Going gluten free can be hard. Especially when you have additional food restrictions. I am allergic to all nuts and shellfish. When I went gluten free, I was struggling to find products I could eat that didn’t use almond flour and was manufactured in an allergen friendly facility. As a result, my mom and I would search for recipes and then figure out how to make them gluten free. We are also open to trying products to incorporate into our meals, if anyone has any suggestions. Now I will discuss products we have tried recently; clicking on each product picture will take you to their website or product page.

Rule of Thumb: Always be cautious, read labels, and go with your gut. There may be some products on here that are not certified free of the tip 14 allergens, but I have not had any issues eating them. If it says shared facility or prep area, I will avoid the product or use caution.

Renewal Mill: Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix

My mom saw this and wanted to give it a try. We were hesitant as we had never heard of Okara flour, made from soybean pulp leftover when soy milk is made. After some thought we decided to try it. What I like is not needing a lot of ingredients to add to the mix; all you need is vegetable oil and hot water. Overall, it tastes really good and it was chocolaty. I did add some Guittard chocolate baking chips for more chocolate. It is 100% gluten free and vegan (according to the package and their website). I did not have any issues eating it and would be willing to buy them again.

The best way to eat their brownies is with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream (reminded me of Ben & Jerry’s), or you can eat them by itself or with a glass of milk. Their other products include 1-To-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, Okara Flour, Oat Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, and Sugar Cookie Mix. You can find their products at Whole Foods and Amazon. To see if they are sold in your area, check their website: https://www.renewalmill.com

Miss Jones Baking Co.: Organic Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I hesitated in writing this review. This was another product my mom wanted to try and it was a let down. We made four different mini bundt cakes the day before Memorial Day and my mom wanted icing to correspond with each cake flavor. We made homemade vanilla, lemon, and strawberry buttercream, frosting (and eventually homemade chocolate buttercream frosting). I grew up on Betty Crocker frosting and I love Pillsbury frosting, but my mom likes to make things homemade when it can be done.

I feel like I need a back story on why, in the spur of the moment, my mom wanted to make these cakes. Someone from her department brought in Nothing Bundt Cakes one day and she told me the one she had was the most disgusting cake she had ever had. So, out of curiosity I looked up their ingredients and was shocked. They use box cake mix, an egg mixture (from their ingredient list: WHOLE EGG, EGG YOLK, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SALT, CELLULOSE GUM), sour cream, and more. If you are not a fan of silicon dioxide and Red 40 being in your cakes, then this is not for you. What baffles me is using white cake mix for a vanilla cake. Why not get a vanilla cake mix? Why not make it all from scratch? Why are they using an egg mixture when they could just crack a few eggs? And, can we not put sour cream where it doesn’t belong? I have never used sour cream in any of my cakes and they turn out just fine. Oh and by the way, their FAQs say that their carrot cake is dairy-free; however, the ingredient list says that it contains milk. They also can’t make cakes that are egg-free, sugar-free, vegan, keto, or, technically, gluten free (kitchen is not gluten free), which makes sense if they are relying on box cake mix. If you love them, then that’s fine with me. I am not encouraging anyone to hate on them, I would just prefer to eat at a bakery that makes everything from scratch; to me that is what being a bakery means.

Back to the product. The Organic Chocolate Buttercream Frosting was a disappointment. It is possible we had a bad batch, but I will never forget how salty the frosting was. I had cut a slice from one of the cakes and put some of the frosting on it. I felt like the frosting had ruined the cake. Please note, the cakes were perfect without the frosting, but once the frosting was added we ended up having a salty aftertaste. I don’t know if I would be willing to try anything else of theirs. Sometimes homemade is just as good if not better. I won’t tell you not to buy their products; I just wanted to give my opinion.

Their products range from mixes to sugars to frosting to cookie dough (both gluten free and gluten containing). Their gluten free mixes listed on their website include: gluten free monster cookie mix, gluten free double chocolate brownie mix, everyday delicious original oat pancake mix, every delicious confetti pop oat pancake mix, and gluten free yellow cake. Their organic frostings are gluten free, soy free, dairy free, vegan, nut free, and made in a nut-free facility. Check them out if you are interested: https://missjones.co

Sir Kensington: Classic Mayonnaise and Garlic Everything Sauce

I didn’t particularly like these two products of theirs. Starting with the mayonnaise (mayo), I could definitely tell the difference between Boar’s Head Mayonnaise (described later) and Sir Kensington’s Classical Mayonnaise. Their mayo is described as the perfect palate-pleasing storm of blending smooth sunflower oil, certified humane cage-free egg yolks and bright hints of lemon. I am not entirely sure what the taste was but it didn’t really go with my chicken salad; too much lemon flavor or the taste of sunflower was strong.

The Moroccan-Inspired Garlic Everything Sauce is described as savory garlic with hints of preserved lemon and warm spices. I could definitely taste the lemon and garlic. I drizzled this sauce over a falafel and garlic-butter chicken rice bowl with corn and I could taste the flavors clashing. I think for me to have an accurate opinion of the sauce, I need to find a meal it can go with.

I have bought their Korean-Inspired Gochujang Everything Sauce and Mexican-Inspired Chile Lime Crema Everything Sauce. I never got to try the Gochujang Everything Sauce, but I do love the Chile Lime Crema Everything Sauce. Some of their other sauces include Japanese-Inspired Hibachi Yum Yum Everything Sauce and Peruvian-Inspired Aji Amarillo Everything Sauce. Each sauce is Non-GMO project verified, gluten free, dairy free, and keto certified.

Sir Kensington also has other products, but I have not seen all of them on the shelves of the grocery stores we shop at. These products include Sriracha Mayonnaise, Chipotle Mayonnaise (I have seen this one), Avocado Oil Mayonnaise, Truffle Garlic Aioli, Organic Mayonnaise, Special Sauce, Classic Vegan Mayo, Chipotle Vegan Mayo, Avocado Oil Vegan Mayo, Special Sauce Vegan Mayo, Spicy Brown Mustard, Yellow Mustard, and Dijon Mustard. Tell me your thoughts of Sir Kensington’s products.

https://www.sirkensingtons.com/us/en/products.html

Tarazi: Falafel Mix

My mom and I made falafels from scratch a few years ago and they weren’t bad. Within the last year, my mom saw Tarazi’s falafel mix sitting on the shelf at Whole Foods and wanted to try it. However, we forgot about it and let it expire. We picked up a new one in May and finally tried them on the 8th of June. All you have to do is add water, stir, let sit for 30 to 60 minutes, and bake or pan-fry them. You can smell the spices as you mix-in the water and it smelled so good. Mom and I chose to pan-fry in vegetable oil. We may have fried them for to long on one side but they turned out fine. We ate them with garlic-butter chicken, rice, and corn.

Overall, I felt it was missing something, but I could have added other ingredients to the rice bowl. My mom loved them. Keep in mind www don’t eat falafels all the time, which could be why the flavor didn’t seem right to me. We did try them again, and I still feel like something is missing. Maybe it has too much of the herbs used in the mix, or maybe it’s the taste of the fave beans that I don’t like.

Feel free to check them out: https://www.tarazifoods.com

Boar’s Head Brand: Real Mayonnaise

I honestly love just about everything of theirs. I had to look this up to confirm: “All Boar’s Head Brand meats, cheeses, hummus, and condiments, as well as Hans Jurgen Pickles, are gluten free.” I no longer eat any deli meat, but I will use their block cheeses for Mac n’ Cheese and snacks, and I may snack on their pepperoni and deli sliced cheeses. When it comes to block cheeses, we prefer gruyere, cream Havarti cheese, Vermont cheddar, longhorn Colby, and Colby Jack. From the deli counter my mom would get yellow or white American and Colby Jack cheeses. When it comes to condiments, I prefer Boar’s Head Brand’s Mayo. This is the best mayo I have tried so far and is perfect for when I make chicken salad.

There was a recall on some of their deli meats starting with liverwurst over the summer. They released in update October 3rd that they have appointed Renowned Food Safety Expert Frank Yiannas as Chief Food Safety Advisor effective immediately. They have also announced they will be discontinuing the production of liverwurst and the indefinite closure of their plant in Jarret, Virginia. I would advise caution when buying their deli meats and always check their website for updates. To my knowledge, their cheeses are not impacted.

Here’s their website: https://boarshead.com

Jovial: Stelline, Capellini, Elbow, and Mafalda

Jovial Foods has a lot of things. I literally just discovered they have olive oil after looking at their website. They have jars of beans and tomatoes, boxed Mac n’ Cheese, and various types of pasta. When it comes to pasta, I have a hard time finding one that reheats well. I was hesitant to try Jovial as I have tried brown rice pasta before and did not like the flavor. However, Jovial takes on the flavor you give it. I mean this in the best way possible. My mom and I will sometimes make Capellini noodles with some sauce (Rao’s or Organico Bello) on the side; sometimes my mom wants sauce and I don’t. Another go-to is Capellini with butter; I tend to add Cabot Mexican Cheese to mine. In both dishes, you never taste the brown rice. Lasagna noodles and Egg Tagliatelle are other favorites that my mom and I have not had in a while now that I think about it.

I have also used Stelline to make the soup recipe on the back of the box. This is another thing I like about them: the recipes on the backs of the boxes. My go-to Mac n’ Cheese recipe comes from the back of the elbow noodle box. I even used the recipe with Mafalda and there were no complaints. In the coming weeks, my mom is planning to make minestrone with Mafalda. I have used their other pastas (not the Cassava ones), but I find it hard to get the cook time just right for the fusilli, penne, and farfalle; they’re just not quite done in the time it says on the box. I also discovered their wide varieties of pasta that I have not seen at our local Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, or Wegmans. They have a family-size box of fusilli, single serve penne, caserecce pasta, shells, and manicotti. I’ll probably buy these from their website (https://jovialfoods.com) at some point in the future.

Go Nanas: Fudge Brownie Banana Bread Mix

I Love Go Nanas! Need I say more. I love that this brand is allergen friendly. They are vegan, gluten free, nut free, kosher, school safe, and women-owned. My grandmother and my mom can’t even tell they’re gluten free, which is the best part of being gluten free. All you have to do is add 3 bananas, maple syrup or honey, oil or yogurt, and your choice of milk. I use 2-3 bananas depending on ripeness, maple syrup, vegetable oil, and Fairlife fat free milk (light blue bottle). I actually bake them in a 24 mini muffin pan for about time and what ever I don’t eat after they cool gets divided by 5 days, placed in Ziploc bags, and into the fridge per their recommendation. My all time favorite is their Fudge Brownie. I have tried their Chocolate chip, but I find it to have too much cinnamon flavor to the point where it is almost over-powering.

I am planning to become a brand ambassador as I love these so much. So, we will see if I decide to do so. In the mean time, check out their website for what flavors they offer: https://eatgonanas.com

That’s all for now. Let me know in the comments section if you have tried these products. What are some thoughts you have? Please no judgement to either myself or anyone in the comments for thoughts that may differ from yours. I want this to be a space where we can all chat peacefully. I eat what works for me as I’m sure many others do as well. Feel free to send me any food blog ideas or recommendations at blueoceans.sanddollar@gmail.com or comment down below.

See you soon!