Furnished by tasteguru. Gluten free blog.
Tag Archives: Gluten free blog
The best Homegrown gluten free sandwiches.
When we say best, we mean THE BEST. Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop is blowing our gluten free minds, being one of the few shops in Seattle that makes gluten free sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. Even better their sandwiches are damn good, in the I-want-to-eat-til-I-puke good.
It’s often we settle for anything gluten free, despite whether it tastes good, just for the pure fact that we are hungry and need some kind of sustenance. So discovering a rare gem of a shop that makes a mouth-watering sandwich that is just as good as the real thing is an exciting food-orgasmic day.
Homegrown serves with a mission – “not only to create sandwiches out of sustainable ingredients but also to make sandwich creation sustainable itself.” What does that mean exactly? Homegrown buys from local dairy producers, farmers and meat vendors. Everything is organic and free range. Homegrown also makes their own bread, in-house.
What kind of sandwiches do they serve? For breakfast (featured in this blog) they make a delicious bacon, egg & Beecher’s cheese breakfast sandwich with garlic aioli. They also have a ham, cheese and egg sandwich, avocado and egg sandwich, lox and cream cheese and other items like oatmeal.
Lunch items include turkey, bacon and avocado, hummus and roasted peppers, roast pork, reuben revised, ham and cheese, squash, portobello and goat cheese. Not all together of course, but those items are just a sampling of what they offer.
Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop has locations in Fremont, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne. We rank Homegrown as the best gluten free sandwich shop in Seattle, so be sure to sample a sandwich soon.
Gluten Free Dinner: Herb Stuffed Chicken Breast
Gluten Free Dinner: Herb Stuffed Chicken Breast
This meal was a hit! I adapted this recipe from a more complicated turkey dish Whole Foods recommended. We served this gluten free dinner with sauteed yams and a kale salad.
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
4 Chickens Breasts (Sliced down the middle, but not completely through)
Butter
1 Garlic Clove (Chopped)
1 Cup Leeks (Chopped)
1/4 Cup Mushrooms (Chopped)
1 Cup Gluten Free Bread Crumbs (Udi’s Bread is great for big bread chunks)
1/4 Cup of Romano Cheese (Grated)
1.5 tsp Parsley (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Rosemary (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Sage (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Thyme (Chopped)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350. Melt 2 TBS of butter or sub in olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, cook until soft. Add leeks and cook until soft. Add mushrooms, cook until soft. Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs, cheese, and all the spices.
In a medium sized ceramic baking dish, arrange all 4 chicken breast so the are open faced. Slice butter and put a 1/2 TBS in the open faced of the chicken. Stuff with filling until the filling is gone. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 20 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Then bake another 20 minutes without a cover or until chicken is cooked through and stuffing has browned. Let cool and then serve your gluten free dinner!
Seattle Gluten Free Restaurant: Thrive
It’s been awhile since I’ve been excited about a Seattle gluten free restaurant, but Thrive has me dancing a little two step.
One of my close friends took me to Thrive one afternoon for a healthy lunch. We both got a buddha bowl (delicious bowl with brown rice, quinoa, raw kale, nuts, mushrooms, cashew cream, dehydrated kale, buddha burger, and cucumber to name a few) and chai tea, both were absolutely delicious. Thrive has found a way to make raw kale taste amazing with the use of cashew cream, nuts, dehydrated garnish, and other yummy seasoning.
Thrive is not only a Seattle gluten free restaurant, they are also dairy free, vegan, organic, low sugar, and try to buy local produce. I’ve recently started going to Thrive when I don’t have time to make vegetable juice, a feat they perfect, served up in a completely compostable plastic cup with straw.
They have inspired me to cut out dairy for the most part and also cater to diabetics or sugar intolerant folks like me who can’t eat very much sugar at all. Thrive uses Agave nectar and other alternative sweeteners that are low on the glycemic index.
If you are looking for a healthy meal and education, Thrive is Seattle gluten free central station. I haven’t seen any use of soy either, which is a nice change for a vegan restaurant.
Gluten Free Travel in Norway
As I sit here admiring the the rare but rewarding day of sun in Seattle, I can’t help but recall the pitch black winter I experienced in Norway. Before I traveled to Norway, I had never been to a place darker (aside from Alaska, but I was there in summer when it was light out 22 hours a day) than my home town. Norway in December, is only light (twilight) from 11 am to 1 pm and is pitch black the rest of the day and night. This makes for excellent Northern Light viewing if it’s not cloudy, but also extreme hibernation.
To my surprise and delight, the little town we lodged in, Lyngseidet, Norway, had more gluten free options in their one tiny grocery store (it’s actually a chain found in Sweden, Norway, & Denmark), than the entire city of Copenhagen. Just to give you an idea of how small this town is, there were no restaurants, no bars, just a grocery store, church, and retirement home for the 800 people who live in the area. We flew into Tromso and then drove to a ferry, which got us to this magical little place.
The Lyngen Alps are truly majestic mountains, rising high and white. Lyngseidet sits in one of the many Fjords the glaciers cut out centuries ago.
My first order of business (required for all gluten free travel) when I get into foreign cities is to hit the grocery stores and pharmacies to see if and what gluten free options are available. The grocery store/chain in Lyngseidet is called REMA 1000. I found gluten free potato flours, almond flours, and a whole dedicated gluten free section for all sorts of gluten free mixes, cookies, crackers, breads, and pasta. They also had an entire freezer section of frozen gluten free almond flour cakes, brownies, and breads. So despite there not be one restaurant (that we knew of anyway), we ate very well on our trip.
So what did we learn? Gluten Free in Norwegian is Glutenfri (The Norwegian language is almost identical to Danish, just pronounced differently). When you are reading the ingredients of products if it has wheat flour or Hvetemel, it is usually the first ingredient listed. Uten Siktet Hvetemel translates to ‘without wheat flour.’ Other ingredients to look out for, Potet, is potato and Mandel is almond, both are common gluten free flours used in gluten free goods. Mostly you will see glutenfri listed on the front, but these tips will help further investigation.
We had many adventures in Lyngseidet, our first being dog sledding. In my head I had a much more romantic expectation of what this looked like, maybe a large sleigh, pulled by 20 large huskies through the alps for hours. When we got there we realized it was more like 5-6 scrawny (and poorly cared for) little husky mixes pulling 2 people for an hour with a guide. At first I was sad to see hundreds of dogs yelping and living outside, but after I realized they were excited to go for a run and it’s what they love to do.
We also managed to get out and hike in the afternoon (when it was pitch black). It was dangerous to do that, so we didn’t make it that far unprepared, but we managed to overlook the entire town and Fjords of the Lyngen Alps.
Our group stayed through the New Year, dancing, eating, and playing games in our cabin waiting for the Aurora Borealis to come out and play (and it did!). It was a fun little trip and a place I’d like to visit again during the warmer months.
If you are gluten free and looking to travel internationally, Gluten Free Hotels for Celiacs has a robust list of hotels all around the world who can accommodate you.
If you are gluten free and looking to travel internationally, Gluten Free Hotels for Celiacs has a robust list of hotels all around the world who can accommodate you.
If you like what you read on this gluten free blog, support and follow us!
Related articles
- Gluten Free in Copenhagen (guidetoglutenfree.com)
Cafe Piccolo: New Best Seattle Gluten Free Restaurant.
Cafe Piccolo is a sweet little Italian restaurant, nestled in a residential area of Seattle called Maple Leaf serving gourmet comfort Italian food and a new favorite of this Seattle gluten free blog!
When we first moved to the area (This gluten free girl is lucky enough to live just around the corner and work right next door) last year and tried out Cafe Piccolo they had a few Seattle gluten free options like bread, fettucine, and all the meat dishes could be made gluten free. I was still happy for they were catering to the Seattle gluten free community, but always hoped they’d bring in more.
Now they have, courtesy of a local gluten free Seattle pasta maker. Cafe Piccolo is now serving gluten free lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli, fettucines, bread, and various other gluten free meat dishes.
Randomly the night before last I was in for a meal and asked if they had made any changes to their gluten free menu (you have to ask) and they replied with enthusiasm that they have heavily upgraded it. I couldn’t believe my luck when they told me what they now offer!
The only other place in Seattle where you can get gluten free lasagna and ravioli is at Razzi’s in Greenwood. Razzi’s is a typical family style Italian restaurant (also very good), whereas Cafe Piccolo is on the gourmet side, with gourmet prices. Well worth it if you ask me. They do gluten free so well, you’d never know it was gluten free! I was supremely full by the time I left and even as I write this I’m excited to visit them again and taste their delicious food.
Thanks Cafe Piccolo for becoming one of the top gluten free Seattle restaurants!
Gluten Free Travel in Copenhagen
I’ve been on a gluten free travel holiday the last 2 and a half weeks celebrating Christmas and New Years with my sister and her Beau in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s been a colorful experience, not having too high of expectations of the city I came here ready for anything and anything was what I got.
Copenhagen has a similar climate to Seattle, i.e. cloudy, rainy, but considerably more windy. It also gets dark around 3 pm, so daylight is a sacred resource. They actually prescribe Vitamin D to people here during the winter, in my opinion they should prescribe one month vacation to a tropical, sunny place, where it’s warm and the sand toasts your feet.
The people are tall, white fossil-like models with cold blue eyes and sculpted faces. Some of them are light brown in coloring as well, but most tower above my husband and I in cool observation. You’d think Danes would follow-up their mysterious appearance with even more icy personalities, but they don’t. In fact, they are some of the most warm-hearted and friendly people I have met (aside from Spaniards). 99% of Danes also speak VERY GOOD English and don’t hate Americans, but are more curious about us than stand-offish. Who knew?
Gluten is a main staple in the Danish diet, like many other countries in Europe (sucks to be eating gluten free), the most common being rye bread used in smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches). I, like many others gluten free folks cannot feast on curried herring (oh darn) and other pickled fishies nestled atop hard-boiled eggs, dill, and mayo. But I could if I really wanted to because the local natural food chain (Irma) carries a gluten free bread that resembles and even smells like rye. They also carry Schar gluten free cookies, rice cakes, and cereals. So eating gluten free wasn’t too hard.
Gluten free in Danish is Glutenfrit and if you go to any restaurants most are very aware of the allergy and what contains gluten, to the point where you will probably get no sauce or flavoring at all, but it will be free of gluten. økologisk means organic, so any store that claims to have organic food, most likely has gluten free foods as well.
Irma (Natural Food Grocery Store)
- Grocery chain that carries a gluten free rye bread substitute, gluten free cereals, gluten free cookies, and other organic grocery items. $$$
Naturbageriet (Bakery that makes gluten free baked goods – not dedicated)
- Not the best gluten free baked goods I have had, but I do live in Seattle, which is one of the best cities to live in for this allergy. They were decent though and if you catch them earlier in the day they will have more options. $$$
Urtehuset (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
- Carry supplements, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. Check out their site as well, it’s interesting. $$$
Natur Poteket (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
- Another natural food store, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. $$$
Hvidovre Kommune (Very good hospital, long wait though)
- If you get sick, go here. It’s FREE.
If you think the city you live in is expensive, you will think Copenhagen is exorbitant. I paid $20 for a cup of chilli at a cafe in a shopping mall called Magasin Du Nord (think Nordstrom). A sandwich for my non-allergic husband was also $20. The grocery store is a little more reasonable, so we opted to eat at home with my sister most meals.
I will add that while it is expensive to travel (and probably live) to Denmark, healthcare is free. I came down with a particularly virulent flu I caught from my friend here, who sat next to someone on the plane who was coughing excessively. We all were sick in a matter of days. My fever was so high, I was partially responsive and I also happen to get a severely painful ovarian cyst, so to the hospital I was rushed by my dear husband and sister. Hvidovre Kommune (very good hospital just outside of Copenhagen) set up a temporary social security card for me and admitted me over night for observation…something I DID NOT want to do.
Medicine here (at least at the state run hospital) is thorough and careful and reminiscent of American 1950′s military medicine, i.e. it’s simple. The hospital rooms aren’t retrofitted with televisions, radios, or any new equipment whatsoever like American hospitals, so you just lay in bed with your I.V. listening to the person next to you hack up a lung. I saw probably 5 different doctors and 5 different nurses in a span of 12 hours. All were very kind and clearly in it to help people. One of the doctors had me convinced he was a legitimate healer, he could read my mind by just staring into my eyes for about 5 minutes. The amount of empathy this man had for being a surgeon surprised me. The last nurse I saw checked on me every five minutes. She was very pleasant and super friendly. So I felt taken care of, despite the slowness of their diagnosis (they thought I might have appendicitis). It wasn’t pleasant, nor was it an experience I wanted, but it was free and left me unharmed. In fact, I probably recovered faster due to their antibiotics and salt water I.V.s than I would have on Ibuprofen at home.
During my time in Scandinavia, my family and I also took a trip up to Norway which was even more surprising and beautiful. That gluten free travel blog is coming up next!
Featured Gluten Free Seattle Pie Maker – Jodee’s Desserts
One of my favorite pie spots in Seattle is a nice gluten free dessert pie shop called Jodee’s Desserts. Not only are they gluten free, they are dairy free, and low-glycemic as well. Everything is made out of coconut, fruits, and veggies, all blended and uncooked.
My favorite items are the carrot cake, pumpkin pie, key lime pie, banana cream pie, and Tiramisu. They also have chocolate mousse pie, chocolate cherry pie, chocolate malt pie, pecan praline pie, peppermint patty pie, and other seasonal flavors.
Jodee’s Desserts also hand make smoothies, coffee, chocolates, and soups.
Jodee’s takes extreme pride in hand-making raw, organic dessert pie products. They use only the purest Organic products. As a part of a complete awareness to product purity, they use the Tensui Water Filtration System (www.TensuiWater.com) in all their pie preparations. Their dessert pies are blended, without the need for baking, which sustains a nutritionally rich product. I can attest, the results are simply some of the most delicious pies I have tasted.
This Seattle gluten free location is relatively new but I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve been in. I don’t feel like I’ve eaten too much sugar after having one of Jodee’s treats, which is something I have to think about since I’m pre-diabetic.
If you like this gluten free blog, support and follow us!
Related articles
- Featured Seattle Gluten-Free Bakery – Wheatless in Seattle (guidetoglutenfree.com)
Featured Seattle Gluten-Free Bakery – Wheatless in Seattle
I haven’t made it down to Kaili McIntyre’s Wheatless in Seattle in quite some time, but was able to make it the other day to pick up a gluten free chocolate mocha cake I ordered for my husband’s birthday.
Kaili is one of the few gluten free bakeries who does it well. So well in fact, you can hardly see or taste the difference between a gluten free item verses a gluten item. She gets creative too – maple bacon donuts, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, spinach and goat cheese pinwheels – she bakes the stuff that most regular bakers do and could never do without regular flour. That makes Kaili special.
She really has come a long way since her first little Seattle gluten free restaurant in Edmonds. I used to drive 40 minutes out of my way just to get a gluten free pizza from her. At the time (6 years ago) she was the only place who had gluten free anything.
Now she and her crew bake up the most delicious gluten free breads, donuts, sweet breads, hamburger buns, pizza crusts, cookies, and even brownie pops. Her most recent new bread flavors are cardamom for Christmas and goat cheese and carmelized onion bread (drool).
Kaili really has changed Seattle in many ways. Many local Seattle gluten free restaurants purchase wholesale breads from her. Before her influence, us gluten intolerant folks didn’t have any options. As with any original thinker come followers, so now many restaurants have a choice of what gluten free item they’d like to carry, but many remain loyal to Wheatless in Seattle to keep their dollars local.
The Wheatless in Seattle store has changed to support Kaili McIntyre’s growing wholesale business, she has shut down the retail portion of her store and now only offers special retail orders that can be picked up on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Wheatless in Seattle has recently gone rice-free and now uses Sorghum flour. Many of their products are egg, soy, dairy, and corn free.
If you like this gluten free blog, support and follow us!
Related articles
- Cafe Piccolo: New Best Seattle Gluten Free Restaurant. (guidetoglutenfree.com)
Mexican Taco Stew (Gluten Free)
Mexican Taco Stew
Mexican Taco Stew (Gluten Free)
1 pound ground turkey
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 TBS taco seasoning (gluten free)
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 medium zucchini or summer squash (I sometimes include both)
2 (15 oz) cans of no-salt black beans (rinsed)
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup of medium salsa
Top with avocados, sour cream, and corn chips.
This is the easiest and most delicious soup I make. On a cold Seattle night, I throw together this gluten free stew and my husband and I are warm and toasty once again!
In a large pot, saute onions and garlic, then brown turkey meat. Once meat is browned add in taco seasoning. Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes so the soup reduces a bit. Serves 6.
*Adapted from a Whole Foods recipe.
If you like this gluten free blog, support and follow us!
Related articles
- Smoked Mozzarella Gluten Free Pasta Salad Recipe (guidetoglutenfree.com)
