Product: Feel Good Foods Gluten Free Vegetable Dumplings – $5.99+
There are quite a few things I really miss in my life at times. Like…makes me sad and really wanting to cry kind of miss. Maybe not the way I miss my family (and I really miss my family)…but people and food have relationships too. And one of my favorite cuisines growing up was none other than Chinese food or Asian-style cuisine.
It was tradition in my family to visit my great grandmother in Winona, Minnesota, every year that we went to visit both sets of grandparents. And one thing that I always looked forward to when visiting my great grandma was…Chinese food. She always ordered in the most amazing Chinese food in town. It was always egg rolls and chow mein and rice and there was more of it than the group of us could eat…but we always gave it our best shot. It was tradition. It was one of the many highlights I experienced growing up and something I came to look forward to every time we headed over to great grandma’s house.
I haven’t had true Chinese food since I went gluten-free…three years ago. The sauces…the way things are cooked…it’s risky. And it’s a risk I no longer am willing to take. It’s sad, because Asian food is one of my favorite types of cuisine. Sure, there are places like P.F. Chang’s that offers a gluten-free menu…but the vegetarian choices are very limited…and that’s not true Chinese.
Then…along came a little miracle in my Whole Foods (and other natural food stores) freezer section. A company, known as Feel Good Foods, introduced the first (and I believe the only) gluten-free Asian dumplings and egg rolls to the market. The hardest part was choosing if I wanted egg rolls or dumplings. It was a tough decision, but I finally chose the dumplings. One of the interesting things about this company is that it was created by husband and wife duo, Chef Tryg and Vanessa Phillips. They created Feel Good Foods gluten-free frozen foods after they opened a gluten-free restaurant and were told that they needed to put their food out on the market. Their foods are non-GMO, all-natural and completely gluten-free. You see…Vanessa is a Celiac…so they take food allergies really seriously.
Cathy had some leftover rice from our treat on Friday at the local Indian restaurant. So, after work and a trip to the gym, I wanted something that was easy to prepare and wouldn’t require me to read off a recipe or attempt something new. With the rice in the fridge, I figured I could steam up some of the last of the jasmine rice in my pantry for myself and then pull the Feel Good Foods Gluten Free Vegetable Dumplings out of the freezer to prepare while my rice was cooking on the stove.
These are super easy to prepare. In a non-stick pan, add a cup of water and 1 tablespoon of oil. Bring it to a boil and add the dumplings to the pan, flat side down. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-high, leaving the dumplings in the pan until the water completely evaporates. It takes around 10-11 minutes. They are fine to eat on their own, but I served mine with rice. These even come with a fantastic dipping sauce, which I ended up just pouring over the top so that the rice could absorb it too.
I settled in for dinner and dug into my little bowl of Asian gluten-free food. I wasn’t sure what to expect…but I was very happy with what I started to eat. The dumplings were soft and tender, with a nice crust on the flat side that was on the pan. The rest of it was that doughy stickiness you associate with potstickers. Amazing. The stuffing inside the wrapper was flavorful and very much like a delicious egg roll. So it was like a dumpling with an egg roll flavor. Happy girl right here. And the dipping sauce helped add a bit of seasoning and flavor to the entire dish. I am already wanting to restock my freezer with more of these. And the egg rolls for that matter. Delicious!
The Feel Good Foods Gluten Free Vegetable Dumplings are a simple blend of ingredients. The wrapper is made from water, sweet rice flour, rice flour, potato starch, canola oil, salt, xanthan gum, and corn starch. The filling is a combination of cabbage, yellow onion, bean vermicelli, carrots, green onion, corn starch, sesame oil, and less than 2% of evaporated cany syrup, ginger, salt, black pepper, yeast extract, and shiitake mushrooms. The dipping sauce is made from water, organic tamari soy sauce, sugar, ginger juice, garlic juice, and natural flavors of garlic and black pepper. These dumplings are gluten-free and cholesterol free.
Real and recognizable ingredients. LOVE it.
As far as nutrition goes, a serving size of the Feel Good Foods Vegetable Dumplings is 4 dumplings. There are two servings per box. One serving provides you with 290 calories and 9 grams of fat. They contain 430 mg sodium and 3 grams of sugar. These contain 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. The sauce packet contains 45 calories, is completely fat free, has 10 grams of sugar, and 2 gram of protein. Not bad for a frozen package of gluten-free foods.
If I could hug both Chef Tryg and Vanessa, I totally would. Because of them, I am once again able to revisit one of my favorite cuisines…Asian. And I can’t wait to try the Vegetable Egg Rolls and replenish my freezer with the Vegetable Dumplings. These are one of my favorite frozen dishes I have had to date. It might be the nostalgia, but I definitely think it has more to do with the product itself. Taste, texture, flavor and just all around goodness.
It doesn’t get much better than this!
Chinese food is BACK in my life!
The Celiathlete 