chocolate – in thriver words

It’s Beastly, but is it Gluten-Free?

If you have kids who love Mr. Beast, you may know his Feastable food products are beastly, but are they gluten-free? My grandchildren have philosophical conversations about whether Feastables chocolate bars are better than Hershey’s. Of course, with Mr. Beast’s name right there on the package they believe them to be better. They’re happy to let me compare.

package of hershey bars and package of mr. beast jacklinks

Before I can, I need to know the ingredients. A visit to the website shows nutrition facts are easy to find. https://feastables.com/

The milk chocolate bars do not have any gluten containing items in the ingredient list, but the allergen statement says they may contain wheat. That’s enough for me to avoid them.

Milk crunch again looks deceptively okay. The crunch is rice based. But the allergen statement says they may contain wheat.

Cookies and Cream sounds like it would contain gluten, but it’s made with rice flour. Exciting. But only for a moment. It also lists the possibility of wheat in the allergen statement.

Caramel, peanut butter, almond, dark chocolate, and dark chocolate sea salt contain the same allergen statement.

I don’t worry as much if an allergen statement says processed on equipment that also processes wheat, but they may contain verbiage concerns me.

Peanut Butter and Hazelnut Butter Cups as well as the Yoshi Eggs may contain wheat as well.

All flavors of Sour Strikes appear to be gluten-free. The only questionable item in the ingredient list is natural flavors. Use your judgement and previous experience to determine whether you’re comfortable trying them.

The chocolate milk is gluten-free. I’ll grab a bottle of that and wash down my disappointment that I don’t feel comfortable consuming more of the products.

On an entirely separate website, you can find Mr. Beast Jack Link’s. These are beef sticks that come in original and teriyaki flavor. These seem to be a Mr. Beast branded version of beef sticks that are also sold under the Jack Link’s name. https://mrbeast.jacklinks.com/

A visit to the nutrition facts takes you to the Jack Link’s website. The teriyaki flavor contains wheat. https://www.jacklinks.com/shop/nutrition-facts

The original flavor is a bit of a headscratcher. The label doesn’t list any problem ingredients or contain an allergen statement. But the Mr. Beast side of the website indicated gluten-free products will be clearly labeled gluten-free and these are not.

A little additional poking around on the Jack Link’s website suggests that anyone who is gluten-free should only consume products linked to a specific blog post. The original flavor beef sticks are not linked. Seems like it would be safest to avoid them. https://www.jacklinks.com/blog/10-gluten-free-snacks-to-buy-right-now/

For those who maintain a gluten-free diet, many of Mr. Beast’s snacks are beastly. Sorry for the disappointing news on a holiday!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Does Chocolate Cause You Heartburn?

Does chocolate cause you heartburn? The problem may not be chocolate. I’m familiar with many varieties of stomach and abdominal pain. Sometimes, it’s quite a process to figure out what triggers a specific response.

I can’t say I’ve ever been advised by a physician to try to figure out the cause of any pain, but it seems logical to me to get to the source of a problem whenever possible. That’s the only way to potentially resolve the issue for good rather than continually treating symptoms. After years of practice, here’s the process I follow:

Keep track

I start by being aware of what I’m taking in. Of course this means reading labels and asking good questions in restaurants. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

If you know you have an adverse response to monosodium glutamate (MSG) and you’ve been eating Nacho Cheese Doritos®, a scan of the label will tell you eliminating them may make you feel better. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Campbell’s® Chicken Noodle soup could also be culprits. Even if you can tolerate a small amount, eating three MSG containing foods in one week may overload your system.

Keeping a food journal is more effective than making a mental note. If you just can’t make yourself keep a journal, try texting yourself or creating a suspect food list in your note app.

Observe

In addition to keeping track, I observe my body sensations closely to see if I can identify an adverse response early in the process when the signs are subtle. Sometimes I don’t feel the full effects of an offender for a day or two.
Early signs often point me in a different investigative direction than I would go if I wait for full fledged cramping and pain. It can also mean some pain may be avoided.

When I consume dairy, it causes spasms throughout my stomach then my colon. When those are concentrated just to the left of my solar plexus, they can trigger something akin to panic. It’s not exactly the same, but it shares some of the physical responses and can lead to feeling panic if I don’t address it.

Knowing this is simply a response to dairy allows my brain to perceive the spasm as a temporary moment that will pass if I just wait. This keeps me calm. It also means that I don’t tense up my gastrointestinal system which causes the spasms to last longer.

Eliminate the culprit

Although it sounds simple in retrospect, it took a very long time for me to associate milk exposure with the resulting symptoms. Since I didn’t feel the full effects of ingestion until a day later, it wasn’t a natural line for me to draw. As I practiced recognition of subtle symptoms as soon as they appeared, my timeline became more accurate allowing me to identify a pattern in my response to milk. From that point, it was easy to eliminate milk and milk products in order to see if I would experience improvement. I did!

Once I have identified a food that consistently brings me discomfort or pain, I am happy to let it go. I would rather feel good than continue to ingest foods because they are convenient or I like the way they taste. And I don’t want to rely on pharmaceutical support to remain pain free. That means all foods containing milk are now suspect.

Back to chocolate

This brings me back to chocolate. If you google, “Does dark chocolate contain milk?”, you’ll get many answers saying it does not. Before you pop some dark chocolate brownies in your mouth, you need to know you’re still putting yourself at risk.

The label of Nestlé® Toll House 53% Cacao Dark Chocolate Morsels reads: chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milkfat, nonfat milk, natural flavor and it warns of milk ingredients as an allergen. If the brownies you choose are made with these morsels, you may experience symptoms. There is enough milk in some dark chocolate to trigger my intolerance.

If you ate a few chocolate morsels by themselves, you might notice nothing more than mild heartburn. In my case, heartburn is an early clue that I may need to limit or eliminate a food. Learning to pay attention to this has allowed me to avoid more significant symptoms down the road.

Does chocolate cause you heartburn? Are you milk or lactose intolerant? If so, the problem may not be the chocolate.

For me, that’s great news because it gives me an easy way to eliminate occasional milk exposure and in the process, heartburn, stomach cramps, and panic. And it doesn’t mean I have to eliminate all chocolate. It just means I have to read labels and substitute some ingredients when I bake.

I love a simple solution followed by a So Delicious® Dipped Double Chocolate Delight cashewmilk frozen dessert. I think I’ll have one now!

https://bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42234-018-0004-9

https://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/dairy-free-foods/dairy-free-frozen-desserts/cashewmilk/double-chocolate-delight

http://www.cooking2thrive.com/blog/does-flourless-cake-have-to-be-chocolate/

My Heart Will be Filled With Love and My Tummy With Chocolate for Valentine’s Day

My heart will be filled with love and my tummy with chocolate for Valentine’s Day! I’ll be keeping DJ, my 18-month-old grandson on Valentine’s Day this year. Along with a card, I’m giving him a real, working stethoscope. He’ll get to listen to his heart while we talk about hearts and lungs and friendship and love. Valentine’s Day holds many natural lessons. The chocolate, I’m saving for myself.

If your Valentine is gluten-free, you may be tempted to shower him/her with flowers, jewelry, movie tickets, or stethoscopes rather than food. There’s nothing wrong with any of those. Sometimes they’re my choices as well. But if you really want to score points, take on the challenge of cooking a homemade gluten-free dessert. It won’t be as hard as you think, and the thoughtfulness and effort are certain to touch the heart!
brownie and punch
Since chocolate is a tradition for Valentine’s Day, brownies can be a good choice. The only specialty products needed for the following recipe are a small amount of almond flour and coconut flour. These flours are widely available in regular grocery stores. (The almond flour may be called almond meal.)

If you cannot find almond or coconut flour in your area, they are available from Nuts.com, King Arthur Flour Company, Inc. or big box online retailers like Walmart and Amazon. All of the other ingredients are regular baker’s chocolate, brown sugar, butter, and the like.

There’s no special equipment needed to make this gluten-free Cooking2Thrive recipe, but a heart-shaped cookie cutter can add some romance to the finished product. Just wait until the brownies are cool before you cut them.
recipe card
Brownies
12 brownies

4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, rough chopped
1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, rough chopped
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup blanched almond flour
3 tbsp coconut flour + enough to flour baking pan
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup walnut pieces

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

Place butter, chocolate, and honey in sauce pan. Heat over low until melted, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and cool for 3 or 4 minutes.

While chocolate is melting, whisk together almond flour, 3 tbsp coconut flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

Once chocolate mixture has cooled slightly, add vanilla, brown sugar, and egg to it and mix well. Add chocolate mixture to bowl with flour mixture and combine. Stir in walnut pieces.

Pour batter into prepared 8 x 8 pan. Bake in 350° oven for 18 – 22 minutes. Cool on rack for 15 minutes. Slice and serve.

It’s always comforting to have a gluten-free dish prepared by someone you trust, and food really does taste better when it’s prepared with love.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day filled with love and chocolate!

https://nuts.com/nuts/almonds/flour.html
https://nuts.com/cookingbaking/flours/coconut-gluten-free.html
https://search.kingarthurflour.com/search?w=almond%20flour&af=type:products
https://search.kingarthurflour.com/search?p=Q&view=grid&deftab=products&w=coconut+flour

The BEST Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World?

This box promised me “The best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World!” – now that’s a big promise. Of course, the way I see it, it’s also a challenge. I will take that challenge and see if these cookies live up to the hype!

Bart & Judy Greenhut’s cookies stood out on the shelves because of the retro-rustic looking packaging. I was immediately drawn to the plain paperboard box with its retro graphics. Then there were the enticements listed on the box: Best in the World, Imported Belgian Chocolate, Little Bites of Happiness, No GMO’s – and that’s just the front of the box. The top contained a warning not to consume in an environment requiring my complete attention because it could lead to personal injury.

The back of the box had a personal anecdote from Bart, Judy, and their son, Jordan. It mentioned Steve Jobs. You think reading the cereal box in the morning is entertaining? You could spend weeks on this box. It has a side full of quotes, a side full of nutritional information, and an inside filled with poetry, Bart’s life observations, and a thank-you.

Before you even get to the oxygen-barrier foil bag or the folded insert, it is clear that Bart & Judy have a much larger mission than bringing you delicious cookies. While there’s a part of me that momentarily felt they were forcing the issue a little too hard, I was drawn back in by their obvious sense of humor and dedication to putting their money where my mouth is.

According to the box insert, Bart & Judy had the courage to sell their house to buy a 100′ oven to begin baking these cookies. Inspired on a trip to Paris, they embarked on a new career at the ages when many people retire.

Having passed the age at which I’m allowed to swim at the “senior center”, I am well aware that many of us begin to question what we’ve been doing and explore our options as we age, but I know few who decide what they want and go for it full speed ahead. For this reason alone, I’d buy these cookies at $5.49 per 4.2 oz box. I admire this kind of gutsy determination.

So what do you get for $5.49 per box? 45 – 50 crunchy cookies about the size of a nickel or a quarter. They’re handmade so they all vary. The point is that they’re very small. A whole box is 480 calories. That’s 4 servings with 11 cookies per serving.

Total carbs per serving is 12.2 grams. That’s not bad for a dessert. The question is whether you can limit yourself to one serving. The cookies are delicious and not overly sweet. Of course, I followed the instructions to let them “breathe” for 10 minutes after opening the package. There’s no odd aftertaste and no weird texture, but if you like chewy cookies you will not be happy because they are CRUNCHY! I don’t know if they’re the best in the world, but they are hands-down the best packaged gluten-free cookies I’ve tried.

Celiacs are warned that while the ingredients are gluten-free, the cookies are prepared in a kitchen where other cookies containing wheat, milk, and tree nuts are also prepared. Ingredients and equipment are kept segregated, so consumption will come down to a judgment call. I tasted these two days ago and again yesterday and have suffered no ill effects.

And the content doesn’t stop with the cookies and the box. There are quotes contained in each foil bag. You can submit a quote to be included. Some inserts contain a holographic serial number that let’s you register online to receive “Fun and Thanks”. The rewards are secret other than an occasional give-away of a trip for two to Paris, but if I’m going to blindly jump on a roller coaster ride, Bart & Judy seem to be the kind of people I’d want to ride with so I have registered. We’ll see what happens.

You can check out the team, the quotes, the philosophy, and the products at www.bartsbakery.com.

Have you tried these cookies? If so, let us know what you think.