Satisfy Your Heartiest Snack Attacks

Hi, my name is Marissa- and I am a snacker. I know that’s not the best way to be in these health conscious times, but I can’t help myself! I just have to munch the crispy, salty snacks. I used to temper my snacking urges by sticking to whole grain crackers and chips (like Triscuit and Sun-Chips), but after going gluten free most of those became off-limits.

Not so anymore! There are a number of delicious snacks emerging on the market. These new snacks are not only hearty and delicious, but gluten free and fairly healthy as well! Let me highlight three of my favorites for you.

RiceWorks Gourmet Brown Rice Crisps

These tasty treats have the thick munchiness of a cracker combined with the light crispiness of chips. They are very flavorful and fun to eat. My sister and I have dubbed RiceWorks our shopping snack due to the fact that they are hearty, healthy and the flavoring is not bright in color (no colored fingers). The RiceWorks website declares them to be 100% gluten free, as tested by outside labs.

RiceWorks are available in these yummy flavors:

• Sweet Chili

• Sea Salt

• Salsa Fresco

• Baked Cinnamon

• Parmesan and Sun Dried Tomato (My favorite)

• Tangy BBQ

RiceWorks are a bit hard to find at my local grocery stores, but they are always at Wal-Mart (another reason they were dubbed the shopping snack).

Food Should Taste Good

Let me just start by saying that this is a cool name for a company! Food SHOULD taste good, and these chips do! They are hearty and delicious, with a satisfying crunch. I like the fact that each bag carries the “Certified Gluten Free” label.

Food Should Taste Good chips are made mainly from corn, but different flavors carry the addition of seeds and other whole grains. There are thirteen flavors to choose from, all creative and different. I was surprised to find that I really liked their chocolate flavored corn chips, talk about adventures in eating!

I am obviously not the only person who loves these chips. They recently became one of the gluten free offerings at Starbucks. Look for Multigrain and Sweet Potato flavors there.

Boulder Canyon Rice and Adzuki Bean Artisan Style Snack Chips

Boulder Canyon has long been known for their scrumptious Kettle Chips. As good as those are, they don’t qualify for the heartiest of my snacking needs. Instead, let me point you to their Rice and Adzuki Bean Artisan Style Chips. These have a thick texture and hearty crunch that makes my mouth and tummy happy.

The Boulder Canyon website says, “Look for the gluten free label.” They don’t have a claim anywhere that says that everything they produce it gluten free, but they do say that they follow testing guidelines for the products that are. So, follow the advice about the label (which is very obvious on the package) and check out these tasty flavors:

• Sweet Lemon and Cracked Black Pepper

• Sun Dried Tomato with Basil

• Chipotle Cheese

• Natural Salt

Thanks to these companies and their fabulous snacks, I find that it’s possible to satisfy my need for the crunchy stuff and still look my daughter in the eye when I tell her we should eat right. Happy snacking to you, my friends! I’m sure you have a few favorites yourself. Don’t forget to add them to the food section so that we can all enjoy them.