Glutino

In the past I've talked about Glutino Pretzels (which I love!!!) a new product that I just picked up is the Glution Bagel Chips.

WOW!

They are great. Crunchy, seasoned and great tasting. They go well with Brie and are a great little snack.
I'm going to try it with Bruschetta next.

The next time your in the supermarket or Wal-Mart (which is where I got mine) look for them. They are yummy.

They apparently come in three different flavors, but the only one that they had at Wal-Mart was the original flavor.

Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe

Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe (5812 Grove Avenue) in Richmond, Virginia is a cupcakery that caters to an upscale clientele seeking 'gourmet' cupcakes. Or crazy, gluten free people with sweet tooths that will drive an hour to get something sweet (me).

They have regular glutinous cupcakes in something like 156 flavors. (For full details on those, go to the link above and they are listed on the website.)

Carrots, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins
and cream cheese icing.
 It was yummy!

This is the vanilla version pictured,
 but I had the chocolate version.
I didn't get a picture of it.
Chocolate batter with mini reese's pieces
chocolate icing, with peanut
butter and a peanut cup
mini to top it off.

For us non-gluten eating customers, they have two to three daily flavors that they rotate daily. Last week when I was there the option were Carrot Cake and Peanut Butter Pandemonium.

The bakers at Pearl's stated to me that they are able to do all of their flavors gluten free. They also cater, deliver and make other gluten free baked goods.

They are a little pricey, but absolutely worth it. The cupcakes average about $2.50 a piece, or roughly $30.00 a dozen.
The only downside is that with an hour drive home, and no
cooler, they kind of melt.

Anyone in the area should try them! They are worth the drive and the price!



Going Gluten Free in Disney World

My family and I went to Disney World in March.
Having made Advanced Dining Reservations for before we left, I had an idea of all the places that we were going to eat at and had looked at all the menus.

I also followed the directions on the Disney website and notified the Special Diets department of my needs.

I only have a few pictures of the food that I had, but all of it was wonderful.
The first one:
"My Disney Girl Tea". This event needs to be booked 180 days in advance. It is a magical experience for your child and the Princess Featured is Aurora. My daughter loves Aurora. It is held at the Garden View Tea Room in the Grand Floridian Hotel and Spa.
The downside is that it's not cheap. For myself and my daughter is was a little under $300. Luckily, it was a present from my aunt, so I didn't have to pay for it. Or we wouldn't have gone.


This was the brunch plate.
Crab salad sandwich, chicken salad sandwich and several cheese varieties.
Also grapes and strawberries.



This was dessert.
It was three little chocolate cakes covered with whip cream.
Raspberry syrup and covered with a strawberry.
Totally yummy.





Birthday card for Niece

My little niece is turning eight today! In honor of her birthday, I made her a card. I might have overdone it a bit on all the tools that I used to make it, but I had a lot of fun doing it and used more tools than I thought was humanly possible.

The Happy birthday brad. I used the iTop brad maker w/ a 23mm brad, cut out the happy birthday paper using the 23mm paper punch, and affixed it to my card using the tabs in the back.

This is the tag that pulls out of the pocket in the back of the card. I used Versamark Ink and Positively Pink Ink then heat embossed it. I realize now that I should've used a different color ink because it's really very pale. I then punch a hole through the white card stock and the ribbon and attached the butterfly brad.

I cut this cupcake using the Celebrations cartridge from Cricut. Once cut, I popped the blue icing up with pop dots. I then affixed iRock bling to the cupcake, making it shiny. I love the iRock tool, it's so cool that you don't have to mess around with glue!

This is the completely card. All different kinds of paper used!

A Restaurant Review: 99 and Houlihans.

I recently spent several days in Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia.
While there, my family suggested that we visit a restaurant called Ninety-Nine.
(Address: 500 Easton Road, Warrington, PA 18976  215-343-8099)
My family members stated that they had ate here several times in the past and that the food was good. My family  (this is my extended family) knows that I have a gluten intolerance and is used to dealing with my diet.
My cousin told me that they had a gluten free menu. I was skeptical, since at many other places the offerings are usually things that don't usually contain gluten (steak, salad, etc.) I was surprised to find that they offered a Gluten free Cheeseburger. After being seated, I made the waitress aware of my food needs and she presented me a gluten free diet menu. They have a small, but impressive, selection of foods.

I enjoyed (and devoured) the Gluten Free Bacon and Cheese Steakburger. This actually came out on a GF Bun. Something I have never seen in a commercial restaurant. The burger was delicious, the bun itself was a little crumbly, but still good. The best part about it, was that you couldn't really tell that I was eating something different and the texture was fine. For desert, we enjoyed a hot fudge sunday. Yum.

The dining experience was wonderful. The service was great and the waitress was understanding and took the time to talk with me regarding my needs. I give them an A+ all around.

On the flipside of this wonderful dining experience is Houlihans.
(Address: Houlihans Restaurant
27 W. Chocolate Ave
Hershey, PA )
On our way home from Pennsylvania, we stopped in Hershey so that my children could experience Chocolate World (I recommend it to anyone. I used to love going there as a child!). My mother in law saw the sign for Houlihans and said that she'd been to one before and the food was great.
I was game, as I looked them up on my phone and saw that they had a gluten free menu.
After being seated, I informed the waitress that I would need a gluten free menu and that I was a gluten free diner.
The atmosphere was nice and we had ample room at our table. That was the best part about our dining experience.
The disclaimer on the menu reads: "We are not a gluten-free environment but items indicated by a G, have gluten-free ingredients."

My husband (who is not a GF diner) and I ordered Chicken Skewers (with mint yogurt & cilantro-peanut pesto) and waited patiently while our food came. I was at a table with six other people (including two children). The other people at the table got there drinks and salads while I patiently waited for my food. TWENTY FIVE minutes later (while my family was eating there main course) I finally got my appetizer. Since I had never ate at this restaurant before, I had no clue what to expect my dish to look like. The waitress finally brought out a dish with chicken and some sort of noodle on it. After finally flagging her down, I asked her if the noodles were gluten free and she said "oh, do you need a gluten free meal?".
Why yes, yes I do. I did afterall tell you that when I ordered (although I didn't actually say this, I really wanted to.)
After telling her that I did need a gluten free appetizer, specifically the one that I ordered, she took away the noodle one and said she'd be right back.
She never came back with my appetizer.
Ever.
Finally she came back with my entree. (Or as the menu says, "Big Small Plates"). My entree was the Grilled 4oz Petite Filet Mignon with French Fries. (Which was cold). At this point, my family had finished the appetizer and the entree and was working on dessert. The filet mignon was good, but cold. I was afraid to ask her to warm it up, since she took the appetizer and never brought another one, so I just ate it that way. I'm sure that it would've been better if it was served when it should've been.

After finishing the filet, she presented me the check and I was floored to see that not only did she charge me for my appetizer (you know, the one I NEVER GOT!), but also for the one that she brought to the table. She then proceeded to argue with me about it. She stated that I never told her I was a gluten free diner (although my husband and mother both heard her) but that since the appetizer was brought to the table, I was charged for it because they couldn't recycle it. At this point, I probably had steam coming out of my head. I'm normally a very even keeled person, but at this point I was pissed, hungry and this was the culmination to a very emotional weekend (we'd traveled to bury my only remaining grandparent) I ripped into her.

I walked out of the restaurant with a free meal and the apologizes of the General Manager. My family said that the food that they received was well cooked and tasty. I'd like to say the same about mine, but can't. I'm not sure, if given the opportunity, I would step foot into another Houlihans. Nor will I recommend it to anyone that I know, gluten free diner or not. Because of my family, I won't give them an F, (they afterall enjoyed the food that they received) but for the gluten free diner, and paying customer, I'll give them a D-.

I'm hoping that 99 will come to the Richmond area soon. I'm not hoping the same for Houlihans.

Giant Chocolate Chip Muffins (Gluten Free)

So I recently purchased a nook. It's something that I've been wanting for a long time and I finally took the plunge. I downloaded several gluten free cookbooks to try, one of them being Gluten-Free Quick & Easy by Carol Fenster. If your interested it's available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The first step in the Giant Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe is to make the Muffin mix skeleton.
I didn't use the suggested flours that are in the book, because I was unable to find the ones that were suggested. What I did do however is purchase Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour which contains all the ingredients that are recommended for the flour in the book.

Ingredients:
Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour (the entire bag)
3 cups cane sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
6 teaspoons xanthan gum
4 teaspoons table salt

Take a sieve and sift the ingredients together over a storage container. Sift 2 cups flour blend, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the xanthan gum and 1 teaspoon salt. Do this three times.

Seal the container and shake the contents

To make the muffins:
Ingredients:
3 cups of the above mix
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's).
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (this is not part of the original recipe, I added it myself 'cause I like white chocolate).

You are going to need a LARGE muffin pan. I had to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and get one. It cost me $19.00 and was made by Chicago Metallic.
I greased the muffin pan using canola oil and set my oven to 375.
I mixed all my ingredients together and 'tasted' the batter before placing it in the muffin tin. This is where things got a little sketchy. The batter tasted horrible. A cross between chocolate flavored beans and a strong metallic taste. At this point I started adding sugar, salt and xanthan gum incrementally until the batter tasted good. I placed the batter in the muffin holes and cooked it for 30 minutes at 375. I took it out and it was still liquid in the middle so I turned my over down to 200 and cooked them ten minutes longer.
After taking them out and letting them cool I got my 'testers' (aka my two oldest children, my niece and nephew and my father-in-law) to try them. They were pretty good, for a first try. I'm not sure what they would've tasted like if I hadn't altered the batter, but I wasn't willing to take that chance.

Here are the end results:

More Gluten Free Items found.

I hate grocery shopping, I most especially hate doing it with my children. My four year old thinks that she needs everything that we go by, and she's very slick with putting things in the cart that I don't see. She's a sneaky one.
So while I was at Wal-Mart yesterday, I happened to be walking down an aisle and found a box of Biscuit mix, with the words 'Gluten Free' on the front. I have yet to use the mix, but I was just excited to actually find it that I had to tell everyone.

Also found in my local Wal-Mart (and not any other grocery store to date) was the new Chex. I love Chex cereal. I like it better than any of 'special gluten free cereals' that you find at Whole Foods, etc. I'm absolutely ecstatic about that face that there are two new flavors (apparently there's five, but I"ve only ever seen the two new ones). In addition to Rice and Corn chexs that are plain, there are now Cinnnamon Chex and Honey Nut Chex. I haven't tried the Honey Nut yet, but I have tried the Cinnamon and they are delicious. Yum-o. I highly recommend them and at my store they are $3.00 a box, which is the average price for cereal that's 'regular'.  There is apparently a GF Chocolate Chex, but I have yet to be able to find it. I'll keep looking though.

Next up, Muffins. I'll let you know how they turn out!