Good to Go Organics

I have mixed feelings about writing this post because I didn't actually love the food I ate, but I appreciated it so much that I think it's worth sharing.

My brother and I drove home to Vermont a few weeks ago for Christmas vacation.  We stopped along the way at a rest stop in Connecticut for some food.  Normally on these drives I either bring some snacks or eat McDonald's french fries, which is not healthy and questionable anyway.  This time I noticed a sign for Good to Go Organics at the back of the travel plaza.  I told my brother I wanted to check to see if they had anything gluten free and they did - it was a Christmas miracle!

I was so excited to see Applegate gluten free chicken nuggets on the menu.  I was also excited to see tater tots, because really, who doesn't love tater tots?  The nice gentleman working behind the counter was very knowledgeable about what was gluten free and what wasn't.

My brother got regular chicken nuggets and tater tots.  Both of our meals were so-so.  The gluten free chicken nuggets were very small  but I was still excited to be eating chicken nuggets again.  The tater tots had so much potential but had a weird I was microwaved and now I'm sad taste.  After we finished my brother said he wished we had gotten McDonald's.

Even though the food could have been a little bit better, I still think this is a great idea.  Good to Go Organics has five locations.  The one I visited is located in the travel plaza on 95 between exits 40 and 41 in Milford, CT.  Another is in the MetLife Stadium in NJ where the Giants and Jets play.  The other three are food carts - two in Central Park and one at Chelsea Piers.  Please note, as of right now the gluten free chicken nuggets and tater tots are only available at the CT location.

Thanksgiving 2012

I didn't take any pictures while I was home.  This is from the summer.
But it is the view from my backyard.  Vermont is lovely.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It's all about food and family.  I like it so much that this year I went to Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving just so I could celebrate the holiday twice.  Around Thanksgiving time most food bloggers post all sorts of new recipes for the holiday.  I didn't because we eat the same thing every year and I love it.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Last year we had to adapt Thanksgiving to be gluten free.  With the experimenting last year, this year was a breeze.  My mom even made me homemade gluten free stuffing this year using Udi's bread since I've never tried a packaged GF stuffing I've enjoyed.  I bought a mini GF pumpkin pie at the local co-op since I really didn't need an entire full size gluten free pie laying around.  It was pretty delicious.  We also had the creamed spinach, sweet potatoes, and mashed cauliflower again.  This year we added brussels sprouts to the menu, which I love.  I also had Almond Nut Thins around for all the cracker and cheese appetizers.

I spent six days at home laying low, eating good food, and visiting with family and friends.  What could be better?

Healthy Living Market and Cafe

I was in Vermont again last weekend.  This time I went for work.  I had to sit at a table in Burlington for several hours and hand out information about my company.  Not my normal job, but I'm always willing to help out when needed...especially when it means I get to go home for free.

Knowing that I was going to be sitting at a table for the majority of an afternoon, I wanted to bring lunch with me.  I went to the trusty Gluten Free Travel Site and searched Burlington, VT.  It was there I stumbled upon a review for Healthy Living Market and Cafe across from the University Mall.  It was a perfect quick stop before I headed downtown for an afternoon on the waterfront of Lake Champlain.

At the risk of sounding like the dorky gluten free person I am, Healthy Living Market was amazing.  They have an entire gluten free section when you first enter the store.  I don't mean a small section of an aisle.  I mean a whole mini store within the store.  It gives G-Free NYC a run for it's money.  Here's a low quality picture I took in my excitement:

You can't really tell how amazing it is from the picture, but they have everything.  What you see here are mostly the dry goods.  There is a row of freezers all along the left hand side with only gluten free stuff.  To the right before the food there is a section with gluten free magazines and books.  In the middle there is beer and behind that fresh baked goods and bread.  Nearly every gluten free product I've ever seen was here.  I even saw (and purchased) the new New Planet beer everyone's been talking about.  I also got the Bakery on Main instant oatmeal I've been wanting to try.  Seriously, this store has everything I could ever want for my gluten free needs.

But that's not all!  That only covers the market part.  They also have a cafe with lots of gluten free goods.  I got a gluten free raspberry muffin that was great.  And then... I was able to order a sandwich from the deli for the first time since I was diagnosed with Celiac 2 years ago!

For those of you that don't know me, this is very exciting.  I miss sandwiches and being able to order them for lunch.  We had to play an icebreaker with the summer interns at my job in June.  Everyone had to write down a t-shirt slogan that describes them and then other people have to guess who's slogan goes with who.  Mine said "I miss sandwiches."  I hate icebreakers.

I wish I could tell you I loved my sandwich, but I wasn't that happy with the bread. I did really really appreciate it though.  They have a hot bar with lots of gluten free options and I hear they even have gluten free pizza sometimes.

If you are gluten free and live within an hour of this place you have to go.  Or, if you are visiting lovely Burlington, VT, make sure to stop by.  Honestly, it's better than Whole Foods.  That's right, I said it.

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.

Scalloped Potatoes

I love scalloped potatoes.  We had them tonight for Christmas Eve dinner along with some ham, green beans, and creamed spinach.  I wouldn't exactly call scalloped potatoes a healthy dish, but they sure are good.  This recipe is adapted from this recipe found online.

Ingredients: 
1 medium onion, chopped
5 tablespoons butter
5-6 russet potatoes peeled and sliced thinly
3 tablespoons rice flour 
1 1/2 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste 

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1) In a medium pan saute 2 tablespoons of butter and onions until soft.

2) In a small sauce pan, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and blend in rice flour. 

3) Whisk in the milk.  Season with salt and pepper

4) Cook sauce on medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally with the whisk.

5) Reduce heat and stir in onions and 1 cup of cheese.

6) Place a third of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased casserole dish.

7) Pour a third of the cheese sauce over the potatoes, making sure they are all covered.

8) Repeat twice: layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce, layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce.

9) Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

10) Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Here's another picture for you.

Gluten Free Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow we are off to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving.  My mom wanted to have turkey left over at our house, so we did a pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  The best part of tonight's dinner?  The entire meal was gluten free!

Tonight we had:
Turkey
Gluten Free Gravy*
Gluten Free Stuffing
Mashed Cauliflower
Broccoli
Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Tomorrow we are making and bringing:
Creamed Spinach
Sweet Potato Puree
Gluten Free Apple Crisp

Everything we bring tomorrow will be gluten free as well.  I'll bring left over stuffing and gravy to have with my meal tomorrow.  I'll also bring some gluten free crackers for the appetizers.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I'm very happy that my family is being so accommodating to my needs.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

*I'm not posting a recipe for the gravy because my mom makes it and I honestly don't know how.  I do know she made it gluten free by using rice flour instead of wheat flour to thicken it.

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.