This blog post has been a long time coming, but I’m finally putting together my master list of gluten free tips and tricks! I was diagnosed with Celiac in January of 2019 (six months before my wedding – HA!) I had already booked my wedding cake so just didn’t eat any at my wedding. I’m not a huge cake person anyway so it was fine – we faked it for the photo!
Anyway, I remember crying when I first found out I had to switch to such a strict diet and lifestyle, because I was thinking where in the world do I start?! It’s one thing to have a food allergy all your life, but to randomly acquire one at 24 was HARD. But, the plus side for y’all is that I know what actually tastes good! I ate gluten my entire life before the past couple of years – so I can tell when something is worth it!
So, I’m for this post I’m mostly going to list grocery store gluten free tips, but I will mention a few restaurant tricks at the end! Check out this post for one of our favorite dinner recipes! And keep reading to the end for my gluten free spaghetti recipe!
*Disclaimer: these foods have worked for ME and my level of sensitivity (which is pretty severe) but always, always read the ingredients and triple check that the packaging says gluten free! Also, talk with your doctor about any concerns you might have before you try these!
Grocery Store
- We LOVE the Krusteaz brand for baking mixes. The blueberry muffins are amazing.
- Cannon GF Hawaiian Sweet bread is the best gluten free bread I’ve EVER tried!!
- Udi’s – in the freezer section. The sandwich bread is pretty good, but the breadsticks are AMAZING!
- Cannon GF bagels are soooo delicious.
- Pasta: Barilla or Ronzoni are both really good! You can’t go wrong with either. We use them interchangeably.
- Applegate has good frozen chicken nuggets.
- Freschetta – frozen pizza I literally eat for dinner once a week haha it’s so good. I cook it directly on the oven rack by itself, not on a pan or anything (sometimes it is soggy if you put it on something)
- We cook a lot of stir fries and Asian dishes, so I use the brand Tamari for teriyaki/soy sauce and Terry Ho’s for yum yum sauce.
- My favorite brownie mix is the Betty Crocker gluten free!
- I swear by the Mission gluten free wraps. They taste completely normal and are perfect for making tacos, quesadillas, wraps, whatever! This is my alternative for bread most of the time.
- Amy’s in the freezer section has yummy frozen lunches. My favorite so far is the GF broccoli & cheese bake.
- Glutino has GF oreos and other cookies that are super yummy. Also, Oreo themselves just came out with a GF version and my family can’t taste the difference!
- The Girl Scouts just came out with a gluten free cooking that is super yummy! I went through a bag of them embarrassingly fast, haha!
- Sweet Lorin’s is good cookie dough for baking cookies.
- I live off of chips/salsa – corn chips are gluten free so you can still have tortilla chips, fritos, etc! Just make sure they’re corn chips. I have been safe at most Mexican restaurants.
- Lance has a GF cheez-its equivalent and it’s delicious!
- Bisquick has good GF pancake mix.
- Celentano has GF ravioli and we LOVE IT. If you’ve watched my stories, this is what I make “lazy lasagna” with!
Restaurants
- Five Guys will wrap your burger in lettuce and it’s really good.
- Whataburger has a grilled chicken melt that I get with no bun and it’s sooo yum.
- Chick-fil-A has gluten free buns and they’re pretty good. Or, just get grilled nuggets! Their fries don’t bother me.
- Typically I order fries at fast food restaurants but you have to be careful because most places cook their fries in the same oil they cook fried foods – so that could hurt you! It hasn’t bothered me.
- When I eat at a Mexican place, I order a taco on a corn tortilla. Like I said before, anything corn is usually safe! You do have to be careful about seasonings, so it depends on how sensitive to gluten you are.
- At Taco Bell I get a crunchy taco with a side of chips/cheese but also their chicken power bowl is sooo good / a healthier option.
- If you’re local, Foosackly’s can make their fingers unbreaded.
- Blaze Pizza has a killer gluten free pizza – so so good.
- I order nachos at Moe’s Southwest Grill.
- If you are local to me, Ravenite in Fairhope has really good gluten free pizza.
If these gluten free tips were helpful to you, let me know! You can also pin this post to Pinterest so that it’s saved for later!
My Spaghetti Recipe
What you need:
- Gluten free spaghetti noodles (I use Barilla or Ronzoni)
- Ragu
- Onion
- Ground beef
- Mozzarella cheese
What you do:
Cook the pasta and drain. In a skillet, cook the chopped onion and the meat and then add the ragu. Mix pasta and meat sauce and put in a casserole dish. Add mozzarella on top and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Then, I usually turn on the broiler for 2 minutes so that the cheese on top gets a little brown. That’s it!
