French Meadow Bakery’s Whole Grain Bread,
Sandwich Bread and Italian Rolls. Photo
by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

French Meadow Bakery makes certified organic and gluten-free products that are casein-free, lactose-free and peanut-free, as well as kosher (parve). We recently tasted a selection of company’s gluten-free line of breads and cakes.

When we taste gluten-free baked goods, we do it from the same perspective as we taste all products. We don’t judge if the product is “good for a gluten-free product,” but if it is a good product that anyone would enjoy. We tasted two products in French Meadow Bakery’s gluten-free line that scored on this front; anyone in the family would enjoy them.

Gluten Free Multigrain Bread is made of a tasty mix of whole grain flour blend (amaranth, quinoa, millet, sorghum, teff), egg whites, organic flax seed, organic millet and organic quinoa and a touch of honey, among other ingredients.

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread is made of corn starch, egg whites, tapioca starch, honey, rice bran and germ, plus raisins and other ingredients.

The Gluten-Free Italian Rolls and Sandwich Bread are more appropriate for those who must restrict their gluten intake.

Some of our tasters enjoyed the Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and ate every last one of the pre-formed, ready-to-bake cookies. We could taste that they were a gluten-free product; but the good news is that, those who can’t have gluten can keep these cookies in the freezer, ready to transform into a warm, fragrant cookie whenever the need strikes.

Twice the size of a typical Anjou, Bartlett
or Bosc pear, one juicy Royal Riviera pear is
at least two fruit servings. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

We taste so many refined carbs in the course of our work day that we were thrilled to receive a gift box of Harry & David’s Royal Riviera pears, in season through February. Enormous, creamy, juicy and good-for-you, they’re a treat for the family or a gift for friends and clients who prefer the healthy life to receiving boxes of fudge. (We’re omnivores—send it all!)

How big are Royal Riviera pears? Helped by a lush rainfall this season, ours weighed about 13.5 ounces each, had a diameter of 3-1/2 inches and had “hips” (measured around the broadest part) of 11-1/4 inches! Grown in Harry & David’s orchards in Southern Oregon, they are transplants of the Doyenne du Comice pears France, grafted onto a sturdier American pear rootstock. The variety surfaced in France in 1849 and came to Oregon’s Rogue River Valley, home of Harry & David (Medford, OR) in 1897. “Doyenne du Comice“ translates to “Top of Show.”

We enjoyed our Royal Rivieras with some of our favorite blue cheeses from Harry & David’s Oregon neighbor, Rogue Creamery (co-owner David Gremmels is one of the greatest American cheesemakers). We had his cheeses in our fridge, but a gift box of this “pear-ing” is available through Harry & David, along with pears-only from $29.95 and up. Should you be so fortunate as to receive too many pears to eat up as hand fruit, the variety is excellent sliced into salads, baked (plain, like baked apples, or in a tart) and poached (one of our favorite desserts).

There’s a new flower in the garden of Ayala’s Herbal Water. Lemon Verbena Germanium smells and tastes just like geraniums accented with lemon verbena (which some will recall as Ellen O’Hara’s—mother of Scarlett—favorite scent). Like the rest of the flavors, it’s refreshing, delightful and wonderfully different.

Ayala’s infuses organic garden herbs, blended with spices and citrus peel, into purified water to create innovative flavor profiles. We love this line; it complements food so much better than other flavored waters. The rest of the line includes Cinnamon Orange Peel, Clove Cardamom Cinnamon, Ginger Lemon Peel, Lavender Mint Lemongrass Thyme and Lemongrass Mint Vanilla. The first three are wonderful Thanksgiving flavors, especially welcomed by guests who don’t drink.

Ayala’s Herbal Water has zero calories and is certified USDA Organic and OU kosher. It is available at HerbalWater.com and at retailers nationwide, including Central Market, Food Emporium, Giant, HEB, Raley’s, Safeway, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market and many natural food and specialty food stores.

It’s different and it’s delicious! Photo courtesy of Ayala’s.

Oysters on the half shell: so delicious,
so low-calorie. Photo courtesy of Carrie
Bailey-Morey.

Heavy cocktail sauces with horseradish are too much for oysters at their prime. We eat great oysters straight from the shell, without even a dab of citrus juice. But for those who like a bit of garnish, here’s a lovely recipe, courtesy of Charleston, South Carolina’s Charleston Grill and Carrie Bailey-Morey, co-owner of Callie’s Charleston Biscuits, who recently enjoyed them there.

Combine to taste:

Garnish plate with watercress and edible flowers.

Live in Houston? There’s a free tasting of Callie’s today and tomorrow at Rice Epicurean Markets: San Felipe and Post Oak store Wednesday, October 28th from 2:00-6:00pm and the Westheimer and Wesleyan store Thursday, October 29th from 10:00-3:00 pm. from 10:00-2:00pm.

Live in Chicago? The tastings are on November 5th and 6th at Fox & Obel (we love that store!).

America loves hummus, as can be seen by the proliferation of brands and flavors in the refrigerator case of almost every supermarket and deli. It’s nutritious, gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.

But what about dessert hummus? Dessert from chickpeas? That breakthrough concept is now available, healthy and actually delicious! Flavors include:

Read our full review, including all the ways you can serve Dessert Hummus.

Serve a trio of Dessert Hummus flavors for
dessert. Above: Caramel Apple, Maple
Walnut and Pumpkin. Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Say “cheese!” Van Harden’s pizza is gluten-
free, which means few carbs as well. It
uses a cheese-based crust. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky| THE NIBBLE.

From the crisp crust to the melted cheese, we love everything about pizza. But for carb counters and, more importantly, people with gluten allergies, that crust presents a problem. Millions of Americans can’t tolerate a protein in wheat, rye and barley—and, therefore, traditional pizza crust is verboten.

While it’s possible to buy gluten-free pizza crusts and make pizza from scratch, Van Harden offers a faster solution: frozen pizzas in three varieties with no bread crust whatsoever.

The crust is made from cheese, which gives the nearly 3 million Americans with Celiac disease, people with wheat allergies, everyone on the Atkins Diet and every carb counter a heat-and-eat way to enjoy pizza again.

Available in Cheese, Pepperoni or Sausage (our favorite, shown in the photo at left), you can order Van Harden’s Pizza online until national distribution broadens. (It’s currently available in Hy-Vee retail stores in seven Midwest states.)

Look at two of the hottest food trends—whole grain and gluten-free. Every one of us needs more whole grain in our diet, and one out of 133 people have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that requires a gluten-free diet. (Still more have simple wheat allergies.)

Corn and rice, among other grains, are naturally gluten free. Chex cereals is the first mainstream, gluten-free cereal line, with Rice Chex, Corn Chex and new gluten-free Honey Nut Chex, Chocolate Chex and Cinnamon Chex.

We recently sat down with a box of “Simply Nutritious Honey Nut Chex With A Touch Of Honey.” WIth 8g or more of whole grain per serving, it is a healthier sweet treat than almost any other processed sweet treat (doughnut, breakfast pastry, raisin bagel), and nicely crunchy, eaten on the go from a plastic snack-size bag. We enjoy it.

But as we spend out days scrutinizing words and labels, we have two questions:

The new version of Honey Nut Chex is gluten-free and made of corn.

This recalled our favorite Abraham Lincoln quote: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” We don’t know if there were ever nuts in Honey Nut Chex, but has anyone else noticed they’re missing?

For a special, flavorful yet low-calorie and healthy appetizer, slice blocks of soft Japanese tofu and sprinkle them with toasted black sesame seeds, soy sauce and nori flakes. For even more flavor, add bonito flakes. Arrange on a large platter and let guests help themselves, or serve individual plates with two slices (the tofu looks especially beautiful on Asian-style dishes). If your regular supermarket doesn’t have an Asian products section, buy nori and bonito flakes at an Asian grocer. As with any condiment, a good brand of soy sauce makes a big difference.

• Read our review of the best soy sauces.

Don’t come near our jar of Mezzetta Deli-Sliced Tamed Jalapeño Peppers—we’re saving them all for ourselves. Our favorite new condiment, these pickled jalapeño slices solve a problem as they add exciting new flavor to franks, burgers, sandwiches (any, but don’t forget grilled cheese!), salads, omelets, dips, relish trays and as long a list of savory foods as you can imagine—especially that obvious choice, nachos. Add a few to any plate as a zesty garnish.

We like jalapeño, but biting into even a small bit of a fresh one is a bit too much bite for us: too much burn, and when you’re in the food-tasting business, that takes out the taste buds for more time than we have to be out of commission. We promise, you need have no fear when you bite into these. Plus, they’re sugar-free and are a dieter’s dream: 5 slices for 7 calories. They’re certified kosher by KSA.

Mezzetta also sells the same product unsliced, called Tamed Jalapeño Peppers En Escabeche, as well as numerous other varieties of whole and deli-sliced peppers. (In the Shop Online section of the website, the sliced variety can be found under Deli-Sliced and the whole peppers are under Imported & Domestic Peppers). We look forward to trying the others, but in the interim, thanks to G. L. Mezzetta of Napa Valley for this new discovery.

These jalapeño slices have been “tamed” by pickling—and are delicious on just about
anything. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Cherry Chocolate Chunk gelato from Organic
Nectars, a sugar-free trifeca for healthy
eating. It’s organic, kosher and raw! Photo by
Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

Previously, people on sugar-restricted diets were limited in their choice of ice cream. But there are two premium products on the market that provide premium alternatives to artificially-flavored supermarket ice cream. Both are sweetened with agave.

Agave Dream is a premium ice cream developed by two moms who wanted a better choice for their children. Organic Nectars is a vegan product made from cashew “milk”; it’s also raw, kosher and, as the name implies, organic. Both companies make sorbet or granita as well as ice cream. They’re a real find for people who are steering clear of sugar.