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Nordstrom Cafe

3 Nov

I had to pick something up at Nordstrom today, so I figured I might as well go have a salad in their cafe for lunch. When perusing the menu, I saw a note that they had GF pasta available there! This town is finally starting to catch on! I got the Pasta Primavera with the gluten-free penne. This included roasted zucchini, squash, peppers, carrots, onion, tomato, fresh basil and a herb butter sauce with some parmesan cheese on top. It was pretty light. The outside patio is the perfect place for lunch on a day when the sun is out.

 

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Plow and Angel

2 Nov

This evening, we went to Plow and Angel at the San Ysidro Ranch. Plow and Angel is the more casual dining option at San Ysidro Ranch. They also have Stonehouse which is more upscale. Both eateries have outdoor patios that are the most romantic, magical setting you can ever imagine. Seriously. If you have a special occasion that is worth celebrating, sit outside and just be in awe.

On to the food…. the first thing you will notice on the Plow and Angel menu is that it says on the bottom, “We are happy to accommodate all dietary needs such as vegetarian and gluten free diets.” It is true. They are very knowledgeable about the GF diet and even have gluten-free pasta available to substitute in on any dish with pasta. Another thing worth mentioning? If you dine at Plow and Angel, you can also order any dish from the Stonehouse menu. I started with “SYR’s Famous Tortilla Soup”. It includes avocado, grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, and corn tortilla crisps. This soup was SO good. I already am thinking about going back just to get this soup again. Then, for my main, I got the Maine Lobster Bolognese with GF penne all Chitarra, tomatoes and basil.

Now this dish comes at a price ($69.00), but it was delicious. There was plenty of lobster meat and the bolognese style sauce complimented the dish perfectly. If you are on a budget, just ordering the soup and a salad would be satisfying and enjoyable as the setting outside is just that special.

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Arts and Letters Cafe

31 Oct

Today I had the day off, and it was the perfect day to take the pup for a walk. After scaring her sufficiently with all of the costumed-clad kids on State Street, I had worked up an appetite. The front patio at Arts and Letters Cafe allows dogs so I decided to get a salad there for lunch. Pictured above is the Tyler salad without the blue cheese. This salad was fantastic and large enough to eat on its own. It consisted of Jidori chicken, Roots Farm romaine, house made bacon, red onion, avocado, tomato and red wine vinaigrette. YUM.

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Dinner from Whole Foods

30 Oct

I have a bit of a cold and didn’t want to go out to eat so we decided to get food from Whole Foods for dinner. In one of the prepared food cases, I spotted a Take and Bake GF Pepperoni Calzone. After baking for 15 minutes, I had a little calzone of tastiness! It had tons of pepperoni in it, and was the perfect portion for dinner for one.

While I was there, I checked to see if they had the Whole Foods brand frozen GF pizza crusts. They have always been our favorite to use for pizza night since it is a thicker crust and holds well with a lot of toppings. Unfortunately, they don’t. When I asked if they could order them, I was told that I would have to buy the whole case of them. I would have thought that they would want to stock the shelves with their own brand. Oh well. I guess it is a good thing that there are so many GF pizza options in Santa Barbara these days!

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Muffins on the Mesa

28 Oct

 

I wasn’t feeling too well when I woke up this morning and realized we didn’t have any cold medicine so I made my way to the CVS on the Mesa. As long as I was in the Lazy Acres parking lot, I figured I may as well pick a couple of things up. In their bakery case, they have gluten-free muffins. I went with the blueberry muffin and picked up some OJ to get some more Vitamin C in me. I also got some of their three bean vegetarian chili to go so that I would have something warm to look forward to for dinner.

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Steak Night

27 Oct

I wasn’t lying when I said that Lucky’s Onion Rings made with rice flour are unbelievable. That picture doesn’t even do them justice.

Last night, we had dinner in Lucky’s bar area. I started with their special soup which had white beans, tomatoes and fennel. Then we got to the good stuff. I had the petite filet cooked medium rare. My husband and I also shared the skinny onion rings and the hashed brown potatoes with gruyére cheese.

Make sure that you request the onion rings to be prepared with rice flour as they are typically prepared with a “normal” flour. This was such a good, filling meal. As always, there was some good people watching in the bar are while we were dining.

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Simply Pies

25 Oct

After running some errands today, I stopped at Simply Pies to see what gluten-free things were available. In the case, there was a vegetable quiche and chocolate cream pie that looked too good to pass up. I cut a sliver from the quiche and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds. YUM. The crust was flaky and had a good taste. I don’t even know if I had ever had quiche before but it seems to be a nice way to add a little variety to your breakfast. And then there was the chocolate cream pie…

Oh my goodness… this pie is so good. The whipped cream dollops on top were the perfect accompaniment to the chocolate. This little place on Hollister was so cute. I guess you can order any of their pies, quiches or pot pies to be made GF at least 24 hours in advance. The apple pie looked so incredibly good (with gluten) that I think I will have to try it GF. And pot pies?! How cool is that?!

 

 

 

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Natural Cafe – Goleta

25 Oct

 

After stopping at Alpha Thrift Store in Goleta to pick up items for our Halloween costumes, my husband and I decided to go to Natural Cafe which we have always liked. We started with the hummus appetizer with the pita placed on a separate plate. For some reason, the hummus tasted a little like tuna fish to both of us which was a turn off. We have had it downtown before and enjoyed it, so maybe it was this particular batch. I ordered the Natural Caesar Salad without the croutons (I forgot to take a picture). It was really tasty. A quick note though… the tahini dressing which I used to eat years ago apparently has soy sauce in it so avoid this dressing if you are going the salad route.

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GF Thin Mint

24 Oct

If you are like me, you curse the girl scouts for not coming up with a gluten-free version of their thin mints every year. When I went to Savoy Cafe and Deli today to pick up a GF sandwich, I found this delicious cookie staring at me from the case. A GF thin mint?! Oh boy. It tasted as good as it looks. The memories of the green boxes from my childhood came flooding back as I devoured it in seconds.

On another note… I really need to stop going to Savoy every single day… It’s just really hard to stay away when I know that there are so many tasty goodies waiting for me inside!

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Dinner in Montecito

22 Oct

Tonight we went to dinner with my parents who were in town for two days. We went to the family favorite, Tre Lune. I started with my go-to Insalata di Fagioli pictured above. It was great, as always with the perfect balance of white beans, cucumber, tomatoes, onions and parmesan. I had really worked up an appetite all day while at work so I decided to order three courses. The next thing I had was the Carpaccio con Rughetta.

Sliced incredibly thin, this went into my belly very quicky. The mustard dressing in the middle was nice and light and complimented the beef tenderloin really well. The main course I ordered was the special pasta which had prawns and a tomato sauce. I had the choice of penne or fusilli. The picture below was of my dad’s pasta. He had the same dish with the regular spaghetti.

The only thing I didn’t like about this was that I prefer not to remove the heads. We requested them to be removed but the restaurant was too busy to accommodate us. Therefore, my dad had the task of removing both of our prawns’ heads. Yuck. I topped mine with the hot oil that they serve with their pizzas. It gave it the perfect about of heat. This meal paired with a wine from Puglia, Italy was extremely satisfying after a long and busy day at work.

 

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