Gluten Free Product Review #1: BoxedGF Mac & Cheese

I know there are already a bunch of websites and blogs that do this, but perspective is a precocious thing and I thought maybe my point of view may be of value to someone out there, so here we go:

Road's End Organics: Organic (redundant, eh?) Mac & Chreese (yes, Chreese) Alfredo Style Whole Grain Brown Rice Pasta

(Sorry about the terrible picture, I took it with my camera phone.)

I purchased this at Walmart of all places, (more on that later) because I was looking for an alternative to the Annie's Rice Pasta Mac & Cheese which the kids tolerate but don't really enjoy. It cost right around four dollars, which is quite a lot for a box of instant food purchased at a discount store. I was hoping it was worth it...

It wasn't.

Nutritional Information:
I tried to keep in mind that this was a fully vegan product. It is labeled gluten free, soy free, lactose free and cholesterol free. It has 310mg of salt which you cannot taste a single milligram of. There is little fat (3g), 8g of fiber (which is great), and 8g of protein (which is also really good). The cheese sauce has nutritional yeast in it which is free of candida albicans that people with chronic yeast infections should try to avoid and also adds a small amount of iron, a mid-level amount of B12 and folate.

I tried the pasta by itself, which was fine, just like all the brown rice pasta I've had since being Dx'd with celiac about a year ago. Then came the sauce...

On the side of the box is a little explanation of why they call their cheese alternative chreese. It says "All our ingredients are plant based, like trees. This package is made from 100% recycled paperboard. No trees were chopped down to produce it. Organic ingredients are farmed without theuse of synthetic chemicals. this helps preserve soil and groundwater and allows plants, animals and trees to thrive." It's kind of cute but a bit of a stretch. It's also hard to say.

Anyway, the chreese is made of brown rice flower, enriched nutritional yeast and the above mentioned vitamins. B1 and B2, however, are on the ingredient list but their percentages are not mentioned on the Nutrition Facts label. Also included in the mix is green lentil flour, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and basil. All the ingredients are organic.

When mixing the powder with the milk (according to the directions you can also use water) it seemed nice and thick. It was an interesting greenish gray color which I didn't mind too much compared with the practically fluorescent orange of other boxed m&c's.

However, when added to the pasta (or rather, when the pasta was added to the chreese as per the directions) the whole concoction looked rather...gross. I've eaten plenty of things that looked gross but tasted wonderful (so have my kids) so my hopes were not too dashed by this development.

Here are the results of the taste test:

1. Smell: bland, nothing exciting either way in this department.
2. Mouth feel: Gross. I'm sorry, there is no other way to describe it. I am sure I mixed the chreese correctly and well but it still felt powdery on my tongue. The stuff literally coated my tongue with powdery yuckiness.
3. Taste: Bland, bland, bland. It felt like eating baking powder or flour. Hoping that the lack of taste was the problem I added several good shakes of salt on my second bite and still it was not good. I spit the second bite out.
4. Overall: I do not recommend this product. The combination of terrible mouth feel and lack of any discernible taste made this product extremely unpalatable.
   

I don't like writing negative reviews but this is the honest truth. None of my kids liked it either, even though I didn't act like I was giving them something I didn't enjoy.

People used to vegan foods may enjoy this product so I am going to give a box to a friend and see what she thinks. I will append her review to this post when I get it.

So, in the end, I have yet to find a good gluten free alternative to boxed macaroni and cheese. Which may be a good thing, since if I want the good stuff I'll have to make it myself out of real, whole ingredients. However, the benefits of boxed m&c are great when the kids are being watched by a friend or sitter.

*New development: my 8 year old and 4 year old have asked to try it again. I'll append their reactions in a bit. Also, after sitting for a few minutes the stuff has gained a smell that is a not unpleasant basily-garlicy smell. It does not taste any better to me, however...I spit that bite out too.

A day day day to clean clean clean...

Seriously, my house is a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R.

However...I happened to log onto The Pioneer Woman's blog to catch up on the few months I've missed. Her blog is wonderful, it is awesome and it is inspiring. It makes me want to write and take pictures and cook...all things I LOVE to do. If you've never been there, go. It's a great site.

However (again) my house, as previously mentioned, is a MESS.

Brad left for the weekend with L-Boogie and some other assorted males (okay, not assorted, they were a set--Matt, Gavin & Ephraim, all related, Dad, kid, kid, in that order.) to Ocean Shores for the weekend. Man time.

This previous week we've all be sick with icky flu/colds so the house, of course, was the first to go down the tubes. Not to mention that I was gone for six days down to SoCal for a funeral the week before 'sickie week'. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) our home is scary messy and I need to fix it.

I'd just rather read blogs and write on mine.

Well...it HAS been a while.

More on my trip and what exactly I do when I can't sleep and my husband is gone later.

For now...dishes.

Eeek!

You want to go to this show...you know you do!

Pets...

I write a pet column for a local paper. The article I am currently working on is about summer pet safety you may not know about.

I'm writing part of it on car safety...and I don't mean leaving a dog in a hot car! Check out this video.

Now go get a safety harness for your dog or pet carrier!

Darn it all to heck!

I'm gluten intolerant...gluten (anything made of or that has touched barley, wheat, rye) makes me tired, achy, cranky and gives me tummy issues of which I need not go into detail.

So this time of year, with all the get togethers and BBQ's I've made a commitment to get gestapo and not get sick from eating the wrong things at other people's parties. My two older kids are sensitive to gluten as well, so I'm trying to protect their poor little bodies too.

Today we had Loren's 2nd grade end of the year BBQ. I came prepared...I bought GF (gluten free) hambuger buns and signed up to bring the chips so I could make sure those were GF too. Someone made this great pesto rice dish...as I was eating it I overheard the person who brought it say "yes, it looks like rice but it's really pasta!"

Darn it!!

Then, thinking I was safe at least with my burger, I found out that the person making the burgers put Jonny's seasoning on them...which has soy sauce powder which inludes a nice helping of wheat.

Darn it all to heck!!

I've no idea what to do in situations like this, because I didn't come prepared with something else I could have eaten...just chips wasn't going to cut it. I realize now that I either need to ask lots of questions BEFORE or just bring my own...well...everything!

Ug...not fun.

Book Recommendation!! The GFree Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Read this book if:

1. You have Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance.
2. You know someone who has the above mentioned issues.
3. You have IBS, IBD or any other small intestinal problems or disease.
4. You have any unexplained medical problems or symptoms.
5. You would like to change your diet to include more whole foods and less processed foods like breads, pastas, cookies and other treats.
   

Aaaahhhhh....sacred space!

Band practice in my bedroom may have seen the end of it's days!

Brad is in charge of the music ministry at our church and this has entailed, for the last 2.5 years, having practice in our house twice a week and set up/take down every Sunday since we meet in an elementary school. For many people Sunday is a day to take it easy and relax but for Brad it is a full work day beginning at 6am. This may be a thing of the past...and really soon!

Marysville has had little or no options for the past couple of years when it came to a more permanent location for Damascus Road Church. Then one option opened up and as we were deciding what to do about it a couple more possibilities came about. Then option one tanked, option two wouldn't work and here we are with option three, an ugly little strip mall locale, ready and waiting just for us.

Formally the home of Jesus is Lord Life Tabernacle (yes, JILT) it is already set up with staging, kids rooms, office space, a kitchen and really, really ugly paint and carpet. We may be able to move in sometime in July.

This is exciting for a number of reasons, not just because I personally have something to gain from it. Take down and set up will be a thing of the past, and we can have time to solve any sound/av problems instead of fixing it once only to have a problem come up again the next week. We can host bands/battle of the bands (if we can get past people not wanting association with a church) and have a place to meet and presence in town 24/7. Not to mention that we can stop being financially stripped by the school district who charges an astronomical fee (think 2 mortgage payments) for us to use their gym and a handful of 'pods' for 5 hours a week.

It is very exciting and will hopefully remove a lot of stress for Brad and all the music peeps!

Recommended Link! Damascus Road Church

Chubby Jesus

I was on facebook reading my friend's status updates. A friend's friend was talking about how her kid likes to talk about Chuck E Cheese's but he's little so he calls it "Chubby Jesus".

Now that just made my day.

It is hot here...like, 90 degree hot. My temper is raging also right at this moment. It's band practice night, which isn't why I'm pissed. It's my almost 8 year old and his penchant for lying and stealing stuff.

We're not talking about cars or people's bikes or lying about getting drunk. It's more like stealing twinkies or a dollar from our key basket and lying about it.

The hard part is nights like this where I am the only parent available to parent for the entire day. My break doesn't start until everyone is asleep and on hot nights like this, well, let's just say the kids have a hard time doing what they normally do just fine.

Especially tonight, since catching my son with three stolen items of food behind his desk (all sweets, except for the crackers, which I told him he couldn't have right before dinner) and having him lie about it. I decided he would go to bed an hour early as a consequence. It was a fight the whole time and he keeps getting up out of bed. I'm infuriated because when all is said and done, I can't MAKE him do anything...I can only encourage him to do what's right and discipline him when he does wrong.

Isn't that just like so many other things in life? We think we can just tell someone something and they will listen and do the right thing. Like sex-ed classes, for example. You can't stand in front of 30 kids and talk about what they should do and expect that you are going to make an impression. Real change of heart happens out of relationship. It happens out of spending time investing in a person...and even then change isn't guaranteed. Ultimately it is out of our hands.

So why even bother? I mean, really, why take time out of your day meeting with someone who needs guidance and advice? It's obvious with my son, it do it because I love him and I want the best for him. But what about a teenager who's getting into drugs or promiscuity? What about that young new mom who is obviously overwhelmed? Why do I even keep harping on these things...why not just let him eat whatever he wants whenever he wants...why not just ignore the lies?

It's not just about the other person. All relationships are two ways and honestly, I am being refined and learning so much through these conflicts with my boy. I am learning patience. I am learning longsuffering. I am learning that life isn't just about obedience, but about grace and love. I am learning that I am not in control.

You can learn these things as well if you take someone under your wing. Even if you don't see a tangible change of heart, you will grow and benefit from trying to be there for someone else. Throw away your list of "unlovables" and find one person that needs you as much as you need them.