How To Be Happy Without Gluten & Dairy

Gluten Free Pasta 

Tinkyada Gluten Free Pasta

This is my pasta of choice. They have everything from spaghetti to lasagna noodles. Follow the directions on the back of the package and it will turn out perfectly.

There’s actually a large choice on the market when it comes to gluten-free pasta…brown rice, corn, quinoa, buckwheat, black bean, give them all a try and see which is your favorite.

I just tried this penne pasta from Jovial the other night. It was very good! Perfect texture and a very good flavor.

Breakfast Cereal

I rarely eat it, but my husband is a complete cereal addict so it’s a must in our house.

Envirokidz Gluten Free Cereals 

Chex Gluten Free Cereals

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal

Enjoy Life Crunchy Flax

Perfect plain with almond milk and also adds a nice crunch on top of dairy free yogurt.

Dairy Free Milk

Pacific Organic Almond Milk – Unsweetened

This is my favorite dairy free milk for everyday use. But there are many choices out there. Rice, hemp, soy, oat (make sure it’s made from GF oats), hazelnut, coconut.

Canned coconut milk is fantastic for baking, making home-made ice cream and for making coconut whipped cream.

Dairy Free Yogurt

So Delicious Greek Style Coconut Milk Yogurt

This is the absolute best dairy free yogurt I have ever tasted. It’s thick and creamy, a bit tart…just like the real thing!

Amande Almond Milk Yogurt

Delicious, thick and creamy, with a very nice “almondy” flavor.

There are also soy, rice, and goat’s milk yogurts available. However, the coconut and almond yogurts are leaps and bounds above in texture and flavor.

Dairy Free Cheese

Daiya Dairy Free Cheese

I use this cheese for lasagna, grilled cheese sandwiches, stuffed potatoes, all kinds of things. It melts and is stringy like regular cheese. The only downer is that it does not taste good uncooked.

Galaxy Foods Vegan Parmesan Grated Topping. This is soy based, but they also have a rice based grated topping that you can use if you’re opposed to soy. I try not to use soy too often. This parmesan topping is fantastic on garlic bread, in pasta, in home-made pesto, and I also use it in my lasagna.

Goat’s Milk Cheese

There are all kinds of delicious goat’s milk cheeses, hard and soft, out on the market these days. I just bought a wedge of goat Romano at the co-op the other day and it was so good I bought another one yesterday! Some people with milk allergies can handle goat’s milk and some can’t. I can eat it without any issues about 1-2 times a week. If it starts to bother me, I back off for a couple of weeks and then eat it once every couple of weeks and I feel fine.

Trader Joe’s has an AMAZING Goat Gouda. I highly recommend it.

Buffalo Mozzarella

Ahhh…buffalo milk mozzarella. It has changed gluten free and dairy free pizza forever. I was thrilled to run across it at Trader Joe’s! It’s creamier and smoother in texture than cow’s milk mozzarella and the best news of all is that it doesn’t make me sick. I tread lightly like I do with the goat’s milk cheeses though. You can go here and see what it looks like on a pizza I made. Slice and drain on paper towels for a few minutes before placing it on your pizza.

Dairy Free Ice Cream

Coconut Bliss is hands down the best dairy free ice cream I have found. They come up with new flavors all the time, have ice cream bars, fudgecicles…just delicious. If you can’t find it in your area stores, there are other brands you can try, but I would advise you to stay away from the soy milk brands. Not good.

Crackers & Snack Chips

Schar Table Crackers

As close to a Saltine cracker as you’ll ever get. I eat them with DF butter, peanut butter, with goat cheese, with soup and with chili.

Mary’s Gone Crackers

Great with dips! Sometimes if they’ve been on the store shelf for a while…they can get very crispy. Check the expiration date.

Edwards & Sons Brown Rice Snaps

Yummy!

Glutino Pretzels

Deelish! I cover these with vegan chocolate for a sweet snack every now and then. Wonderful. They do have corn flour so if that tends to bother you like it does me, tread lightly.

Kettle Brand makes some very tasty chips that are both gluten-free and dairy free. Make sure you always read their labels though as a few of them do contain dairy. I love these baked chips. Light and crispy, perfect when you’re craving chips but don’t want the fat and oil. My other favorites, when I don’t mind the fat…are their Spicy Thai and Vinegar and Sea Salt chips. Yum!

These Beanitos are like corn chips but corn free! They are made from black beans and work fantastic with salsa, bean dip, and guacamole. They have a couple of types but I have only tried these.

Alcohol

There’s a bit of controversy behind the alcohol aspect of living gluten-free. Many people believe that the distilling process removes the gluten from alcohol made from grains. I’ve read many different pro’s and con’s and even some of the most diligent gluten-free bloggers, writers, and recipe creators drink all kinds of alcohol just fine (except beer). I don’t take the chance. There’s no drink on earth that is worth what I would feel like for 3-5 days after I had it if I had a reaction. I stick to non grain alcohol ONLY.

Ciroc vodka is made from grapes. It’s a bit pricey (much less expensive here in NH though), and is fabulous. I keep mine in the freezer so it’s chilled and wonderful when making cocktails. I also use this vodka to make home-made vanilla extract. (3-4 Vanilla beans slit down the middle, put them in a small jar, fill to the top with vodka, let sit one week.)

1800 Silver Tequila is made from 100% Agave and is delicious. In fact, I couldn’t stand tequila until I tried this. It makes a very tasty margarita.

Meyer’s Rum is made from sugar cane that is boiled into a syrup and aged.

White Rum is typically only aged about a year and then filtered to remove the color. I like to use Bacardi for mixed drinks.

Green’s is my favorite gluten-free beer. I prefer an amber or dark beer, but they also have a blonde. There are quite a few gluten-free beers on the market now and more and more restaurants are starting to carry at least one brand.

Gluten Free Bread

Udi’s has quite a few great bread choices. I prefer the whole grain and they also make  decent bagels, hamburger buns, and hot dog buns. The one annoyance I have with Udi’s is that sometimes you’ll get a loaf of bread ($4.99) with a big air hole in the middle. The bread is small so that hole makes a big difference! Home made gluten-free bread is better of course, but I’ve gotten lazy and rely on the Udi’s when we’re going to need sandwich bread. I like the texture whether it’s fresh or toasted and it holds together well for sandwiches. I haven’t tried their baked goods like muffins and such. I have tried their granola which is quite good, however I do not care for their pizza crusts.

Red Robin now carries their hamburger buns and you can also request GF fries. They are very diligent and careful with their allergen customers and I haven’t been glutened yet!

Gluten Free Meats

We love the Applegate meat products. We use their lunch meats, pepperoni, and Sunday bacon on a regular basis.

Gluten Free Condiments

We use San J gluten-free organic tamari when I make asian foods. To me, it tastes EXACTLY like  regular soy sauce and it’s lower in sodium. It’s a win-win.

 We love Annie’s gluten free products. We use her ketchup, mustards, and BBQ sauces. There are many condiments on the market without gluten, just make sure you read labels carefully, and when in doubt, Google it or contact the manufacturer.

Gluten Free Canned Products

We don’t eat many canned products on a regular basis, but I do like to keep some chili and baked beans around. Stagg is our favorite chili, but read the labels, I’m not sure if every flavor is gluten-free. There are several brands of gluten-free chili on the market, even organic ones. I’ve tried three others besides the Stagg and while they didn’t give me major gluten symptoms, I didn’t feel well after eating them. I prefer the Stagg brand.

Bush’s baked beans are great. We also like Field Day Organic Vegetarian Baked Beans, & Trader Joe’s Organic Baked Beans. However, Trader Joe’s does not consider them gluten-free because they are canned on shared equipment with things that have gluten. They don’t seem to bother me.

Canned Soup

Canned soup makes me cringe. I always try to have home-made soup in my freezer, but sometimes in a pinch, canned is a must. I’ve tried probably every gluten-free canned soup there is. Most of them are totally disgusting. I only recommend one brand and it’s Wolfgang Puck’s gluten-free soups. They are very good. Some contain dairy though, so read the labels carefully. The gluten-free soups are clearly labeled right on the front of the can.

Gluten Free Cookies & Sweets

These Kinnikinnick animal crackers are just trouble in a box! I love how crispy they are and they taste very good. Your kids will love them if you haven’t eaten the whole box on the way home from the grocery store. I can only imagine how tasty they would be covered in chocolate.

Glutino’s Chocolate Vanilla Creme cookies are probably as close to Oreos as you will ever get. Yesterday I dipped them in a glass of almond milk and I was in foodie heaven.

Pamela’s makes some pretty good cookies. The Double Chocolate Cookies are my favorite and work fantastic for pie and tart crusts.

Pamela’s also makes a mighty fine gingersnap.

 I just tried these Schar wafers yesterday. Not bad. A little low on filling, but good in a pinch if you need something sweet and they are pretty low-calorie.

The other day while I was in the grocery store a woman pointed out the Hail Merry desserts to me. The chocolate tarts are to. die. for. Last week I served them for a quick and easy dessert with whipped coconut cream and macerated berry sauce. Delicious. I prefer the chocolate over the lemon, I found the lemon to be overly salty.

Yesterday I bought these Hail Merry chocolate macaroons to give them a try. Wow! Very good. Similar to a coconut haystack truffle…yummy.

 I hope that some of these products will fit into your budget and help to make your gluten-free and dairy free life just a little bit easier. Don’t allow panic, overwhelming feelings, or other people’s negative opinions to stop you from doing what you need to do to feel better. I like to cook , but I understand that not only do many people not enjoy cooking, they simply are too busy and have other responsibilities. Don’t feel like you need to be a superhuman. There’s only so much you can do at a time. If you know you have food allergens, the most important thing is to get those foods out of your life. You can do that by cooking from scratch, you can do it by buying pre-made products and combining them with other things…there are all kinds of ways to get off on the right foot. Just take it one step at a time, do what’s affordable for your family, and make choices that work with your schedule and lifestyle.

As I try new things I’ll keep you all updated and I would love for you to do the same for me!

~ April