Top 10 Tuesday--Things I Bought at Whole Foods

Yesterday, the kids and I stopped at Whole Foods after speech to stock up on some Gluten Free products. L is officially (according to the patch test) allergic to wheat, but he's been tolerating a small amount of wheat (like breaded chicken nuggets) for a while now and we (okay, I) have probably become a little too liberal--he's been eating bread, waffles, pasta, pizza--and finally Hubby and I noticed some things. Hubby noticed some itching and that L sometimes said his tummy aches. I noticed his behavior went from bad listening to no listening. (I'm not saying gluten = bad behavior, but maybe wheat = discomfort = bad behavior.) In any event, Hubby and I decided it was time to cut way down on the wheat and see what happens. But then L was left with very few foods he eats (mainly Pringles and chicken and Rice Chex)--so I headed to Whole Foods to see what I could find. Here's what I bought, in fancy Top Ten List form:

1. Conte's Gluten-Free margherita pizza. As if on cue, Real Simple magazine's September issue rated frozen pizzas, including gluten-free and Conte's was the winner in that category. We had this pizza last night (me and the kids, Hubby ate leftover chicken) and I was impressed. Great cheese/sauce/garlic flavor, if it weren't for the crust it might have been my new favorite frozen pizza. The crust is made of rice. The flavor is pretty bland and the texture is almost melt-in-your-mouth (not really what I want in pizza crust) but overall, two thumbs up. Oh and both kids liked it too. It's expensive (isn't everything at Whole Foods?!) at $9 for a pizza that doesn't even feed the whole family.

2. I also got another brand of frozen pizza to try: Glutino GF duo cheese pizza. ($6 for an even smaller pizza.) We'll give that a try soon.

3. Van's GF waffles. I tried Van's apple cinnamon waffles on L a long time ago and he could tell the difference from our usual Eggos, but that was before he fell in love with maple syrup. This time I got the original flavor and drowned it in syrup and he's a big fan. Woohoo!

4. Erewhon cocoa crispy brown rice cereal. L has eaten Erewhon's crispy rice cereal for a long time, it was one of his first real foods, but he's been bored of it lately. So when I spied this chocolate version (and confirmed the absence of corn syrup), I thought it would be a good way to get both kids interested in breakfast again. And I was right, both kids love it. Score!

5. Jo-Sef GF cinnamon cookies. Another area where we've been too liberal with the wheat: dessert (cake, cookies, pie crust etc.). I let L choose from the selection of GF cookies and it took several tries to find one without corn in the ingredients. {For those of you just joining us here, L is also allergic to corn.} But Jo-Sef came through. And turns out, they're yummy. All of us enjoyed a cookie or two last night. :-)

6. DeBoles GF rice spaghetti style pasta. Spaghetti is one of L's favorite foods so it would be cruel to eat it in front of him, which means our whole family will be switching to wheat-free spaghetti. Whole Foods had a bunch of choices made from rice, quinoa or a mixture of things. I chose this rice one because some of the others had too much fiber (which angers my IBS). We'll see how it tastes....

7. Annie's rice pasta and cheddar (i.e., GF mac 'n' cheese). Sometimes L loves mac 'n' cheese, other times he says he hates it (he does this with so many foods, it's very aggravating) so I was thrilled to spot the GF version. Haven't tried it yet, but I hope it's a hit.

8. Gluten Free Pantry favorite sandwich bread mix. I asked a gluten-free facebook friend for a bread recommendation (I was thinking I'd just buy a loaf) and she said that pre-made loaves taste bad and this mix makes the best bread. Sucks that I have to make my own bread, but I did once try a GF loaf from Whole Foods and it was inedible--so I'll take her word for it and give it a try. I'm thinking even if it's only mediocre, I can turn it into french toast sticks, which L likes. We'll see.

9. Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes. This was an impulse purchase because there was a big display and I'd just read Diaper Diaries review so I thought "let's give it a try."

10. Acidophilus. This one's for me. I've been taking acidophilus since a stomach bug in January--I find it helps my IBS.

Wasn't that fun?! Head on over to Oh Amanda for more Top Ten lists!

And I'll keep you posted on how our wheat-free experiment works out.