Review: Cinnamon Chex

I am now officially only 1 Chex cereal away from trying all of the gluten-free ones out there now.  🙂  I have a great friend, Lisa, to thank for the Cinnamon Chex.  She & I did an exchange.  We were both having issues finding certain flavors, so I sent her a box of Strawberry Chex and she, in turn, sent me a box of Cinnamon Chex.  The Cinnamon Chex are amazing.  I think that they are in first place right now, as far as flavor goes, with Strawberry in second place.  Now, I have yet to track down the super-elusive Chocolate Chex yet, so that could bump Cinnamon right out of first place, because we all know how I feel about my chocolate.  When I do find the Chocolate Chex, I plan on making the following Chex Mix recipe that I found on the Chex site:

Snickerdoodle Chex® Mix

Start to Finish: 15 Minutes

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups Cinnamon Chex® cereal

2 cups Chocolate Chex® cereal

4 cups popped popcorn

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1. In small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals and popcorn.

2. In 1-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

3. Microwave uncovered on High 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly over cereal mixture; stir. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture; stir. Microwave 1 minute longer. Spread on waxed paper or paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.

16 servings (1/2 cup each)

1 Serving: Calories 100 (Calories from Fat 35); Total Fat 3.5g (Saturated Fat 2g); Cholesterol 10mg; Sodium 80mg; Potassium 20mg; Total Carbohydrate 15g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g

% Daily Value: Vitamin A 6%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 4%; Iron 15%; Vitamin D 0%; Folic Acid 15%

Exchanges: 1/2 Starch, 1/2 Other Carbohydrate, 1/2 Fat

Carbohydrate Choices: 1

I don’t think that you could go wrong with this Chex Mix.  Maybe, just maybe, when we are on vacation I will happen upon the long lost Chocolate Chex.  Wish me luck! 😉

LiveJournal Tags: chex Cereal Gluten Free

Menu Plan ~ May 24, 2009

Summer has arrived!  WOOHOO!!!  The heat is on…the heat is onnnnnnnnn!  Okay, no more of that.  I broke down & bought a death slide Slip & Slide yesterday for Hannah.  Darn Wal-Mart & their $5 deals.  I am sure that says something about how long this “toy” will last.  I was a little reassured that they have improved the “safety” of crashing your body into the hard ground by adding a blow-up “boogie board” to the set.  What a deal!  Hannah was thrilled & picked out the pink one, only to be disappointed when we opened the box & the boogie board was green.  That didn’t keep her down for long, though.  She is chomping at the bit to get out there again, however, grocery shopping & consignment store shopping is going to have to bump her Slip & Slide session to later this afternoon.

If the menu last week was designed to use up my freezer & fridge stash, this week’s is much more so.  We are leaving at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday for our 2-week beach vacation, so we need to use up what we have. 

Sunday ~ Kim (salmon..one piece in the freezer & baked sweet potato); Jon’s friends over pizza? plus salad

Monday ~ grilled chicken, baked potato/sweet potato, steamed green beans & salad

Tuesday ~ Mexican Pizza/tacos, refried or black beans, corn & salad

Wednesday ~ Homemade mac & cheese, baked beans & salad

Thursday~ Spaghetti & Meat Sauce, veggies & salad

Friday~ Finish off fridge stuff or homemade pizza…take leftovers!

Saturday~ Beach!!

Baked Goods

3 loaves of Pamela’s bread to freeze & take with us

Brownies (to take on the road)

LiveJournal Tags: menu plan,gluten-free

Product Review: Dagoba Seeds Bar

I had the pleasure of winning a free chocolate bar from Dagoba a week or so ago.  They send me the Dagoba Seeds Bar.  I was very excited to try & savor this bar.  The list of ingredients:

Ingredients – Organic dark chocolate* (OG cacao beans, OG evaporated cane juice, OG cacao butter, OG soy lecithin), OG pumpkin seeds*, OG Manitoba Harvest™ hemp seeds*, OG sunflower seeds, Big Tree Farms Balinese sea salt.

KOSHER KSA-D

I broke into this bar the other night after dinner and wow…….A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!  The perfect combo of sweet & salty.  The nuts were prominent enough, but didn’t take over the bar.  Went wonderfully with a great glass of cabernet. 

Along with my bar, Dagoba kindly sent me a $1.00 off coupon for another chocolate bar.  I was at Whole Foods last night and looked for another Seeds Bar, but didn’t find any.  😦  I settled (haha….any bar from Dagoba is not settling) on a New Moon Bar, which as it stands, is tied in first for my fav from Dagoba.  I am on a quest to try them all (hint, hint).  😉 

LiveJournal Tags: Dagoba chocolate,gluten-free

Product Review: Enjoy Life Granola

I received 3 different varieties of Enjoy Life Granola to sample & review a week or so ago.  The flavors are Cinnamon Crunch, Cranapple Crunch & Very Berry Crunch.  I had tried these granolas a while back and they were good, however, they are now “new & improved”! 

  

I have only had the chance to sample the Cranapple Crunch so far, but was in love.  YUM!!  I poured some over my Oikos yogurt the other day for a delicious afternoon snack!

There were big chunks of cranberries and this was very close to the granola I remember eating before having to go gluten-free.  Here is the ingredient list:

ingredients:

Brown Rice Flakes; Brown Rice Syrup; Evaporated Cane Juice; Water; Rice Bran; Dried Cranberries (Cranberries, Sugar, Sunflower Oil)*; Dried Apples*; Rice Crisps ( Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Raisin Juice Concentrate, Honey, Salt); Expeller-Pressed Vegetable Oil (Safflower Oil and/or Sunflower Oil); Natural Apple Flavor; Malic Acid; Ground Flaxseed; Rosemary Extract

NO TRANS FAT, NO ARTIFICIAL ANYTHING, VEGAN, KOSHER PAREVE, VITAMIN FORTIFIED, 23 GRAMS OR MORE OF WHOLE GRAIN PER SERVING, GLUTEN FREE, CASEIN FREE

vitamins and minerals:

Magnesium; Iron; Niacin (Vitamin B3); Zinc; Thiamin (Vitamin B1); Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5); Folate; Vitamin B6

Very impressive!  I can’t wait to break into the other 2!  I will make sure to review those flavors as well. 

LiveJournal Tags: Enjoy Life granola,gluten free

Product Review: Smartfood Popcorn Clusters

I happened upon a sale on these Popcorn Clusters the other day and picked some up.  There are 3 different flavors, however, only the Cranberry Almond is gluten-free.  The label states that each serving (or pack) contains 5 grams of fiber & 20% of the RDA of calcium!  This is a bonus when you can’t do a lot of dairy products (there is dairy in this product, so beware if you have a milk allergy).  I have lactose intolerance, but am able to do small amounts of dairy with a Lactaid pill. 

 

I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened up this snack pack, but I was very impressed!  What a great flavor!  Reminds me of Cracker Jacks, but healthier!  I ate these as a mid-morning snack & they kept me full until lunch time.  Great snack to keep in your purse or car (if it isn’t too hot) for emergencies!  5 star review for this one!

LiveJournal Tags: smartfood popcorn clusters,cranberry almond,gluten-free