Gluten free chips

Frito Lay make a whole lot of chips in the United States. Lay’s! Ruffles! Tostitos! Fritos! Cheetos! Doritos! and many more. The great thing about these chips is that you can find them pretty much anywhere in the US so if we know which of these chips are gluten free then we can always find a safe bag of chips no matter where in the country we are. This is important information for any gluten free traveller.

So which of these chips are gluten free and safe for celiacs?

I was happy to discover that Frito Lay provides gluten free product information on their website. They provide a list of products ‘not containing gluten ingredients.’ This is a pretty substantial list. They also provide a list of ‘US gluten free products’. This list is smaller but still has a good variety of different chips on it. These ‘gluten free products’ are those which ”Frito-Lay has validated through analytical testing that the following products contain less than 20 ppm of gluten” The list was last updated on May 15th, 2012.

BAKED! LAY’S® Original Potato Crisps
BAKED! RUFFLES® Original Potato Crisps
BAKED! TOSTITOS® SCOOPS!® Tortilla Chips
CHEETOS® Puffs SIMPLY NATURAL™ White Cheddar Cheese Flavored Snacks
DORITOS® Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips
FRITOS® Lightly Salted Corn Chips
FRITOS® Original Corn Chips
FRITOS® SCOOPS!® Corn Chips
LAY’S® Classic Potato Chips
LAY’S® Deli Style Potato Chips
LAY’S® Lightly Salted Potato Chips
LAY’S® SIMPLY NATURAL™ Sea Salt Flavored Thick Cut Potato Chips
LAY’S® STAX® Cheddar Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY’S® STAX® Mesquite Barbecue Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY’S® STAX® Original Potato Crisps
LAY’S® STAX® Salt & Vinegar Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY’S® STAX® Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Potato Crisps
LAY’S® Wavy Original Potato Chips
RUFFLES® Original Potato Chips
RUFFLES® Reduced Fat Original Potato Chips
RUFFLES® SIMPLY NATURAL™ Reduced Fat Sea Salted Potato Chips
SANTITAS® White Corn Triangles Tortilla Chips
SANTITAS® Yellow Corn Rounds Tortilla Chips
SANTITAS® Yellow Corn Strips Tortilla Chips
SANTITAS® Yellow Corn Triangles Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® Bite Size Rounds Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® Crispy Rounds Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® Extra Thin Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® SIMPLY NATURAL™ Blue Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® SIMPLY NATURAL™ Yellow Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® SCOOPS!® Tortilla Chips
TOSTITOS® Thick & Hearty Rounds Tortilla Chips

This information relates only to Frito Lay product distributed in the United States.

Avocado with chilli powder

Tasty and healthy

There are lots of delicious gluten free breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes out there but how about when you fancy a wee snack? Whether at home or travelling we all like to nibble. These are a few of my favourite gluten free snacks which are great at any time of the day. They are also things which you can find to eat almost anywhere in the world.

Natural yoghurt with blueberries. I love yoghurt, especially the natural stuff because then I can add whatever flavour I want to it. I think yoghurt tastes best once it’s been open for a couple of days. It has a thicker, creamier consistency at this point and it tastes great with all sorts of toppings. Blueberries, raspberries or blackberries are probably my favourite. Sometimes I add a spoonful of peanut butter too.

Avocado with chilli powder. Avocados have to be one of the best vegetables out there. They are filled with lots of great vitamins and nutrients and they work great as a spread (a healthier alternative to butter), in salad, as an accompaniment to almost any meal and even on it’s own as a snack. If I’m nibbling an avocado I almost always shake a little chilli powder on first.

Rice or corn cakes with peanut butter. I love peanut butter, especially brands that are simply 100% peanuts with no added nonsense. I eat it on it’s own straight from the jar but sometimes when I start eating it this way it’s hard to stop, it’s so tasty and addictive! I also like to spread it on plain rice or corn cakes as a healthy, energy filled snack.

Edamame. I buy frozen edamame and just boil it in some water when I want to eat it. It’s great to eat on it’s own or with a little salt.

Cereal. As you know I’m a huge cereal fan so I think gluten free cereal is a great snack for any time of the day. Envirokids Peanut Butter Puffs or Gorilla Munch are probably my favourites when I’m in the mood for something sweet. Cinnamon or Honey Nut Chex are also great if you’re in the US or Canada or Dove’s Choco Stars if you’re in the UK.

Dried fruit and nuts. A handful of dried fruit and nuts is a great gluten free snack if you’re feeling a bit peckish between meals. Sometimes these types of products are made on shared equipment with wheat, etc, so double check that the brand you’re buying is safe.

Boiled egg. Whether you’re at home or off gluten free travelling, boiled eggs are a great, simple gluten free snack which you can eat anytime, anywhere.

Asparagus with olive oil. Cook some asparagus and drizzle it in a little olive oil for a delicious, healthy snack.

Fruit. Something which can be found anywhere in the world and is naturally gluten free. Fruits such as bananas, apples, pears, peaches, grapes and berries are great if you’re on the move and others like melon, pineapple, mango and kiwi fruit are better suited to when you are a little more stationery.

Gluten free bars. There are a whole bunch of gluten free bars out there to choose from. Protein bars, breakfast bars, energy bars, fruit and nut bars, seed bars. I carry a couple of bars with me wherever I go so I’m never without a quick bite of energy.

What are your favourite gluten free snacks? I’m always looking for new ideas! Share your favourites in the comments below…

Great for nibbling

GF snacking when you're out and about

Green & Black's

Today I found myself wondering whether Green and Blacks chocolate is gluten free. It’s a brand I sort of forget about for a while then remember when I see it in a store or a friend offers me a chunk. This time I decided to do some research so that I know whether or not I can eat it next time the opportunity arises. I was always a big fan of their butterscotch chocolate bar in pre celiac days. And their ice cream, especially the one with caramel and hazelnuts! But is it safe for me to eat now? Is Green and Blacks Chocolate Gluten Free?

If you’re in the UK or Ireland  you can look at their nutrition page for a list of which products contain gluten and other allergens. It appears that most of them do not contain gluten. According to this list it’s only their biscuits which contain gluten, none of their bars or ice creams. Fantastic! The packaging of some of their products states ‘ May contain traces of cereals’ which sounds as though there may be possible cross contamination issues. I emailed Green & Blacks UK. This is the response I got.

All Green & Black’s chocolate is made on a site which uses cereals (rice, oat, wheat, barley and rye flours) and we therefore cannot guarantee that our products are free from gluten traces as there is a small risk of cross contamination.

‘Manufactured in a factory that handles cereal ingredients’ is the statement that you will find printed on the majority of our bars. However, we have recently moved to an alternative allergen labelling and will be using ‘Contains’ statements for products where allergens are included within the recipe for that product and ‘May Contain’ when that allergen is present in the factory environment and therefore there is a risk of cross contact. Therefore, to represent the risks of possible cross contamination of gluten within a non gluten-containing product, the following statement will now be used on newer versions of the wrapper, which you may have spotted already on the shelves:

 ‘May Contain traces of cereal.’

I would like to take this opportunity to outline for you the procedures we have in place to minimise the risks of gluten cross contamination in the factory. We take into account the scheduling of wheat containing products and we clean the lines by flushing chocolate through until there is no trace of the previous lines chocolate in the new batch. We are confident that this procedure significantly reduces traces from previous production, although as I’m sure you can appreciate, the only certain guarantee of absence would be on a gluten-free site.

For those of you in Canada, the nutrition page suggests that all of the products they sell in Canada do not contain gluten.

As usual the US version of their site makes it much more confusing for consumers to figure out whether or not their products are safe for them to eat. From reading the label the ingredients appear to be the same as those in the UK and nothing throws up a red flag. Again, whilst they probably don’t contain gluten ingredients they may be affected by cross contamination and I would recommend calling them just to be on the safe side.

Gluten Free Protein Ball

A few weeks ago when I was home visiting Scotland I received some samples of Bounce Balls to try. I’ve tried so many energy and protein snacks in bar form so I was excited to try a ball shaped snack for a change! Bounce Balls do five different kinds of balls and each one has it’s own special ingredients. I tried the Peanut Protein ball, Almond Protein ball and Spirulina Ginseng ball. The peanut and almond balls are high in protein (and around 220 calories) so these are ones I would eat before or after a long run to give me some tasty energy. The nutty flavours are strong in these snacks which I really enjoyed.  The ginseng ball is very different. For some reason I thought it would be my least flavourite of the three but I really enjoyed it. It has an interesting taste and feels much lighter than the other two I tried. It’s marketed as an defense boost as the ingredients it contains are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. I’d eat all three again but particularly the ginseng one.

The other two balls they do are Cashew and Pecan and Fudge Walnut. I haven’t had the chance to try these yet but they sound pretty awesome.

Double Chocolate

Enjoy Life cookies

Recently Enjoy Life sent me a few boxes of their new Crunchy Cookies to try. These cookies come in four different flavours. Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate,  Vanilla Honey Graham and Sugar Crisp. They are certified gluten free and made in a dedicated nut and gluten free bakery. On top of this they are free of the eight most common allergens. Almost everyone can eat these cookies. Yay!

The Texture

Cookie fans, in my opinion, can be placed  in two distinct groups, those who prefer their cookies crunchy and those who prefer their cookies soft and bendy. John tends to be on the soft cookie team whereas I am on the crunchy side. As these are definitely in the crunchy category, I was more excited to taste them than John. However, after munching our way through a box we were both big fans of these crunchy gluten free cookies.

Many gluten free cookies fall apart as you eat them which is why I don’t often choose a cookie as a snack. I feel as though you lose half the cookie when it crumbles. These ones don’t crumble.

The Flavour

As we were already a big fan of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks, the Chocolate Chip cookies were probably our favourite, followed by the double chocolate as a close second. You would never know these cookies were as free of as many things as they are. This is definitely a good thing. I really enjoyed these cookies and would love to see them introduce a peanut butter cookie in the future.

Chocolate granola...yum!

Recently I received a bag of double chocolate crunch granola and a big bag of semi-sweet chocolate mega chunks from Enjoy Life.

The chocolate chunks are the kind of thing we probably should have incorporated into gluten free baking but instead my husband and I couldn’t resist munching on these straight from the bag. John in particular was a big fan of these and would often dip a few of the chunks in peanut butter to nibble as an evening snack. Yum! Next time I’ll include them in some gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or muffins. I’m sure they would be a delicious addition!

I really enjoyed the chocolate granola both as a sprinkling on my breakfast cereal and again just as something to nibble straight from the bag. This granola isn’t the type of thing I would choose to eat by itself in a large amount for breakfast but it’s great as a chocolate topping to plainer cereals. I also think it would be very tasty sprinkled on natural yoghurt or ice cream.

Delicious lentil chips!

These baked lentil chips from Mediterranean Snack Foods are awesome!! They are made from lentils, adzuki and garbanzo beans and they are some of the most delicious chips I’ve ever had…the red pepper ones in particular. I had never come across them before so I was very excited when a few bags came in the mail for me to try. The red pepper and parmesan garlic flavours are my favourites. It’s really difficult to stop eating them once the bag is opened. These are the kind of chips that would work well dipped in guacamole, hummus or salsa but personally I like eating them straight from the bag as I don’t lose any of their delicious flavour that way. In saying that, yesterday I did chop up some very tasty vine tomatoes and used them to top the parmesan and garlic chips.

They have six flavours of lentil chips and three flavours of lentil crackers. All of these are made from naturally gluten free ingredients in a gluten free plant so celiacs don’t need to worry about cross contamination issues. Some of their other products are made in a facility which also processes wheat but I’m sticking with the lentil chips and crackers which are crispy and super tasty and safe for celiacs. Yay for gluten free deliciousness!

Tasty tomato snack

The Simply Bar

I recently received a box of bars from The Simply Bar. Another bar which is gluten free certified! Yay! They have seven different flavours and I am happy to report that these protein bars (each bar contains 16g protein) do not taste like they contain a lot of protein. This is definitely a good thing in my opinion. Many protein bars are heavy, these ones are very light. They are basically interestingly flavoured gluten free rice krispie treats. I like these a lot more than most protein bars (mostly because they are made with cereal!) and was happy to discover they don’t contain lots of confusing ingredients that I’ve never heard of. I think they would be even tastier if they were dipped in chocolate but it’s probably a good thing they aren’t as they would have double the calories! The way they are they are a light snack at 140-160 calories per bar.

The Peanut Butter Chocolate, Cocoa Raspberry and Lemon Coconut are my favourites. None of the bars are very strongly flavoured but these three are the most flavoursome and they are very tasty. I enjoy anything containing peanut butter, cocoa and raspberry go very well together and the lemon coconut has a great zingy taste to it. Simple yet tasty, another option for gluten free travellers on the go.

Always label checking..

We all know that being celiac isn’t easy but honestly, most days I’m fine. I’m not excited about the limitations being gluten free places on my eating life but in general I know what I can and what I can’t eat and if I’m not sure about something I know what to do to find out. In saying that, every now and again I find myself having a ‘being celiac really sucks’ day and it’s not very nice at all. Everything will be going fine and then suddenly something happens which makes me realise all over again how limited I am when it comes to what I can eat. I’m pretty sure you get this too.For example, a couple of weeks ago I was working in John’s office and I fancied nibbling on something sweet. They always have a tonne of snacks in the kitchen area so I decided to go see what I could find. With at least ten different things, surely I’d be able to find one that’s safe…sadly I was wrong.

This whole bunch of stuff was there and yet none of it was safe for me!

- 5.5 pounds of Vines red licorice. Contains wheat flour

- Crackers. A pretty obvious no

- Peanut Butter filled pretzels. I think this speaks for itself

- Yoghurt covered raisins from Trader Joe’s. The packaging said ‘No Gluten Ingredients’ so I got excited until I noticed the ‘Made on equipment shared with wheat’

- Granola Bars. Made with regular oats so a big nope right there

- Mixed Nuts. ‘Processed on equipment that packages products that may contain wheat.’

- Jelly Belly Beans. I’ve seen bags of these labelled as gf but on this huge container it said ‘packaged on equipment that also packages products which contain wheat’

- Hershey’s kisses and peanut butter cups. The safe list I was given by Hershey’s does not include these products so I wasn’t going to risk it.

I couldn’t eat any of these things.

In my experience the world of office snacking tends to be a very gluten filled one and as celiacs it is of course always best to come prepared for the inevitable. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t still break our hearts to discover yet another snack which is are unsafe and to have to always rely on whatever bar we brought from home this morning, just in case.

Two years of being gluten free and numerous situations like this means that I’m never surprised when there is nothing safe for me and it means that I always come prepared with my favourite gluten free snack. It doesn’t however mean that I’m never phased by it. Most of the time I can push it aside with a laugh and a comment about it being ‘evil gluten’ but sometimes it really gets me down. I know there are lots and lots of gluten free products out there but on a ‘being celiac really sucks’ day I just can’t see that. Sometimes I wish I could buy whatever I’d like in the supermarket; sometimes I’d love to be able to walk into a restaurant and order anything I please; sometimes I just want to take a handful of something without reading the label first. On my wedding day I will get my wish. Everything will be gluten free and I will be free to eat whatever I please. I can’t wait for that!

Chocolate Peanut Butter..yum!

Lots of Zing!

Zing sent me a box of their nutrition bars to try..6 different, amazing sounding flavours…Chocolate Peanut Butter, Almond Blueberry, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Orange, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Coconut Chocolate….sounds great right?

All of the bars contain certified gluten free oats. I had not yet tested myself on oats prior to receiving these samples but the fantastic sounding flavours were so tempting that I figured I’d give oats a try. After munching my way through all six flavours (not all in one sitting just in case that’s how I made it sound) I felt great so it looks like oats (when they are certified gf) are back on my safe list

Zing bars are definitely one of the best tasting protein type bars around. The strong flavours come through as you nibble your way through..especially in the case of the peanut butter ones! With 200 calories per bar for me they are the perfect snack for after a long run or for just carrying with you in your purse in case you get peckish.

My favourites are the Chocolate Peanut Butter and Coconut Chocolate as they are covered in chocolate which in my opinion makes them tastier than the others. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip is pretty yummy too..I’m a big fan of peanut butter as you can probably tell.

Zing Bars gave me a coupon code which will give you 15% off products in their online store. When you get to the checkout just enter the code “gfadventures” and click apply to get the discount.

Zing Bars only gave me samples of their product and nothing more. My opinions on this product (like anything I review on this site) come only from my taste buds.