things to love about food shopping....

while traveling back east I ventured into many food stores. Part of this was need and part was a desire to see what different areas would have to offer me. I was amazed at the GF selection in Bangor, Maine and planned on some serious stock up trips to Portland if I move back to Sugarloaf since the Hannaford in Farmington left a lot to be desired!

I have to say after visiting over a dozen grocery stores that I have it pretty good. Although I live in Telluride I do most of my food shopping in Montrose, which is a larger city about an hour away. (Telluride is a resort town and can be expensive.) My City Market in Montrose has a good variety of GF and wheat free products and I've been able to try many of them.

I became obsessed with Whole Foods on my trip and am now living 6 hours from the closest store so I have to enjoy the things I can find...and make my own fruit packs of red berries and fresh pineapple for breakfast. I've been working on my hummus recopies for summer gatherings and baking wheat free whoopie pies for birthdays.

This summer I should be able to find some more products to test.... Betty Crocker is going GF! That's right... my former birthday cake mixes can once again grace my pantry. Plus this fall they plan on labeling all the frosting as Gluten Free as well. I can only hope these hit shelves before my birthday this summer... perhaps they will be a bit more moist then some other GF brands....

Plus Chex Cereal is certifying more flavors as GF! I never realized that they had a strawberry chex cereal and now I have big plans for it... i believe it will lend itself to really good rice crispy treat substitutions.

One of the best products I found in my east coast travels were Liz Lovely Cookies that Carol found for me. They are made in Vermont are vegan and GF! One cookie makes a great snack for two or provide all day snacking for a drive from Connecticut to South Carolina.

But kate, why are you so excited for all of these new GF products? I thought you were just wheat free? True, I am "just" wheat free but in the months since being wheat free I have learned that it isn't much more of a stretch to be gluten free as well. Plus it's not bad for me to avoid gluten.