Sunday, February 20, 2011

GF in the 713 does Portland!

I recently traveled to Portland, Oregon with my husband and son.  As a Celiac, you may be wondering if it's really possible to enjoy a vacation in a city you're unfamiliar with.  I can tell you without a doubt that there are at least three places in the world (I'm sure there are plenty more!) you can enjoy a great GF vacation.  One of them is definitely Portland!

We had such a great time that I thought I'd start a new series on the blog letting y'all know about the places I've traveled Gluten Free and the great restaurants, stores, and more I've discovered along the way.  That way if you decide to take off on a GF vacation you'll have a starting point.



The first amazing meal we had was at a restaurant in downtown Portland, called Pastini Pastaria.  The meal we had at Pastini was probably one of the best I've had since going gluten free.  Nearly every dish on their menu can be made gluten free with no up-charge!  They offer two different types of gluten free pasta, penne and spaghetti, so you can get the proper shape to go with the dish you are eating.  They also offer gluten free tiramisu for dessert!!!  The restaurant is nice, but definitely relaxed enough to be family friendly.


We were in Portland for a wedding, and the reception that we went to had two kinds of gluten free cake from a bakery called Piece of Cake Bakery.  Both the carrot and chocolate cake with raspberry filling were amazingly good!  According to their website, you can also stop in for cake by the slice.


We also enjoyed a wonderful meal of Thai food at Typhoon! restaurant.  They had a very extensive gluten free menu (especially for Thai food) and I ate delicious pad thai noodles. We also had an amazing coconut soup and a wonderful pumpkin curry dish.



Finally, after a long day of traveling up to the mountains, we enjoyed some take-out GF pizza from Sellwood Pizza Kitchen.  We had some very yummy thin crust pizza, but they also offer GF garlic bread, hot wings, and other appetizers.


There are SO many more great gluten free options in Portland and I wish we would have been there longer (and been there only to eat!) so I could have visited them all.  It's a great fun city with tons to do in the downtown area as well as beautiful coastline and mountains to visit.  In short, Portland is a wonderful gluten free vacation spot.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Restaurant Reviews: Ruggles Green




I don't know how I'm just now getting around to reviewing Ruggles Green, but for those of you who have never been, it's basically gluten free mecca here in Houston.  You name it- burgers, pizza, pasta, desserts - and they have it gluten free at Ruggles Green.

Not only is nearly everything on the menu gluten free, it is delicious.  The macaroni and cheese is out of this WORLD!  I often use my non-gf husband as a point of comparison, but let me tell you that he completely agrees.  They are also extremely careful with handling the gluten free dishes, so even if you are the most sensitive type of gluten intolerant person, I think you can feel very safe eating at Ruggles Green.







Ruggles Green is not cheap, but not overly expensive.  We often go for a weeknight meal and with two entrees, a couple glasses of wine, and maybe a dessert we never spend more than $50.  It's a really nice, but casual atmosphere great for family meals or a couple's night out.



So many delicious varieties of crispy delicious gluten free pizza!



Yummy burgers, buffalo burgers, turkey burgers, and other sandwiches... all available gluten free!



Fish tacos, salads, pasta and more!

I hope that if you haven't had a chance to go to Ruggles Green, you'll go soon.  It's been such a blessing for me to have a go-to restaurant where there are so many great options to eat and it's just so refreshing for a restaurant to be so understanding and accommodating to gluten free diners.  If you go, please let me know what you think!



Monday, February 7, 2011

Keeping Up with the Kellehers

Friends, just thought I'd let you know that I'm a little crazy apparently, and I've started another blog.  I just wanted to have a separate blog for family and personal stuff and generally more open ended then just being gluten free.  Hope you'll stop by some time!



Product Reviews: Osem Gluten Free Pound Cake

I realized the other day that I almost always write positive reviews.  I love to share great gluten free finds with y'all, but I think it's just as important to let you know when I discover something that you should definitely steer clear of.  One example?  Osem Pound Cake.


I found this cake at Central Market  a few months ago (don't worry, I ate this a while ago - just took me a bit to get around to reviewing it!).  I thought, "Hey cool! Gluten free pound cake!  That could be something cool to keep in the pantry for last minute guests."  So I picked it up and forgot about it.  Then about a month later I had a major case of the late night munchies and I found this and decided to try it.


Here's the package.   Gluten free and kosher... cool!




Once open it looks very moist and dare I say appetizing...




I cut a slice and it looks and feels like pound cake should, but has a slightly chemically smell to it. Hmm.

Well unfortunately, the chemically smell was merely a preview for the disgusting chemically taste.  I really wanted to like it.  I really tried to like it.  Yuck.  One and a half bites and the whole thing was in the trash.



Bottom line?  If it seems to good to be true (aka gluten free kosher pound cake that's shelf stable for 6 months), then it probably is.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Restaurant Reviews: Pink's Pizza

Okay, it's official: I have a new favorite GF Pizza. If you haven't tried out the new gluten free pizza available at Pink's, now is the time. This is, hands down, the best gluten free pizza in town.




Pink's looks a little ghetto from the outside, but don't let the exterior fool you.  They have great pizza and a lot of unique toppings and combinations.  My favorite pizzas at Pink's are the Hawaii Five O (canadian bacon and pineapple) and the This Guy (proscuitto, italian sausage, rosemary chicken, goat cheese, mozarella, spinach, and roasted garlic).  Seriously yum.  The crust is not exactly thin crust (think Ruggles Green) and not exactly hand tossed (like the Domino's you remember), but its somewhere in between and I personally love it. 




Caveat:  Pink's Pizza is expensive.  Period.  Even the non-gf pizzas are a little pricey, IMO, but with the up charge of $4.50 (for a 12 inch size pie- that's the only one available gf) our pizzas tend to cost around $20.  That's not exactly affordable especially considering that's barely enough for two... at least in our house!

Either way, I'm still going and I'll continue to go to Pink's for pizza.  I firmly believe that the more people that support businesses offering gluten free products, the more demand from suppliers will go up, and economies of scale will force the prices down.  Rice is not inherently much more expensive than wheat.  It's just that wheat flour is so prevalent that its relatively inexpensive to buy, while rice flour is relatively rarely used.

So go forth and enjoy some delicious pizza... its for the good of the GF community!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Product Reviews: GF Icecream Sandwiches

 
I was so So SO excited to see these in the freezer aisle the other day, at my local Kroger.  What are they?  Gluten free icecream sandwiches... yup, you heard me right.  And they are delicious!



Yum, right?



 These little beauties are made by Julie's Organic with the cookies made by Gluten Freeda.  They come four to a package in the cutest little cardboard tube!




I have to say that I was so impressed by these icecream sandwiches.  They look and taste exactly like an icecream sandwich should.  My not GF hubs was equally impressed.  I'm embarrassed to say that I was so excited when I bought them that I did not even notice the price, but I'm sure they were a little on the pricey side (as most things like this are). 

Bottom line:  Pick these up ASAP!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Recipes: Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls




Sheesh!  I feel like I've been waiting to share this recipe with y'all forever!  Finals are seriously cramping my style right now and I've got a back log of at least three recipes and reviews I need to blog.  Anywho, ever since I saw Pioneer Woman's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls, I could not stop thinking about making them.  If you've never read her blog I highly recommend it.  I adore drooling over reading it every morning.

These are NOT a gluten free conversion of her recipe but they were inspired by her recipe, because of course I've never even heard of Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls before reading her recipe.  This recipe is an adaptation of the Cinnabon Clone Cinnamon Roll recipe from Better Batter meshed with Pioneer Woman's fabulous creation.


{image via Better Batter}

This was also my first time using Better Batter Gluten Free Flour and not mixing my own blend.  I'm so sorry to say that Better Batter is not available in the 713, but you can order it online from their website.  I stumbled on to Better Batter when I was doing research into how I would make a yeast dough without gluten.  I found a lot of yummy looking cinnamon and sweet roll recipes gluten free, but I needed these to have that soft chewy quality you can only get from a yeast dough.

Better Batter claims that their flour can be used as a cup for cup substitute for wheat flour in almost any recipe.  It already has xantham gum mixed in.  Like any gluten free flour it was not cheap, but considering that it contains the xantham gum, the price was not bad and there's certainly something to be said for being able to just scoop your flour and go.  They have a lot of great recipes on their site, so even if you don't order the flour, I highly suggest checking it out.

Although I used the Better Batter flour here, I'm not convinced you couldn't use another blend of gluten free flours with success.  Let me know if you try!  So, without further ado, the recipe:





Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls
Adapted from Pioneer Woman and Better Batter




For the Dough 
  • 2 cups warm milk (110 degrees F)
  • 2 eggs room temperature (you don't want them cooling down the dough)
  • 2/3 cup butter melted
  • 4 and 1/2 cups gluten free flour*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 and 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
Mix dough ingredients in your mixer on high speed for three minutes,
or until well combined. Set aside, covered in plastic wrap, in a warm
place for 30-45 minutes, or until doubled. (I put a wet towel in the microwave and heat it for a couple of minutes and then stick the bowl inside.  You could also heat your oven to 100 degrees and turn it off.)


For the Filling

  • 1 stick butter melted
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Lay out two sheets of plastic wrap to make a 16×24 inch surface. Flour
them lightly. Turn dough onto the plastic wrap and sprinkle flour on
the surface. Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle (eh or as close as you can get).  Mix the butter and vanilla and pour it all over the surface of the dough.  Mix the two sugars and the salt and sprinkle all over the top of the butter.  Use your hands if necessary to even it out.  Sprinkle the whole thing with chocolate chips and pecans...  omg omg OMG!  Starting at one of the long sides, carefully roll up the dough and pinch the ends to seal.  Using a knife, score the top of the dough into about 16 rolls.  Then, using the knife or dental floss (see pictures here), cut along the lines to make individual rolls.  Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13
inch baking pan. (I ended up with too many rolls for a 9x13 and made the rest in a smaller pan I had.)  Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake until golden brown or about 15-16 minutes.

Into the oven we go!

For the Icing
  • 1 8oz package cream cheese
  • 1/2 stick butter softened
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
While the rolls are baking, beat the cream cheese and butter together until well blended.  Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix until creamy.  If it is stiffer than you like add more milk.  Too thin?  Add more sugar.  As soon as the rolls come out of the oven, pour the icing over the top of the rolls making sure to cover every little crevice!  I recommend enjoying one right away but they saved beautifully covered in plastic wrap for the next two days.  I ate some at room temperature and they were still soft and yummy, but a few seconds in the microwave made them even better!




Fresh from the oven, preparing to be drenched and devoured.



Yum.