by Jason | Jun 20, 2010 | Blog
This is the third of five reviews for Enjoy Life Foods Cookies. For this review, we tried the Gingerbread Cookies (affiliate link)
. Unlike the other cookies we tried this cookie was not well received at all by the kids.
My son simply said, “I don’t like this. What else do you have”? My daughter made a face and did not say much. I think their biggest problem with the cookie was the fact that it was gingerbread and they did not like the sharp taste of the ginger. For me, it was the highlight of the cookie.
The cookie has a good ginger taste. The ginger taste is nice and crisp. My problem with the cookie is the texture. According to the box, these were soft-baked cookies. I was a expecting a soft moist cookie but the texture was dry and gritty which is a shame. The poor texture overwhelms the wonderful ginger component.
Needless to say this was not our favorite cookie from Enjoy Life. The top of this post has a link to the Gingerbread Cookies for your reference. My recommendation is to try something else from Enjoy Life Foods. Have you tried this cookie? What did you think?
Quick disclaimer, Enjoy Life Foods did not provide me with any product or other compensation for these reviews. I purchased these items at our local Publix Grocery Store.
by Jason | Jun 17, 2010 | Blog
In this, our second of five reviews for Enjoy Life Foods Cookies, we sampled the Snickerdoodle Cookies (affiliate link). When my son (6 yrs old) saw the box, he asked me what was that word. I told him it was Snickerdoodle. He asked, “What is a snickerdoodle?” I fumbled over a definition. A better definition comes from Wikipedia,
“A snickerdoodle is a type of sugar cookie made with cream of tartar and rolled in cinnamon sugar. It is characterized by a cracked surface and can be crisp or soft depending on preference”.
I knew about the cinnamon. I had no idea it was made with cream of tartar. A quick review of the ingredient list on Enjoy Life Foods website did not show any cream of tartar. I though the absence might be because it contains one of the common allergens that Enjoy Life Foods avoids. However, a little research indicated that Cream of Tartar is actually the common name for potassium hydrogen tartrate. It is obtained by half neutralizing tartaric acid with potassium hydroxide. Apparently, grapes are the main source of tartaric acid and is obtained from sediment in the wine making process. Chemistry is fun! Long story short, I’m not sure why it is not included in the Enjoy Life Foods Snickerdoodles.
My son took his first bite and exclaimed, “Mmmm, Cinnamonny!”. My daughter (9 yrs old) stated, “Yeah, it has Cinnamon. I like the Double Chocolate Brownies better.” My son agreed. Their statements were not meant as a dislike for the Snickerdoodles but simply a declaration of preference. I thought the cookies were excellent. They contain just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar and the texture is nice.
According to the Enjoy Life Foods website, Snickerdoodles are their most popular cookie flavor. One of our readers, Elizabeth from onespotallergy.com likes them as well. This is another Enjoy Life Foods Cookie to add our snack food/dessert/road trip food rotation. Which Enjoy Life Foods product is your favorite?
Quick disclaimer, Enjoy Life Foods did not provide me with any product or other compensation for these reviews. I purchased these items at our local Publix Grocery Store.
by Jason | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog
As mentioned in our one-month anniversary post, product reviews will become a new addition to Peanut Free Life. Our first review is also a first in a series of reviews of products from Enjoy Life Foods.
Quick disclaimer, Enjoy Life Foods did not provide me with any product or other compensation for these reviews. I purchased these items at our local Publix Grocery Store.
Our family thinks it is important to support, when we can, local companies and restaurants, as well as those that support causes important to us, food allergies for one. Enjoy Life Foods is one such company. Their dedication to creating a product that is safe for those with food allergies is admirable and one that we as a family and food allergy community should support.
I brought home several boxes of the different varieties of Enjoy Life Foods Cookies for lunch today. My son (6 years old) immediately asked, “What are those for?” I told him that we were going to try some of these and I wanted him and his sister to tell me what the though of them. I asked both my son and daughter (9 years old) which one they wanted to try first. They both immediately agreed on the Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies (affiliate link)
.
I opened the box and gave one to each kid. My daughter’s first comment was, “It’s kind of dark, in a chocolate way.” She was right. The cookies do have a dark chocolate overtone I think is great. I think she was surprised by the taste and meant it in a negative way. Nevertheless, she ate the whole thing and was eying another one. My son simply said, “This is yummy, can we try another one?” and “I can barely eat this in one bite.” My wife Cindy came in and tried one and said, “This is good; we need to get more of these.”
The texture for the cookie was surprisingly good for a cookie that is wheat free and egg free and you could see and taste the chocolate chips in the brownie. In addition, the brownie fully satisfied my current craving for sweets. As a result of the family’s semi-unanimous approval, this snack is now a new addition to our snack food/dessert/road trip food rotation. If you have tried these, what do you think of them?
by Jason | Jun 11, 2010 | Blog
Today marks the one-month anniversary of peanutfreelife.com. Thank you to everyone that has visited the site, everyone kind enough to leave comments and to everyone who has subscribed. The support has been amazing.
We started the blog as a resource to help parents and friends find peanut and tree nut free foods. This past month we posted three Safe Food Lists: Cereals, Candy and Ice Cream Novelties. The number of downloads for these lists from our site inspire us to keep the lists coming. The next list we plan on posting is for Crackers, Chips and Cookies.
One thing I did not expect to find was the large network of food allergy parents on Twitter and Facebook. These communities are supportive, helpful and encouraging. To see for yourself, go to Twitter and search for tweets with the #foodallergy topic. Read through the tweets and click on some of the links included the tweets. I encourage you to follow these users on twitter, subscribe to their blog, and comment on their blog posts. You can even follow us (Twitter name: peanutfreelife) and check us out on Facebook (Facebook page: peanutfreelife).
What does the next month hold for peanutfreelife.com? The main priority is spending time with our kids during their summer break. On the website, we will certainly post more Safe Food Lists. We will also expand our post topics to include more product specific reviews and more posts dedicated to commentary on news stories related to peanut and tree allergies. We are very excited about month number two!
Again, thank you for your continued support!
by Jason | Jun 4, 2010 | Blog
The summer camp that our daughter is attending this year Camp Riverview for Girls called us to ask about ice cream novelties. Mayfield Dairy manufactures all of the ice cream novelty products that they purchase. So the camp called Cindy, my wife, to see if Mayfield Dairy products were peanut and tree nut free. It was great that they called and Cindy immediately jumped into research mode.
Mayfield is a regional dairy that produces milk and other dairy products for sale in most of the Southeastern United States. Unfortunately, their website is extremely lacking in information regarding product ingredients or allergens. In fact, they have no nutritional information on their website at all. This is an area where they certainly need to improve. The good news is that they were extremely helpful when Cindy called them.
Here is the slightly edited text of the email that Cindy sent to the Camp Director.
“Mayfield Push Pops are safe! I spent the last hour on the phone with the two plant quality assurance coordinators of the two plants where Mayfield’s novelty products are made. It gets a little tricky as in Birmingham they make some products that are safe. However, if they are low on inventory, they will have their Toledo plant (Frost Bites) produce some products and in some cases those are not made on a dedicated line. This is what I learned:
In the Birmingham plant the following products are made on a dedicated line where no peanut/nut is ever run:
Jr Bars -These are the one stick novelties as opposed to the two-stick novelties which they call a paddle bar. These Jr. Bars are as follows:
Brown Cow Jrs. – which is chocolate covered ice cream bars,
Fudge Bar Jrs.
Pop Stix Jrs. – Orange, Cherry and Grape, Sour Pop Jrs.
(NOTE – large two stick “paddle bars” in these same flavors are NOT safe)
Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches – NOT the Regular size
(NOTE that while the Birmingham plant makes a safe regular size ice cream sandwich, in the event they are low on inventory, the Toledo plant takes up the slack and they do not produce these on a dedicated line. So they cannot guarantee that it is made on a dedicated line.)
Any 3 oz. ice cream cup (not 6 oz.) — They make light (3% butterfat) in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and orange sherbet. Also, safe are the No Sugar Added 3 oz cups.
In the Toledo plant, the following products are made on a dedicated line where no peanut/nut is ever run:
Regular sized Neopolitan Ice Cream Sandwiches are made on a dedicated line (he said the regular sized vanilla is made on a line with Moose Tracks – peanuts/nuts and a butter pecan)
Push Pops Orange Sherbet Pops.
Thanks for calling me.”
If you live in an area where Mayfield products are sold, I hope this will help. As always, please read the label of everything you buy every time you shop. The goal is provide you some additional food items to consider. I hope to update our Safe Food List – Ice Cream Novelties sometime this weekend to incorporate these items.
Do you have any ice cream or ice cream novelties that are peanut and tree nut safe that you enjoy?
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