again!

I can't wait to share the next g/f item I taste tested this week!!!

Enjoy!!!