It is Coeliac awareness week!!! I don’t have a son who is Coeliac (he has suspected Dematitis Herpetiformis which is a form of gluten intolerance + on top of that an irritable bowel disease) BUT I do have a sister who is Coeliac and I feel her pain. Maxi is well away with his ‘gooten free’ diet and the whole family has made some switches and the majority of us are none the wiser – for example the gluten free pasta and pizza. I am constantly looking for new naturally gluten free products for us all to try and was thrilled to be sent some goodies from Quinola Kids by Quinola, Mothergrain.
The most important things you need to know about Quinoa are;
1) It is pronounced ‘Keen-wah’. If you say ‘Qui-no-wah’ people will laugh at you, trust me, Ive been there.
2) It is a Super-grain superfood packed full of goodness for big and little bodies.
3) It is naturally gluten free. Which is awesome because it has its own flavour – instead of just a product that is trying to be a gluten product just sans gluten (like donuts, have you tried GF donuts?).
The Quinola kids range comes in three flavours, Mediterranean, Thai and Tex Mex and are in handy pouches that microwave heat in 30 seconds. For a quick easy lunch I put a pouch of each flavour in the microwave and zapped them until they were hot. Personally I found the quinoa quite dry so I added a spoonful of water to each and mixed to make them a bit saucier, this is just my preference though. I heated up some cooked shredded chicken that I always have on hand in the freezer and let the kids pick which ‘base’ they wanted for their chicken. I helped myself to some of the Thai flavour and it made a nice small lunch when added with some extra salad and chicken. I am strongly anti microwave meals but this is a convenience food I would happily give my kids.
Servings wise they would be a meal for one if eaten alone, or as a side or ‘base’ meal for two. I heated three packets and that fed 5 children comfortably with chicken and salad on the side. The children, especially Maxi seemed to stay fuller for longer and genuinely enjoyed their lunch. I’m not sure my kiddos would eat these pouches as a meal in their own right, but certainly its the sort of food I would have taken out and about with me to heat up when they were little babies (Quinola also do a baby range). As a healthy addition to lunch, or as a base to build your meal from they are great and I will be buying them to have on hand in the pantry. Cora wasnt sure at first (as you can see) but she did eat it all up by the end of lunch (ignore deck carnage in the background and focus on yummy plate of food).
If you are in Ireland you can buy it through the Organic Supermarket (love these guys) and in the UK through Ocado and Amazon (I miss Waitrose/Ocado – anyone want to petition to bring Waitrose and their free coffee + delightful own brand baby products to Ireland?)
I received a selection of Quinola products for the purpose of this blog review, however all opinions are my own.
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