Product Review: Lara's Rolled Oats from Château Cream Hill Estates

I was just realizing it was past time to write another gluten free product review, so I looked at what I had already written and noticed that I've only told you about gluten free snacks. Before someone gets the idea that all Genie does is sit around eating snacks, I thought I should write about regular food. So today's review is about rolled oats. Those of us who have Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance can not eat main stream oats because of cross contamination issues. Since I dislike oatmeal this wasn't a big issue with me, until I realized that my mother's meatloaf recipe calls for oats.

For just over four years I've been using substitutes like corn flakes in the recipe and it just wasn't getting the job done. Meatloaf isn't meatloaf to me without oats. I was placing an order on www.glutenfreemall.com when I noticed that they had a new product: Lara's Rolled Oats from Château Cream Hill Estates. Right on the front of the box are several sets of very comforting words: "gluten free," "wheat free," "Free of: wheat, barley, rye, triticate, spelt & Kamut," and "No cross-contamination." I decided to take a chance and order a box in the smallest size (it comes in two sizes 1.1 ounces for $6.19 and 2.2 ounces for $11.62). A little pricy, but I thought I would try the smaller size to see if my digestive system could handle it. As I write this I'm realizing that I must have really wanted to have a normal tasting meatloaf because that's a lot of money for a little box of oats. Anyway, it was worth it. My mother's meatloaf is outstanding again and I can't get enough of it. The only difference is that it is rolled oats instead of the instant oats she would normally use and the oats rise to the top. This makes the meatloaf look funny, but it tastes divine.

According to their website the company was founded by Terry Perry and Beth Armour, after Lara, Perry's daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It really eases my mind to know that this company has personal experience with Celiac Disease and realizes how important it is to monitor their product for cross-contamination at all the stages of processing. A nice touch is the recipes on their website. I didn't realize that until after I had used up my box of oats so I can't give a review of the recipes. They also have information about Celiac Disease and information about food labels laws in Canada and the United States. I forgot to mention the company is based in Cananda at 9a633 rue Clement LaSalle QC. H8R 4B4. You can also reach them by email info@creamhillestates.com or telephone 1-866-727-3628.

Nutritional facts: Serving size is 1/3 cup, calories 140, total fat 2.5 g (saturated fat 0.5 g & trans fat 0 g), cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 0 mg, total carbohydrate 23 g (dietary fiber 3 g, soluble fiber 1 g, and insoluble fiber 2 g), sugars 0 g and protein 5g. There is only one ingredient: pure whole grain rolled oats.