The Un-Gluten Guy (My Gluten Free Recipes & GF Adventures)

I grew up near Philadelphia, home of the cheesesteak, soft pretzels and sunday morning bagels.  I remember that bag of fresh, hot bagels, cream cheese, lox, red onions, capers, whitefish.  Hungry yet? Once I moved to the west coast bagels were still an option.  We could pick them up at a number of the big chain bagel stores around San Diego.  Once I had to go GF there was one option - Udi's.  Although it was GF, Udi's bagels are fair. I was happy to hear about Sweet Note Bakery  and their GF bagels handcrafted in Philadelphia.  You can read all about Michelle and her story on their website. My wife ordered a box to be delivered.  It came with eight 4 packs of GF bagels.  We got 3 bags of plain (mainly to make pizza bagels), 4 everything and 1 cinnamon raisin.  They ship frozen with an ice pack and were delivered 48 hours later to my front door. Their bagels are GF, egg free, soy free, dairy free, peanut and tree-nut free and n...

We took our annual ski trip to Park City.  The kids always look forward to it.  Unfortunately, like most of the West, it was pretty dry.  Most of the runs were open and kids still had fun.  They skied 4 days and I rode with them on Monday and Friday.  It finally snowed on Friday, so we had a few inches of fresh powder. To not bore you with repeat reviews you can see my post on our Park City trip from  2012  and  2013 . We definitely made it back to  Loco Lizard .  You can't miss this place for 100% GF mexican. We also had a few GF pizzas from  Park City Pizza . My new find was  501 On Main .  This place was awesome.  Most of their dishes are GF and everyone was knowledgable about GF and celiac.  The wife and I stopped in for lunch one day and sat at the bar.  We had the Utah Onion Slivers - you have to order these.  They were served with an awesome dipping sauce and it was delicious.  The s...

Well, its over but it was fun.  This was definitely the best expo that I have been to and there was lots to see and try.  The folks at  GFAF Expo  describe themselves as the largest Gluten Free and Allergen Free Expo in the US and I agree. While I was there I met Angela aka the celiac hash girl.  She has a cool  blog (celiachashigirl.com)  that you should check out. Massel's  had a nice booth front and center.  They make gluten free bouillon.  It comes in cubes, a condensed liquid and a granule form.  Not only is it GF but its vegan.  They have vegetable, chicken and beef flavors.  I made Vietnamese Pho with the beef and you would never know that its vegan.  Great to travel with if you cook when you travel - no more searching for GF broths. Udi's  was also up front.  Serving up their snacks and bread.  There stuff is always great and you can always find their bread in my freezer. One of our n...

I went to the first GF Expo in San Diego in 2011.  It was a great experience and I found tons of new products and some restaurants in San Diego that offered safe GF food - Casa de Bandini and Mountain Mikes pizza. Unfortunately 2012 was a bust and the expo did not make it back.  The last two years were at the Del Mar fairgrounds and things were in full swing. This will be the first time that the GFAFexpo will be in San Diego.  They began in 2007 and have grown and have expos in seven cities throughout the US. Each year I find at least a few new products and I get to head home with a full belly (thanks to all of the free samples from the booth vendors) and usually a shopping bag for of GF goodies. Keils had a great booth one year and we found out how many GF options they carry.  Although it is a bit far we head down there for some GF products we can't find at other stores in San Diego. My son loves  Mediterranean Snack Foods garlic hummus crackers...

Every so often I find a new product or cafe/bakery.  It is nice when a new place pops up in San Diego.  I was happy to recently find  The Curious Fork.   It is located in Solana Beach, directly across the street from the Del Mar Racetrack on Villa de la Valle. When you first visit their website you will see the various cooking products they sell and you will find their information on catering but it is not until you visit them do you get an appreciation for their menu. They have a great cafe that is open from 7:30 am until 2:30 pm Monday thru Saturday. I don't know where I first read about them, but the entire place is Gluten Free.  One of the owners, Chef Barbara, has celiac and their goal was to produce delicious food that just so happens to be gluten free.  I can attest to the fact that the food is delicious and safe.  I have been in two to three times each week since my first visit. As far as breakfast goes they have wraps and bowls whi...

My daughter is a pasta person.  If she had her choice she would have pasta for lunch and dinner.  Usually she likes it with a simple marinara. I like pasta many ways.  Sometimes I will simply toss with some extra virgin olive oil and add some fresh chopped tomatoes and fresh grated parmesan.  We usually make a batch of marinara and keep it in the refrigerator for the week (it usually doesn't last the week).  Occasionally a nice pot of bolognese sauce or white clam sauce.  Another favorite is carbonara - I fell in love with it in Italy. All kids like mac and cheese.  For a while I tried talking her into trying alfredo sauce but the answer was always - NO.  That was until recently.  We were at the supermarket and she saw a bottle of alfredo sauce - I could not believe how many ingredients, chemicals and artificial flavorings it had.  I explained to her I could make it for her at home, from scratch, with a few simple ingredients. Well...

Holiday season.  This year was our year to visit my parents.  It is always fun traveling during the busiest travel season of the year - isn't it? We finished up Hannukah and Christmas at home and took the red-eye on Christmas night.  Our destination - Southern Florida.  There is never a good time of the day to fly cross country (especially with kids) - either you burn a whole day traveling or you try to sleep sitting upright with your knees propped against the seat in front of you.  We choose the red-eye. Traveling is always an issue for us gluten free folks so I packed the usual snacks - kind bars, Glutino breakfast bars, a banana, GF oatmeal, nuts, GF crackers and tunafish packets, and chocolate.  Luckily we were heading to my parents house so my mom (got to love mom's) went shopping ahead of time and filled up a cabinet with GF snacks, crackers, treats, pasta, salsa and other condiments.  She pulled out the GF toaster oven she keeps in the garag...