Growing up in a 50% Cuban 50% polish family I was brought up on pretty different foods than many of my friends. ‘Arroz con pollo’, a popular Spanish rice dish, and 'perogi’s', a polish ravioli, where staples in my house. My grandpa, who lived in the town next to mine would come over every day and cook dinner. Always greeted with gourmet smells upon coming home from school, I longed for pizza and mac and cheese like many of my classmates talked about. Forget that my best friend might have the best toys I can remember the best part about spending the night out at a friend’s house was being able to feast on the Kraft blue box of goodness. For some reason I associated mac and cheese as the quintessential american tradition to eat growing up and since my parents prided themselves on raising me and my brother in ethnic tradition, this meant that the delectable delicacy that is macaroni and cheese was off limits. Needless to say upon coming to college I delighted in being able to eat EasyMac whenever i wanted and kept a steady supply in my dorm room.
This past summer I discovered that I am allergic to gluten. For those who don’t know what this means or what gluten is, gluten comes from wheat, barley, and rye. Basically meaning I can’t eat anything with flour or other forms of wheat. No pasta, cakes, cookies, beer, bread, crusts, breaded anything, cupcakes. While some may cringe at the thought of cutting out pretty much anything fun and indulging to eat, I wasn’t that concerned at first. Being brought up Cuban and Polish my diet consisted of rice and potatoes both of which I was given the ok to still eat. I just kept telling myself; thank god I’m not Italian. That was until I returned to school in August and realized the dreaded news left me unable to consume mac and cheese. And so began my journey to find a good gluten free mac and cheese that was just as good as the the non gluten free options.
My 1st thought was to try gluten free pasta with velveeta cheese sauce. While this was an interesting solution it not only was an in depth process, but it didn’t quite taste like the prepackaged mac and cheese that I was craving. On to my next consumer taste test which was Annie’s version of Gluten free mac and cheese.
The pasta itself was good however as many people don’t know a lot of sauces are thickened with flour and so the sauce was lacking in flavor. Swing and a miss for the blue box. Recently I was in the supermarket browsing the options, as I am always looking for gluten free alternatives, and I noticed that Amy’s, a popular gourmet frozen dinner, company makes a rice pasta mac and Cheese. Now having gone through a similar process for trying to find good gluten free pasta, I knew that rice pasta is the way to go, so I was encouraged that this might be what i'd been waiting for.
I bought one box and immediately went home to try it out. What I can tell you is that not only is Amy’s gluten free mac & cheese exactly what I have been searching for but it also is a new favorite of some none gluten free friends on mine. I recommend trying it for anyone looking for a mac & cheese dinner that doesn’t make you full till next Tuesday but satisfies the craving.
disclaimer: Amy's does make a gluten free and dairy free mac and cheese but its not the same one and is not good!
Emily Kieczykowski is a Senior BEM major with a concentration in marketing and a minor in Psychology
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