Shabtai Gourmet Cookies and Cakes

I received a large package yesterday from Shabtai Gourmet Cookies and Cakes.

Yum.

All of their products are made in a dedicated facility and are free of gluten, lactose, soy, casein and dairy. They are also are certified Kosher for Passover and Kosher Parve . They do not have a storefront, you can order from their website - http://www.shabtai-gourmet.com/ or by calling 516-652-5671. They do offer free shipping on all orders in the continental United States.

We haven't had time yet to sample all of the goodies, but what we have sampled are very yummy. If you are looking for a gluten free product to replace things like hostess cupcake type products - these fit the bill.


The inside of a Ring Ting showing the cream filling.


The Ring Ting's as packaged on the tray. These were my husband's favorite! They are moist chocolate with a cream filling and then a coating.


Raspberry Roll. Very moist and delcious with a coconut topping. Roll cakes like this are very difficult to make with wheat flour - how he manages to produce these without a crumbly texture, I do not know.

My son holding a Rainbow Cookie Square before it disappeared into his mouth. These were very colorful and delicious - like a layer cake with a chocolate coating. These do contain red 40 - which I prefer my child not consume, but for an occasional treat, these are super yummy.

The Rainbow Cookie Squares as they come packaged on the tray.

The entire shipment. As you can see, everything is packaged very well with very little breakage - only the chocolate chip cookies appear to have some broken ones.

Watch for more reviews as we try the rest of the goodies.

If you do not have access locally to a gluten free bakery and do not have the desire to bake yourself, I recommend trying Shabtai. The taste and quality are exceptional.

We joined a co-op today

Our income tax refund is being put to good use. First we bought a new washer and dryer (my old washer doesn't even have a dial on it any more - it was you turn what used to be a knob and pray you get a wash cycle and not a rinse one.....), then we joined a CSA and now the last of it went for a membership at our local food co-op. Joining a co-op has such great benefits for those of us on special diets and trying to eat healthier.

If you are local and curious, we joined the Mississippi Market. The reason - it's the co-op that is closest to us. I do shop sometimes at a couple of other co-ops, but I shop at Mississippi Market the most and it is the closest to our home.

The costs and benefits vary by co-op. Our cost was $90.00 and that is a one time payment - not a yearly payment. They even offer that you can make payments - 4 payments of $25.00 if you can't afford the whole amount up front - and you can take up to 18 months to pay! For the $90.00, we get 10% off a single grocery purchase up to $100.00 ($10.00 off max) every other month ($60.00 a year - so your membership cost is already down to $30.00 for the first year), 10% off special orders (I can order a case of say Ian's allergen free fish sticks and get 10% off the cost), member only specials every month and a share of the profits in profitable years. On top of all of that, we got a coupon book in our new member packet with 14 coupons in it for free products - most of them products that we already use.

Natural food co-ops tend to carry more of our GFCF products - so if you are already shopping at one and not a member, you really should look into joining. If you aren't shopping at a co-op and wonder if there is one near you - here is a website to check out - http://www.mwnaturalfoods.coop/index.php

15% Discount at Miss Roben's

I just got this in an e-mail from Miss Roben's:

Greetings!

Our advanced apologies for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas -the stock photography available to decorate these emails is lacking religious and ethnic diversity.

We know you are busy getting ready for the end of year holidays and if nothing else, having the kids home from school, so I will keep this email brief.

Most importantly, we are offering 15% off any order over $75 before shipping placed between 12-23-07 to 12-27-07. Enter Code: M9h38W

Some Updates:
12 days of cookies emails: For those of you wondering what happened to the 12 days of cookies newsletters-I kept meaning to get them out but was overwhelmed with other responsibilities and then got the flu. Sorry!

Frozen products: ALMOST done. Yes, finally. Without boring you with the details, there are many aspects that need to occur for a customer to place both fresh/frozen and shelf stable to their cart and successfully check out.

Loyalty Rewards: Another coding issue we are trying to correct. In the interim you can still redeem points, and accrue points without interruption. It is just more labor intensive then we want it to be and hope to have an answer in the near future.
Happy Holidays!Allergy Grocer

Great finds at the Dollar Store

Look what I found at the Big Dollar Store yesterday. Andy loves the Imagine Tomato Soup. I have never tried the Crispy Chicken Coating Mix - but guess what? For a dollar I will! For those of you local - they have tons of both of these products at the Big Dollar Store on Robert Street (not Dollar Tree - also on Robert). This is not the first time I have found organic and/or gluten free products at this dollar store.

Grocery Shopping 8/26/06 & 8/27/06

This week I visited the Bittersweet Bakery and Valley Natural Foods as well as my normal grocery stores. Items I bought at Valley Natural included foods that I cannot buy anywhere else, but also items that are carried at my regular stores but were cheaper there.

At Bittersweet Bakery I bought:
2 loaves of bread
Orange Delight Cookies for Andy
Monster Cookies for Dan and I.

At Valley Natural Foods I bought:
Enjoy Life Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
EnviroKidz Panda Puffs Cereal
EnviroKidz Gorilla Munch Cereal
Soy Dream Strawberry "Ice Cream"
Tamari Soy Sauce
Ian's Allergen Free Fish Sticks
Welshire Kids Chicken Hot Dogs
Brocolli
Welshire Kids Chicken Nuggets
Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk
EnviroKidz Peanut Butter Rice Bars
Savory Thins Rice Crackers
Tinkyada Spaghetti
Silk Soy Yogurt

At Super Target I bought:
Johnsonville Brats
Jennio Extra Lean Ground Turkey
Motts Fruit Snacks
Fresh Cantaloupes
Baby Carrots
Fresh Plums
Fresh Peaches
Fresh Strawberries

At Rainbow Foods I bought:
Tofutti Sour Supreme
Fresh Grapes
Fresh Lettuce

Grocery Shopping 8/20/06

As you will continue to see, I do buy most of my food from regular grocery stores. This week I shopped Super Target and Cub Foods.

From Cub I bought:
Health Valley Rice Bran Crackers
Ortega Tostada Shells
Bottled Water (I will not allow my family to drink tap water full of flouride - nor do we use the toothpaste with that poison in it)
Envirokidz Animal Cookies (Vanilla)
Envirokidz Rice Bars
Fresh Turkey Thighs
Boneless Beef Ribs
Lettuce (we eat lettuce faster than the garden can produce it this time of year)

From Super Target I bought:
Tree Ripened Peaches
Ocean Spray 100% Juice Fruit Juice
Hormel All Natural Lunch Meat
Old El Paso Vegetarian Refried Beans
Silk Cultured Soy Yogurt
Red Grapes
Dry Navy Beans
Eggs

I went grocery shopping today

And what did I buy? I went to Super Target and Rainbow - no speciality or health food stores today. I do not shop for just the week - I shop sales and coupons and stock up.

At Super Target I bought:
Corn Starch (some little boy used the last of mine up doing science experiments creating quick sand!) - good to keep on hand for cooking and as a thickener in gravies and sauces.
10 lbs of potatoes
Organic Baby Carrots
Wishbone French Dressing and Thousand Island (while both of these contain high fructose corn syrup which I tend to avoid, they do not contain any artificial colors - most mainstream salad dressings do)
Del Monte Fruit Cups (for his school lunches when school starts in a few weeks, they were on sale today and I had a coupon - hence the reason to buy them now)
2 lbs fresh plums
1.5 lbs apples
2 lbs fresh cherries
2 lbs organic strawberries
6 silk yogurts

At Rainbow I bought:
2 packages of Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips (tomatoes are coming in the garden and we need something to eat the fresh salsa with!)
2 bags of Bob's Red Mill GF Flour Mix
3 quarts of Soy Dream Ice Cream (Vanilla, Strawberry and Vanilla Fudge) - today is my birthday and I love the Vanilla Fudge so I am treating myself!
1 Family Pack of Chicken Drumsticks and 1 of Chicken Thighs. I cut the skin off and divided them up into 3 packages for future meals and froze.
4 lbs green grapes
2 cantalopes
2 lbs from the bulk containers of Brown Rice

I buy a lot of fruit and ingredients for making meals - not a lot of processed foods - but that is me and my preference - I like cooking and I have never felt that all of those chemicals are good for us. I do not buy a lot of veggies because I have a large garden and I also have a Farmer's Market near my work on Thursdays.