Review: EVOL Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese (GF) — Ah-mazing.

Admit it, sometimes you need to grab food that is pre-made. All the best planning in the world cannot predict life's little surprises (or laziness). My friends, I have a great option for you. I mean, that is if you eat dairy and love small doses of comfort food.

I spied EVOL Smoked Gouda Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese at Target in the frozen aisle and just had to try it. I am a complete sucker for mac and cheese. And making it from scratch with GF pasta is a crapshoot. It seems that most pasta I try ends up with a less-than-ideal consistency. 

Now, by the LOVE of EVOL (see that?), I can pop a single-serving of bliss into the microwave (or oven if you prefer) and 4 minutes later have a quick meal. A cheesy, tasty, perfect lunch or snack. 

Here's how they describe it on their site: "Gluten-free elbow noodles, caramelized onions and chives—All combined with an insanely tasty smoked gouda cheese sauce." Accurate.

Like bacon? You're in luck. They make Gluten-Free Uncured Bacon Mac & Cheese touted as "Gluten-free elbow noodles, crispy uncured bacon and peas—All combined with an insanely tasty cheddar cheese sauce." Again, deliciously on the mark.

This company is pretty awesome...as evidenced by their mission statement: 








Try some of their frozen entrees, quesadillas, pastas, burritos...and come back to tell me if you're as in evol as I am!

Review: Mr. Milkman Delivery Service

Delivery time!

Folks, my dad's friend told me to check out Mr. Milkman and, when I did, I could not contain my excitement! 

You know all the local and organic agriculture in and around Central PA? Well, imagine being able to pick and choose from many purveyors with dozens of products and have them show up on your porch in a few days. This is your new reality, my friends. 

We tried Mr. Milkman and here are some of my thoughts:

1. At my request, they made a special delivery for our first order on Thursday, though our usual day will be Tuesday. Very accommodating.
2. Dan, one of the owners, pulled up in this adorable truck and personally loaded our goodies into a cooler waiting on the porch. He was very nice, apologizing for accidentally giving my peanut butter ice cream to another customer and making up for it with two containers (rocky road and chocolate covered strawberry).
3. My order: 2 dozen eggs from Nature's Yolk; pint of peanut butter ice cream, quart of buttermilk and quart of cream line whole milk from Trickling Springs Creamery; homemade 1-pound tub of FarmFriend natural butter; two pork chops (pastured); and one container of Pequea Valley Natural Yogurt (vanilla).
4. The delivery area is huge! You Philly people and suburbanites can participate, too.
5. If you have never had cream line milk, you are in for a rich treat. Timmy was not a fan, but Alex and I LOVED it in our morning coffee.
6. Soy-free eggs are available. A little pricey but an excellent option for the many people avoiding soy these days.
7. Other products: homemade sauerkraut, artisan cheese, honey, raw milk, gluten-free baked goods, Charles Chips and much more local meat.
8. The ice cream was decadent, super delicious, but the label indicated a lot more ingredients than I expected from homemade ice cream. 
9. The delivery fee of $4 is more than fair. The prices are in line with what you'd pay anywhere for products of the same quality that are probably less fresh.
10. All in all, we are ordering again. Love getting fresh milk in glass containers (no waste!) and knowing where our food is grown.

Try Mr. Milkman and come back to tell me what you thought, too!

Organic Milk Comparison

Think all organic products are made to the same standards? Sadly this is not the case. Not even with dairy, which seems like it would be fairly easy to regulate. Fortunately, I found a great resource, Cornucopia Institute, that maintains a rating site for organic milk and dairy items. I'm sure it's not perfect, they are, after all, out to protect family farmers, but it's hard to argue with the methodology of measuring operations to "true" organic intentions.

If you're in Central PA, where I am, your best options are: Organic Valley or Wegmans' organic milk and Stonyfield yogurt. These all rate a "4" on a scale where "5" is highest. The worst choices, rated as "0" on the scale, include: Horizon, Organic Cow and Aurora Organic. Nature's Promise (Giant), Kirkland Signature (Costco), BJ's and Archer Farms (Target) are also all scraping bottom with a "1" rating.

If you are closer to Philly, try to get dairy from one of the small farms with a "5" rating in Phoenixville and Oxford. Find them on the ratings chart.

What brands do you buy? I am very loyal to Organic Valley, partially because they also have a Lactose-Free 1% variety that sits well with Gregory. If they are sold out, I will buy Stonyfield (which scores a solid "3"). For yogurt, I buy Stonyfield most of the time. I've found that the quarts are the best deal and they keep pretty well once opened.