Enjoy Life's New Chocolate Products!

Who doesn’t love chocolate?  As long as it’s dark chocolate, it’s one of the very few ‘desserts’ that (should) not have any gluten or dairy.  Still, it’s important to always read the label when picking out a new brand.  Although milk is completely unnecessary in dark chocolate, a lot of companies add dairy anyways.  Additionally, I am sensitive to vanilla and soy, so I try to steer clear from chocolate with vanilla or soy lecithin listed as an ingredient.  This is actually really hard!  I usually stick to Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate bars which are the only ones I’ve found that meet all of my dietary restrictions, but it’s a pain when a recipe calls for chocolate chips.  That’s why I was so excited to find Enjoy Life’s new semi-sweet Chocolate Chunks.

All of Enjoy Life products are made in a dedicated nut and gluten-free facility and certified gluten-free by the Gluten Free Certification Organization.  All products are free of the top 8 allergens, including wheat, dairy, egg and soy.  Even though the bag clearly says dairy, soy and gluten free, I admit I still read the label.  Some habits will never die!  It’s so exciting to find a product that you can really trust and don’t have to worry about any hidden allergens.  Plus, they taste really good!  I added them to the buckwheat banana pancakes I made this weekend and couldn’t help eating them straight out of the bag.  Girlfriend couldn’t keep her hands off either and sprinkled the chips into Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Crunch Granola as an extra chocolaty dessert (which was a bit too much chocolate overload for me!).

Which brings me to my next chocolate ‘dessert’ find for the week.  Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Crunch Granola is so good!  It tastes kind of like Cocoa Pebbles or Cocoa Puffs and it’s hard to believe that it is gluten free and has some health benefits as well, with 4 grams of Fiber per serving.  I usually think of breakfast when I hear granola and I think in my younger days, I definitely would have dug into this granola for breakfast.  These days, this is the perfect sweet treat when I get one of my frequent chocolate cravings.  Unfortunately, I can’t partake in this granola too freely, because its main ingredient is rice which I am sensitive to.  I can have in small doses every other week or so, but any more than that and I will have a pounding headache lasting for up to 4 days.  It was hard to stop myself from eating the entire bag, but that wasn’t really an issue since Girlfriend also loved this granola and it was gone in about 3 days…

On a side note, I also tried Enjoy Life new Crunchy chocolate chip cookies and they were delicious!  You can pick up all of these products at Whole Foods and at certain Jewel’s in the IL area.  To find a store near you, check out enjoylifefoods.com/where_to_buy.

Gluten Free, Allergy Free Expo

This weekend I made the trek to Lisle, IL for the Gluten Free, Allergy Free Expo and it was well worth the drive.  After a month of unlucky run-ins with gluten contamination (see Monday's blog post), it was refreshing to be in a room where I could eat so many items.  Everything was gluten free and there were also a lot of egg and dairy free foods available.  It made me realize how paranoid I’ve become, as I couldn’t shake my vigilant need to read through every product ingredient to check for gluten, eggs and dairy.  The vendors must have thought I was crazy.  Even after reading the ingredients, I double-checked to positively confirm I was able to eat everything.  It was amazing!!  I really couldn't believe it!  I tried a lot of awesome products and met lots of great gluten free bakers, like Kelly Brozyna (Spunky Coconut), Amy Green (SS & GF) and Elana Amsterdam (Elana’s Pantry). 

I also met Alisa Fleming, author of Go Dairy Free, a guide and cookbook for people with lactose / casein intolerance.  She gave me a copy of her book, so keep an eye out for a blog post where I will review her book and recipes.  I've only had a chance to skim through the first few chapters, but so far it is great!  I love her detailed overview of different types of dairy substitutions available and am happy to see many of her suggestions are free of soy which I try to steer clear of most of the time.  More to come on Alisa's book when I've had a chance to read and try some of her recipes.  For now, here are some of the expo product highlights:

Andean Dream – Cookies made with quinoa flour and free of dairy, eggs and gluten.  Most baked goods on the market are made with rice and potato flour, so it’s great to see a product using quinoa flour which is much healthier and high in protein, vitamins and minerals.  These cookies were low in sugar, not too sweet, but still a satisfying treat.

Cru Creations – Gluten free, vegan cheesecake.  I tried Bananas Foster flavor and it was great!  Very surprising that a cheesecake mostly made out of nuts, dates and coconut oil could taste so deliciously similar to cheesecake.  I wanted a whole piece!

No Nuttin’ – Products free of nuts, dairy, eggs and gluten.  I tried the Blueberry Maple granola and Energy Explosion trail mix which were both delicious.  No Nuttin' also has granola bars which I would like to try soon.  Seems like a good option for a snack on the go - always a good idea to carry a back up snack in case there are no gluten free / dairy free options. 

I know we’ve all heard of Bob’s Red Mill as one of our favorite spots for gluten free flours and mixes.  They gave me a gluten free pizza crust mix that can be made using flax seed instead of eggs.  I plan to test it soon and am going to host a pizza party with gluten free pizza crust and different cheese replacements (along with goat cheese, of course!).  I recently tried making various nut cheeses and the cashew ricotta came out really well.  I’ll blog about it all soon and let you know how everything turns out. 

These are just a few of the amazing products I tried at the expo.  It was a great experience and I enjoyed finding great new products and talking with others who suffer from allergies.  Can't wait til next year!

On a separate, but related note, you may have noticed the 1 in 133 banner on my webpage.  1 in 133 is an important organization working towards FDA standards for gluten free product labeling.  Seven years ago, the FDA was tasked with developing and implementing gluten-free labeling.  These standards are still not complete which has left all of us gluten allergy sufferers at risk of eating contaminated foods.  And there are a lot of us out there!  18 million Americans suffer from gluten sensitivity and 1 in 133 people in the US have Celiac Disease!  Those stats are enough for me to know this is an important cause.  Please support this important organization by signing the petition or making a donation.