Joan's Gluten Free Great Bakes Review

It was a perfect time to receive my order from Joan's because it's been pouring rain here in the northeast!

The order came in this nifty frozen package, complete with dry ice to ensure everything stayed frozen:

I ordered some bagels, sandwich bread & cookies.... I wanted to try out the sandwich bread first because I had the bagels & cookies at the cooking spree.

For some reason - the sandwich bread has a totally different taste than the bagels - it has that "gluten free taste"  - the texture is great, and the flavor is good. But it's not the bagels.

I'll still eat it, maybe it'll taste better later, but I doubt it.

It baked nicely with a good crusty crust

I made a turkey & cheese and it was definitely better than your standard small square of bread.

So then it was on to the bagels! I order plain and the onion, egg & poppy seed.

OK -- i'm not even sure what to write here, because they are just SO GOOD. They taste like real bagels - no, not just real bagels - they remind me of New York bagels. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

A pic of the finished product is at the top, but here is the package & the de-frosted bagels on the baking sheet. Check 'em out:

I still have to make the chocolate chip cookies, and I'm really looking forward to that! I'm sad that the bagels will be gone quickly because they're never going to make it past Monday, I ate two today...  It's also too bad that Joan's products are SO EXPENSIVE.... but if you have a special event or are just craving a really good tasting bagel, it may be worth the occasional splurge. 

If these were cheaper, I'd probably keep them stocked in my freezer all the time.

***UPDATE: Just wanted to let you know that as of today (Monday) the bagels have gotten very hard so they don't keep that well - good thing there is only 1 left! I cut through one (with difficulty) and toasted it and it still tasted delicious -- but it lost it's first day glory. If I get these again I will probably bake on demand.

Also - Joan has added some new locations to where she stocks her items, check it out here.

GF Cooking Spree Booty

As you already know -- the Gluten Free Cooking Spree was last weekend and it was SO FUN! The above picture shows all of goodies I collected at the Vendor tables. WOW - I've been eating samples since Sunday. 

My favorite by far: Joans Gluten Free Great Bakes.

I've read about these bagels/muffins/cookies on other websites (Celiac Chicks for example) and I finally got to try them -- INCREDIBLE. I placed an online order today - not cheap, but really worth it. I can't wait to try their sandwich bread.

And, the best part -- One bagel is only 4g of fat, and 270 calories. WOW - compared to the 12g of fat in one "Against The Grain" bagel - that's awesome. And they taste like REAL bagels. I'm not kidding people.

I got two samples of her english muffins, which I promptly ate. Sunday I made a turkey bacon, egg, & cheese on the muffin, and only remembered to take a picture when there was one bight left:

It was DELICIOUS.

Ok - enough raving about Joans.... Jenny over at Sugar & Spice created an awesome & thorough blog about the event, so if you haven't seen it already, check it out, she took some great pics -- except for one very unflattering picture of me & matt with pizza hanging out of our mouths.

Anyway, it was great - we got to gorge ourselves on pizza, Redbridge, soft pretzels, cookies, etc etc...

SOO BUSY!!!

Hi All :) Just wanted to update... I have been so incredibly busy with work (even working on the weekend, boo!!) so I have barely been able to update, nevermind even go on line to read other blogs!

Wanted to update -- I wrote to Outback and they got back in touch and were super friendly! They're going to be sending me something, but I spoke with the manager there just to let  him know that it's hard to go back there & feel safe after what happened!

The beauty of a gluten free menu is supposed to be WORRY FREE.... but mistakes happen, I get that. I was nice about it for sure - he asked how I was feeling which was also nice.

Speaking of which -- I have felt "off" for more than a week! I wonder if it's gluten related, or the amount of stress/work. Who knows. Anyway --- better get back to the grind. GF Cooking spree this weekend!!! :)

Boston Gluten Free Cooking Spree!!

You may have noticed the link to the right my link to the Gluten Free Cooking Spree hosted by the NFCA --------------->>>

Well - if you're in the Boston area have you ordered tickets yet?!?! You can click on that link to get them....

I'll definitely be there, and I cannot wait! If you can't make it, I'll be sure to take pics & give a full re-cap.

Outback Steakhouse

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! I did.... it didn't start out great though. I went to Outback Steakhouse on Friday night with some friends (I chose it because of their gluten free menu).... I had (what I consider to be) a very safe meal there, off the special menu -- filet, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies with no seasoning (that were cold and gross).

Well -- somehow, I got glutened. I was up most of that night with pretty bad stomach pain (typical of gluten for me) and was "off" the following day.

NOT COOL.

I eat out pretty often too and don't order from special menus, so whatever they gave me had to have a lot of gluten in it. I know it was from them too because I had prepared all of my own food the entire week leading up to that dinner. AND, I've eaten there once before and I was fine.

I wrote an expressive letter to Outback so we'll see what happens.