Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Donuts: Product Review (dairy free as well, contain egg)

Kinnikinnick is one of the oldest companies serving the gluten free community. According to their website all of their products are manufactured in facilities that are wheat free, gluten free, peanut free and tree nut free! Almost their entire product line is dairy free but a lot of their items do contain egg.

Kinnikinnick GF/DF Maple Glazed Donuts

Their donuts are one of my favorite gluten free snack items. They’ve come a long way since I first started my gluten free diet when they were sold lumped together in a plastic bag. The donuts are now sold six to a box and come frozen. Twenty – thirty seconds on low in the microwave and you’ve got a delicious warm treat (be careful – too long or too hot and the glazing will melt).

They are an average to smaller size (not oversized like dunkin donuts) and have a light texture (not too dense). They are available year round in four flavors – Chocolate Dipped, Maple Glazed, Cinnamon Sugar, and Vanilla Glazed. I like to mix it up when I buy a box as all four are really good. (I also have a smaller freezer so I can't keep all four on hand at all times.)



I say "available year round in four flavors" because last year, Kinnikinnick also started offering seasonal donuts through their web store only. (Note: these come fresh not frozen and are in the same plastic tray as the box, just in a clear plastic wrapping and not a box.)



Kinnikinnick GF/DF
Pumpkin Spice Donuts

 

Their current seasonal donut is a Pumpkin Spice Donuts, available until November 30^th. Other past seasonal donuts have included Cinnamon Apple donuts in the late winter (pink frosting for St. Valentine’s Day) and Blueberry Donuts in the spring. There is no hint on their website what they’re planning for 2012 or which if any will return. Seasonal donuts can only be ordered direct from Kinnikinnick here: Kinnikinnick Web Store (You can use this same link for their regular donuts if you can’t find them locally.)



Other gluten free snack/breakfast reviews you may be interested in:

Justin’s Gluten Free / Vegan Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Kellogg’s Gluten Free Rice Krispies and Rice Krispies Treats

Restaurant Review: Elevation Burger (Montclair, NJ and Moorestown, NJ)

Eating out is tough to do on a gluten free diet, but eating out quickly is even tougher! One of the best new fast food/quick serve restaurants is Elevation Burger.

Elevation Burger on a Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Bun
(brought my own) with a side of fries fried in a dedicated fryer

I’ve eaten there a couple of times now and they are very careful. No, they don’t have a gluten free bun for their burgers, but they will wrap them in lettuce or serve without a bun as you want. Their French fries are fried in a dedicated fryer in olive oil. If you’ve never had fries fried in olive oil you are in for a treat! (You'll need to ask about the other items as they don't have an allergen menu online.)

What I especially like (at least at the location in Montclair) was their attention to food allergies/issues. The cashier printed gluten free/dairy free right on my order and receipt. The cook apologized that my food would take a couple minutes extra as he wanted to clean the grill to avoid cross contact with the cheese they used on the cheese burgers! The kitchen is fairly open behind the cash registers so you can even watch them prepare the food.

Now, if they’d just fry a couple of cloves of garlic first to season the olive oil like my grandmother used to do I’d be in heaven.


Other restaurant reviews you may be interested in:

Chipotle Mexican Grill (various locations)

Plum on Park (Montclair, NJ)

qba, a cuban kitchen (Montclair, NJ)

And of course, you should also check out my full List of NJ Restaurants with a Gluten Free Menu and my Nationwide List of Fast Food / Chains with a Gluten Free Menu.

And my list of Gluten Free Fries at Fast Food and other Restaurants.

RP’s Gluten Free Fresh Pasta: Product Review

A short while ago, I noticed that Whole Foods was carrying a line of Fresh Gluten Free pastas from RP’s.  I didn’t buy them at first (I needed to confirm that glucono-delta-lactone was dairy free – it is).  On a recent return trip I decided to try them out. 



RP's Gluten Free Fresh Spinach Fettuccine prepared with
Artichoke Hearts, Roasted Red Peppers and Black Olives

RP’s makes four types of Fresh GF pasta – Fettuccine, Spinach Fettuccine, Fusilli, and Linguini (although my Whole Foods only has three of them).  I decided I would try the Spinach Fettuccine with black olives, garlic, olive oil and artichoke hearts.

The pasta cooks very quickly, holds up nicely, and has a great texture.  It is definitely has a bit more chew to it than a dried pasta.  The pasta is mostly a mix of brown rice, potato starch and egg.  While I won’t be adopting this brand for day to day pasta usage, it is definitely worth it for a special gluten free occasion or meal.

RP’s website shows that the GF pastas are available at Whole Foods nationwide but I’m sure the selection varies by location.  If you can’t find it locally, you can order it online from the Gluten Free Mall here: RP's Pasta Company Gluten-Free Pasta

If you are missing fresh pasta, then this is the product for you!


Other articles you may be interested in:

Politics, Religions and Which is the Best Gluten Free Pasta

Tomato Free Sauce for Pasta / Spaghetti

October Gluten Free NJ Events Updated

Here are the events for October:

10/2/11 - CSA Southern NJ Meeting (Voorhees, NJ)

10/11/11 - GF Club at Fine Grind Coffee Shop (Little Falls, NJ)

10/12/11 - Celiac Disease Support Group (Phillipsburg, NJ)

10/13/11 - 10th Annual Gala Fundraiser (Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, NYC)

10/16/11 - Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease (Rye, NY)

10/19/11 - Lyndhurst Celiac Support Group Meeting (Lyndhurst, NJ)

3rd Wednesday - Monthly Meeting of Seashore Celiacs (Brick, NJ)

10/20/11 - The Northern NJ Celiac Disease Support Group Monthly Meeting (Paramus, NJ)

You can see the full list on the NJ GF Events Calendar.

Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease – October 16, 2011

It’s my favorite time of the year!  No, not because the leaves are changing, nor because Kinnikinnick is offering Pumpkin Spice Donuts (although a box is on the way) but rather because it is time once again for the Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease!  Colin Leslie started this walk six years ago after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease at age 13.  The walk has raised over $280,000 for Celiac research so far! (Not bad for someone who is still a teenager!)

Again this year, the walk will be held at Rye High School in Rye, NY.  In addition to the walk along Long Island Sound (choice of 2 or 4 miles), there will be guest speakers, a gluten free cake contest, lunch available for purchase, and the highlight of the event – a gymnasium full of gluten free vendors!

I’ll be walking again this year and I highly recommend that you attend and walk as well.  The registration page is here: Colin Leslie Celiac Walk Registration Page.  If you can’t make the walk and would like to donate, my donation page is here: Jason's Donation Page for the Colin Leslie Celiac Disease Walk.

I hope to see you all there!

Product Review: Gluten Free Rice Krispies and Rice Krispies Treats

Unlike Chex and Fruity Pebbles, Kellogg's hasn’t made Rice Krispies gluten free but rather added a gluten free line of Rice Krispies. This line is Brown rice (the other flavors are regular rice) and lacks the malt flavoring that denies us regular Rice Krispies. I’m not sure why Kellogg’s didn’t just replace the malt flavoring and make them all gluten free (hint, hint).

Gluten Free Rice Krispies with Almond Milk

On to the review: These are not the Rice Krispies you remember from your childhood. Gone is most of the sugar and gone is that chocolatey milk after a bowl of Cocoa-Krispies or sugary milk after a bowl of the other Krispies flavors. On the upside, they are made with whole grain brown rice, they have much less sugar (if you’re watching that sort of thing), and they still can be used to make a Rice Krispies Treat (more about this later). However, if you are looking to reclaim your childhood breakfast cereal, these sadly won’t do it.

Gluten Free Rice Krispies Treats

Can you believe I had never made Rice Krispies Treats before? I figured no review would be complete without them! (To make them dairy free, I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks in place of the butter called for in the recipe.) They were quite good (and quite sticky!). They weren’t overly sweet, so I’m not sure how much kids would like them. I did see Fruity Pebbles Treats on sale so if you are looking for a sweeter bar you could probably swap out the cereal you use to make them.

Almond Milk turned Chocolatey by GF Koala Crisp Cereal

And if you are looking for chocolatey milk in your bowl when you are done, then I'd recommend Koala Crisp Cereal by EnviroKidz!  (I used plain Almond Milk but I'm sure they're just as good with Rice Milk if you prefer.)

While the Gluten Free Rice Krispies were pretty hard to find earlier in the summer, I think they are pretty well rolled out at this point – I’ve seen them in multiple Shoprites and even in a Walmart! Just in case you can’t find them anywhere locally, you can get a four pack from amazon.com here: Kellogg's Gluten Free Rice Krispies Cereal (Pack of 4). Amazon also sells Koala Crisp Cereal (this time a six pack, but the price is still lower) which you can get here: EnviroKidz Gluten Free Koala Crisp Cereal (Pack of 6).

Updated 5/30/12 - Good news if you are in Canada, Kellogg's rolled these out nationwide this spring!

Other product reviews that might interest you:

Udi's Ancient Grains Gluten Free Breads (they're dairy free too!)

Product Review: Udi’s GF/DF Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Zephyr Vocal Enseble Dessert Cabaret

This past Saturday night, I attended a dessert cabaret fundraiser for my friend's wife's vocal ensemble - Zephyr.  Since, I've been dairy free for about 21 years (and gluten free for about six) I didn't really have any high hopes for the desserts; I was going mostly to be a supportive friend.  [Ok, I did think it was possible they'd have some mixed fruit like they had after their April concert.]

Zephyr Vocal Ensemble at Saturday night's Dessert Cabaret Fundraiser



Needless to say, I was surprised to see "gluten free desserts" listed on their website when I went to purchase my ticket!  Since I assumed these would contain dairy, I didn't think much of it, but did email my friend to ascertain the 'gluten-freeness' of these desserts so that I could extend the invitation to some GF friends of mine. 

Turns out, the woman baking them keeps a totally gluten free household as four of the five people in that house follow a gluten free diet.  (And the fifth eats gluten free in the house.)

The concert was terrific and when I finally looked at the dessert table, I was shocked to see that one of the two gluten free desserts (the Jewish Apple Cake) was dairy free as well!  (The French Chocolate Pie with Homemade Whipped Cream certainly wasn't!)  Sadly, by this time the battery in my camera had died and I don't have a photo of it. 

I will keep you all posted if there's going to be gluten free desserts at any of their future events!  Of course, if you're in the Sussex county area and just like live music, there's an event calendar on their website here:  Zephyr Vocal Ensemble.

If you're looking for other gluten free events check here:

NJ Gluten Free Event Calendar