I've Missed You Too

From my backyard in Vermont.

I've been missing recently and it's because of a few different reasons.  First, this was my very busy season at work.  And let me tell you, it was a crazy summer.

Second, well, my brother and I have just about eaten our way through most of the gluten free restaurants in New York City.  Sure, there are some I haven't reviewed.  Some that I had nothing nice to say about.  And a few out there I'm still hoping to discover.  I've also been trying to avoid packaged foods because generally they are not as good for you, and while I'd love to eat them all, I'd also love to  fit into my "skinny" pants again.  The world is full of tough decisions.

Since May I've been to DC, Vermont five times, Montreal, Connecticut twice, Pennsylvania, a boat cruise around New York City at night, Long Island for a day at the beach, two weddings, and a baby shower in the Bronx where the mom had gone into labor the night before and missed her own shower.  I've also had my work emails synched to my phone and basically been working 24/7 since mid June.  There was also a small incident of not having a job and then having a job again a few days later.  Not only is life full of tough decisions, but it's also quite unpredictable.

But here we are again and I assure you, I have been eating all this time.  The nice man overseeing the food at the wedding I went to was able to get me a gluten free plate.  My parents make sure to have gluten free pasta and bread on hand when I get home to Vermont for the fresh pesto from the garden and sandwiches made with lettuce and tomato picked right in the back yard.

I went to my boyfriend's 5 year college reunion in Connecticut.  A college I also went to and then transferred from.  It was a lot of fun and my dear boyfriend called ahead to make sure they would have gluten free food for me.  It was about the nicest thing.  And sure enough, they did.  For every meal there were gluten free options, including a box of these on the table of snacks for the drunk people:

KinniKritters Animal Crackers

Acting like I was in college again, I proceeded to indulge in alcoholic beverages and then steal this box of animal crackers off the table meant for everyone and carry them around all night because I decided they had been bought special for me.  I'm sure they had.

Fast forward to this last weekend and said boyfriend took me on a picnic.  I've been asking him to go on a picnic for the last four years and Friday he suggested we go.  It was great.  I brought sandwiches made on Udi's bread, veggies and hummus, a fruit platter, cool ranch dorrito's, beverages, and more KinniKritters Animal Crackers.  This time I tried the graham style animal crackers, you know, to switch it up. 

Our picnic spread looked like this:

The graham style animal crackers looks like this:

I thought they were good but my boyfriend said, "These are different.  Most of the time your gluten free stuff tastes the same.  But these are different."  I disagree.  In my animal cracker expertise, the KinniKritters Animal Crackers are more like the animal crackers that used to come in tubs:

while the KinniKritters Graham Style Animal Crackers are more like the ones that used to come in the box with the handle:

See?  They each have a different taste.  Both are good, depending on your mood.  Phew, I'm glad I cleared that up.  And thank you for not mentioning that KinniKritters actually call their animal crackers "cookies".  I've been trying to ignore that.

Ok, enough for now.  As I write this I'm sitting on my front porch in Vermont.  I'm wearing long pants and a sweater.  Fall in definitely in the air.

Vermont Gluten Free Brownies

I'm home in Vermont for a few days and loving it.  It's such a change from my daily life in the big city.  While home I generally sit around and do nothing in my pajamas.  My big activities today included two walks and a trip to the Co-Op.  I then proceeded to bake a pumpkin pie and make dinner with my brother.

The Co-Op has a fairly large gluten free selection.  It's where I get the Kinnikinnick graham crackers for the pumpkin pies.  Today I picked up a vermont gluten free brownie.  It looked like this:

And it was delicious.  Way better than I was expecting.  I love the co-op, but I've tried a few different freshly baked gluten free products from there with not much success.  Often they are too dry, too crumbly, and the taste is not worth the calories.  Not the case with this brownie.  It was moist, stayed together, and worth every bite.

I like the idea of this company because it's a mother daughter team from my hometown of Barre.  It makes me think that maybe one day I can start a little gluten free bakery of my own somewhere.  In the mean time, I'm glad these ladies are around making gluten free treats to share with my fellow Vermonters.

Gluten Free Vermont: Positive Pie

I was home last weekend and needed to grab a quick dinner.  My brother mentioned pizza and I remembered that Positive Pie now has gluten free pizza!

Positive Pie opened in Plainfield VT many years ago and they opened a second one in Montpelier not long after.  They have several specialty pizzas with silly names like the Green Man (pesto, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, tomato, and mozzarella) and Carcass (pepperoni, meatball, sausage, mushroom, and mozzarella).  We went through a phase of eating a lot of Green Man pizzas and Garden of Eden salads in high school.

I was excited to try their gluten free pizza.  I ordered a personal size (the only gluten free size available) veggie deluxe.  I didn't hold my hopes too high, since most gluten free pizza I've had has only been so so.  This pizza wasn't much different.  It was a thin crust, as is most gluten free pizza, and tasted rice based.  It wasn't bad by any means, and I would order it again.  With all their fun topping choices you are sure to get a pizza you like.  Their regular pizza is also very good if you are going with a gluten eating companion.

Gluten Free Vermont - Sarducci's Restaurant

 

*Update - The Gluten Free menu is now on their website.  Also, their chicken stock is now gluten free, so risotto and most of their soups are safe to eat.  They tell me gluten free pizza is in the works!*

My parents own an Italian restaurant.  Which is a bit ironic given my recent celiac diagnosis.  It's been open for 17 years, which means for most of my life I've been eating free pasta, bread, and fried calamari.

We ate or took food home from Sarducci's a lot growing up.  Every time I come home we go at least once.  So when I learned I was gluten free I thought bye bye Sarducci's.

Not so.  Shortly after I went gluten free my mom told me they put gluten free pasta on the menu.  She acted as though it was no big deal, but I thought it was just about the sweetest thing I had ever heard.

Not only do they have gluten free penne, but she worked with the chef to figure out what could and what couldn't be gluten free on the menu.  It turns out most things can be gluten free by substituting gluten free penne for the pasta and mashed potatoes for risotto (their chicken stock is not gluten free).

I'm home for Memorial Day weekend and took it upon myself to type out a gluten free lunch and dinner menu for them.  There are 4 appetizers, a soup, 6 salads, 13 pastas, 10 entrees, and 5 desserts on their gluten free dinner menu!  It should be on their website soon.

I'm very happy my parents have jumped on the gluten free bandwagon.  Not just for me, but for all the gluten free people in the area and the tourists that need a good place to eat close to the highway.

Sarducci's is located on 3 Main Street in Montpelier, Vermont.  They are open for dinner 7 nights a week and lunch Monday-Saturday.