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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Food SHOULD Taste Good!




WOOT! It feels GOOD to dust off the blog and get back into it! I'm back AGAIN LOL!

Why am I back?? Well, to talk about  . I was chosen by Bzzagent to receive a sampling of products in exchange for my opinion. And I was actually chosen the very same week I learned of my wheat intolerance. I'm actually wheat free now for two months (except for the one "reintroduction" I had to do to pinpoint the extent of my reaction..blech. NO MORE!). The first couple weeks were ROUGH. I'm a carboholic, and I had to seriously reprogram myself. Incessant label scanning. Incessant cravings for my favorite pasta dish when I made it for my family and had to just eat some salads because I was just starting to venture into the unknown of cooking and eating wheat free. See, I'm Italian, PA Dutch, Irish, etc...I come from bread and pasta eating stock! I think I really had to have that period of frustration to spur me on to investigating alternate foods. I discovered several so far, a favorite "GF" pasta (made with white rice), some new flours to bake with, and more importantly, some new favorite snacks!!

Not even kidding here! I got this  Bzzagent campaign the same week I found out I had an intolerance to wheat. I tried all the varieties that came in the Bzzkit--Blue Corn ,Jalapeno With Cheddar ,Multigrain , Sweet Potato ,and Olive (Ok, I didn't try the olive one *myself*, as anything Olive-y makes me retch...ever since the *incident*--when my brother and I hid under the crudite area at a wedding reception when we were young and we gorged on olives for some reason. SO.SICK was I!)


A few points to ponder about FSTG from Their Web Page:

*We remain committed to using non-bioengineered ingredients in all of our products and are in the process of enrolling in the Non-GMO Project. Be sure to look for our new packaging, reflecting our continued commitment to non-GMO to start hitting shelves soon.

*Most of our products are certified vegan by the site "Vegan Action", with the exception of: Cheddar, White Cheddar, Chocolate and JalapeƱo with Cheddar Tortilla Chips.

*All of our products are certified Kosher by the Orthodox Union. "OU" is the certification symbol granted to Food Should Taste Good® by the Orthodox Union. You can visit the Orthodox Union website to learn more about the certification and Kosher dietary laws.

Now...down to business :D

I have had to become extremely conscious of labels because of my wheat intolerance. It is very hard to find Quality, affordable , TASTY snacks (of the crunchy salty variety I'm a sucker for!)...but when I tried the varieties I received, I was so impressed. I was encouraged to check out the organic section of my grocery store and purchase some more. My FAVORITE part of discovering the "Food Should Taste Good" brand is that all of their products and processes are inspected, tested and certified gluten free by the Gluten Free Certification Organization. Additionally, according to their web page, suppliers are required to provide negative-allergen documentation to guarantee their ingredients are gluten free, and they also verify these results using a third party laboratory.

I have to keep coming back in particular to the "Multigrain Chip" (Hey, it's a cracker too!). It is by far my favorite for a variety of reasons. The sesame seeds and the light crisp nature of it make it go with just about anything you would like to pair it with (my favorite pairing is a white bean and garlic hummus that I just blend up about once a week). It's very lightly salted, which doesn't interfere with anything you may be consuming it with and only accentuates the little pop that the sesame seeds give it.

I not only love all of the varieties I have tried, I literally have at least two varieties on hand at all times --the Multigrain and the Sweet Potato (the kids LOVE that one, they love to dip it into peanut butter mixed with maple syrup and a little bit of cream cheese...kids, right??).



Aahhh...Sweet Serendipity!!  Bzzagent chooses me for this campaign right when I find out about my wheat intolerance! I don't always fall in love with a product I receive for review (with Bzzagent or elsewhere), but I honestly have fallen in complete and udder love with the "Food Should Taste Good" brand!  Seriously--I would TOTALLY do a Trustfall with them!! I know it sounds cheesy, but I am HUGE into brand trust and loyalty when I find one that deserves itI will always have my new favorites on hand, and look forward to trying more (I have been looking EVERYWHERE locally for the chocolate, but have yet to find it!!)



But WAIT! There's MORE!!! Of course there is more happening surrounding this Wheat Free Renaissance in my life--I am down 13 pounds so far, NO GUT WRENCHING pain (literally----because of all the scar tissue in my tummy from last years surgeries and infection, any kind of bowel inflammation is the double-you-over kind of pain that starts within a half a day of eating something with wheat in it, and lasts for 2-4 days, depending on the amount that was eaten)--which means NO sympathetic inflammation in other parts of my body (like my BITCH of a spine!) either! Now, for the last two months, any pain I have had is strictly just arthritic pain every once in awhile. It has been WELL over 2 months since I Have had to ask for another refill of vicodin (which I LOVE! Pain is a vicious cycle...you hurt, and when you hurt, it is hard to be physically active. So you take something to manage the pain, but then you are too tired from the side effects....oy!). The real test will be when winter comes...but for now, I will take the first long pain free time in almost 2 years!!

Anyway, I will be posting again really soon! Topics? WHO KNOWS? But, they will definitely run the gamut from family, crochet, products I love (ones I have been given to try and those that I just have to share!), voting rights (yep, that time again, and I'm fired UP! Lookout!!), Feminism (Don't see it as a bad word, it's a GOOD "F" word!)...You get the idea ;). Thanks for reading, waiting, and coming back! Please feel free to share, I'm excited to be fired up and posting again!!

Love and Kisses,
~~B