Canberra Costco - Report, Gluten Free & WW points

Costco opened in Canberra last Friday. we were pretty sure we'd join but weren't planning to check it out until the crowds died down. however curiosity overtook us and we headed out on Sunday morning, into the crowds! (we were smart enough to only take 1 child, and to become members online before going however ;))

we were impressed! it was a little hard to get around last sunday, but I went again today with mum and it was just pleasantly full.  both times we had to wait only minutes to get through the check out anyway.

while they don't (yet?) have the gluten free bread i was told they would stock when i called them a week or two before opening, there are quite a few GF products available, including:

• bhuja mix 800g $9.89
• Strawberry freddos 72pk $11.49 (now hidden from me and the kids hehe)
• corn thins 3 pk $9.49
• honey ham 500g $5.99
• organic quinoa 1.81kg $10.99
• hans hot dogs 1kg $7.19
• italian sausages 1.34kg $14.73 (we didn't notice they were italian, not sure about the regular ones!)
• Yumis 3pk dips 1.19kg (3 x 385g) $12.79 (beetroot, green olive, sweet potato & cashew)
• moira mac's chicken breast slices 400g $9.49

edited to add that there was also Carman's (?) gluten free muesli and also the muesli bars. and there is nothing GF at their cafe that i could see.

also my favourites - along with their weight watchers pro points (yes, i'm back on the wagon, and was very excited to see the fabulous points, especially for the beef!) - we don't usually buy ready made meals but we weren't sure if we might have had guests for dinner so thought we'd give these a try. so far we've had the beef rendang (delicious!) and thai green curry (nice, but a bit too sweet). we are using vegies to eke each 1kg tub to 2 meals which is plenty. so far they have been quite spicy so be warned!  weight watchers points below are for a 200g serve (which is a big serve so you might like to reduce it if you need to cut back the points)

• beef rendang 1kg $14.39 - 6 (yes SIX) WWPP per 200g serve
• thai green chicken curry 1kg $14.39 - 10 WWPP per 200g serve
• butter chicken 1kg $15.79 - 13WWPP per 200g serve

other non or not specifically gluten free things we bought include:

• 1kg frozen blueberries $6.29
• 3 pk sensodyne toothpaste $21.99 (usually around $9 per tube)
• 1.3kg fresh beef lasagne $8.99
• 2pk crumpets $2.49
• 1kg strawberries $10.99 (on sunday they had bananas for $10/kg but none left today :()
• 12pk tuna in springwater (the little ones around 120g) $12.99

i think we'll definitely get our money's worth for the membership, especially if we get out there every 2-4 weeks. maybe find someone to carpool with a 60km round trip to get there ;)

Review - Absolutely Delicious Naturally Gluten Free Bread

Last weekend we took a trip to the local Farmers Markets to have a look around as a friend had told me there was lots of gluten free stuff there.

we did find quite a lot including the cupcakes above, delicious GF sausages (the best we've had so far and not too expensive!) and the bread my sister had been telling me about for a while.... Naturally Gluten Free Bread.

we got to try as many varieties as we wanted, and we bought a loaf of the crunch, the mediterranean and the banana bread. they are all delicious!

they were $7.50 a loaf which seems like heaps, but I did the sums for Geoff last night (who was complaining that rora refused to eat the crunch bread - the loaf we got has far more poppy seeds in it than the sample we tried) and it's actually cheaper than the Country Life bread we buy in woolies - $97c/100g compared to $1.11/100g (i think they were the figures anyway lol)


If you're interested in trying it you can order online, or go to one of the outlets that sell it (click stockists to find your state / area) .

I highly recommend it!

Tasty Chicken & Pumpkin Patties and a Magazine Review I guess!

Have you seen the new magazine "Australian Healthy Food Guide"? I had seen it when a friend brought it on our time down the coast in the last school hols. I thought it looked quite good and was impressed that it had a lot of gluten free recipes identified in it (though as with most food mags there are a lot more that are, and aren't marked as such). I decided it wasn't really my sort of magazine in the end though, mostly because of stuff like recommending diet soft drinks as healthy and that kind of thing. It is worth a look though :)

Anyway, I'm going to pass this mag onto my sister and wanted to save a few recipes first. These recipes are all from the November 09 issue.

Tasty Chicken & Pumpkin Patties
500g skinless chicken breasts
500g pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, roughly chopped
8 slices wholegrain bread (obviously i'll have to sub for GF)
6 green onions, finely sliced
3 tspns garam masala
1 bunch fresh herbs, chopped
2 eggs
3-4 tspns flour (GF if needed)

place chicken into food processor and mince. transfer to bowl
grate pumpkin and add to bowl
chop bread into breadcrumbs, stir into chicken & pumpkin
spray pan with cooking spray, lightly fry green onions until translucent. add garam masala and cook 1 min. cool and add to chicken mix with herbs, eggs and flour. mix well.
shape into 16 patties. fry in greased pan for 5 mins per side, or BBQ
serve with green salad

posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Risotto Pronto Review

This is one of the products I discovered on my shopping tour. carefully checked the ingredients to find it was gluten free. went back to buy it and rechecked. got home and rechecked. then discovered it says "gluten free" on the front! DOH! lol

anyway, geoff cooked the mixed vegetable one last weekend. he said it was 'so-so' but the kids were happy to eat it (after picking out all the vegies of course lol). you do need to provide the rice for it.

it would be perfect for camping though!

Gluten Free Product Review, and TMX directions

Rora and Emelia love this stuff for a weekday lunch!! I don't mind it, but am happy to leave it all for them, Geoff's comment was that it was a 'bit bland', probably why the girls like it so much ;)

With some minor changes to Harmony's directions I can now have a hot GF lunch ready in 20 minutes despite barely lifting a finger hehe

Basco Macaroni & Cheese
serves 2-3

1 packet Basco Macaroni and Cheese
250g hot water
120g milk

Put all ingredients in TM bowl.
Cook for 16 minutes at 90 deg on Reverse and Speed 2

GF Product Reviews

Orgran Wheat Free - Gluten Free Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce
even though Orgran seems to be a great brand in general this is one product i suggest you avoid. Rora HATES it and won't touch more than the first spoonful. i wish i'd taken a photo of it tbh as it looked NOTHING like the picture on the front - the spaghetti was so soft and swollen that it was broken into small pieces of only a few mm. luckily tinned spaghetti was only an occasional (few times a year) treat that she won't miss!


Lowan Cocoa Bombs
On the other hand she had never had sugar-cereal before (neither had the other kids) and when these were on special recently i got some for her to try. she loves them! (weekends only ;)) she will eat bowlful after bowlful.

Gluten Free Review - Melinda's Choc Walnut Slice

Woolworths had these packet mixes on sale - buy 2 and save $xxx. so i let rora pick 3 and i picked one. this is the only one I've made so far and I thought I would review it.

It was very easy to make, just mixing a little oil and water into the first 2 packets, then baking for 15 minutes (my oven started to burn it just after 10 minutes). then let it cool slightly, mix up the icing and spread on top. i found the icing very hard to spread - it didn't want to stick to the slice (it certainly didn't look anything like the icing on the front of the box!).

everyone enjoyed it, even with the walnuts which were chopped quite finely, and it was virtually demolished that night! (only 2 small pieces were left). the slice was fairly crumbly.

the slice is also dairy free and egg free as well as gluten free. the list of ingredients is not too bad, other than one preservative.

to be honest if i added chopped walnuts to this chocolate fudge slice, which is barely any more involved to make, and then made an icing for the top (which i never bother with lol) it would be nearly identical for much less cost and barely any more effort. but if i was feeling particularly lazy i would buy this again :D heheheh