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The Basket - A collection of posts from the Basket

The Basket is a collection of Gluten Free product reviews and reviews of predominant grocery stores from the main Glutastic.com web site. If you are interested in having a product reviewed on Glutastic, feel free to send any suggestions to caitlin@glutastic.com. P.S. I will never say no to free product samples.

Summer Time and the Living is Easy
June 1st, 2011 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 4 Comments »

It’s summer time y’all.

And for me that means two things: a break from school and lots of good food.

To start off the summer right I want to talk about hamburgers – about the kind you make and the kind you buy.

First, the kind you make. Everyone has their favourite burger patty recipe. And I’m sure we could spend the next three months just talking about that. And since (as it comes to no surprise to all of you) that I don’t make my own, what I’m going to talk about is the bun. A bad GF bun can and will ruin the burger no matter how good it is.

Husband and I were shopping at Whole Paycheck Foods last week and came across Udi’s hamburger buns. At first I wasn’t all that excited because I’ve only found one hamburger bun I liked. ~cough GF Patisserie cough~ That being said, how was I going to be the one to turn down an opportunity to try something new. I mean, it’s not much of a blog if I don’t put myself and my taste buds out there right?!

So we went for it, and as soon as we got home I decided to make some turkey burgers. (actually Trader Joe’s made the burgers, I just thawed them and put them in the pan) When all was said and done, it was time to try it all together. And guess what people, I was really impressed! They were great. They were perfectly sized, they didn’t compete with the burger patty or the millions of toppings that I put on it. And best of all, they didn’t crumble, which means getting to eat my burger WITHOUT a fork and a knife. Sometimes it’s the little things that matter the most!

If you’re unable to find Udi’s in your neck of the woods, try THIS link. It may be of some use.

After all the work of heating up our own pre-made burgers, we moved on to eating burgers completely made by others.

In the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk around DC about this place called Shake Shack. It’s a burger joint with it’s own little schtic; they keep it simple with burgers and hot dogs and fries, oh and milkshakes. After a quick google search we discovered that they had GF options. And I was really excited to learn that they took it seriously and that they knew what the challenges are for people like us.

From the menu, I chose a cheese burger with lettuce and tomatoes – no bun. Husband had a double cheeseburger with the works. For those that are wondering, Shake Shake offers a wide range of milkshakes that are GF, and for a list of the ones that aren’t, just go to their webesite(or you can ask someone that works there – they know what they’re doing). I chose to forgo the milkshake because of that whole lactose intolerant thing, but if any of you have tried one, please let us know what you thought.

And there is some caution to be had with the fries. On their own they are gluten-free and they are cooked in a separate oil from other things. However, at the end of every night the different oils are cleaned together, which means there is potential for a little cross-contamination. I don’t chance that kind of stuff because I suck and my body will tell me when the smallest piece of gluten is in my food. So if you’ve tried the fries and havent had an issue (or have tried them and have) please let us know your thoughts.

Okay, with all that being said, I’m sure you want to know if it was any good. And it was, it was one of the best fast food burgers I’ve had in a long time. It wasn’t greasy, it had flavour and the toppings were fresh, very fresh. The best part, was that all of their condiments were Heinz and GF. Hell ya. (Shake Shack is located is the US only, sorry Canada, I still love you. Please keep it on the list for when you travel!)

It’s happy summer time everyone. So get your burger on!

Let’s Talk About Bars
April 4th, 2011 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 1 Comment »

Ha, do you know what just happened?

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!

Udi’s Bread
March 8th, 2011 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket 3 Comments »

I’m sure I’m late to this party because I’ve heard people talking about Udi’s for sometime. So if you’ve already tried it and formed your opinion, then…well… it’s your choice to keep reading or not.

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.

Adding Spice to Life
February 2nd, 2011 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized No Comments »

It’s no secret, we’re on a budget. Actually, we’re living the high life of student poverty. Between the cost of living, the cost of tuition and books, and my inability to work in the US, Husband and I are left with pennies at the end of every month. I don’t have a single complaint. Actually, I love it. We’re happier now then we ever were as a duel income family.

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.

And When It Was Over…
December 6th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 2 Comments »

My ribs hurt.

So here’s the deal:

I have this totally awesome family. We might not be the most well adjusted people, but we’re fantastic, and just recently, we all got together for 4 days of bonding. There were many highlights of the trip, like watching my niece kill it on the basketball court, watching the twins compete for the most scars and bruises in a 48 hour time frame, and watching our other niece school us at video games – she’s 4. I also thought it was completely wonderful to watch my parents pat themselves on the back for not having raised any convicted criminals, liberal artists or impressionist painters.

What they did do however, was give birth to a Celiac. And for this, the whole family has suffered. That being said, they are wonderful and they do their best to accommodate me. (My sister-in law gets a special shout out for making sure there were snacks around that I could eat.) And it was this desire to accommodate me that lead to a wonderful discovery – Caprese Ristorante Italiano.

Okay, here’s the deal with Caprese, it’s 100% gluten free. Do you need a minute to think about that? Maybe you should take a deep breath. 100% GLUTEN FREE.

And aside from that, it’s damn good. Everyone in the family ate like kings. From the wine to the dessert, and everything in between, it was amazing. To start they bring you bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Now just think about that for a second, when was the last time you had GF bread that didn’t fall apart the second it was dipped into something? This bread was awesome, it held it’s shape, it was fluffy and it had the best crust.

After that, Husband and I shared the gnocchi. I think I actually cried on the first bite. Not only was it just perfection, but I got to share with someone and not have to worry about cross contaminating forks. I think I ate more than Husband simply because I threw an elbow or two when he tried to dig in too much. Many others had starters and I heard nothing but sighs of joy. Sighs of joy from the Gluten Eaters, now that’s an accomplishment.

The main course(s) did not disappoint. Actually, they only made things that much more amazing. I had a great chicken dish that came with breaded chicken, brie cheese, a sauce that I can still taste when I’m dreaming and some veg. Husband had Cacciatore, and the rest of the group had everything from fish, to stuffed chicken and spaghetti. Would you believe that the whole table went silent for almost 15 minutes? We were too busy eating to bother talking to one another. And trust me, we’re a family of talkers so this was a big deal.

After the main course (and all of us having at least one appetizer) the question came – dessert or no dessert? Once the choices were given to us, the decision was easy – we had dessert. Mom and I shared cheesecake, my siblings had creme caramel and the kids (including Husband) had Angel Food cake with an ice cream center. Oh yes, you read that right, inside your slice of angel food cake is a big scoop of ice cream – it’s not on top, it’s not underneath, it’s in the damn piece. Genius. The cheese cake was good, I’m sure on a normal day I’d be raving about it, but on this day, it was simply okay in comparison to the rest. The angel food cake, well that was just simply a creation of my dreams. The creme caramel – oh my, that was a fan favourite. My nephew was actually vibrating over it. I think at one point, he reached out from his high chair and grabbed the spoon right from my sisters hand. We all agreed with the little man that it was worth it – no piece left behind.

Other things we loved about Caprese: dinner was served on warm plates and dessert on cold ones. The service was impeccable, I’m actually at a loss for words. The chef deserves a standing ovation. I actually got to thank him personally and if I didn’t have personal space issues I would have hugged the guy.

If you find yourself in Ottawa, this is the place you need to go to. Actually, no, you need to put this on your list of things to do in 2011, because your life will never be the same after.

(I’m sorry, it just occurred to me that a number of you are sending me strongly worded emails right now because I waited so long to tell you Caprese is in Ottawa…which is probably not where you are. Sorry – but I wanted you to know about this before you judged it for being in Ottawa.)

To the owner Luigi Paravan and his staff at Caprese, I say thank you, and we will see you soon.

Birthday Time
August 10th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 10 Comments »

It was my birthday this past weekend.

Hurray for me!

I knew going in to this birthday that things were going to be different. Not only am I living in a new apartment, I’m living in a new city, in a new country, with different people and new things. I was also completely aware that this would be a birthday without GF Patisserie. (insert quiet sobs here)

People, this scared me. GF Patisserie has been my birthday go to – I go to them for cupcakes, cake, lemon loaf, and Naniamo Bars. If you’re wondering how I get Naniamo Bars in the summer – I save one at Christmas and freeze it until my birthday! It’s a test of wills and determination to leave them in there that long.

Knowing that this year I would be without my beloved GF Patisserie, I went on a mission. I needed to find something suitable. I decided that the best thing to do would be to focus on cupcakes. Husband and I picked three and here is what we found:

1. Vanilla Cupcakes from WholeFoods.

We found these in the freezer aisle at Whole Pay Check Foods. I was skeptical about them. They looked good, but looks can be deceiving. Once thawed we decided to dive right in. They were good, like really good. They were moist and had a great icing to cake ratio. The icing reminded me of Crave icing – so very very good.

My major complaint is the price. NOT affordable for a grad student. These will be a treat maybe once a year. The verdict is that we really liked them but can’t afford them. Thus, GF Patisserie still wins for their taste and affordability.

2. Black Velvet cupcake from Red Velvet.

Red Velvet is a cupcake shop in DC. We found it by accident while walking around China Town. All they sell is cupcakes and there is only one GF flavour – back velvet. I figured that this cupcake had to be great because this is what the do – just cupcakes. After one bite all I could think was: um, maybe they do a better gluten cupcake then a gluten free cupcake. It was dry, very very dry. The icing was okay, it was fluffy and airy but it was just okay. I won’t be going back there, it wasn’t worth the $3.25 they charge for the cupcake. Or the line that you have to wait in. If I had to say what the most redeeming quality of it was – location, we were able to eat our cupcakes while sitting on the steps of the National Gallery. And trust me people there is nothing like the view from those steps – people can be so strange when they don’t know you’re watching them.

(if you’re keeping track, that means that GF Patisserie is still on top)

3. Vanilla Ginger Cupcakes by Sweet Sin Gluten Free

We found these at WholeFoods, again in the freezer isle. I was excited about the change in flavour. Vanilla Ginger is not a flavour you’d expect to come in GF, especially not in a frozen cupcake. To be honest, they were nothing special. The flavour was nice, but just nice. The icing was okay, but a little gritty with sugar. What I will say I really like about these cupcakes was the price. They were really affordable. And to be honest, that will affect my decision to buy them again. They were good enough and a good price, that means I would probably buy them again if I was looking for cupcakes.

I had a great birthday, I got to spend it in one of the coolest cities in the world and I got to spend it with some really interesting people. What I miss however, is GF Patisserie. I miss the great taste and the affordability of it. So, this Christmas, I’m going to save some Naniamo Bar and I’m going to find a way to get here and in the freezer. And if they try to take it away from me at customs – I may just have to call on my inner ninja.

Stampede Y’all
July 9th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized No Comments »

It is with great sadness that I have to miss this year’s Stampede.

The funniest part about that statement is that I actually haven’t been to the Stampede in almost 3 years. Like most Calgarians who were born and raised in the “Heart of the New West”, I eventually came to a point where I associated Stampede with bad fashion, cheap beer and obnoxious tourism. Now that I’m not there, I kind of miss those things.

For those of you wearing your cowboy hats and suddenly injecting “yee haw” into your everyday speech, here are some GF pancake breakfasts I’ve been told are happening.

Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association

Saturday July10th at 10am

Purified Water Store

#315, 2555 32st NE

And

Community Natural Foods

Saturday July 17th 7-10am

202 – 61st Ave SW (Chinook Center Location)

I haven’t been able to verify this one personally, but please do look into it. I think it would be awesome if they had one and everyone came out to prove that we matter!

In commemoration of Stampede, I am currently walking around Washington DC with a cowboy hat on my head. And TRUST me when I say, this is not something they are used to!

Happy Stampeding Y’all.

Summer Solstice
June 24th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 6 Comments »

Well Kids, it’s official, the longest day of the year is now behind us.

For some this is not that big of a deal. For Calgarians, this is depressing. Your weather has sucked and the sun seems to be illusive. And for that I am sorry for you. In this, your dark rainy hour, I offer you a little solstice I call My Life.

The summer solstice here was incredible. According to the weather channel it was a hot and humid 85 degree day (29.68 Celsius and yes I googled that). There was a light breeze and the birds were singing. And I got to spend it in the most wonderful way – reading complex social theory.

Ha. You were wondering how that was supposed to make you feel better weren’t you? I read a total of 53 pages of social theory -  theories that came with words like fissiparousness and dei ex machina. Trying say that ten times fast, and better yet, if you know what it means can you please let me know. Oh and to make things even juicier, I even got to take notes on it all. Awesomness!

In an attempt to save me from my life, Husband decided he would treat me to the greatest dinner ever. Hot Dogs and Alphatots! Oh my sweet Buddhas, for a moment there, you wanted to switch me places didn’t you?

To construct this master piece meal we used buns from The Grainless Baker, Nathans Famous Beef Franks and Ian’s Alphatots.

Let’s start with The Grainless Baker: Hello to you.

The buns were soft but held firm enough to hold the hot dogs. They steamed well and they did not dry up. I found these at Wegman’s, I’m not sure where they may be in your area but please leave your sightings in the comments section for those who may live around you.

Next is Nathans Famous Beef Franks: Hi Nathan, can we be BFF’s?

The franks were great. They stayed juicy and most importantly they tasted normal. They tasted like real people hot dogs. Like the kind I could feed my family without having to tell them there GF. Such a great thing. I found these at Harris Teeter.

Finally we have Ian’s Alphatots: Another one of the many men in my life.

We bought these for you, the people of Glutastic. When we saw them our collective age and maturity told us that we had no need for such childish things as Alphatots. BUT, this isn’t about us, it’s about you. Okay, okay, who are we trying to fool. This purchase was all about us and the need to reject the confines of adulthood and maturity and have fun playing with our food. So, that being said, Husband and I were both very impressed by the outcome. The tots are a great combination of crisp outside and soft potato inside. My only complaint is that there wasn’t a full alphabet in the bag. That’s like having fridge poetry without enough “is” or “and” magnets. Oh well, I guess we can’t have everything all at once. And in case you’re wondering, I found these at Harris Teeter, or shall I say Husband found them while skipping up and down the frozen isle to stay warm.

The final verdict: Hot dogs are the dei ex machina of being me.

(you are so going to google that now.)

Thinking About What I Really Need.
June 14th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized 6 Comments »

Walking through the frozen section at the Harris Teeter I came across this colourful box with the word: Cheenies on the front.

The voice in my head: This has to be awesome. The box is cool, the name is cool, and it says that they love them in Brazil. I like Brazil. Never been to Brazil. But if I do go, I know I can eat Cheenies. Which is perfect because I think I need to go to Brazil. Yup it’s a need. I love sun and beaches and for all that is holy and full of sprinkles I think I LOVE Brazil. Need to go.

Really that’s all it takes to make up my mind. If I can turn something into a need that will fulfill some aspect of my future life, I do it. Our needs will always be met and that is why I know I need a chocolate pony that poops M&M’s. That is for another day.

On this day my need was for Cheenies – which the box says are cheese bite rolls.

Well, I can’t say that I have felt the need to have them since. Because I still don’t really know what they are. Don’t get me wrong, I just said they were cheese bite roles, but they’re not. The box may say they are but they aren’t. And now I am left questioning what the people of Brazil would consider cheese and rolls. Maybe this isn’t the match made in heaven that I thought it was. Oh no, does that mean that I maybe don’t need that pony?

Sorry, what am I thinking. I NEED that pony, especially since I’ve already named him Sparkles.

Okay, back to the point. I’m not a fan of Cheenies. I found them greasy, lacking in the cheese aspect and they smelt a little like burnt cream puffs.

And now that I think about it, I may in fact NEED a cotton candy elephant that poops cream puffs. I wouldn’t want sparkles to be lonely. I shall name him Dexter.

How to Meet the Fire Marshall
May 28th, 2010 | caitlin | Categories: The Basket, Uncategorized No Comments »

Ever wondered how you could meet the local Fire Marshall AND be able to enjoy a sandwich while you were at it?

It’s as simple as baking you’re own bread.

Finding decently tasting, relatively affordable, GF bread has been a bit of a challenge. So in light of these challenges I went where I have gone before – to the kitchen. (insert dark, intense, suspenseful music here)

Having been given a bread machine from my parents, I set out to find as many varieties of GF bread mix as possible. I was a girl on a mission to be all awesome and domestic and budget conscientious and generally just be a whole lot of greatness in one person. As things progressed I really felt like I was on my way. I had chosen three very different breads: Bob’s Red Mill Homemade Bread Mix, PaneRiso Foods Rice Bread and Baking Mix, and Schar White Bread Mix.

As I thought out how I was going to present this post to everyone I decided that I would evaluate the breads on the following criteria: Taste, Moistness, and Ease of Use. Well, that shortly changed to Taste, Ease of Use and Flame Potential. When you stop laughing and looking at the page puzzled, I ask you to stop for a moment and remember who I am – I should have been able to guess that somehow fire and destruction would find there way in to my kitchen adventure.

So here we go, this is what I discovered:

1. Bob’s Red Mill Homemade Bread Mix.

I heart Bob. Bob has been this steady loving man in my life. He never disappoints and he always has a smile on his face. Another thing that I love so very much about Bob is that he’s not afraid to dumb things down for Domestic Anti-goddesses like myself. The mix came with the yeast needed. Let’s be honest people, there is a very large chance that I would mess even that part up if it hadn’t been handed to me. And the instructions couldn’t have been any easier to follow.

So in the machine it went. In hind sight I probably should have checked to see if the mix was compatible with bread machines. But that’s hind sight. Only useful when it’s too late.

As Husband I were enjoying the smell of freshly baked bread we jolted out of our chairs by a smell. The smell of burning. Initially I thought the neighbours were burning their dinner and I was about to make a snide comment about it when Husband interrupted my evil thoughts screaming: The Mushroom Collapsed.

After the 30 seconds it took me to decode what he actually meant, I rushed over to the kitchen where he was standing, digging out the chucks of bread on fire in the bottom of the machine. See..

I’ve since learned that bread in a machine has a tendency to rise above the rim of the bowl and start to resemble a mushroom cloud. And sometimes, that mushroom breaks off, and pieces fall on to the heating element and light on fire. If you have the ability to extrapolate and find humor in the oddest places, that series of statements will provide you with hours of comedy material. Anyhow. Turns out the mushroom collapsed and we had ourselves are very own fire in the machine.Thanks to Husbands quick thinking and skills with utensils from Ikea, he got the pieces out and the fire contained and the smoke cleared and I had bread.

After all that I will say, the bread was really nice. It was a little dense and thus I only used it for opened faced sandwiches, but all in all, Bob did good. That’s the thing about Bob. He can still make it good when I try to burn the house down. Points for Bob.

2. Schar White Bread Mix

Moving past our fire from before I decided to tackle the next round. I was again happy to discover that the yeast was included. NICE. I really love being able to narrowly avoid another trip to the grocery store. The directions were Glutastic proof and we loaded up the machine. In an attempt to be all Martha Stewart with a better hair cut, I decided to pick a different setting. This time I chose light crust setting. Why not, right?

The smell of fresh bread began to fill the apartment. Pleasantly surprised when there was no fire, we waited anxiously for the bread to be ready. Turns out that our Albino bread was worth the wait. It was moist, and held together well. From a taste standpoint, it was good. It still had the trade mark GF taste where you know that what you’re eating is GF but it wasn’t overwhelmingly “not normal”. I would say that the bread was again a little to dense for a sandwich, so open faced was the only way to go.

3. PaneRiso Foods Rice Bread and Baking Mix.

This one is for my people. Why? Because it’s Canadian. I was really happy to find this product. I have never seen them before and thought it was really very funny to find the Canadian brand only after moving to the USA.

As I sung the National Anthem and began getting everything I would need to start mixing it all together I noticed one major issue. I would need to buy yeast. Yarrgg. So after a few days we made our trip the grocery store and 30 minutes later left with yeast. Seriously people, you can judge me all you want but I really did not find the experience fun. There were too many choices and labels and packages. I’m not one for having too many choices. Simple is best.

Oh well. Moving past the extra trip, I decided that this was going to be awesome. So I loaded up the machine and prayed for sunshine. Again, I think hindsight would have helped. 30 minutes later Husband and I were in a familiar place – him digging out the fire and me fanning the fire alarm so that the entire 12 story building wouldn’t be evacuated over my inability to be in a kitchen without disaster.

Pushing forward and unable to claim defeat when I see it, we finished the bread cycle and kept an open mind. Things did not look like they were going to end well. The bread imploded.

Not being one to waste bread I decided to carry on and make a sandwhich. The following interaction best describes the experience:

Husband: How’s your lunch?

Me: My sandwich tastes like campfire.

Husband: The couch smells like burning.

Me: Grab the fabreeze and tell no one that this happened.

Husband: I’ll add it to the list.

All in all, I have no comments on the taste of the bread. All I can think is campfire, campfire, campfire.

I’m sure many of you are wondering where this little adventure has left us. Well, it’s left us with a few wonderful little life lessons. We’ve learned that random fires in a bread machine will cause said bread machine to cease working. So now we are the proud owners of a new machine. It’s a hand me down so we have less guilt if it goes up in flames. We’ve learned that anything can be funny with the right perspective. And it’s been reaffirmed that I am not able to accept defeat. I will not be taken down by these fires, I will try again. And as I attempt not kill another bread machine, I will bring you along for the ride. Because let’s be honest. I make you feel better not only about your own culinary skills, I make you feel better about your life in general!

Happy bread making everyone.

(if you’re wondering where I found these mixes here is where you can start looking: Wegmans, Harris Teeter and Giant. The stock is always in consistent so keep your eyes open.)