Gluten Free Meal: Snapdragon Indonesian Peanut Rice Pasta Stir-Fry - Product Review #82

Snapdragon Indonesian Peanut Rice Pasta Stir-Fry

PRODUCT NAME:                     Indonesian Peanut Rice Pasta Stir-Fry

BRAND:                                    Snapdragon Pan-Asian Cusine

COST:                                      $6.78 (2-pack) $19.32 (6-pack)

SIZE:                                        6.7oz each box                 

COST PER OZ:                          $0.51/oz (2-pack) $0.48/oz (6-pack)  

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:        NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:         N/A

ORGANIC:                                 NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:         N/A

VEGAN:                                     OPTIONAL

GLUTEN FREE FACILITY:           UNKNOWN

LOCATION OF FACILITY:           Thailand

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging.  We cannot verify the accuracy of this information.  For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.            

REVIEW:
We already know that Snapdragon Pan-Asian Cuisine makes great crackers, but did you know they make a line of Rice Pasta Stir-Fry kits, some of which are gluten free?  They have Pad Thai Ginger, Hunan Sweet and Sour and of course the Indonesian Peanut Rice Pasta Stir-Fry that we are reviewing today. 
Pop open the box and you will find dry rice noodles and a sauce packet containing all the flavoring you will need to cook up this meal.  This meal in a box is very convenient and can be prepared in about 15 minutes.  All you need to do is place the dry noodles in hot water for a few minutes, heat vegetables and, if you want, meat in a pan and stir fry everything up together for a complete meal in about 15 minutes.  I will admit that I did not cook this up myself, but I was watching the whole time and know that just about anyone can cook this up. 

For our tasting, 2 boxes of the meal in a box were stir fried up with chicken, snow peas and green onions.  The good thing about this product is that you have full control over what you want to add to it.  You can add just vegetables for a nice vegetarian dish or, for us carnivores, you can add meat.  It came out great and I was surprised to see how much we ended up with.  The rice noodles are thin and flat and had a sticky, but firm texture which is sometimes tricky to get with rice noodles because once they are overcooked, they tend to become mushy.  This is where letting them sit in hot water to cook came in to play.

The sauce for these noodles is the main character of the dish.  It is a slightly salty, slightly sweet and slightly spicy peanut sauce.  Snapdragon says that this Indonesian Peanut sauce represents the five classic flavors: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami which is Japanese for “savory taste.”  The sauce brings tons of flavor and texture to the dish because there are actually little pieces of ground up peanuts in the sauce.  Needless to say, if you are allergic to peanuts, this is not the dish for you. 

Nutrition Facts

With box meals like this one, you always have to be a little more careful with them and read the labels.  While they are relatively cheap, they are not always the best, nutrition-wise because they often contain a lot of sodium.  This one does contain 740 milligrams of sodium which is a little high.  What surprised me was that it contains 250 calories, 2 grams of fat and no cholesterol which is actually pretty good if you compare it with similar products.

Taste: This rice pasta stir-fry packs a ton of flavor.  The sweet by the salty and spicy come together for the perfect blend of flavors. 

Labeling:  Snapdragon has great labeling.  We especially liked their logos on the bottom right corner of the box that showed that it was gluten free, cooks in 15 minutes, is vegan and has mild spiciness. 

Packaging:  Paperboard box with individually packaged ingredients

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product…

RATING:

Texture:                 5             

Taste:                     5             

Value:                    3

OVERALL:              4.3

Reviewed 02/23/11 by Calvin C.

Gluten Free Stuffing: Four Sisters and a Brother Gluten Free Herbed Stuffing - Product Review #18

Gluten Free Stuffing: Four Sisters and a Brother Herbed Stuffing

PRODUCT NAME:                       Gluten Free Herbed Stuffing

BRAND:                                      Four Sisters and a Brother

COST:                                        $6.99

SIZE:                                          10oz

COST PER OZ:                            $0.70/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:           NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:           N/A

ORGANIC:                                   NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:           N/A

VEGAN:                                       YES

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:              UNKNOWN

LOCATION OF FACILITY:             Dallas, TX

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.

REVIEW:

With Thanksgiving just two days away, what would be more fitting than reviewing food associated with Thanksgiving?  So when we came across this gluten free stuffing, we were excited.  Stuffing is usually made with bread, which in turn would make it off limits to people with gluten intolerances or celiac.  So what’s there for them to eat?  Four Sisters and a Brother have the gluten free answer with their Gluten Free Herbed Stuffing.  It is made using rice flour and garbanzo bean flour and it is seasoned with different herb seasonings. 

Open up the package and you see dried ingredients that slightly resemble the look of granola clusters.  Breathe in the smell of the flavoring and you will find a very familiar scent that will bring you back to the good ole days when you were a starving college student.  You guessed it…it smells like the flavoring powder for instant ramen.  This scared me a little because I thought about why I stopped eating those things and I remembered it was because of all the sodium in those things.  But rest assured because I checked this package and found only 3.5mg of sodium per serving.  Multiplying that by the 10 servings in the package, you get a very reasonable 35mg of sodium for the entire package.   

Taste: This stuffing has a lot of flavor, maybe a little too much flavor.  We found it to be a tad salty but we ate it alone and if it was accompanying another dish, it would probably be perfect.  Texture wise, it was good, but a little gummy.  This is probably because of the ingredients.  Typically stuffing is made with cubes of bread or bread crumbs, but this stuffing is made with clusters made of garbanzo beans flour and rice flour making it a chewier than traditional stuffing.  In the end, it’s not your typical stuffing, but it’s definitely a good alternative. 

Labeling:  The labeling is very simple.  On the front it boasts a long list of healthy reason why you should use this stuffing. Gluten Free, no trans fat, no dairy or yeast, no GMO or MSG, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or flavoring…it’s all there.  Out back is of course the family story of how this product got its start in grandma’s kitchen.  It probably isn’t exactly how grandma made it, but it’s probably close.

Packaging: Non recyclable plastic packaging. 

Inspired by grandma’s cooking, Four Sisters and a Brother did a good job offering an alternative for those of us who can no longer have gluten in their diets.  Bottom line, a little on the salty side and the texture isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it’s a darn close to the real thing.   

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product...

RATING:

Texture:                 3             

Taste:                     3

Value:                    3

OVERALL:              3

Gluten Free Falafels: Orgran Gluten Free Falafel Mix - Product Review #17

Gluten Free Falafels: Orgran Gluten Free Falafel Mix

PRODUCT NAME:                              Falafel Mix

BRAND:                                             Orgran Gluten Free

COST:                                               $3.59

SIZE:                                                 7oz

COST PER OZ:                                  $0.51/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:                YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:                 FACE

ORGANIC:                                          NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:                  N/A

VEGAN:                                             YES

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:                     UNKNOWN

LOCATION OF FACILITY:                    Australia

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.

REVIEW:

What are falafels?  Up until recently, I had no idea what they were, but I have since figured out that they are ground up chickpeas or fava beans that are mixed with various spices, formed into balls and fried up.  They are delicious.  When I saw the Orgran Gluten Free Falafel mix in the kitchen, I knew we had to have these for lunch.  What separates this mix from other falafel mixes is the lack of wheat flour that many other mixes use. 

Preparation is very easy…mix with water, let it sit for about 15 minutes, roll them into balls and fry them up.  What you end up with is a delicious falafel…crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  You can really taste the spices in this delicious snack.    

Taste: The flavor of the falafel is just right, nothing too overpowering and everything seems to blend together nicely.  I’ve had good and bad falafels and this is definitely one of the better ones.  Falafels can be too cakey or to dry.  This was just right.  

Labeling: Right on the front you see a delicious dish of a few falafels and a nice couscous salad.  Combine that with the long list of healthy reasons to eat these falafels, who wouldn’t buy it…Gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free, yeast free, soy free, nut free, vegan, not to mention Kosher.  It’s like a health food junkie dream.  Healthiness aside, this falafel is a great choice if you’re trying to eat healthy or not.     

Packaging: Recyclable paperboard packaging. 

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product..

RATING:

Texture:                 5                             

Taste:                     5

Value:                    4

OVERALL:              4.6

Reviewed 11/17/2010 by CC

Gluten Free Meal: Lundberg Gluten Free Wild Porcini Mushroom Risotto - Product Review #15

Gluten Free Meal: Lundberg Porcini Mushroom Risotto

PRODUCT NAME:                        Wild Porcini Mushroom Risotto

BRAND:                                       Lundberg

COST:                                         $ 3.59

SIZE:                                           5.9oz

COST PER OZ:                             $0.61/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:           NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:            N/A

ORGANIC:                                    YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:            CCOF

VEGAN:                                        NO

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:              UNKNOWN

LOCATION OF FACILITY:             California

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.          

REVIEW:

Lundberg Family Farms is a great organic rice farm in California that sells a variety of products ranging from noodles to risotto.  The product we had today was the Gluten Free Wild Porcini Mushroom Risotto and it was delicious although it might have been the 535mg of sodium per serving that we were tasting.  That sodium level seems a little high and people with high blood pressure and other heart problems might want to stay away. 

Following with our rice theme today, this risotto is rice based.  Risotto is made with Arborio rice…in this case organic Arborio rice.  Arborio rice is actually very special, it is used to make risotto and sometimes rice pudding and, according the packaging, exclusive to Italy.  The Lundberg family is very proud to say that they have successfully been able to plant this rice on their farm in California.

When cooking this we started off following the stovetop instructions on the side, but in the end we didn’t like the result because it was a little too mushy and moist.  We aren’t fans of that texture so we left it on the frying pan for a bit longer until it formed a nice crunchy crust on the bottom…it was delicious. 

Bottom line, it was delicious, but the sodium content concerned us.  If that doesn’t bother you too much, then this is definitely a product you want to try.  I think I’ve met my daily sodium limit so I guess I’ll be having water for the rest of the day. 

Taste: Great flavor and texture with this risotto, despite the high sodium levels, we actually didn’t find it too salty.  Maybe next time we can try adding less of the flavor packet to reduce the sodium levels.  The flavor the texture, just what we expect from the Lundberg Family

Labeling: Look at the sides and the back of the package, and what do you see?  Writing and lots of it, the story about the family farm…the history of Arborio rice…and of course cooking instructions.  The packaging is like reading a cook book and a history book while being told the family story.     

This product is gluten free and I think they should be proud of it.  Instead, the gluten free label is pushed to the bottom corner kind of hidden.  I don’t know about you, but I would have put it in big font across the top. 

Packaging: Great packaging and we’re seeing more and more of it.  This packaging is printed on 100% recycled paperboard. 

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product..

RATING:

Texture:                 4             

Taste:                     4

Value:                    3

OVERALL:              3.7