My Daughter's Review - Amy's Kids Meals Baked Ziti

The Amy's Kids Meals Baked Ziti was very good. It was even better than most of the school lunches I buy. I ate the entire thing, but I was still a bit hungry. I am in first grade and can eat gluten, but most of the food I eat at home is gluten free. This meal is gluten and dairy free. Mommy said it has 360 calories, 12 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein, and 460mg of sodium. Mommy tried a bite of the bread, pasta, and apple crisp and thought it was good.

The bread tasted good, except for the sun dried tomatoes on top of the bread. They were too strong for me. You can cut the top off the bread and just eat it plain. It tasted good plain too. The pasta was very good. The sauce was not too strong. They could have used more dairy free cheese on the pasta. The picture on the box is exaggerating the cheese.

The broccoli was great. The broccoli and pasta was cooked just right - it was almost perfect! The broccoli had a little bit of crunch to it. There was tomato sauce on top of the broccoli that made it taste great. The apple crisp tasted terrific. In fact, it was so good that I wanted more! My favorite food in it was the apple crisp. I can't wait to eat it again!

Terrific Things - Celiac You Tube Video with Fourth Grader and Shauna James Ahern

I just discovered this great video that was posted on You Tube on March 20, 2009. The video is called "Dominick Cura's Fourth Grade Presentation on Celiac with Shauna James-Ahern". Dominick's presentation is well written, thorough, and accurate. At the end, Shauna, who is well known for her book and popular blog, gluten free girl, answers questions and shares more information. It is so funny and great when Dominick suggests his class should take a field trip to get their blood tested for celiac disease.

Review: Simply Apple Juice

Simply Apple juice is actually more like apple cider than apple juice. It has a wonderful taste and is better than other brands of apple juice. It is available in two sizes – 59 oz and 13.5 oz. The only negative is that the apple juice does not contain vitamin C.

Here is the quote from the Simply Orange website, which is also used in the commercial.

“It isn't like the apple juice you've always known. It doesn't look like the
apple juice you've always known. Or taste like it. It tastes like biting into a
crisp, juicy, perfectly ripe apple.

Made from 100% pure pressed
apple juice, Simply Apple is never sweetened and never concentrated.”

Here is a quote from my daughter, who is in first grade.

“The Simply Apple juice is delicious and has a stronger taste than my juice
boxes. I like it better than the apple juice in my juice boxes.”

I also like the Simply Orange with Pineapple and the pulp free Simply Orange with calcium. I enjoy the Simply Lemonade, which is made with not-from-concentrate juices and natural ingredients. I am eager to try the new Simply Lemonade with Raspberry. There are six varieties of the orange juice, including one with mango, and also Simply Limeade and Simply Grapefruit. Here is a quote from my daughter about the Simply Lemonade:

“It is refreshing and has a strong lemon taste. I wish Mommy would buy it
more often.”

The company’s slogan is “Honestly Simple”. My honest opinion is that their products are simply the best tasting juices!

New Applegate Farms Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

I just saw this exciting press release from Applegate Farms. They are introducing natural gluten free chicken nuggets in May. Here is a quote from the press release.

"The new chicken nuggets are frozen, fully cooked and may be heated in the
microwave or oven. The product will be available in 8-oz packages for $5.99.
Applegate Farms already has nearly 100 gluten-free products."

I will definitely buy this product as soon as I see at Whole Foods. By the way, Applegate Farms frozen chicken and apple breakfast sausage is great and they have many gluten free lunchmeats. I commend Applegate Farms on doing the press release early before the product hits store shelves and already having it on the website.

Amazing Awareness - General Mills Gluten Free Betty Crocker Mixes

General Mills is a great example of a large manufacturer offering inexpensive gluten free products. First, they made Rice Chex gluten free. Gluten free boxes of Corn Chex were spotted in some test market stores this weekend. Here is the blog post from Jay that started all the buzz. There will be five new gluten free Chex cereals available nationwide June 1.

Now, thanks to a tweet on twitter this morning, I discovered Betty Crocker will have three gluten free mixes - cookies, brownies, and a cake mix. The mixes were sent to a gluten free blogger who has "a friend in the business", but will not be in stores until June. She reviewed the cookies and said they were good. She said the brownies were awesome. Thank you General Mills! What will be your next gluten free surprise? Who will be the next large manufacturer to follow your amazing lead?