Category: Vegetarian

Product: Against The Grain Gourmet Three Cheese Pizza – $10.49+

Pizza.

It’s the go-to dinner of most people everywhere.  Need an easy dinner, just bosh one in the oven or, even better, stop by the local pizza place and bring one home, already ready to eat.  Simple, right?

Well, yes…if you are most people.  I used to be most people…and then gluten-intolerance hit.  I thought, for awhile, my pizza days were over.  Which, naturally, meant it was all I craved.

Thankfully, I have discovered fantastic gluten-free frozen pizza crusts as well as gluten-free pizza crust mixes in order to make up my own.  That also gives me freedom to toss whatever sounds appetizing on the pizza shell, and to let my creative culinary juices flow.  Yeah…we all love coming up with flavor combinations for the pizza right?

Sure.

But there are days where you come home from a long, stressful day at the office, and you want pizza, but you don’t want to put a lot of effort into it.  Thanks to advances in gluten-free products, there are a myriad of different gluten-free frozen pizzas out there.  These are your simple take out of package, put on baking sheet, and bake according to package.  Remove before cheese browns.  Enjoy.  Yes…that kind.

And, I think I hit it out of the park with Against The Gain Gourmet’s Gluten-Free Three Cheese Pizza.  This isn’t the first product by Against The Grain that I have consumed.  I absolutely was knocked head-over-heels with their gluten-free baguettes.  And, truthfully, they hit it out of the park with their pizzas too.

Nothing could be simpler.  An easy bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes and then viola…dinner is served.  I don’t have the proper pan (or stone) to get a crispy crust, but I’m okay with that.  The pizza cooked up amazing!!  You wouldn’t even be able to tell it was frozen.  Yes…it’s so good you could pass it off as your own creation, done from scratch.  The crust has this amazing flavor to it…a little cheesy…with a bit of a crisp, and then soft.  It was amazing.  Top it off with three different cheeses, in this case, mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan.  Those are deliciously spread out over a tasty layer of tomato sauce.  What makes this even more fantastic is the blurb on Against The Grain Gourmet’s Web site, declaring that each of their products are prepared by hand using fresh, all natural ingredients, with no preservatives, artificial flavors, trans fats, or additives.  As they say, “We crack each egg, shred our own cheese, and chop fresh spices.”  What other company can guarantee that level of freshness to their products?  Not many.

This pizza was phenomenal.  Beyond any frozen pizza I’ve ever had.  Beyond any fresh pizza I’ve ever had.  The cheesy flavors melt together and create this powerhouse of pizza flavor.  The flavors, the pizza…it speaks for itself.  It was really, really hard not to eat the entire thing in one sitting.  Yes…it’s that delicious!

I love something about a company that finds no need to fancy up their packaging with pictures of the food inside.  Not Against The Grain.  Instead, they simply leave a window in the box, so that you can see the food that awaits you.  No smoke and mirrors.  No image that looks absolutely nothing like what is actually inside the box.  What you see is what you get.  And what you get is one of the best gluten-free products out there from a company that prides itself on doing gluten-free right!

Whether you need to eat gluten-free or not, I urge you to find Against The Grain’s pizzas (probably at Whole Foods) and try them out.  I promise you…you won’t be disappointed.  And, now the gluten-free community has a pizza to brag about.  Because this…is pizza voodoo, my friends.  It’s a wonderful, amazing, orgasmic, gluten-free food that has set the bar high for all the other frozen, gluten-free pizzas out there.

Slice up a piece for yourself.  Go ahead.  Oh…and would you mind if I came over for a slice?

Product: Mediterranean Snacks Gluten-Free Rosemary Herb Lentil Crackers – $3.99+

Lentils are one of the healthiest foods on the planet.  They are packed with protein, iron, and vitamin B1, all of which are essential to a healthy diet.  So, when I spotted these gluten-free crackers on the shelves of my local natural foods store…I was eager to give them a try.

As a vegetarian on a gluten-free diet, I need to make sure I get plenty of protein from the foods that I eat.  One thing I did like about these snack crackers was that they came fortified with 5 grams of protein in each serving (which is about 18 crackers).  The serving size only sets you back as many calories as a large banana (110 calories) with only 3 grams of fat in each serving.  Not so bad when looking at those stats, right?

I just wish…they tasted better on their own.  While they aren’t horrible and inedible in any way, Mediterranean Snacks failed to boost the flavor of these crackers.  Despite having the Rosemary Herb variety, they were quite bland (especially after coming off of the cracker powerhouse that Crunchmaster delivered prior to sampling these).  These crackers do pack a crunch, but the flavor seems lost.  Despite Mediterranean Snacks claim on their Web site of a rustic taste, these crackers need a flavor boost in my opinion.

Yet, perhaps I am catching them at an unfair advantage.  What goes better with crunchy crackers than a hearty dip.  And I do believe that these crackers were specifically designed by Mediterranean Snacks to accompany a hummus, guacamole, tzatziki, cheese, or any flavor dip than eat on its own.  However, I do believe the value of a product is best gauged when it is eaten without adding flavor to it.  So these lightly salted crackers, while fine on their own, seem better suited for dipping.

Maybe the next time I eat them, I’ll pack a protein-rich hummus dip to pair them with.

On their own, these crackers don’t pack a wow factor as far as flavor.  The crunch you would expect from a cracker is there, yet there is little else to sing praises over.  These, however, would pair fantastically with a dip of choice.  So, if you miss pita bread and hummus, simply substitute these gluten-free crackers and enjoy!

Product: Health is Wealth Gluten-Free Mozzarella Sticks – $4.49+

Mozzarella sticks.  Breaded cheese fried to a crispy perfection so that the outside is crunchy but the cheese inside is gooey.  It was one of my favorite comfort foods to have at restaurants.  But that all changed when I went gluten-free.  These breaded sticks of cheesy goodness were no longer on my menu plan.  Probably a good thing for my waistline, but not for the cravings every time they turned up on pub and restaurant menus.

In fact, giving into the thought that I would never again see mozzarella sticks on my plate, I pushed them out of my mind.  I stopped looking for them.  I passed them over on menus without batting an eyelash.  They were a food-non-grata with me and it was just the way it had to be.

And then…my journey to the natural food store once again took an unexpected plot twist.

I had gone inside for one thing.  A gluten-free baguette.  Which…they were sold out of.  To quell my rising anger at not being able to get what I intended, my roommate suggested I pick out something else to try…for blogging purposes, of course.  I was reluctant, but the more I lingered, the more I wanted to try something else.  So, I was scanning the shelves and finally went over to the freezer section.  There, as if a beacon of light from Heaven itself shown down upon them, sat a box of gluten-free mozzarella sticks by a company known as Health is Wealth.

Health is Wealth is more known for their vegan and vegetarian frozen foods.  I think I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.  But right there on the front of the box in big and bold letters were my two favorite words when it comes to my favorite foods that I thought were forever nixed from my diet – GLUTEN FREE.  I snatched these off the shelf as if they were a lifeline.  For real.  And when I took them home, they were the perfect side item to a gluten-free stuffed shells meal I also picked up.

These little nuggets of mozzarella cheese are breaded in gluten-free corn and rice breading.  This gives the outside a nice, crispy texture when baked up in the oven.  In addition, they breading tastes quite sweet so it pairs well with a marinara dip or just fine on its own.  I immediately put these in the oven to cook up.  No disappointment.  Crispy on the outside and ooey-gooey on the inside.  The cheese melted to perfection in the oven.  So often, these frozen, pre-packaged appetizer and sides never quite reach the proper cheese melting expectation.  More often than not, the cheese is still a solid lump of warmth, not stringy when you bite into it.  But not these.  Oh, no.  I bit into one and the cheese stretched between the breaded stick and my lips.  I think I rejoiced aloud at that.

I think these just became a ‘must keep stocked in my freezer’ sort of item.  They were so easy…and so delicious.  Both my roommate and her aunt, who are not gluten-free, raved about them.  As for me…I was just happy to be having one of my favorite comfort foods again.  Life is good when breaded, melty cheese is involved.

Health is Wealth did a fantastic job providing the gluten-free community with a fantastic product.  One that I will continue to rave about and consume.  Because I can.

I think I’m in love.  The delicious kind of love.

Product: Caesar’s Gluten-Free and Wheat-Free Stuffed Shells with Cheese in a Marinara Sauce – $7.99+

The lack of gluten-free large pasta shells is annoying.  And I’m here to tell you why.  I have been craving Italian favorites (stuffed shells, manicotti, etc.), but no one seems to have the noodles for it.  Gluten-free pasta isn’t new by any means, but it does lack variety.  Especially in the larger shell dishes.  With the exception of lasagna, finding something gluten-free on the shelf is nigh on impossible.

So…what’s the second best thing to homemade?  Frozen.

And thankfully, this little company called Caesar’s has a line of gluten-free and wheat-free products in specialty stores.  I found a few varieties of pasta meals in the freezer section of my local natural foods store.  And thank goodness for that.  I was just home from being away for the New Year and wasn’t quite certain what I wanted to make for dinner.  It was getting late as it was…so this would be easy enough to fix.  It was a toss-up between the manicotti and the stuffed shells meals.  But, stuffed shells had been on my crave list longer, so it came home with me first.

The meal is simple.  Bosh it in the microwave for a few minutes.  It really is that simple.

The shells for this meal are made out of rice flour, stuffed with a sweet ricotta cheese and topped off with a delicious marinara sauce.  One reason Caesar’s began offering these types of meals is that not everyone can enjoy authentic Italian food.  As a girl who loves Italian food but can’t just go out and eat it anymore, having a company provide a variety of products (that no other company has pitched yet) means I am a fan for life.  The fact that these products are delicious…is an even bigger plus.

Upon the dinner being completed by the microwave, I peeled back the plastic.  Sure, at first glance it doesn’t look appetizing, but what microwave dinner does?  Inside the package were three fully stuffed shells, packed with an herbed ricotta cheese.  The marinara sauce was a very nice addition and kept everything moist and delicious.  In fact, the red sauce wasn’t runny in the slightest, but a thick, hearty topping for the pasta itself.  I dished it up onto plates (the meal is for one, but my roommate and I were splitting it) and we sat down to enjoy gluten-free stuffed shells.

Amazing.  Honestly, this was packaged food done right.  The microwave didn’t take away from the flavor, nor did it cook the life out of the pasta.  It wasn’t dry or soggy.  It was a perfect conglomeration of sauce, cheese, and noodle.  And one that left me quite satisfied, and my palate pleased.  The craving is gone for the stuffed shells and I owe it all to Caesar’s Pasta.  I think manicotti will be next…

Find these little boxes of joy in your local stores and try them out.  I will warn you…they are quite expensive.  One meal ran up a tab of $7.99, one reason my roommate and I split a meal.  However, they are definitely worth the cost in the end. You won’t even know they are gluten-free.  But because they are, I can savor every last, cheese-filled bite.