Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Picnic and the Zoo

29 Feb

It had been awhile since I had seen my friend and her adorable baby so we decided to have a picnic in Alice Keck Park and then go to the zoo! I brought us gluten-free sandwiches made on Udi’s bread from Whole Foods. They were incredibly good.

Is that not the cutest baby you have ever seen? He rolled around a bit while we devoured the sandwiches. For dessert, I brought some cookies that I saw at the store.

These reminded me of a thicker version of the Entenmann’s cookies that we had in our house growing up. They were chewy and had a really good taste. After our picnic, we headed to the zoo to see some animals.

This giraffe just wanted to hang out with us, even following us as we were starting to leave! It was fun to see young Daniel, the giraffe, and the newest resident, Michael. Next time, we may just have the picnic at the zoo since there is plenty of grass to spread out on!

Tags: , , , , ,

Whole Foods Event on March 8th

28 Feb

Have you ever wanted to eat out more often but were nervous about asking the right questions to ensure that you get served a gluten-free meal? Well in just over a week, yours truly will be at our local Santa Barbara Whole Foods to give tips on setting yourself up for a successful meal out! Leading the gluten-free support group session will be the wonderful Tia Yox, a local Holistic Health Counselor specializing in nutrition and lifestyle guidance. So come on out for this free event to learn something, to ask something or just to be among others who have embraced a gluten-free lifestyle!

When:

Thursday, March 08, 2012 from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Where:

Whole Foods Santa Barbara

3761 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Tags: , , ,

Pane e Vino

27 Feb

It was a chilly day here in Santa Barbara so some warm Italian food sounded perfect. We decided to go to Pane e Vino in the Upper Village of Montecito. I started with the soup they had for the day, a hearty vegetable soup. It had lots of chunks of potatoes which made it quite filling. Then I had the Insalata Mista.

This consisted of baby lettuce, tomatoes and leeks with a vinaigrette dressing. It was nice and light. Then, after asking our waiter about gluten-free pasta, and being told they had penne and spaghetti, I ordered the Fusilli con Melanzane e Scamorza with the GF penne.

This pasta had smoked mozzarella, eggplant and a tomato sauce. You could really taste the smokiness in the dish which I liked. I just keep getting excited about all of the options we have here in the Santa Barbara area. This is another great one to add to the list of GF friendly places. I will note that I did have to request the pasta to be made in a fresh pot of water. It sounded like without asking, they make it in a “contaminated” pot so just be sure to make it clear if you are intolerant and not just eating GF by choice!

Tags: , , ,

An Oscar Worthy Dinner

27 Feb

I didn’t want to miss one minute of the red carpet and the Oscars, so I decided to attempt to make something at home. I decided on Annie’s GF Mac and Cheese. The instructions are so incredibly easy that I successfully made a delicious and filling meal! It brought me back to the Kraft Mac and Cheese days which was a very happy time of my life.

I liked that I didn’t have to add anything in at any point other than the ingredients in the box. Since I cook so rarely, I always find that I never have the items on hand when a recipe calls for something special. Keep this box in your pantry!

Tags: ,

Eagle Paragliding

25 Feb

Two days ago, I had the opportunity to go paragliding with Eagle Paragliding based here in Santa Barbara. I know this has nothing to do with eating gluten-free (other than the fact that I packed a GF sandwich for our lunch break compliments of Whole Foods), but this is definitely an experience worth trying out. Not only did I feel safe and in control the entire time I was airborne, but the sensation of flying was a feeling I won’t soon forget. For video footage of one of my flights, visit my Twitvid.

Tags: , ,

Cielito Taqueria

22 Feb

It is an unbelievably gorgeous day in Santa Barbara today, so we decided to go to a lunch spot where we could dine al fresco. We ended up trying Cielito Taqueria, the newest spot in La Arcada. I got two tacos, the crispy chicken taco and the shrimp taco. They were able to tell me that the corn tortilla for the chicken taco was fried in oil that was not contaminated by anything else.

I thought both of these were really good. Everything tasted really fresh. We also got a side of chips and salsa. My only complaint was that the salsa was served in little to go containers which made it hard to scoop out of. I also hope that the boxes and taco holders are compostable or recycled because it seemed like there was a whole lot of packaging used. We sat outside right by the fountain which was full of turtles that entertained us by playing their version of king of the hill. We will definitely return next time we are craving some Mexican food downtown!

Tags: , , , ,

Petit Valentien

19 Feb

One of my favorite nooks of downtown Santa Barbara is La Arcada. I have been meaning to try Petit Valentien for quite some time since it is in such a charming walkthrough, so we went last night. Our waitress knew right off the bat what I could and could not have. I started with a salad with greens, roasted beets and really good goat cheese. For my main dish, I had lamb served with mashed potatoes and ratatouille. It was quite good. Then came the desserts. As our waitress ran down the list, there were 3 that she told me were GF! Now I am not a big dessert person, but if someone tells me that 3 desserts are GF, I think that it is my responsibility to try all of them. The three were a flourless chocolate cake, a GF cheesecake (cheesecake!) and a vanilla creme brulee.

The creme brulee had a great vanilla taste, making it my favorite of the three. The cheesecake came in a close second. It was just so exciting to be able to eat cheesecake since they typically have crusts. The flourless chocolate cake was good, but I found it to be a bit dry. From start to finish, the meal at Petit Valentien exceeded my expectations!

Tags: , , , , ,

El Bajio

18 Feb

I wanted a quick and easy lunch, so I decided to try El Bajio this afternoon. I have a friend that always says how good their veggie taco is so I tried one of those and one of their spicy chicken tacos. The veggie taco has grilled zucchini, carrots, onions, bell peppers and cheese. It was a nice departure from the usual fillings of a veggie taco. The other taco consisted of spicy chicken, bell peppers, cheese, lettuce and sour cream. I liked the veggie taco better. Both were held together by corn tortillas that were good, but not quite as good as Super Rica in my opinion.

Tags: , , ,

Julienne

18 Feb

Last night my parents and I decided to try Julienne since we have been hearing good things about it. I started with their special cauliflower soup which had little bits of the most flavorful purple cauliflower in the center of it. I then had their caesar salad without the croutons.

It had a garlic anchovy dressing that was quite wonderful and was topped off with lots of grated cheese. For my main dish, I had the steamed halibut with crispy red lentils and a cabbage puree.

The crispy lentils that went with this were so unbelievably tasty. I could eat a whole bowl of them. I wasn’t going to order dessert but then I saw that they had a homemade ice cream that night that was York Peppermint Patties ice cream. Our waitress assured me that it was GF and so I made the very good decision of ordering it.

This tasted like a great mint ice cream with the bonus of getting little chunks of the peppermint patties. This entire meal was just so fantastic. Our waitress was very well informed as to what I could and could not have. Another perk of dining here is that they have embraced the farm to fork mentality, supporting our local Santa Barbara businesses. We will definitely be returning sooner than later to get more of this gem!

Tags: , , , , , ,

Hungry Cat Happy Hour

17 Feb

Does that look refreshing or what? I had some good friends in town for the day which gave us a reason to celebrate. Where else to do that but at Hungry Cat, the most wonderful location for a happy hour. At half-off prices, you can enjoy a few of these without much damage to your wallet. The waiter we had was great, ensuring that a potato vodka was substituted into their Luke’s Lemonade for me. I wasn’t dining there tonight, but their raw bar items are wonderful and gluten-free!

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →