Sunday, May 23, 2010

Starbucks: Their Latest Gluten Free Options!

One of the great things about Starbucks, is that whenever you have a question about the gluten free status of one of their drinks, you can just dial 1-800-235-2883, speak to a representative and find out if the drink is gluten free.  It's extremely easy and convenient!

The other good news is that many of their drinks are gluten free.  However, recently Starbucks decided to change one of their products.  The new Coffee Light Frappuccino Syrup base contains gluten.  Thankfully, the regular Coffee Frappuccino Syrup base and the Creme Frappuccino Syrup base still do not contain gluten.  So, when ordering a Frappuccino now remember there is a heightened risk of cross-contaminationStarbucks protocol instructs that baristas wash blenders between drink orders but you may also want to notify your barista about your allergy and the importance of this crucial step when making your drink!

As far as the gluten free food options at Starbucks, there are a few choices.  Starbucks was the first and only mainstream coffee shop to offer a gluten free pastry option with their Aztec Ancho Chile Brownie introduced into the NY market in April 2007 and then this was followed by the Orange Valencia Cake introduced nationally in May 2009.  Unfortunately, both items were discontinued shortly after their introduction.  

Although, we no longer can look forward to a delicious pastry at Starbucks as everyone who does not follow a restricted diet can, we still have some new snack options.  The following items are now offered at Starbucks for those on gluten free diets and are all 220 calories or less:


*Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Chips = $1.50

*Lucy's Cookies (Chocolate Chip, Sugar, and Cinnamon) = $1.50 (Grab & Go Packs) and $5.95 (Box)

*Kind Bars (Mango Macadamia, Almond Cashew, Fruit & Nut Delight, Cranberry & Almond)  = $1.95

*Peeled Snacks (Organic Much-Ado-About-Mango, Apple-2-The-Core, Cherry-Go-Round) = $2.00

*Stretch Island Fruit Company (Harvest Grape, Autumn Apple, Summer Strawberry) = $0.75

*Two Moms In The Raw (only the blueberry and gojiberry flavors that are labeled gluten free) = $3.95


Hopefully, Starbucks will soon reconsider offering gluten free pastry options, but until then we have some healthy snacks to munch on.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Nestle: Tons of Gluten Free Options!

I recently contacted Nestle to find out the gluten free status of one of their items and not only did they write back to me stating that the item I had inquired about was gluten free but they also provided me with a list of all of their gluten free products + 3 gluten free recipes!


Currently, Nestle's gluten free options include:


Confections -
*Baby Ruth
*Bit-O-Honey
*Butterfinger (NOT the Crisp and Stixx varieties)
*Milk Chocolate
*Goobers
*Nips (Regular and Sugar Free)
*Oh Henry!
*Raisinets
*Sno-Caps


Wonka Products - 
*Pixy Stix
*Laffy Taffy (Rope and Fruitarts Chews)
*Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip
*Spree


Coffee and Teas -
*Mountain Blend Instant Coffee
*Nescafe Classic Instant Coffee
*Nestea (All Flavors)
*Nescafe Ice Java Coffee Syrup (All Flavors)
*Nescafe Taster's Choice Instant Coffee (Flavored & Non-Flavored)


Coffee-Mate - 
*Liquid (Flavored & Non-Flavored)
*Powder (Flavored & Non-Flavored)


Nesquik - 
*Ready-To-Drink Milk (All Flavors)
*Syrup (All Flavors)
*Milkshake


Juices - 
*Juicy Juice (All Flavors)
*Juicy Juice Harvest Surprise (All Flavors)


Baking - 
*Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
*Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix
*Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chunks
*Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Mini Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Premier White Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirled Morsels
*Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate & Premier White Swirled Morsels
*Carnation Evaporated Milk
*Carnation Low Fat Evaporated Milk
*Carnation Fat Free Evaporated Milk
*Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk
*Carnation Instant Nonfat Dry Milk


Once you gather your baking ingredients, you should check out some of the gluten free recipes they suggested by clicking on the links below:


Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites


Flourless Chocolate Cake


Lite 'n Easy Crustless Pumpkin Pie


Nestle products are available at grocery stores everywhere and at Ms. Celiac's Market!


Happy Baking!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Enjoy Life Is Not Nuts!

Enjoy Life is one of my favorite gluten free brands.  I love so many of their products and enjoy the fact that their products are free of the 8 most common allergens!


They have recently introduced the Not Nots Nut Free Trail Mix in 2 flavors:  


*Beach Bash (sunflower kernels, pineapple, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and apricots)


*Mountain Mambo (sunflower kernels, pumpkin seeds, raisins, apples, chocolate chips, and cranberries)


They sent me a 6 oz. package of each of these treats of which both varieties I enjoyed!


Not Nuts Nut Free Trail Mix is certified gluten free, as well as, being vegan and kosher.  The trail mix contains no wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, casein, potato, sesame, and sulfites.


And even better they are made in a dedicated nut and gluten free facility!


You can purchase Enjoy Life products at your local health food stores or in the health food section of your mainstream grocery store.  Their trail mix is available in 6 oz. resealable packages.  You can also purchase these products at Ms. Celiac's Market.




For more information, please visit www.enjoylifefoods.com.