Tortillas: Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas

Almost by accident, I picked up a pack of wheat free, gluten free Brown Rice Tortillas from Food For Life. I have (almost) never been more surprised by an accidental purchase.

Celiac Rob is a huge fan of Mexican and can usually be accommodated by burritos with corn tortillas or corn tortilla enchiladas, but corn tortillas come at a price. First off the corn tortilla taste grows a bit tiresome after a while; but more vitally, corn tortillas are tiny- making them difficult to roll up into a nice neat package.

Thanks to Food For Life, our corn tortilla troubles may have come to an end!! These wheat and gluten free brown rice tortillas are a gift from the Celiac gods! These tortillas are a standard 9" size, look exactly like flour tortillas and best of all, have a phenomenal taste! Soft with a nutty, mild flavor, Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas have an authentic mouth feel. They aren't quite as pliable as flour tortillas, but who cares! You may forget they are wheat and gluten free- yep they are that good.

Ingredients
Made from Brown rice flour, filtered water, tapioca flour, safflower oil, rice bran, vegetable gum (xanthan, cellulose), sea salt, Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas come 6 to a pack, and should be kept refrigerated or frozen. Note that this product is processed and packaged in a facility that also processes tree nuts.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 Tortilla (57 g)
Servings per container: 6
Calories: 130
Calories from fat: 25
Total fat: 2.5 g
Sat fat: 0g
Trans fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 160 mg
Potassium: 95 mg
Total Carb: 24 g
Dietary fiber: 2g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: g*


*My package is missing a number before the g- but my guess is that this is a low or no protein food product.

Cereal: Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice

You asked for it and here is the first in a series of reviews of gluten free breakfast cereals.

I started off with Erewhon organic 100% whole grain gluten free Crispy Brown Rice cereal. It is low fat and contains less than 1g of sugar per serving. When shopping for this, I must admit I was drawn to the low-impact packaging made from 100% recycled paperboard. Go figure!

Granted I may have too much time on my hands, but I tend to read the quirky histories on milk cartons, cake packs, and this Erewhon gluten free cereal was no exception. Apparently Erewhon derives from a "19th century novel by Samuel Butler wherein Erewhon was a utopia where each individual was responsible for his own health". Who knew? The good news is that Erewhon gluten free Crispy Brown Rice cereal only contains organic brown rice, organic brown rice syrup and sea salt.

Taste
Though undoubtedly a more impressive list of ingredients I could not ask for, taste was a bit of another matter.

True, Erewhon gluten free Crispy Brown Rice cereal is a close contender to say traditional Rice Krispies- it has all the right shapes, crunch and similar mouth appeal- unfortunately, I'm just a bit bored by the malty snap, crackle and pops. Like its glutinous counterpart, Erewhon's Crispy Brown Rice cereal absorbs the milk a bit too quickly, leaving me scrambling to finish the bowl before it gets soggy. But hey, that's just a personal preference. Lots of people actually like a hefty portion of milk in their cereal!

So in sum, Erewhon's organic, gluten free Crispy Brown Rice Cereal is celiac-safe and tastes very similar to Rice Krispies-type cereals. If you've never had Rice Krispies, hey you might be blown away by the crackly sounds emerging from your bowl, otherwise brace yourself for the comfortable blandness of a rice cereal.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 cup (30g)
Servings per container: About 9

Calories: 110
Calories from fat: 5
Total fat: 0.5g
Sat fat: 0g
Trans fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 160 mg
Total carb: 25 g
Dietary fiber: 0g
Sugars: less than 1g
Protein: 2g

P.S.
As a postscript to this review, I will rather reluctantly mention that I "created" the Crispy Rice Snacks from the recipe on the cereal package, and uh they didn't turn out so well.
I will concede that I used too much vanilla extract and not my preferred brand of honey- so the Crispy Rice snacks had a bit of an odd flavor with the peanut butter, and didn't hold their shape.

The resulting consequence of this culinary mis-fire, is to merely point out that I do think Erewhon's Crispy Brown Rice cereal, made according to instructions, will make absolutely Superb rice-krispy marshmallow treats, which are Rob's absolute fave! I'll let you know how they turn out.