Just about a 35 minute drive from Santa Barbara is a special spot called The Farmer and the Cook. This all organic, vegetarian cafe get most of their produce from their nearby farm. More importantly, on weekends, they have gluten-free pizza! I started with a special salad that had sweet corn, green beans, avocado, lettuce and a barbeque tomato vinaigrette. I then ordered the GF Mexican Pizza.
This pizza had caramelized onions, goat cheese, summer squash, red peppers, jalapenos and pesto. The crust of the pizza was predominantly garbanzo flour and had a really nice consistency. One of my fellow diners also got a gluten-free pizza.
This one was the Yukon Gold Potato and Rosemary Pizza. It had potatoes, parmesan, mozzarella, red pepper, caramelized onions, garlic and rosemary. All of the ingredients used were so fresh and full of flavor. There is a small market inside where you can purchase produce and packaged goods, many of which are gluten-free! Additionally there are baked goods including a GF peanut butter cookie that was calling my name.
It is always so relaxing to eat at Sojourner Cafe since gluten-free items are clearly marked on the menu. The other night, we started with the Tortilla Flats. I then had an item on the specials menu. It was tofu with a sweet red chile sauce.
This was good but I struggled to finish it. However, I did manage to find room for one of their GF chocolate chip cookies.
The consistency was a little off, but the taste of this was good.
What is the best way to celebrate the NY Giants Victory? For me, it was to bake one of the vegetable pot pies in my freezer made by Simply Pies. I will be honest… I was really nervous about preparing it correctly. Even though it only had three steps, I tend to screw things up in the kitchen. However, 45 minutes later, I had a delicious pot pie that I happily consumed. I will definitely be buying these again.
I decided to try out Alchemy Arts Cafe for lunch today since places that focus on health tend to be gluten-free friendly. After looking over the menu, I asked the waiter which items were GF. He wasn’t sure so he went to the kitchen to check. Moments later, he returned to inform me that EVERYTHING on the lunch menu was gluten-free. I tried to conceal my sheer joy at being able to order anything on the menu. After much perusing, I finally decided on the Cabbage Wraps and the Pumpkin Soup with Dandelion. The wraps were light and refreshing. These by themselves would be plenty for a light lunch.
The pumpkin soup was very good. It was very hearty though and I found myself struggling to finish both items. The one thing I would say is that I wasn’t too crazy about the taste of the dandelion. I know that it is supposed to be very healthy and cleansing for the body, but I just wasn’t a huge fan. Luckily for me, it was very easy to avoid the dandelion and enjoy the soup. Overall, I found the cafe to be the perfect place to have lunch while I immersed myself in a book.
gluten-free in sb 