This past weekend Love With Food headed north to Portland for the Gluten Free Food Allergy Show to strut our stuff—and more importantly taste a whole bunch of GF products. Yassss. And while we came home utterly exhausted, there were a few products that still stood out in my mind. And as the copywriter for Love With Food, I felt it was my duty to share them with you, loyal readers.
1. GF Brownies From New Cascadia Traditional
These were so. Freaking. Good. I did the whole “change my hair and take off my jacket” thing before going back for more samples so I sort of looked like a different person. Worth it. Good thing I didn’t have a rental car this weekend or I would have driven over to their headquarters and held my iPod over my head to express my love like a modern-day John Cusack in “Say Anything.”
2. Red Pepper Chips from Brad’s Raw Foods
Salty, peppery with a little kick. These were unexpected but also kind of addicting. I’m not a big fan of bell peppers, but these were pretty tasty. Not too salty, not too sweet, with an interesting tang. The company also makes something called “vampire killer” kale chips which I’m simultaneously scared of and must try someday.
3. Yogurt melts from Happy Family
These are aptly named: They melt on your tongue and were just the right amount of sweet and creamy. Well done. And yes they’re technically under the company’s baby food category, okay? But that doesn’t make them any less objectively delicious. You know those Kraft commercials where the parents are stealing their kids’ mac and cheese? That seemed so unnecessarily mean…but if it were these yogurt melts I’d steal from my own child too.
4. GF Cheesy Bread from Brazi Bites
Soft, chewy without being gummy, and perfectly cheesy. That pretty much sums up these Brazilian bread bites that come frozen and ready for your oven. I’m not going to tell you how many samples I had because you’d lose respect for me. I’m no expert on gluten-free bread, but I know that ideally it’s supposed to taste like regular gluten-filled bread, and this stuff did.
5. Margherita Pizza Lentil Chips from Enjoy Life
I’m always all for anything pizza flavored, but I’m a little wary of lentil things. These had all the flavors of pizza without tasting too veggie-y. The bag was too small. If wanting an endless supply of pizza chips is wrong then I don’t want to be right. I want pizza chips.
6. GF PB&J Bar from Betty Lou’s
It says right on the package: “tastes like a PB&J sandwich.” It really did. I’ve tried similar peanut butter snack bars (peanut butter being one of my favorite things ever) and most of them either go too sweet or too blah with the PB flavor. This one nailed it. Personally I like the one with the blueberry jam over the strawberry, but either way this would make an excellent recess or coffee break bite.
Did you go to the Portland Gluten Free Food Allergy Show? Tell us something you tasted and loved in the comments below!
