Souper Jenny Atlanta - super disappointing

We recently went to the Atlanta History Center to view the once again, refurbished Cyclorama exhibit.  Since we needed lunch beforehand, we chose to meet friends at Souper Jenny, which moved from Buckhead to this most prestigious location...how swanky!  In case you don't know, Souper Jenny has been one of the best places to find fresh gluten-free soups and interesting salads in the Atlanta area for years.  And best of all, to me anyway, they always had amazing gluten-free desserts which most people didn't know were gluten-free.  Lemon ice box cake...yes, please!

Well, we arrived at the counter and I didn't see any gluten-free desserts noted, or any in the case that housed the treats.  To add insult to injury, I'd checked the daily menu right before we left home that morning, and it had the prior day's menu listed..noting the current date.  So now I can't get anything I wanted to eat as my meal or a dessert....  I was able to get some edible rice crackers to go with my soup, instead of a gluten roll.  Since the coffee shop adjacent to Souper Jenny sells bagels, I asked to buy a bit of cream cheese and they gave it to me for free.  I tipped them for the gesture, of course ;)

I ate my crackers with cream cheese, some of my too-spicy soup and black-eyed-pea salad.  We ended up having a  lovely time with our friends, but I didn't have a nice lunch.  Had I known of the horrid changes at this location regarding desserts, I certainly would have chosen a much better place to eat!  With all the amazing gluten-free bakeries in the area, how in the world could Souper Jenny not find something suitable to offer gluten-free customers?  #souperjennyfail
 
       

Lemon cupcakes from Katz

For some reason, I've not been able to find the Katz gluten-free apple fritters at Sprouts.  I haven't looked elsewhere for them yet, but plan to eventually.  Anyway, with graduation season upon us, I picked up a box of Katz gluten-free lemon cupcakes so I'd have something handy to throw in a cooler for short road trips to family graduations.  My fave lemon cupcakes from lucky Spoon have also been MIA at Sprouts of late.  Since the Katz option is individually packaged, they're better for travel anyway.     

I ended up not using the Katz treats for my travels as I found some other tasty things to take instead. But the lemon cupcakes from Katz were pretty good.  I really like the icing and prefer to eat the cake when it's not fully thawed out...it reminds me of a lemon icebox cake..though a gf version of one, for sure.  Please note that the amount of filling IRL is in no way, shape or form indicated in the image on the box.  That is almost always the case for anything filled, for some reason.  And the filling that is there hardly has any lemon flavor to it at all. 

There are four units per box.  For the price of approximately $1.25 per cupcake, it's a decent value in the gf world.  My favorite ready-made treat, which I finally found here, runs $5.99 for one piece so not a good value at all.  More about that irresistible treat later.       

Notable cheesy cracker from Three Bakers

The only "real" tasting gluten-free Cheez-It type cracker I've had in a dozen years was from a bakery in Washington state.  And that company no longer makes what I considered their best item.  Over the years, I've tried most every cheesy crackers I've run across, and while I love Marilyn's Gourmet cheese sticks, I haven't found a Cheez-It replacement worth buying twice.  I was pretty excited by the Lance option, but those ended up having an odd smell to me.  The smell makes them inedible a day or so after the bag is opened.

When I spotted the Three Bakers "Snackers" at Earthfare recently, I knew I had to try them. And, they weren't even that expensive for a gf cracker!  Up front, I should note that I don't really care for air filled snacks, which is what the Snackers are.  They are puffed up and empty inside.  That's clear from the image on the bag, but I had to try them while available.  You never know when your favorite item will be taken off the market by a store, or discontinued by the manufacturer. So annoying!

So...what do I think about the cheese flavored Snackers from Three Bakers? I actually like them a lot!  Not enough to keep them on hand on the regular - due to aforementioned puffy factor - but the taste and texture is really good! 

Find out where you can buy these snacks near you on the 'where to buy' page on the Three Bakers website.    There are three other flavors available including chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip and honey graham.  Now that I think about it, the latter might be worth using for a pie crust!