We went to Mother Earth’s Storehouse on Tuesday to pick up some of my favorite items that I can’t get anywhere else, or at least not all in one store. Mother Earth’s is my version of Whole Foods, only smaller… and more expensive, if you can believe that. While I was there, I decided to pick up some products for different food intolerances. I have been taste-testing a variety of gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free items for the past 3 years just in case I have to eliminate something from my diet one day. I’m always planning and calculating for the future, so if I find out or decide on my own that I need to cut certain foods out of my diet, I want to make a near seamless transition with the best tasting alternatives. 
What can I say? I like to be prepared, especially with army of carbies, lol.
I’ve tried Udi’s gluten-free bread before and it is superior to any other gluten-free bread I have tried. I picked up another loaf, plus a package of these gluten-free muffins:
I haven’t tried them yet, but I think the calories are reasonable @ 240 cals per big muffin. I’m excited to try them, I hear they are moist and tasty.
I was also excited to find a package of Udi’s gluten-free bagels. I haven’t tried them yet, but I hear they don’t taste like a traditional bagel, but more like their white bread which happens to be delicious. I heard they make excellent hamburger buns. They were $6 for four of them, the loaf of bread was $5 something and the muffins were $7 — pretty pricey for not that many servings! I think that’s just Mother Earth’s, though. I know you can buy them cheaper from their web site and in grocery stores that carry them. Costs aside, it bothers me that so many gluten-free breads/pastries are twice the calories of their gluten-ridden counterparts. 
Dear gluten-free bakers,
Please make a delicious tasting product that rivals gluten-containing baked goodness, but don’t double the calories and sodium content!! I implore you to use the science available to create moist, yummy baked goods that even Betty Crocker herself would mistake for a wheat family member. Thank you.
Sincerely,
A potential customer
PS. Please make them more affordable, too. It’s not fair that Little Devil Debbie the trashy gluten princess can whore herself out for $1 but gluten-free muffins cost 6 times as much.
I was also curious about Daiya, the new lactose-free, dairy-free “cheez” on the market:
In my flurry of excitement, I picked up 2 bags; one mozzarella style and one cheddar style. Again, pricey at $5.99 per bag. I feel for that price it should have at least come with a resealable package. 
I tried a little taste of the cheddar. It didn’t taste like regular cheese, but I can see it being it a good substitute when it’s melted. It wasn’t terrible, and it did have a cheese-like flavor that you’d have to get used to. Obviously it’s not meant for straight eating or it wouldn’t be shredded. hehe I’ll give a better review when I use more than a teaspoonful.
So, if I ever decide to go on a gluten-free vegan diet, my bases are covered with great bread and possibly a decent cheese alternative. However, I don’t see myself ever voluntarily giving up dairy. <3 cow juice
I don't see myself ever giving up seafood, either. Not when I make amazing meals like this:
Lobster and langostino meat with a big salad
Salad topped with: kalamata olives, tempeh fakin’ bacon, goat cheese, grape tomatoes, vegan bacUN bits, red wine vinegar and Bragg healthy vinaigrette. Superb!!
We had langostino tail meat in the freezer, so when we got a half pint of lobster meat, I decided to heat it altogether and make a seafood feast of sorts. It was fantastic. I used less than a TBSP of butter, Dustin ended up annexing mine, lol.
Last night I made an amazing 3 cheese pizza on a spelt crust that I picked up in Mother Earth’s — I’m a sucker for novelty items, can ya tell? 
Before going into the oven…
…HOT out of the oven!
Side salad topped with red bell peppers, kalamata olives, and grape tomatoes. I love kalamata olives. Their sourness rocks my socks! I wish Dustin loved them as much as I do. He doesn’t like them at all. 
Ah well, more for me!! lol
- Whole grain spelt crust pizza topped with: Franceso Rinaldi no salt added tomato sauce, Price Chopper lowfat mozzarella cheese, Sargento provolone cheese, goat cheese, and Garlic Gold Italian herbs and garlic nuggets — baked on 450F for about 12 minutes
YUMMMMMMM!! The goat cheese was AMAZING! Loved the tangy creaminess it added. The crust was just “ok,” not something I would buy again. The cheese more than made up for it, though. 
We went out shopping this evening. We’re anticipating tourists by the drove this holiday weekend. Yay. lol Fourth of July weekend is the height of tourist season in our area and it really sucks for the people that live here year-round. We’re going to try to stay out of local stores and off of the highway until the holiday is over. Thankfully it only last for a couple of months! Our small towns aren’t designed for heavy traffic, and being we have only 1 grocery store and Walmart within 10 miles, it’s pretty stressful when the population multiplies by 20 or 30. Plus they’ve been doing construction on the highway for yearsssss now and there’s a few bottlenecks that cause traffic to backup for miles during holiday weekends in the summer. It’s unpleasant to say the least. Brings back memories of Atlanta traffic. *shudders*
Anywho, I have all of my supplies for the weekend and beyond, and all of the ingredients to make gingerbread ice cream in honor of Gingerbread’s birthday on Saturday. <3 I'm looking forward to using our ice cream maker, this should be fun!
What are your 4th of July plans? I hope we see some fireworks!!
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I eat a lot of cheese, I’m not afraid of saturated fat. It’s in nature and it’s wholesome, it’s just about achieving the right balance. Too much of ANYTHING can be bad, even carrots. I often opt for reduced fat cheeses for a few reasons: 1-) Fewer calories — twice as much for half the calories? Sold! 2-) High in protein (dairy is my #1 meat-free protein source) and 3-) Most of it tastes just as good as the full-fat version. I have the equivalent of 1-2 servings of full-fat cheese a day, usually most days of the week. Many of the reduced fat cheeses I eat are 50-60 calories per serving, so while it seems like a lot of volume when you have 2 servings at once, the calories are about the same as one serving of regular, but the protein goes up and the fat is about the same as or less than full-fat servings.
There’s more than one way to reach your balance. Or, as they say, “There’s more than one way to simmer and saute.” 
It was smoky, super cheeeeeeeeesy, TASTY and FILLING. Why didn’t I ever use my George Foreman grill for a panini? It works perfectly! Expect to see a lot of paninis in the future. 
*sigh* So, I cut it up and put it in the fridge for the next day being I didn’t want to eat it at the moment. It oxidized a bit, but still tasted delish.
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