Thursday, January 8, 2009

Gluten-Free Food Review #3

Well... I've got some good news, and some bad news.

Which would you like first?

The bad?

My pleasure.

Road's End Organics Penne & Chreese Pasta


Now, I'd like to begin by saying that I mostly blame myself for this experience. I didn't realize when I bought this pasta that it was vegan; therefore, I was prepared for the flavor of real cheese. Not...chreese.

The pasta in this mix is fine. It's standard rice pasta that cooks up great, never overcooks and with a quick rinse is ready to be eaten. But, the flavoring packet is where this side dish goes ALL wrong. The um... chreese, as it is called, actually tastes like... well, for lack of a better term I'll just say I've tasted cheese wrappers that had more cheese flavor than this mixture of tapioca starch and organic green lentil flour.

Now, I do feel kind of bad giving this thumbs down review to this vegan pasta side dish. It must be very hard for people who live a vegan lifestyle to find good foods to eat. But this is not good food, even if you can't remember what real cheese tastes like, and perhaps enough honest reviews will encourage this company to make food for vegans that is palatable. See there? I'm not just a critic. I'm a hero! Ok, maybe not, but at least I'm saving you a couple bucks on something that tastes and smells like cardboard brocolli casserole.

So... Ready for the good news? It's really good too!

Believe it or not teriyaki beef jerky is really hard to find if you eat a gluten-free diet. Very hard. But to my delight and suprise I found that Whole Foods Market makes their own beef jerky with gluten-free soy sauce! It tastes great too. Even my four year old really liked it. It's definitely on the sweet side, so if you prefer a beefier tasting beef jerky I'd get a different flavor. But other than that its very moist and not too hard. It tastes very fresh, and the beef is from celebrity cows that dined on fancy grass and were pampered daily in fancy farms all over the world.

So next time you get the hankering for some beefy jerky rest easy my gluten-free friend! Whole Foods once again comes to the rescue! Yay!

I give it 4 stars out of 5! Mmmm beefy!

2 comments:

Alyss said...

I have eaten that macaroni and chreese stuff and I whole heartedly concur! I am pretty vehemently against vegan diets, but if you are going to be a vegan, at least be one who eats tasty plant food :)
Have you ever tried making your own beef jerky? I made some this summer and it came out a little dry, but very flavorful.

Catastrophe Waitress said...

Alyss,

I would LOVE to make my own beef jerky, and if I ever get a dehydrater then I will give it a go. I am pretty much realizing that I would rather make most food items myself. Bread, baked goods, quick eats, etc. The life of a gluten-free woman is not one of convenience!

Have a great day!

Erin