My Mom read that title and  thought that I was going to talk about pubs and other assorted drinking holes.

But don’t worry mom the point of this post is bars, of the cereal and snack kind.

I try really hard to make sure that I have a snack bar on me at all times. You never know when you might get stuck in a situation where there is nothing to eat, or when a sudden hunger crash will take you down. Having something on hand just makes life a little easier.

GF snack bars can be completely hit or miss and that’s why I took on a bit of a challenge when I started looking for one that I wouldn’t mind eating. So here are the ones that I chose and as always, here are my unedited opinions on them.

1. Enjoy Life Chewy Bars

These were…um…interesting. They were a little dry, but definitely chewy, and not in a bad way, but not in the way I thought they would be. The chocolate flavour reminded me of how those powdered chocolate shakes taste – like chocolate and chalk ground up together. The pluses of the chewy bar: perfect size for a snack, tastes good enough. Minuses of the chewy bar: a little lacking on moisture, and not as chocolaty as they could be.

Verdict: Just alright.

2. Glutino Breakfast Bars

I was excited about these ones. I really really wanted them to taste like Nutrigrain bars. And, well, I guess they were close enough – okay, maybe not enough at all. BUT, for gluten free, I’ll give them some credit. The blueberry filling was tasty, so that’s a plus. The outside however was DRY and every time I ate one I really needed something to drink. These bars will give you a bit of dry mouth.

Verdict: Good enough if need be.

3. Bakery on Main Granola Bars

I like this company and these granola bars are no exception. They are chewy and taste good. Really the only thing I have to say to the negative is that they can get a little sticky and that means having to pick at your teeth. I think it’s a small price to pay!

Verdict: I’ve already purchased more.

4. Kind Fruit and Nut Bars

Hello to you Kind. I tried a couple different flavour combos of these bars and I loved all of them. They were filling, flavourful, and just awesome. Of all four bars these are my favourite. They aren’t the easiest to find but when I do, stocking up is the name of the game. AND they’re dairy free which is awesome for those of us that are lactose intolerant.

Verdict: Can I get a Hell Ya!!

Having an erratic schedule and a random life means that I don’t always know when and where my next meal is going to come. Having a snack bar in my bag makes me feel just a little more comfortable. I definitely found my favourites but all in all, any of them will do and that’s a great thing for Celiacs!

Related posts:

1. Udi’s Bread I’m sure I’m late to this party because I’ve heard...
2. When the Mice and Snowmen Come to the Party. Okay, I’m going to talk about Christmas again. I know,...

When the grocery store near us started carrying Udi’s Sandwich Breads, Husband decided it was time we took a break from baking our own to start trying this frozen stuff. I was skeptical because not only was it frozen, but it looked to good to taste normal. I hate that about GF foods sometimes, they look really normal, they look like their non-GF counterparts, and then you get all excited and try a piece and BAM, it tastes like sandpaper.

Promsing myself I’d keep an open mind, I immediately dug right in for the two pass or fail tests of GF bread: grilled cheese and french toast. Because  if the bread can’t hold up against those two things, then I’m simply not going to eat it.

I started with grilled cheese. And I have to say that for the most part, I was impressed. It toasted well, it held together and it didn’t fall apart when I dragged it through the pile of ketchup on my plate. My only real sticking point with it, is that it toasted a little dry, and by that I mean crunchy. Wow, here I go again with my amazing ability to use descriptive words ~ never claimed to be good at this ~

The next morning I decided to jump right in to the next test of bread worthiness – french toast. I was seriously impressed with the bread, mostly because it passed the first step of dunking it in the egg mixture. This is the point where GF bread normally just falls apart, and it didn’t do that.

Hurray kids, it made it to the pan.

The bread did good in the pan, it toasted up well. When it was all said and done, it wasn’t half bad. It was a little dry, but not horrible. We normally use a double dunk technique, but when we tried with this bread it just became too soggy, so we had to choose between a little dry or a lot soggy. A little dry for the win.

So here’s the deal: Udi’s White Sandwich Bread passes the tests. We’ve had it around ever since. It doesn’t compare to the smell of bread baking in the machine, but it is far easier and comes with a zero chance of fire.

We found Udi’s at Harris Teeter but I know that it’s sold in a million other places. Here’s a store locater thingy if you need one.

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I want to talk about Mice and Snowmen – the edible kind.

Every year, Husband and I have a Boxing Day party. (If my non-Canadian readers are curious what that is – google it and fall in love with Canada) We started this tradition a few years ago as a way to see all of our friends at least once on the holidays. We’re at the age where everyone has to split their time between in-laws, and a few of of our smartest friends have traded domesticity for student life in far off lands and they only come back at Christmas. It just seemed like the most logical way to get everyone in the same room together.

Since Boxing Day is right after Christamas, we decided that out party was  going to include our version of a classy holiday dinner. So, we serve Turkey Sandwiches on Wonder Bread, and novelty deserts. (I eat my sandwich on GF Patisserie Sandwich bread, because it’s awesome.) This annual shindig has been affectionately names the Tiny Turkey Party, mostly because we cook the smallest, most decrepit turkey we can find – you know, the one that is left at the bottom of the bin after all the other turkeys were bought for Christmas dinner. We think those turkeys deserve some love as well.

This year, since we’re homeless in Canada, we held the party at my parents house. Now, I need you to know one thing right now – my Mom is like this domestic goddess. So this year, I decided to take some chances because I knew she’d be there to bail me out when I managed to mess things up! And as you all know, it’s inevitable that I will.

And this is how we got to the Mice. Completely edible and completely GF Mice.

Here’s a picture so that you stop judging me and keep reading:

Okay, so now you’re curious about how I made these completely GF. It was actually easier than you think. The base, NOT an Oreo, it’s a GF Glutino cookie. The face, is a Hershey Kiss, the body is a cherry dipped in chocolate (hence the tail), the ears are almond slivers and the eyes are GF decorating gel that I found at Superstore.

It was as simple as dipping the body in chocolate, attaching the head and ears and then putting the whole thing on the cookie. The best part about these Mice – watching people try to eat them. It actually turned into a competition to see who could come up with the most effective way of eating the mouse. Extra points were given to those who could do it in one bite.

The Snowmen were also an experiment in classy GF holiday goodies. Husband and I made these – my Mom was not there to supervise. And, well, you can tell. Here’s a picture:

Okay, in our defense, these sounded so much easier than they actually were. It was just icing sugar, mint extract, and soy milk. Mix it all together to make a dough, form into balls and decorate like Snowmen. For some reason, it didn’t turn out like that for us. That being said, we aren’t ones to give up on things so we carried on did the best we could with what we had. We also decided to take them to the next level by creating characters. Can you point out Liberace, the Generals, the Emo Hipster and the confused DJ? See, that’s called distraction, and it works in so many ways!

I’d like to thank my parents for allowing us to take over their house, my Mom for supervising, my cousin for helping with the mice, and our friends for eating whatever we put in front of them – you’re all troopers to me.

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There are a few things that have to go by the side of the road when you’re on a budget, and for us, one of those things is spices. While not the most expensive thing on the shelf, they are always the first thing to be cut. GF eating is not cheap and since my loaf of bread is the equivalent of two nice steaks, we often have to choose between quantity and flavour.

Well people, I’m here to tell you that Santa Clause is alive and well. He answers prayers and he rewards good behaviour. I know this because this Christmas Santa delivered Husband and I spices. Picture this, two grown adults almost in tears over Cinnamon. It happened, and we’re not ashamed.

Santa, who knows everything, knew that we didn’t have the budget for frivolity so he went to The Silk Road Spice Merchant’s and stocked us up. ALL gluten-free we received: Chili Powder, Thai Green Curry Powder, Spiced Vanilla Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice, West-African Citrus Spice, Poultry Stuffing Blend, and Indonesian Korintje Cassia Cinnamon. We are in flavour country. Dinner has never tasted so damn good. Santa found Silk Road at the Calgary Farmers Market before it closed down. So now you need to go to Ramsey, to get your spice on. And trust me, it’s worth it. There is nothing like fresh spices. You use less, you taste more and you support the local industry in Calgary that supports GF living.

If you’re not sure what to choose from I highly suggest the Spiced Vanilla Sugar, it has transformed our culinary world. And if you’re a chili eating machine like Husband, definitely get the Chili spice. It’s so flavourful that you only need to open it to know that you’re about to be transferred to a new level.

Thank you Silk Road and thank you Santa. I promise to be extra good this year so that next Christmas I can look forward to another stocking full of spice.

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That’s how long I was in YYC over the holidays. And trust me, I took every opportunity I had to eat my way through the city.

Up to the point of arrival, I hadn’t set foot in Calgary in a year. I was excited, I was nervous, I was about to be very cold. Within minutes of getting off the plane and hugging my mom I became two things – two things that would stay with me until I left. I became stupid and I became hungry.

My brain collapsed. A full year of graduate school, writing, reading, analyzing, working, networking and pretending like I know what I’m doing, all came crashing down. It was a full system failure complete with light switch rave. If you’re unfamiliar with my reference, please turn up the speakers on your computer then click here.

I also suddenly felt the urge to eat. I think my intestines realized that they were no longer in danger of poisoning from poorly labeled and poorly regulated US gluten free foods. Trust me people, the labeling and the standards in Canada are far stricter than they are here. And in many ways you should be grateful.

A few short days after landing, it suddenly occurred to me that our first wedding anniversary was happening. Two things about this anniversary: First, I call it our wedding anniversary not just our anniversary because we celebrate two anniversaries. We celebrate the anniversary of our first date and we celebrate our wedding anniversary. I want credit for time served and think that having to start at one when we get married is unfair to the two’ish years we were together before that. Second, I realize I haven’t really blogged about the wedding and the food and the cake and all those things that everyone wants to know about. This is on purpose. I’ve sat down to do it many times and I just can’t seem to finish it. I don’t know why. But I’m going to stop trying. If any of you are getting married and want GF advice please just email me. I’ll help however I can even if I can’t muster up the words to do it in a blog.

Okay so now back to the point of this blog post.

For our wedding anniversary we decided to head downtown (our favourite place in Calgary) and try out a new restaurant. After hearing about it from friends we decided to go to CHARCUT. I have one thing to say about the experience: Hell To The Ya!

Service: Impeccable.

Food: Unreal.

Drinks: Original and Creative.

Knowledge and Execution: Divine.

I’m going to rip off their website to describe what the menu is like:

In creating menus, our goal is to continue to evolve simple ingredients. Ingredients are sourced from small, local artisan farmers and ranchers, with herbs harvested daily from our own garden, minimizing the miles food travels. We like to know the first names of the people whose products we serve.

What this boils down to is amazing gluten free options. They know what’s in their food and they know what shouldn’t be in their food. They even have GF bread so you don’t have to miss out on some of the best items. If you have the chance, you need to try the Burger CHARCUT style. It’s made with house sausage and it sounds weird but it’s amazing.

Husband and I talked about our meal and talked about our anniversary for days. I also talked about the non-ketchup they have. They don’t have ketchup like you and I know it, they make their own version of ketchup like sauce. Again, it sounds a little off but it’s damn tasty.

People, GO TO CHARCUT, love it, tell all your friends and then thank me later!

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KEEP DISNEYLAND ALIVE

The biggest gift I was given as a Celiac is GF Patisserie in Cochrane Alberta Canada. Run by the most dedicated ladies in the world. GF Patisserie has become my life staple, actually it’s my Disneyland. It’s where I go for fantastic bread and wonderful treats. It’s actually where I go for not only my birthday cake but for my family’s cakes as well. It’s where I go to be normal again, to feel like I’m being given the biggest GF hug; frankly, it’s where I go to feel good about myself.

And now it’s for sale.

~Pause for reflection~

Okay, now that you’ve adjusted to the news, it’s time to think about the future. There is going to be a large changing of the guard and I want to make sure that the guard is worthy.

So, if you or anyone you know, has a passion for GF baking and would like to know more about how to be part of GF Disneyland CLICK HERE.

But, and this is a big one, you must be prepared to make me GF Naniamo Bars every Christmas. This is not a request, this is a demand. The ladies of GF Patisserie have perfected the Naniamo bar and I ask Santa for them every year. And trust me, you wouldn’t want to stand between me and Santa.

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Why?

Because I’m here for your entertainment. You’re welcome.

So this is how it went down:

1. Buy GF lasagna noodles.

2. Google what to do.

3. Send Husband to buy the ingredients.

4. Fail

The whole time I was attempting this culinary feat, all I could do was sing the Adam Lambert song Whataya Want From Me.

Pausing for a moment so you can judge my musical choice.

Let’s talk noodles:

Timkyada Pasta Joy Ready Lasagne Rice Noodles were the ones I chose. I’ve had many different Timkayada rice noodles before and I like them. These however, didn’t like me. The package was clear on what to do and we paid attention – we were almost clinical about it. And here’s what happened:

Yup, a clump of shredded noodles. But I figured I could hide under this mess under the meat sauce so I wasn’t too concerned. I must say, that aside from the impossibility of them turning out as whole strips, they actually tasted good. Not to heavy not too starchy and not crunchy.

Meat Sauce:

Out of a can added vegetable and meat. Nothing new or fancy here. If you want homemade pasta sauce recipes, why would you bother to look read this website?

Cheese:

We went with an assortment of Lactose Free Gluten Free cheese. Nothing special just the stuff you find in every grocery store. But here is where it went a little wrong – we ran out. So we resorted to GF/LF cheese slices. And why are they two different colours you ask? Because for some unknown reason they have both cheddar and American cheese here. It looks almost the same, it sure tastes exactly the same, but it’s not the same. Turns out that we had two different packages in the fridge and ended up with a mosaic top. We decided to embrace it and take joy in the art we had created!

The end result:

The most random, concoction of cheese, meat, sauce and noodles. I really should have just made pasta and thrown sauce on it because there was nothing lasagna-esq about it when we were done! Husband, the good man he is said it was amazing. He also has to live with me, so unless there is a life threatening situation, he knows better than to tell me that anything tastes less than awesome. Bless him and our marriage.

And with that, I leave you with insight from Mr. Lambert:

Just don’t give up, I’m working it out, please don’t give in, I won’t let to let you down. Give me a second to breath, just keep coming around. Whataya want from me.

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This category includes blogs about arts, crafts, cooking, photography etc. And I am over the moon excited to be nominated and even more stunned that people know about Glutastic!

Warning; moment of gushy feelings ahead.

Being nominated is one thing, knowing that I wouldn’t even be on the map without you awesome people is another. I started this blog because Celiac disease sucks. I know it sucks, I knew other people thought it sucked, and I wanted to write about ways to make it suck a little less for all of us. As my wonderful readers you have supported my unique ideas and kept me going. You guys kind of rock – like serious rock star level for everyone.

Please take a moment, go to the page and vote.

VOTE HERE

And if you want to know more about the other categories etc go HERE.

And for my parting wisdom I say: Stay Frosty Everyone.

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Reason #735.8: Long distance cakes.

Being an Aunt is the most amazing job I’ve ever had. Being an Aunt means I get all the great things about being a parent while skipping over everything else. Husband and I get to teach our kids (as we call them) stupid human tricks, we get to take them places their parents won’t, we get to act like morons in the name of entertainment and we get to celebrate their life moments without having to pay the bill. And most importantly, we get to hand them back when we’re too tired to deal. Husband and I have 3 nieces and 2 nephews that are truly superior to everyone else and their nieces and nephews. (insert gagging Hallmark face here)

One of my favourite Aunt responsibilities is making my niece Elle her birthday cake every year. I don’t know how this started, it just did and I take my job seriously. Elle is not a Celiac, but because I am, and I love cake, I always make her a GF cake. Some people might be thinking that this is a bit selfish, but I’m really just looking out for her – I wouldn’t want her to think that her Aunt hates cake. That would just be traumatic. (yes, logically that argument is flawed – but it’s my life and my blog and I say it works.)

This year, things were going to be a little different. No matter how hard I tried, there was no way to mail a GF cake over 1200 km’s and across the boarder. Not being one to give up I thought that I’d just go the cop out route and order one from Co-Op in Calgary and call it a day. BUT, then it hit me. My cousin has kids who are gluten intolerant and they will be there. How could I deny Ellie and them the GF cake goodness they’ve come accustom to. I decided that I was not going to be “TeeTee Let Down”, so I sent out an email – maybe more of an SOS but an email none the less. And guess who rescued me……

GF Patisserie!!

Over emails we picked the size, flavour, decoration, writing and I even paid for it via paypal. The best part of the whole process was that I didn’t even need to leave my desk. And trust me, as a student, you start to think of your desk and your computer as an extension of yourself.

Oh and people, Lauren is a rock star. She managed to take my babbling, turn them into a coherent order and execute exactly what I had in mind. The results were perfection…..see…..

Some of you are looking at that cake a little quizzically. Your eyes are not deceiving you. It does have the words, TeeTee, Dunkle and Epic on it. TeeTee and Dunkle just happen to be what Elle decided we should be called. Instead of Aunty and Uncle, we’re TeeTee and Dunkle. And that’s just fine by us, we even have it on coffee mugs! And speaking of stupid human tricks, there is now a rambunctious 4 year old running around Alberta telling everyone that she’s epic. (again, not an issue for us as we’re not her parents) No niece of ours will ever suffer from self esteem issues!

If you’re wondering how a toddler reacts to a GF cake, here’s a snap shot:

And no, that wasn’t staged. That’s just how Ellie is – when she’s not plotting world domination. She’s a girl after my own heart.

I heard nothing but great things about the taste of the cake. I’m told that the adults were half tempted to cut smaller pieces for the kids so that they could have more for themselves. And when adults are willing to take cake from kids, you know it has to be good!

Thanks GF Patisserie. You really made it easier to keep tradition alive even with some serious distance.

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And we really like to find new brands. So we were more than happy to do jumpy claps in the isles of Whole Foods when we saw these.

I fell for the Better Batter packaging first. I’m not afraid to admit that I judge a brownie mix by it’s cover. I want companies to care enough to spend the money to catch my eye. AND it makes it much easier to see on a shelf of things filled with Gluten.

We compared it with some other brands and I was happy to see that it was lower in calories and fat than most others. I feel way more justified eating a pan of brownies when I know that I saved some calories.

They baked well and they were easy enough to make. I appreciate things that are easy to prepare. Less work for me the better. Super high points for that.

The brownies were moist and tasty. We liked them, we also liked that they stored well.

The only turn off was the price. They were significantly more expensive than the other popular brands. And enough so that we would think hard about buying them again. There are other brands that are just as good with a better price point. ~cough Bob’s Red Mill cough~

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