Better Late Than Never... Stephanie's Birthday Lunch at Nourish!

Blogger has been having issues...so, I have been wanting to post these photos but I have been unable to.


These are from Stephanie's Birthday Lunch at Nourish!

Have you guys seen her cutie baby?

He makes me want to ovulate daily! He is so adorable! My bff is the BEST MOMMY EVER!

Lunch was fabulous! I loved it, I love Stephanie and her family. I adore Nourish. I have been there a few times before. I wrote about my first time, here. This time I ate the Italian Sub.

It was so delicious. Melissa is obsessed with the dressing they use on their sweet potato fries, she even bought some to take home!

It was wonderful to celebrate Stephanie's party. I love her! I think I made that pretty clear on my Ode to her a few posts back! Happy B-Day again!

Jason's Deli

Remember that time I asked you to vote to have GF food served at Jason's Deli back in 2010? Well, enough gluties did and Jason's Deli has been serving GF bread for a long while now. I have been a slacker and have not been able to try their sandwiches...whoops way to slack off!

The other day I was out and about town with Jacob, shopping for Stephanie's birthday gift (it is tomorrow , so make sure to show her blog some love!) and I drove past Jason's. Jacob loves sandwiches and I had a feeling he was hungry so I decided we should stop in. 

I am having issues with the photos I took on my camera phone ( I just signed up for mobile blogging,so I am going to try to send the photos on the blog in a few minutes to post those), sorry!

Anyway, Jacob loved the lunch he ate, he ate a non-gf grilled cheese with fruit. I ate a club sandwich on GF Bread with fruit. Jacob ate most of my fruit. I love that he loves fruit so much.

Jason's uses UDI'S bread, so that is great. However, always ask proper questions about cross contamination! The Jason's I went to was careful to prepare mine in a clean area but they don't have a designated toaster (remember my rant about "toaster sex" ) so I didn't get mine toasted.

It was a very delicious lunch and Jacob and I had a great time. It is great having the option to go out and grab a sandwich if I want. Thank you Jason's Deli!


I am so happy they added a GF MENU!

SPROUTS GLUTEN FREE JUBILEE GOING ON NOW !

Run to Sprouts because their amazing GF Jubilee is going on now until 1/19/2011! Happy shopping my wonderful readers!

Pizza Date at Barrow's Pizza

(Originally posted on Impressions Of My Life At The Moment blog)

As a gluten free gal we dont go out on pizza dates very often. My favorite pizza place is Picazzo's because they offer a full gluten free menu and their food is just out of this world amazing. Their food is gourmet & just delicious anyway, I think Steve thinks I am slightly upity because I compare any and all pizza to Picazzo's...their pizza is a 10 in my book.

We decided to try Barrows Pizza because they have gluten free pizza and it was a success! I didn't get sick and it was delicious! It is a "personal" pizza so I got the gluten free pizza and Steve got the non gluten free pizza however when it arrived I thought that it was pretty large in size and I gave him some of mine and he said he couldn't tell. I rated it a 8 or a 9. He said he thought it was just as good as Picazzo's.

Here are pictures from our date:

Want The Best Gluten Free Food In AZ?

Picazzo's Pizza is my absolute favorite place to eat gluten free! They have a compete separate gluten free menu that is mouth watering. I have never been glutened there and I find their staff to be completely knowledgeable! The photos above are from some of my many times there an I had so many that I didn't know which to choose from! They have amazing gourmet pizzas, delicious chicken wings, yummy humus with flat bread and I cannot wait to try their spinach and artichoke dip! They also have gluten free beer which is hard to find in restaurants, even though I am not a beer drinker.

Stephanie's Bachlorette Party Dinner was held there and every time I go there I have memories of that special night! I love going back there with people I love and making new memories every time!

If you live in Arizona or Oregon, I suggest that you give Picazzo’s a try, you will not regret it!

How do they do that ?

Wonder how Starbucks makes their new GF Valencia Cake? Check this out!

http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2009/05/05/gluten-free-valencia-cake.aspx

Outback & Some Love

I ate dinner at Outback! I loved their gluten free menu!



My dinner!
I try to eat salmon when ever I can! It is super healthy! OK, so that is butter on my potato, the waitress looked at me like I was crazy because I asked her if the butter was free from cross contamination...hum, is that a strange question? I think not! Way too much butter, so I removed most of it.


The best part was the gluten-free dessert! I loved the gluten-free brownie, which I split!
I would eat there all the time just for the dessert! Loved it! I want to go back....STAT!

Maggiano's Little Italy

Ella and I went to Maggiano's Little Italy today for lunch. It was her second time there and my first time there. She had told me about the gluten free pasta, so I was game!

For an appetizer, we split the Tomato Caprese.

We both found it light, fresh and very refreshing.

For Ella's main course, she ate the Chicken & Spinach Manicotti (not gluten free), and she found it to be very good. I ordered the Chicken Pesto Linguine with Gluten-Free pasta ( comes with pine nuts in case anyone has a nut allergy)
Maggiano's provided many firsts first for me. It was the first time I ever sent a dish back. I always thought of that as something that was unthinkable and just not my style, however, my sister explained to me that I shouldn't force myself to eat something I don't like...and she was right. I took two bites of the chicken pesto and I was done. I called the really nice server and I asked to change my order and she obliged. She called the chef over because I had some gluten free questions.

The other first was that I have never met such a knowledgeable chef at a restaurant regarding cross contamination and gluten free cooking. I was told about the separate kitchen for gluten free cooking, meaning NO CROSS CONTAMINATION! I was told that I was not limited to the gluten free pasta. For instance, I could eat the salmon with the sauce. I asked about the sauce having four and he explained the process of cooking as well as how he thickened it without flour. He even told me about a Celiac Support Group that frequented the restaurant. I felt confident that I would not be getting sick after my visit at Maggiano's.

I ate the Shrimp & Angle Hair al' Arrabbiata (gluten free pasta).

It was much better than the pesto dish I sent back. However, I found the diavolo sauce to be a bit runny, you can tell in the photo that is almost soup like. I think that if the sauce was not as runny, the dish would have been perfect.

My favorite thing that I ate there was the Tomato Caprese. I recommend trying out Maggiano's Little Italy for yourself but speak to the chef first because he can talk you through the menu and tell you what he can do for you. He was super knowledgeable and I don't think he will steer you wrong. Actually, everyone there is really nice!

Mimi's Cafe!

(Posted on the Endless Possibilities Blog on 11/17/08)

I went with my mom and grandma yesterday and they have a gluten free menu! I thought I would spread the word! Yippee, another place to go eat without having to think about how to alter items!

Uncle Bear's Gluten Free Hamburgers

(Posted on the Endless Possibilities Blog On 11/15/08)

I was too drained to cook and my mom was too. We decided to eat dinner at Uncle Bear's. I was excited because they have Gluten Free hamburger buns! I didn't take a picture because I forgot my camera...hey, I have a lot on my mind!

So here is my review:

Decent and edible! I would order it again! It looked more like a biscuit than a hamburger bun, but who cares? It was pretty good tasting too...especially if you have forgotten what a bun tastes like.

Also, they have french fries that are safe from cross contamination. I asked about how they were cooked and the process of cooking. I ate some of their fries ( I know...since I was glutened so badly this last week, why risk it? ) and they were really good! I didn't get sick from the fries at all.


If you have celiacs and you live in AZ, you should try the gluten free food at UNCLE BEAR'S. They also have GLUTEN FREE PIZZA!

OLIVE GARDEN GLUTEN FREE MENU!

(Originally Published On 10/21/08 on the Endless Possibilities Blog)

If you have tried to find the gluten free menu from Olive Garden online it is pretty challenging. They recommend contacting Olive Garden directly...let me save you that step, I have the coveted gluten free menu in my possession!


Salads:

• Garden-Fresh Salad without croûtons

• Caesar Salad without croûtons

Dinners:

• Steak Toscano
• Pork Filettino
  
• Herb -Grilled Salmon
• Mixed Grill
• Mixed Grill (Chicken)
• Children's Grilled Chicken

There you guys have it. You can always ask for the menu if you guys are there. This is the menu for Arizona, I am am not sure if it changes per state.

Uncle Bear's Gluten Free Pizza!

(Published On 9/28/08 on the Endless Possibilities Blog)

I went to Uncle Bear’s to try their gluten free pizza! They have a thin crust pizza with a variety of toppings. Ordered a cheese, mushroom and black olive pizza and it was really good! I haven’t had pizza since going gluten free; so it was great to not be disappointed on my first try!

Gelato 64!

(Originally posted on the Endless Possibilities Blog on 8/28/08)

My mom called me while she was on her way home from work. She wanted to know if after dinner I wanted to go to my favorite Asian market to get some rice noodles. I did, so I was getting Jacob ready to go while she made the commute home. We ate dinner and went to LeeLee's market.

While we were there, I wanted to pick up some miso soup since I had enjoyed some when I went out with Jared the last two times we had Sushi. Both, times I had gotten sick but I thought it wasn't related, since I am always vomiting. I looked at the ingredients and there was something in the soup with the name gluten..something. I don't remember the exact name. I just searched the web and it said that a lot of pre-made miso soups are not gluten free, so that may be why I got sick after eating it. Anyways, if you cant eat gluten, don't eat miso soup unless you know for sure what is in it!

LeeLee's is right next to my favorite places to get gelato. I love Gelato 64. It is yummy and they have my favorite flavor, hazelnut. I also love amaretto, which they have too. It was getting late, but I decided to make an exception and keep Jacob out past his bedtime. I don't take him for ice cream often and he was being so cute. Here are some pics from our outing:

With gelato on his face:


My mom feeding him :

Celebrating Grandma's 84th Birthday!

(Originally posted on the Endless Possibilities Blog on 7/26/08)

My Grandma's 84th birthday is on July 27th. She already has plans on her big day so we decided to go out tonight to celebrate. We went to Bobby's at Kirland Common's in Scottsdale.


We enjoyed a yummy dinner. A caution to anyone who has a wheat intolerance because they coat their fish in flour prior to cooking it. Luckily, I told them of my intolerance prior to ordering and I was able to enjoy my dinner with out getting sick

Grandma made a wish and blew out her candle.

Grandma with her perfume.

After dinner we decided to go up to the upper level. They have a bar area with live music. We took the elevator and my grandma got hit on! We were all laughing at it because it was so endearing! We later saw her Romeo dancing with his wife. This is the guy who was hitting on her:


The singer serenaded my sister. I captured it on video but for some reason the video feature on blogger wasn't working well tonight. So, here is a picture of it:



I think we all enjoyed tonight!