Eating Out

It was my boyfriend's graduation this weekend and his family came to Denver to celebrate. Needless to say, we ate out a lot. I find it so interesting how wait staff responds to food allergies. I have two examples.

Example #1: One night we had dinner at Maggiano's. Now, Maggianos is on my list of good gluten free restaurants to eat at. Yes, I have a running list and some places don't make it. Maggiano's does have a "reservations necessary" clause though because their waits are outrageous. So when we went there last week we were informed their menu had changed. There used to be 2 sizes of pasta, half and full. Now they only have one size and they "send some home with you". What a business plan. I have never heard of that! So weird! Guess they want you to keep thinking about Maggiano's even after you leave.... They even offered to give us a different kind to take home. So we got the food and of course the size was smaller. Kind of lame. Another problem we came across was is we told the waiter that we needed a gluten dairy free dish. He responded with "Is this an allergy or a preference?" UH it doesn't matter! You should do the best you can to serve what the customer requests! That was disappointing. Finally, we received our pasta only to find out they changed the kind of pasta. The old one was really yummy and the new one is not. And my boyfriend and I's stomach were not to happy after. Magganio's you are officially OFF my list!

Example #2: My boyfriend, his dad and I were up at Blackhawk, a gambling town outside of Denver. It became dinner time so we looked at the menu at the current casino we were in. They had a few things I could eat. A salad, hamburger and salmon. This was kind of dive place. Cafe style, nothing fancy. I ordered the salmon with a baked potato and veggies. I explained I am allergic to gluten and dairy so no butter or breadcrumbs on the food. (I like to give examples for clarity) The waitress came back two times to clarify things about my order. The cook even suggested to steam the veggies instead of sauteing them. The meal turned out really well and I felt fine after!

Now let's compare and contrast these two examples. One high end restaurant and advertises their gluten free meals and one dive cafe. The cafe was better than the high end restaurant?! Yes it was. Who knew!

Gluten Free Fruit Crisp

Exciting foodie weekend for me. I finally got my act together and made it to the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market on time Saturday. Too bad it was a record 102 degree high that day. It made for super hot shopping :( I haven't been yet this year so I was excited to see the gluten free offerings. The only stand that really interested me was one with gluten free cookies, breads and brownies. I went up and looked at the menu and saw it was all junkie sugar stuff and was about to turn away. But then the attendant caught me and said hi. I made a comment about how the bread she had out to sample was crumbly, like all gluten free stuff. She thought I was being mean and responded "it's been out in the hot sun for a while" I was like, right because gluten free stuff also melts (it really does). Then I explained that I am gluten free and I know everything crumbles and that's what sucks about it. So then we were talking for bit and finally I felt like I had to buy something. So I bought a piece of lemon poppyseed bread and it was pretty good actually. Don't think I've had poppyseed something for awhile (that used to be my favorite kind of muffin). After that stand I came across a FABULOUS FIND. Remember I mentioned those tamales from Boulder in my last post. Well, they were there! In Denver! So great! They even had frozen ones I could take home too. I bought some bean and spinach ones. And I had one tonight. So good! I will be going to the Farmers Market every Saturday now!
Peaches are just coming into season right now. So I bought some at the farmer's market, the famous Palisade Peaches. As well as some cherries and decided to whip up a fruit crisp for dessert. I made this recipe many times last summer but I never blogged about it. It was very good and my boyfriend liked it too. Not too sweet or crunchy. I also like this recipe because the flours are basic ones I always have. The crisp part would work with any fruit too! Here's the recipe.

Gluten Free Fruit Crisp
(Makes 4 servings)

2-3 Cups Fruit (I used blueberries, peaches and cherries)
1/2 C white sugar
1 1/2 TBS cornstarch
3/4 C brown rice flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C crushed Enjoy Life Very Berry Granola
1/3 C butter (I used Vegan Earth Balance)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prepare fruit by cutting and/or pitting. Can use frozen but thawed and drained fruit.
3. Place fruit into 9x9 pan, spread evenly.
4. Sprinkle fruit with white sugar and cornstarch.
5. Toss mixture to make sure evenly distributed.
6. In bowl, mix brown rice flour and xanthan gum.
7. Add brown sugar, mix again.
8. Add smashed granola.
9. Cut butter into the flour mix. The topping should look like coarse, crumbly cornmeal when ready.
10. Pour topping onto fruit in pan. Layer evenly.
11. Bake for 50 minutes. The fruit juices will be dark and bubbling. With a browned topping when it is done.
12. Enjoy a la mode or plain!

GF at Coors Field

Hi All, summer time = baseball games. Here in Denver the Rockies play at Coors Field in downtown Denver. My boyfriend and I and a few friends headed out for a game this weekend. It was a great game with many home runs and big hits. I was also excited to go because Coors Field started having GF food last season. So I checked it out. They had a special cart with GF hot dogs, burgers and chicken. As well as cookies and beer. Even with it's own condiments (some were even organic). It's so great people are providing so much for our community! I didn't get anything from the cart... because I ate before I came and don't like GF beer.... But I'm sure it was good!

A Happy GF 4th!

I did have one! I traveled with my boyfriend to Pueblo, CO to meet up with some friends for the weekend. I really wanted to get some tamales :) but my friend said they don't make bean ones. They do in Boulder, DUH it's Boulder. So I'll have to travel up there sometime soon for some! They are Amaizing Corn Tamales found at the Boulder's Farmers Market or Berry Best Smoothies. Anyways, I traveled pretty simply food wise for the weekend. I brought things that could be eaten for many meals. I packed a lunch for the way down, 2 little containers of Whole Foods Black Bean Quinoa, tortilla chips, salsa, eggs, strawberries, granola bars. And of course I had to make a GF Flag Cake to share! Seen above, I remember making one when I was little and haven't had one for a while so I made one! I used the Betty Crocker Mix and frosting mentioned in an earlier post. It was kind of dry.... but it got eaten! And it looked pretty so that's all that matters :) The weekend worked out well with food and fun! We launched our own fireworks! Fun!

Work Lunches

Work lunches are hard, as I found out this week. Having a party/meal with my friends is easy. They all know what kinds of foods I can eat or that they need to ask me about them. At work well people don't know me, I'm the "new temp girl". They don't know people with food allergies either, so just don't know how to work with that type of person. So one of my coworkers last day was Friday so this lady planned a lunch for him on Thursday. The menu: pizza, wings and cake. Oh great. The absolute of what I can't eat. Pizza and wings: no big deal I'll just bring lunch like normal. Cake: I had, what I thought I was a very good idea. I offered to make the cake. I would use GF cake mix and regular trans fatty frosting. Well apparently our department is a bunch of pigs because the planner lady said she was going to get a Costco cake. (We don't have THAT many people, and lots of the women don't eat sweets) And said I could bring my own cake. Yeah lady, I'm going to make a whole cake just so I don't feel left out. I'm NOT 5 years old thank you. Then I remembered that Costco only has white cakes. And I know their are chocoholics in my department (me included) so I just decided to make a chocolate cake. I wasn't trying to go behind the lady's back at all. I just knew she didn't understand. And I think she's the type of person that doesn't cook. And any thought of cooking just seems unnecessary. And I'm the opposite, I would rather cook because it shows more effort and tastes better :)

So I made a chocolate cake with Betty Crocker GF Cake Mix and Frosting. General Mills has really jumped on the GF bandwagon. They have a list of GF items online. They label all their products that are GF. And have a few boxed mixes and is coming out with GF Bisquick this summer! I love their boxed mixes. Reasonably priced, turns out well, and tastes good. Some of the mixes at Whole Foods are kind of scary.... I used to be totally against Betty Crocker because most of her stuff has trans fats in it and many other ingredients I can't pronounce. But the GF stuff is surprisingly quite pure.

I brought the whole cake to work. The guy it was for thanked me, he liked the effort. A couple people tried it at lunch and liked it. And then I had some to bring home (and hide from my boyfriend)! Overall, it worked out well. This is new territory for me, work lunches. And many more to come. (Sorry no picture)

Comfort Food

So maybe I'm not the typical American when it comes to my choice in comfort food. My stomach wasn't feeling very well today (maybe it was that root beer and Reese's I had at lunch...) Not a good choice.... I've discovered that lots of sugar, like a full sized candy bar or soda triggers my migraines. So I tried to wash that down with a bunch of water! It didn't hit too hard. Anyways, my stomach hasn't been that great the last few weeks and well the last 2 years on and off. I've found this meal is always appetizing even when I don't want to eat much. Because it has potatoes! GF dream land!

-Deli sliced Black Forest Ham
-steamed broccoli
-microwaved potato with Earth Balance Butter

Quick, balanced and yummy!

Yes, I have been cooking in the last month....

I haven't been blogging but I have been cooking. I made GF/DF lasagna last week! It was so good. But my stomach couldn't take so much of the dairy free cheese :( So it hasn't been happy this week.... I started taking probiotics and digestive enzymes. Hopefully that helps!

I also made pot roast! Which was good. But a little too salty with a whole packet of onion dip. I used Simply Organic. My mom bought me a slow cooker when she came so I used it! I added potatoes, celery and carrots, yum!

I've been attending a Gluten Free Meet Up. It's nice to meet other people who are gluten free (and many other allergies). We talk about restaurants, food we eat and what's happening in the gluten free community. Good to meet new people! It's lead by this very ambitious women who is very passionate about the need for more understanding about living gluten free in our community! Her and her family also started a business about gluten free products iamgf. So great!

Last night I bought a new GF beer! It's made in Boulder, CO! Local! New Planet Tread Lightly. It's ok.... Let's just say I'll be sticking to my Woodchucks. Maybe their raspberry one will be better.... Thanks for trying, New Planet! This plays along with my philosophy; naturally GF/DF food tastes the best! Not the replacements...

Sorry no pictures from my cooking.... I kind of forgot...