Amy's Organic Kitchen Review

Time for another food find review!! You are all jumping in your seats, I can tell. (insert winky face here)
Today I am discussing some products, for your tasting pleasure, from Amy's Organic Kitchen. If you've ever been to a grocery store in the last several years, you've probably seen these products. I know for a fact, that every store in my town carries at least one of Amy's products. While this brand has like a million different products, not all of them are gluten free; so make sure you check before you buy. I have made that mistake before. Even though its so clearly labeled gluten free in big bold letters on the front, the non-gluten free items are not labeled "not gluten free", thus I have come home with inedible items several times. Such is the life of the nonobservant. Actually, I am really quite observant-I just unintentionally pick and choose what I am going to pay attention to. Now you know.
I had the opportunity this week to try three of Amy's Gluten free products. I tried black bean chili, GF/DF Mac and cheese, and GF/DF chocolate cake.

Let's start with the chili:

This particular chili that I tried, was the Low-Fat Black Bean. This flavor is labeled as medium spice, which I chose over the spicy spice for some unknown reason. I always convince myself in stores that I don't like what I like. I have seriously deep conversations in my head sometimes, battling out a ongoing pro/con list. End of the day, I thought spicy would be too spicy, and medium would be just right. I was sorta right. The chili was great, it really was. Nice flavor with a hint of spice, good texture to the beans and the sauce. {nothing worse than chili thats super mushy, or in a sauce thats too liquid--this guy didn't break either of those rules.} I just found myself wishing for a little more spice. Thats just me though. Overall, this is a great can o' beans. Most likely I will buy the spicier flavor next time, and most likely at that time I will be craving this particular chili. There is no winning with myself.

Moving on...

Chocolate cake. Gluten free, dairy free, vegan. What's in it anyway?

This cake, as the majority of Amy's products do; comes in the freezer section. This entails, as you can only imagine, that the cake is frozen. To unfreeze it, you have to thaw it out in the fridge. To make it easy: I just threw it in the fridge after buying it until I was ready to eat it. (the next day)
Now, I don't know if it was my thawing technique or what-but I did not really enjoy this cake. It looks beautiful, and appears super moist and chocolatey. It was moist, and it was chocolatey, but it was also incredibly grainy, bitter, and crumbly. The chocolate flavor was there, but not nearly enough. To dress it up a little, I topped it with some strawberries and homemade coconut whipped cream. You know the super easy recipe thats all over pinterest, that all you have to do is chill a can of coconut cream, whip it up, and your set with whipped cream that tastes just like the real deal? It doesn't. It's gross. Between the gritty cake, and the nasty coconut cream; I left this dessert pretty disappointed.
Now that all said, A few days later while discussing this cake with my mother; she pulled out a fully frozen piece of cake and ate it. She loved it. I was shocked, so I tasted some. It was not all that bad, much better than it had been thawed. A few more days later, my nephew was over and graced by the presence of gluten and dairy full cupcakes, that he couldn't eat. So I pulled out a piece of that chocolate cake for him (again fully frozen) and he loved it.
Moral of the story: this cake is good when frozen, and its also a super convenient item to have on hand for emergencies. What emergency involves eating cake? I bet you can figure that out. (insert winky face)

For the main course of this review, I tried out the gluten free, dairy free, soy free Mac n' cheeze. This product you really have to pay attention to at the store; Amy's has a billion different Mac n' cheese varieties. Regular, low sodium, gluten free, gluten and dairy free, lactose free, and whatever else they have. This macaroni dish though, is what makes me excited about life. A gluten free product that is also dairy free, and doesn't have soy?! Unthinkable, is what that is.

I loved this dish. It tasted just like macaroni and cheese should: creamy, cheesy, soft, smooth and yummy. The sauce does leave kind of a slimy feeling in your mouth, but it didn't bother me much. Definitely home comfort at its finest.

At the end of the day, I enjoy Amy's products. In addition to these three, I have also tried some burritos, freezer meals, soups, and pizza. Most of them where tried back in the beginnings of my Celiac journey, before I avoided dairy, corn and soy--so not all of them are free of all that bizness.
Amy's website however, has a really convenient allergen search on their website, here. This pizza by the way, which I haven't had in a very long time, is super scrumptious.

Enjoy!


{Disclaimer: While the products tested today where provided for review, no monetary compensation was exchanged for this post. All opinions are mine without further influence.}