Congratulations to YuShan, winner of the Little Lad’s Popcorn sampler.

Now with Luca around, photos of my nephews will take a back seat to my little pup when winners are announced.

Happy Holidays!

Winner selected by random.org

I love popcorn. I mean serious, obsessive lurve. I’m pretty sure I could eat popcorn every day for a month without getting tired of it.  So when I find a new version of the snack that heightens my crush, it’s almost a magical experience.  I found Little Lad’s “Herbal Corn” when looking for a cheap way to feed guests at a happy hour I was throwing.

Their addition of “natural flavors and herbs” create little kernels of delight – explosions of flavors really. I brought this to a friend’s birthday party recently and another guest declared: “You just changed my life!” (no joking).  Not only is it tasty, it’s also labeled “gluten-free” right on the package which always warms my heart a bit.

So far, I’ve only seen Little Lad’s at Whole Foods in NYC, but I’m offering a giveaway so at least one of you can try Little Lad’s even if you aren’t lucky enough to live in NYC.

One reader will get two small bags of Little Lads Herbal Corn. To enter, leave a comment telling us what your favorite topping for popcorn is by 6pm Eastern on Monday November 1st, you must live in the U.S. to be eligible. Blog or tweet about this giveaway and link to this post and you can comment twice (be sure to put @yumcat in the tweet) which will increase your chance of winning.

Congratulations to Heidi, winner of the Tully’s Gluten-Free Bakery Sampler.

As always, announcing a winner gives me an excuse to post a picture of my nephew. This is a picture of Cam smashing grandpa’s finger with a nutcracker and laughing with sheer joy. I also have a new nephew, Parker who was born on December 20, 2009. So I’ll have to find more giveaways so I have an excuse to post pictures of him too!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

Winner selected by random.org

At the Fancy Food Show this year I discovered a plethora of new gluten-free goodies, but one of my favorites was a gluten-free granola from JK Grain Free Gourmet.  I was smitten after trying their Cranberry and Cashew gluten-free granola, but a full-fledged food crush developed later when I received a sample of their Hazelnut and Date concoction made with coconut, dates, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, honey, sunflower seeds, almonds, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds.  The combination of sweet, savory, crunch and chew is utterly delightful. While I loved it in big handfuls straight from the bag, it was completely decadent on top of ice cream.

I haven’t yet seen JK Gourmet in any stores near me, but I put in a request at my local health food store.  You can see a list of current stores on their web site or place an order directly.  One lucky reader will get a package sent directly to them with 2 flavors of the JK Gourmet gluten-free granola.  Just leave a comment below telling us your favorite way to eat granola (as a topping? like cereal? a dry snack?)  A winner will be selected randomly from all of the comments left by Monday, December 14th at 6:00pm Eastern.  US and Canadian residents only.

I found a few gluten-free options along the way but I knew the tide was changing when General Mills reformulated almost the entire Chex line to be gluten-free.  Now, in the latest issue of Real Simple magazine, they did a review of a slew of cereals and 4 of their top picks just happened to be gluten-free.  With our options expanding, it becomes a question of what cereal do we WANT to eat rather than what cereal CAN we eat. 

I received a few samples of note in the last few weeks.  EnviroKidz has added to its gluten-free product list.  This is the team behind one of my favorite gluten-free cereals that I discovered right after I was diagnosed, Gorilla Munch (similar to Kix if you haven’t tried them).  Their new Leapin’ Lemurs cereal has a mix of peanut butter and chocolate. It’s not too rich though for a morning meal – if anything, they could have souped up the choco-peanuty goodness so I could have it for dessert.

Me & Goji is a customized cereal with loads of gluten-free options.  They have one gluten-free base and so many gluten-free ingredients, the options are almost endless. They are going to great lengths to clean all of the lines between gluten and gluten-free runs, so I felt comfortable with their process.  I must say, it may be the best cereal I have ever tasted.  Here’s the catch – it’s a bit pricey by the time you pick all of your ingredients plus $5 shipping.  According to their Web site, the average price of a mix is $12, the least expensive is $4.90 (plus shipping) and the most expensive is $56.  One canister does give you a lot more cereal than a typical box from the grocery store, but it could still be a fun ‘special occasion’ buy. 

Last, I sampled the latest from Erewhon Foods – they make gluten-free Brown Rice Cereals similar to Rice Krispies and some gluten-free corn and amaranth cereals.  Their new Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice Cereal and the Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries are my favorites.  For the recent dessert party I hosted (the occasion that called for my Strawberry Ricotta Poppyseed Tart) my friend Matt volunteered to make some gluten-free Rice “Crispy” Treats swirled with chocolate.  Even with all of the ‘fancy’ desserts being served, the marshmallow, chocolatey treats were the first thing to go. 

It’s exciting to have so many more options, I can’t wait to see what new products are in store for us. 

You guys are getting spoiled with all of these giveaways, but I have another one for you.  This time FIVE lucky readers will win.  Leave a comment below with your favorite way to enjoy cereal (mixed in a dessert? as a dry snack? or the more typical way, in a bowl with milk?).  Blog or tweet about this giveaway and link to this post and you can comment twice (be sure to put @yumcat in the tweet) which will increase your chance of winning. The five winners, selected randomly, will receive 3 boxes of the gluten-free Erewhon Cereals of their choice plus one Patagonia T-Shirt and a Erewhon Coupon Keeper with $1 off coupons.  To enter, leave a comment by 6pm Eastern on Monday September 7^th, you must live in the U.S. to be eligible. 

This giveaway is over – stay tuned for the next one!

My latest food crush is something simple – gluten-free toast, and I have Udi’s Gluten-Free bread to thank for it.  I tried a couple of Udi’s Gluten-Free products at the Fancy Food Show this year, but it was such a blur I hardly remembered.  When I received a sampler pack in the mail last week, I was excited to try them.  Allergic Girl had given the bread a big thumbs up and I remember Gluten-Free Steve was all hot and bothered over their products. 

The gluten-free White Sandwich Bread is so soft I could hardly believe it.  I could squish it down just like the gluten-y bread I grew up on.  I liked it without heating it up or putting anything on it.  This was amazing.  The gluten-free Whole Grain Bread is just as soft.  I didn’t like the flavor as much as the gluten-free White Bread but I also lurved white Home Pride bread growing up rather than any of that ‘whole wheat’ stuff, so who am I to say? 

But here’s where the amazing thing happened.  I was in the mood for something warm and buttery, so I decided to make some toast.  Not to cover up the flavor/texture (which is why I usually toast gluten-free bread) but just because toast was what I was craving.  Once I tried it, I realized I hadn’t had really good toast in the five years since I started eating gluten-free.  I’ve had some great gluten-free breads and rolls and baked goods, but I hadn’t had that light toast with the pockets and crunch and…can you tell I’m getting hungry just writing about it? 

I started to wonder if it was just in my mind, maybe I just liked it that much because it had been a while since I’d had ANY toast or that I was just REALLY in the mood for toast.  So I decided to do a side by side comparison with the Whole Foods Gluten-Free Prairie Bread, my previous favorite. 

But the Whole Foods toast didn’t begin to compare – the texture is heavy and more like an artisanal bread which is fine in its own right but not what I crave with my breakfast. 

With all of the controversy lately about bloggers being paid to post about products, I will clarify that I have never been paid to write about a product and I only write about items that I feel are worthy of sharing – and I will warn you if something tastes like cardboard.  I just love the toast that much.  Right now it’s only available through a few distributors so I took that info directly to my local health food store to request that they start carrying it.  Fingers crossed I can get my hands on some more soon.  I’m not sure how long the shelf life is since I finished it off before it had a chance to go bad….

Well now that I’ve built it up so much I am sure it can’t possibly live up to your expectations, but Udi’s has offered to give a sampler pack to one lucky ready of A Gluten-Free Guide, so you can be the judge. 

Udi’s sampler pack also includes gluten-free Lemon Streusel and gluten-free Blueberry muffins.

They are tasty, soft, moist and you would never know they are gluten-free.  Udi’s makes gluten-free cinnamon rolls and gluten-free pizza crusts but I haven’t tried those yet.  The really exciting thing is that Udi’s is looking to expand their gluten-free product offerings.  So to be eligible to win the sampler pack, leave a comment with your request for their next gluten-free products.  What are you interested in seeing more gluten-free versions of? Bagels? What flavors? Pretzels? What kind? Granola? Cake Rounds?  Different varieties of muffins or breads?  What should they focus on next? 

US residents only, deadline to enter is 11pm EDT on Monday August 24, 2009. 

I recently received a sample of products from Made to Crave, a small company based in Arizona that specializes in gluten-free granolas and other snacks made with gluten-free oats.  While I was excited about the granolas, I didn’t realize that the owner was also including gluten-free animal crackers.  They totally caught me off guard – they were soooooo good they are my latest food crush.  They are crispy and sweet – that perfect crunch you expect from a little cookie.  They are full of graham flavor and totally crush-worth; I would never guess they are gluten-free.

The granolas are delicious in their own right. The maple pecan flavor is a little bit sweeter and the apple cinnamon is a little bit tart (in a good way) – they both taste outstanding.  The owner, Pam has graciously agreed to offer a sampler pack of the gluten-free granolas and the gluten-free animal grahams to a reader of A Gluten-Free Guide.

To enter the contest, just leave a comment with suggestions for flavors of granolas and granola bars you would like to see Made to Crave make next.  To be eligible you must comment by 8pm on Sunday August 16, 2009.

More giveaways to come (I need more excuses to post photos of my nephew after all ) – and stay tuned for more gluten-free recipes, gluten-free restaurant and product reviews. Happy Spring Everyone!

The results were mixed.  I LOVED a few items – the cinnamon toast pretzels had a hint of sweet and a nice pretzel crunch.  The white cheddar cheese Kruncheeze have a delicious cheddar flavor and are a satisfying snack.  My favorite though was the French Vanilla Protein Cereal which is surprisingly low in carbs, holds up well in milk with great crunch and flavor that isn’t too sweet.

A few of their products were just ok (e.g. the apple cinnamon cereal) and a couple tasted like vegetables or what I imagine cat food to taste like – stay clear of the golden butter pretzels.  As much as I like vegetables it wasn’t what I was looking for in a pretzel and though Cat is one of my nicknames, I don’t aspire to maintain a feline diet…

That said, I will be placing a big order of French Vanilla Protein Cereal and am pretty excited to have more options for plane/travel food since Kay’s Naturals come in individual serving packs.

Now to the good part – one lucky reader will receive their very own Kay’s Naturals sampler pack.  Leave a comment below describing your favorite breakfast by Wednesday April 22, 2009 at 11:59 EDT.  The winner will be selected at random from the entries.

Does anyone eat a savory breakfast like Mark Bittman?   My favorite breakfast is soft scrambled eggs with fresh whole milk ricotta and truffle salt or a super healthy frittata (seriously I’d rather make that at home than pay for some fancy NYC brunch – yum)

And the winner of the Food Should Taste Good gluten-free tortilla chip sampler pack is….Cassandra, who professed her love for the Multi-grain chip.  We got tons of great tips for good gluten-free snacks.  Check out the rest of the comments – everything from Orgran crispbreads to Clif Nectar dark chocolate and walnut bars and one of my favorites, the Blue Diamond Nut Thins.  Thanks to everyone for participating.  More giveaways to come – especially since it gives me an excuse to post a picture of my nephew (completely irrelevant to gluten-free food, but we don’t really need to see another picture of the prize…. : )   ).

(winner selected by random numbers generated Mar 15 2009 at 21:20:32)