Rocky Mountain High

I've heard many posters on celiac-related message boards and blogs of late singing the praises of Udi's Gluten Free Foods. Udi's has a dedicated gluten-free bakery in Denver, Colorado that turns out breads, muffins, cinnamon rolls, pizza crusts and granola. At the moment, Udi's products are not sold in any East Coast stores, so I decided to order the white sandwich bread, lemon streusel muffins and blueberry muffins direct from the company to see if these products lived up to the hype.

The products were shipped frozen and were thawed upon receipt. In a note accompanying the shipment, the company explained that the products would stay fresh at room temperature for up to three days after receipt, after which the goods should be frozen, then defrosted or heated as needed. We left the breads and muffins in the kitchen for three days and found them ready to eat the entire time.

My older son loved the fact that he could eat soft sandwich bread right out of the bag. In fact, the bread is so soft and airy that I ripped a piece while spreading butter on a slice. I've never encountered that before with gluten-free bread! On consecutive days after getting the delivery, I packed my son peanut-butter and salami sandwiches on untoasted bread and he told me the bread stayed soft through lunch. A loaf of bread yields about 12-14 slices, but the slices - and the loaves themselves - are smaller than Whole Foods Bakehouse Sandwich Bread. The bread's crust is firm and chewy.

The other night, I made my older son two grilled-cheese sandwiches with Udi's bread. Since the bread was frozen, I lightly toasted four slices, then spritzed them with butter spray and grilled them in a frying pan with American cheese. I sampled a piece and couldn't tell the difference between it and one using wheat-made sandwich bread.

Everyone in the family tried the muffins and thought they tasted great. Both muffins had a cake-like texture. I love all things lemon, so I was partial to lemon streusel variety.

Since the time of my initial order by phone, Udi's launched an online store, where customers can order the breads ($5 each), muffins ($6 for four), pizza crusts ($5 for pack of two) and granola ($5.99 per bag) for home delivery. There are several shipping options, the least expensive of which is FedEx Ground. I just placed another order for eight loaves of bread (there's a volume discount for all products; the price for the bread was reduced to $4.75 each) and ground shipping cost about $10.

Goodies Giveaway 5: Betty Crocker Fruit-Flavored Snacks

UPDATE (10/5/09): Congratulations to reader Sherazada, who's the winner of the giveaway!

When I was a kid, I often had strawberry-flavored Fruit Roll-Ups for a snack. Not only are Fruit Roll-Ups still around, my kids love them - except I couldn't have imagined back then they would be eating Fruit Roll-Ups With Tongue Tattoos or, for that matter, Fruit Gushers, Fruit By The Foot or fruit snacks shaped in just about every animal and cartoon character imaginable!

Having school-age children, my wife and I find it convenient to keep fruit snacks on hand. I was happy to notice recently that General Mills, the makers of Betty Crocker fruit-flavored snacks, began labeling these products as gluten free. With its introduction of gluten-free dessert mixes and reformulation of Chex and other cereals to become gluten-free, General Mills has endeared itself to the gluten-free community. The fruit snacks are made with real fruit and are less than 100 calories per serving.

As part of Gluten Free Philly's latest giveaway, you have an opportunity to reminisce about your youth - or please the younger set. One lucky reader will win a Betty Crocker "Simple Joys" prize pack (pictured above) that includes two packages of Betty Crocker Fruit-Flavored Snacks, a retro Pick 'em Up Sticks game, a light-up yo-yo and a classic Frisbee, all courtesy of MyBlogSpark.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment to this post about one of your favorite games to play as a child.

Some brief guidelines: (1) please do not enter unless you or a family member is on a gluten-free diet; (2) one comment per person; (3) U.S. residents only.

Most important is to make sure your comment provides a way for me to contact you. If your comment does not link back to an email address, blog or website through which I can get in touch with you, post your email address in the comment in the following format: "name[at]domain[dot]suffix."

The giveaway runs now through Sunday, October 4 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. I’ll randomly select one winner the next day and will contact them by email. If I don’t hear back from the person with his or her mailing address by the following Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, I’ll select another name.

Good luck!

News & Notes

I've heard from a number of vendors this week who are excited about their participation in next week's Appetite for Awareness and Gluten-Free Cooking Spree, to be held on September 30. "Main event" tickets are still available through the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and are $100 for adults and $35 for students, and may be tax-deductible. If last year's event was any indication, the opportunity to sample food from some of the area best restaurants and get lots of product samples and coupons is worth the price of admission. If you spot me there (my picture is posted in the "About Me" section of Gluten Free Philly), feel free to introduce yourself.

After I wrote about the ready-to-eat gluten-free meals from GoPicnic on Monday, reader Dina wrote to tell me that the company is running a 20%-off promotion for orders placed through its website. Just type KIWI in the coupon code box at checkout. The offer runs through October 31.

On Wednesday, I profiled Sweet Christine's Bakery in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, which sells gluten-free breads and sweets exclusively.

Morton's Steakhouse, with locations in Philadelphia and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey, has gluten-free options on its menu.

The Melting Pot is set to open its Warrington, Pennsylvania location (uprooted from Chestnut Hill) on September 30.

Since Mr. Ritt's Bakery moved out of town a couple years ago, there's been no dedicated gluten-free bakery in Philadelphia. That's about to change with the arrival of Sweet Freedom Bakery. The bakery, owned by Allison Lupert and Heather Esposito, is coming to Center City (1424 South Street) in November. Sweet Freedom's products, which will include cakes, cookies, loaves, muffins, brownies, blondies and pizzelle, will also be allergen-friendly, vegan and contain no refined sugars.

There's also some new-product news this week. Nature's Path has introduced two more gluten-free cold cereals. Both Crunchy Maple Sunrise and Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise are made from organic grains such as corn, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth.

More Canadian baking: Kinnikinnick Foods announced this week the introduction of several new items, which are currently, or will soon be, available for online ordering at the company's website. New are chocolate and graham-style KinniKritters animal crackers and panko-style breadcrumbs. The products will be available in stores in next several months.

Kettle Cuisine, which makes frozen, ready-to-eat soups, has added several new products to its existing gluten-free line. The company has rolled out a vegetarian Three Bean Chili as well as Organic Carrot & Coriander Soup, Organic Chick Pea with Spinach Soup, Organic Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Soup and Organic Cream of Mushroom & Potato Soup. All of the products come in 10-oz. microwaveable bowls and sell for a suggested retail price of $3.99 each.

There are many gluten-free-friendly restaurants participating in some upcoming local Restaurant Week programs. Diners can enjoy a three-course meal from October 5-12 during Delaware Dines Out for only $30 per person. Among the restaurants involved are Iron Hill Brewery in Newark and Wilmington, The Melting Pot in Wilmington and Newark's Soffritto Italian Grill. The South Jersey Restaurant Week runs from October 18-23 and features a four-course meal for either $25 or $35 per person, depending on the eatery. Andreotti's Viennese Cafe in Cherry Hill, Blackbird in Collingswood, Mullica Hill's blueplate, Casona of Collingswood and La Campagne in Cherry Hill will be offering special menus during this promotion. Links to the websites of these restaurants are posted on the Gluten Free Philly restaurant page.

I'll leave you this week with a video preview of the Appetite for Awareness event:

Have a great weekend!

The Sweet Smell of Success

I first met Christine Ruggio, the owner of Sweet Christine's Gluten-Free Confections, at the duPont Hospital for Children's Celiac Conference two years ago. At the time, she had just started her fledgling business and was sampling her homemade cookies at the event. Since then, demand for her all-natural cookies and other baked goods has grown so much that Christine, who was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2005, opened Sweet Christine's Bakery last year in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

At her bakery, Christine offers gluten-free items exclusively as part of a menu that includes sandwiches, salads, pizza and, of course, lots of sweet treats. Christine, who is a fellow University of Delaware alum, kindly sent me some samples of her products. My kids and I particularly liked the sweets - the rich chocolate brownies, soft chocolate chip cookies and the rich, gooey lava cake that I warmed for about half a minute in the microwave oven. What was left of the white sandwich bread I used for sandwiches kept its softness for a few days at room temperature before I sliced and froze the rest of the loaf.

If you don't live or work near the bakery, Sweet Christine's bread items and desserts are available for online ordering and at retail locations throughout the Delaware Valley. Sweet Christine's will be at the vendor fair at this year's duPont conference, coming up this Saturday, September 26 in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Appetite for Awareness event in Philadelphia on September 30.

Go Without Gluten

UPDATE (9/21/09): GoPicnic is offering 20% off orders at its online store through October 31 with the use of a promotional code. Just type KIWI in the coupon code box at checkout. Thanks to reader Dina for the info.
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Among the foods my older son tried for the first time at Camp Celiac in August was a ready-to-eat boxed meal from GoPicnic. GoPicnic's founders developed the concept of the shelf-stable "picnic" meal in 2004 for a major U.S. airline. Recognizing the benefits such shelf-stable meal programs could bring to others, the company's founders expanded on the original concept, creating meals for different types of diets, including those who eat gluten free. GoPicnic works directly with manufacturers to develop single-serving sizes of interesting products.

The company makes three kid-friendly MightyMunch gluten-free meals: ExploreMunch, SafariMunch and SportsMunch. ExploreMunch includes an Old Wisconsin turkey stick, a Copper Cowbell white cheddar cheese slice, Calbee baked Snapea crisps, Mrs. May's sunflower seed crunch, Sweet Perry Orchards natural strawberry apple sauce and Surf Sweets all-natural gummy bears. SafariMunch contains Salba Smart organic tortilla chips, Ortega mild salsa, Sheffa zesty snack mix, Mrs. May's sunflower seed crunch, Sweet Perry Orchards natural strawberry applesauce, and Enjoy Life snickerdoodle cookies. The SportsMunch variety includes Bridgford turkey pepperoni slices, Sensible Portions cheddar multigrain crisps, Mrs. May's pumpkin seed crunch, Sweet Perry Orchards natural cinnamon applesauce, and Enjoy Life chocolate chip cookies.

Three other varieties are geared toward adults. The GoTrek box includes Jack Link's beef steak nuggets, a Copper Cowbell Swiss cheese slice, Sheffa zesty snack mix, Mariani cranberries and pineapple blend and Swiss Delicato milk chocolate. The AnywhereBreak meal includes Jack Link's beef steak nuggets, Corazonas Squeeze of Lime tortilla chips, Ortega mild salsa, a Copper Cowbell white cheddar cheese slice, Mrs. May's cashew crunch, Mariani dried cranberries and Swiss Delicato dark chocolate. ZestyBreak contains includes Bridgford turkey pepperoni slices, Copper Cowbell Asiago cheese spread, Mary's Gone Crackers whole-grain crackers, Sheffa zesty snack mix, Mariani Ultimate apricots, Lärabar Apple Pie fruit and nut bar and Swiss Delicato dark chocolate.

I recently ordered direct from the company two MightyMunch Gluten-Free Samplers, which contain each of the three different Munch varieties. The meals have come in handy for lunches at my son's school and for a quick bite before late-afternoon Little League baseball games. He doesn't like every item in each box, but there's enough other food in there that sates his appetite.

GoPicnic donates 5% of all sales of gluten-free meals (which range from $4.99 to $6.99 each) to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. New customers can sign up for the company's newsletter to get a 10%-off coupon code for use on their first order. Shipping is free for orders over $99. Several varieties of GoPicnic's gluten-free meals are also available for online ordering at Costco.