The Little Gluten Free Things: Kellogg’s; Namaste Taco Review; Events

Some quick highlights in the gluten free world for you including big news from Kellogg’s on the gluten free front plus a quick review on a new Namaste product and pick your event!  Lots of fun gluten-free and celiac friendly events are set for this spring!

Kellogg’s Announces Gluten Free Rice Krispies!

Yes you heard right.  This has been a thorn in the sides of gluten free people all over the US.  How is it the seemingly most simple food– Rice Krispies– could NOT be gluten free?  I have been asking that question for 11 years.  It was one of the first foods I went for during that now infamously soul-crushing first trip to the grocery store to find gluten-free food for my newly diagnosed 15 month old (who’s now a healthy 12-year-old).  During that trip to the store, when I saw malt listed in the ingredients I started to cry.

Gluten Free Appetite broke the story this week  that Kellogg’s will debut a gluten-free Rice Krispies with brown rice later this year.  (The snarkey part of me must comment that I noticed it appears they are not reformulating the original Rice Krispies with molasses instead of barley malt like General Mills did with their Chex Cereals).  My hope is that Kellogg’s can keep the price reasonable and not gouge us like I feel some companies do.  Because brown rice is likely more expensive than white rice, my hunch is that it will be smaller than the original and cost more.

I will say the brown rice will be healthier than white which is good.  And I love the other brown rice krispy cereals I have had in the past (Erewhon and Barbara’s).  So now I’ll try to give Kellogg’s the benefit of the doubt on this one.  I really hope the cereal is considered mainstream and is carried by all grocery stores (like regular Rice Krispies). I am happy they’ve finally seen the light– but it has been far too long for them to get on board. Final question–will it have Snap! Krackle! Pop?

Gluten Free is On Trend

Why wouldn’t Kellogg’s get on board?  They’ve got serious competition going on with General Mills and their five mainstream gluten-free Chex cereals.  Plus gluten free IS all the rage!  A news release put out on Wednesday from MarketResearch.com said gluten-free food was a $2.6 billion dollar business in 2010.

Namaste Taco Pasta Review

Namaste Gluten Free Taco Pasta

Namaste recently sent me two free mixes to review.  A week or so ago I was able to make up one of them: the Gluten Free  Taco Pasta.

It was easy and quick to make (no different than mac and cheese).  You get a brown rice shell pasta and a taco seasoning for the product.   What I liked about it is you can either make it just with the pasta, or you could add chicken or hamburger to it to make it more of an entree rather than a side dish.

Here’s what I noticed, there isn’t gobs of salt in it, just pure natural spices.  Currently the taco seasoning I use, I only actually use a half of a packet (and I buy the already “40% less sodium” kind), because it’s so salty.  But this I had to actually add a little salt. So I felt that was an added bonus to the product.

I think its worth trying. Right now you can buy a six pack on Amazon.com for about $27– bringing it to approximately $4.50 per bag.

Gluten Free Events

Spring is a big time for gluten-free expos!  In Minnesota, you can check out the Gluten-Free Roundup at Lakewinds in Chanhassen on Saturday, March 5th and in Minnetonka on Saturday, March 19th.

Jen Cafferty’s Gluten and Allergen Free Expo in Chicago is a biggie.  Oh how I want to go!!!!!  It is April 29-May 1st.  It boasts 70 vendors, presentations and days of cooking classes! Alas, I will be in Minnesota doing soccer with my kids (I do love that too…)

The 1oth Annual Run/Walk for Celiac Disease and Research is happening in various locations throughout May.  You can learn more about the Twin Cities event on May 21st right here.

We hope you can take part in one of the events out there, get educated and give back a little bit too!

Tags: celiac, event, gluten-free, Kellogg's, review