Annie's Organic vs. Natural Macaroni and Cheese

I love what Annie's Homegrown provides for our family, trust what they produce, and appreciate that they champion healthier foods and environmental protection.

When I went to buy more Annie's Macaroni & Cheese I noticed two things:  A changed exterior appearance and that it had the Organic Valley logo on it.  So, I thought, what does this mean?

After some quick research, I discovered that there hasn't been a change but that Annie's produces two different versions:  The natural version I had been purchasing at our local grocery store (1 box for $1.79) and Amazon, and the organic version I picked up at Costco (15 boxes for $14.79).

So what's the difference?  The identical photo on the outside of the box showed the organic version having a darker orange color that I thought was just an issue with the printer, but after dumping both cheese packets side-by-side in the bowl (pictured), it really is a darker cheese powder.

Next I looked at the weight and both boxes offer 6 ounces of food.  Then I looked at the ingredient list where I did notice some minor differences (other than being organic) that I have highlighted:

• Organic Version: ORGANIC WHEAT SHELL PASTA, ORGANIC VALLEY ® ORGANIC CHEDDAR CHEESE (ORGANIC CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, NON-ANIMAL ENZYMES), ORGANIC WHEY, SALT, NATURAL SODIUM PHOSPHATE, ORGANIC ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR COLOR.

• Natural Version: ORGANIC SEMOLINA PASTA SHELLS FROM DURUM WHEAT, CHEDDAR CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, NON-ANIMAL ENZYMES), WHEY, BUTTERMILK, CREAM, SALT, NATURAL SODIUM PHOSPHATE, ANNATTO EXTRACT AND BETA CAROTENE FOR NATURAL COLOR.

Nutritionally, there are a few small adjustments in protein and sodium and a couple of other things, but nothing substantial enough to warrant attention.


The only real difference between the organic and natural products is that the all organic version offers organic cheese and the natural one does not.


I did like the overall appearance of the organic version best, but we've used the natural version for a couple of years with never a thought about color.  If your only option is the natural mac and cheese, I would be confident with that choice, but given that Costco provides us an almost 50% price reduction over the grocery store for an all organic version, that is what our family will choose.


P.S.  A longer blog on Annie's will be forthcoming.  As a quick note of interest, unlike other companies who pick a random name to market their product (see more here), Annie really exists!  Meet her in this video.

Don't be a Dum Dum, Try Yummy Earth Lollipops

If you've been a kid, you've had a Dum Dum sucker -- the giveaway candy of choice for offices across the country.  They taste great and are just big enough for little hands, but are loaded with artificial ingredients.  The ingredients according to Spanglers web site, include:

"Sugar, Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Salt, Artificial Flavor, Color Added (Includes Red 40, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 1). There is a trace amount of soy oil in the lubricant that we use in our cooking kettles. This soy oil has been refined, bleached, and deodorized and all of the proteins have been removed."

Our family was at a consignment store earlier this summer when the clerk asked if she could give the kids a sucker -- the corporate world's pacifier of choice.  Most hard candy in our house gets tossed, so I cringe with these offers of chemical-laden kindness, but decided to allow it this time.  To my delight, she handed them an organic Yummy Earth Lollipop.

Why hadn't I thought of this?  I looked up the company when I got home and discovered that two guys with children -- who wanted something better for them -- set out to make a naturally colored and flavored candy and succeeded.  Here is there story:

The best part (other than the childlike fun they seem to be having) is the ingredient list:

Organic evaporated cane juice, organic tapioca syrup and/or organic rice syrup, citric aid (from beet sugar), natural flavors, may contain organic black carrots, organic black currant, organic pumpkin, organic apple, organic carrot, organic alfalfa.

Doesn't that put a smile on your face?  I purchased a resealable bag of 50+ lollipops at my local grocery store for $4.99.  If they can't be found by you, try Amazon or buy direct from Yummy Earth.  Note that they also sell gummy bears/worms, sour beans, candy drops, and artisan candies now too!

The Yummy Earth flavors include:  wet-face watermelon, too berry blueberry, sour apple tart, pomegranate pucker, mango tango, googly grape, strawberry smash, and very very cherry.

To the families and businesses out there -- we can now do better!  Our kids can have chemical free treats!  Adults love them too!  These are the best tasting lollipops I have ever had!

What Ingredients Lurk in Your Hot Chocolate?

Cold West Michigan winters + kids + love of chocolate = hot chocolate!

Last winter our family came in from an hour of cold snow play to cups of hot chocolate.  We weren't a few sips in and our son had a stomach spell -- again.  I flipped over the store brand package and read an extensive list of things I couldn't pronounce or even begin to understand.

Not to single out any particular brand, as all cheap hot chocolates mixes have a similar ingredient list, but really think about the stuff that is in typical hot chocolate.

My brief research led to to learn that all you really need for hot chocolate in a scoop or two of unsweetened cocoa powder of your choice along with an additional scoop or two of powdered sugar.  Perhaps ad a splash of vanilla, a dash of salt, cinnamon, Cayenne, nutmeg or flavoring of your choosing and you're good to go.

This is when I also found that it is natural in the process to have a bit of chocolate sludge at the bottom of your cup that you can choose to consume or discard because natural cocoa doesn't dissolve.

This year, I found a large pre-mixed container of Starbucks natural hot chocolate at our local Costco for $12.99 and containing 55 servings.  A serving is 2 TBS and has 80 calories, but I have found my "diet version" of 1 TBS and 40 calories to be adequate.  It really depends on the size of your cup and chocolate intensity desire.

So, we will gladly trade in our 17+ ingredient (see list on can above) stuff for a *3-ingredient (sugar, cocoa, vanilla) natural cup of hot cocoa.

*Processed with alkali is in reference to Dutch Processing and includes an acid reducer such as baking soda.  Dutch Processing greatly reduces the antioxidant power of chocolate.  To keep more of the antioxidants or avoid the alkali process, mix your own using Ghirardelli brand unsweetened cocoa powder.  They developed the Broma Process that leaves everything in its natural state resulting in a bit darker chocolate and significantly more anti-oxidants.

How to Make Gluten Free Hot Dog Buns

It took a while to crack this one.  And I suspect, if you are reading this, you've been looking/trying too!

Gluten free hot dog buns at the store are extremely expensive and taste a bit powdery and bland.  And, if you've ever baked with gluten free flours, you can forget about forming the dough into anything meaningful.  So my wife has been eating the occasional hot dog or chicken brat on a hamburger bun for the past year or so -- until now.

I recently discovered there are different hot dog bun designs such as the New England style hot dog bun.  I found a baking pan for the task that I acquired from King Arthur Flour.

I prepared an entire package of King Arthur Gluten Free Bread Mix I purchased at our local grocery store ($5.49) and poured it into the mold being certain to smooth out the top with a damp spatula.  The consistency of this mix is a bit like cake batter -- perhaps a bit stickier.  Cover the batter with a greased (I use a bit if cooking spray) plastic wrap and let rise for 30-60 minutes -- though most of the rise from gluten batter will occur in the opening moments of baking.

Once the batter is smooth, grease the underside of a baking sheet and lay on top.  This prevents too much rise and over browning.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Remove the baking sheet after 20 minutes to get the top a little browner before the baking has finished.



Use an instant thermometer to check the temperature.  The baking process is done when you reach an internal temperature between 205-210 degrees -- higher than the typical 190 degrees for standard wheat baking.

Remove the buns from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes, then flip the bun loaf out and let cool (about 45 minutes).  Cutting into it sooner will risk losing moisture and creating a dryer result.



After the loaf is cooled, use a good bread knife and cut along patterned lines.  This will give you 10 hot dog buns.  Take each bun and make a slice down the middle, about 75% of the way down, being careful to not cut all the way.

There you go!  Fresh gluten free hot dog buns!  Or, promptly freeze them in a good freezer bag or container and reheat when needed in the microwave.

Finally -- a real bun for brats and hot dogs!

Organic Candy Canes

In a mental lapse, I purchased "regular" candy canes at the grocery store for our son who has been asking for this seasonal treat.  Our son, who's body knows better than my mind, promptly vomited up the sweet treat he so desperately wanted -- as he does with all "junk" food.

My wife gave me the "I can't believe you would give that to him" look and I set out to find an organic candy cane -- or create one myself.

Fortunately I discovered some distributed by Tru Sweets that were available at our local health foods store (Harvest Health Foods) and were on sale for $2.99.  Another option would have been The Natural Candy Store.

I compared the ingredients in the two boxes of candy canes to discover this list of 11 ingredients in the first:

• Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Natural Flavor (Peppermint), FD&C Red 40, Vegetable Derived Glycerin, Soybean Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Carnauba Wax, Soy Lecithin, Modified Palm Oil, Petrolatum.

And this list of ingredients in the organic candy canes:

• Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Natural Peppermint Flavor, Red Beet Juice for Color.

Labels are important and in my rush of shopping I failed to read this one.  We all know and understand what is in the organic candy canes.  But there are at least two ingredients in the regular candy canes that are banned in other countries for having possible long-term side effects (Red 40 and Petrolatum).  I think it's worth the extra couple of dollars to get a quality product.

On a final note, in addition to being organic (and tasting great), the candy cane box indicates they are also Gluten Free, Vegan and Kosher.