Tag: gianteagle

Cheerios Goes Gluten Free

cheerios gf

Back in 2010, General Mills changed one ingredient in their Chex cereal line. Switching from malt to molasses, GM launched Rice Chex as gluten free (GF). Its success prompted the release of six more flavors.

Beginning in July of 2015, five Cheerios products will have the same great taste but will be going gluten free: Original, Honey Nut, Apple Cinnamon, Frosted, and Multi-Grain Cheerios. While Chex is made from rice and corn, Cheerios is made from oats, which is a controversial grain in the gluten free community.

Oats are controversial because they are contaminated by wheat when they are processed or transported.

Those who have celiac disease (CD) and gluten sensitivity (GS) are advised to consume only certified gluten free oats. Even then, a percentage of those with CD and GS still react against any oats. (Even certified GF oats should be carefully introduced, especially into the diet of someone newly diagnosed).

Chex instant hot oatmeal, made from gluten free WHOLE oats, was launched in 2014. There is only a limited supply of GF oats. To launch Cheerios which require a large quantity to be made into OAT FLOUR, General Mills decided to mechanically filter regular oats to eliminate cross contamination, rendering them gluten free.

General Mills is aware of the gluten free FDA labeling guidelines and are testing to ensure the standard of less than 20ppm is met. They have a great reputation as a responsible company.

While the gluten free/celiac community applauds General Mills for producing another mainstream GF cereal which costs less than some GF cereals and is more widely available, some early questions have arisen:

1. Why not a third party certification?
2. It is understood that the mechanical filtering is a competitive secret, specially developed by GM at great cost. If they can’t reveal it, why can’t they release more on the type of testing done, as well as the quantity of testing done?
3. Why can’t they use gluten free oats, developing a demand?

Of all the 5 GF Cheerios, Multi-Grain will go through the biggest reformulation. Its wheat and barley ingredients will be replaced with sorghum and millet.

What do you think about the new GF Cheerios?
Please comment!

Corned Beef List (GF) for St. Pat’s and Beyond

Corned beef should be gluten free. It’s basically salted beef. However meat is NOT regulated by the FDA. It is regulated by the USDA which (the majority of the time) follows FDA guidelines for wheat and gluten free labeling. Having said that…..

The labels or websites for the following brands state that their products as ‘gluten-free’:
• Colorado Premium – all corned beef products
• Freirich – all corned beef
Giant Eagle (listed on package)
• Grobbel’s Gourmet corned beef briskets
• Hormel
• Market Day: Corned Beef Brisket per their product key
• Mosey’s corned beef per Costco website
• Wegmans corned beef brisket
• Thumann’s cooked corn beef brisket, first cut corned beef (cooked and raw), top round corned beef (cooked), cap and capless corned beef.

As always, please verify that your choice is gluten free.

Happy St. Pat’s day and beyond!

This list was last checked March, 2015

Lean Cuisine Ranchero Braised Beef

Archived by Diane 11/18/2020 -> no longer available

Now Lean Cuisine has a labelled gluten free option: Ranchero Braised Beef

lcrancherobeef

The remarkably accurate description is “braised beef in a spicy read chile sauce served with a side of chipotle mashed sweet potatoes”. Overall tasty with a nice spicy note, though the beef had an odd rubbery/chewy texture and there was much more sauce than beef.

Lean Cuisine was on sale 5 for $10 at Giant Eagle. Nice that there is no upcharge for a gluten free product.

Hanukkah Gluten Free

There are many traditional foods for Hanukkah (or Chanukkah) that can be made gluten-free and still taste like you remember. Latkes are an easy adaption. Take any latke recipe and substitute gluten-free bread crumbs for regular breadcrumbs. I recommend Kinnikinnick Panko Breadcrumbs for all breadcrumb substitutions.  Your latkes will taste great but, the heavy smell from cooking them will still fill your house.  I found the Kinnikinnick Panko crumbs at Earth Fare and Mustard Seed.

Streit’s Gluten Free Matzo Ball Soup mix is excellent and tastes exactly the same as the regular mix. I found it at Giant Eagle.  I always use a gluten-free chicken broth  or homemade broth and really haven’t use the broth that comes in the mix.  Everyone has had the matzoh ball that was like a hockey puck and to avoid that, follow the directions on the package carefully. I like to make small matzoh balls and lightly form them. I think not packing them tightly is the key.

I like the brisket recipes that call for beer, onions and  Heinz chili sauce. If you make sure the chili  sauce and beer and any other ingredients are gluten-free you should be fine. Make sure the beer is really gluten-free! The secret to great brisket is to add lots and lots of onions, more than the recipe calls for,  and to cook it the day before. Chill it over night and slice it while cold then before serving warm it in the oven in its own sauce.  If you are going to someone’s home for brisket you might make them a care package of the gluten-free ingredients then you can safely eat it or offer to make it and bring it to them.

One last note last Passover there were GF Passover products for sale that are made in Israel that had no directions on them. I also tried their website with no luck.  With that said the Gluten-Free  Matzo I bought was good.