Beef and Rice Medley

As I've said before when I cook I rarely use recipes. I cook like my mom and my grandma using whatever I have on hand and usually don't measure ingredients. I didn't really know what to make for dinner last night, just that it needed to be something warm. When we start to get bored or I want to find something new then I turn to recipes. I went to allrecipes.com and clicked on Healthy Cooking. I noticed they had a section for Gluten-Free Recipes as well as other dietary needs. Normally I just try to adapt recipes but this will be a convenient way to search for new gluten-free recipes.

This Beef and Rice Medley recipe stood out because we had the ingredients and it looked simple. I was worried that Matt wouldn't like the diced tomatoes. After dinner he said it would have been better without onions, he's getting used to tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 cube beef bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) package mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Place ground beef and onion in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain excess fat. Stir in water and rice. Season with beef bouillon and black pepper. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Stir in diced tomatoes and green peppers. Simmer another 10 minutes, until green pepper is tender. Sprinkle top with cheese.

Since I have a difficult time making a recipe just as it is I did add some garlic and parsley to it as well.

Look for other gluten-free recipes on The Gluten-Free Homemaker, What's For Dinner Wednesday.

LA Gluten-Free Food Examiner

I always try to keep my eyes open for new gluten-free resources. Allison Hecht is the LA Gluten-Free Food Examiner. She writes about topics to help make life "tasty and affordable" for people with food allergies. Obviously her focus is more in the Southern California area although many of the topics apply to others as well. Even if you don't live in the LA area you'll still enjoy her recipes and product reviews. Check out the Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe she recently listed.

Michello's Restaurant Review

Nate and I have been trying to be good about not going out to eat too often. After reading on The Savvy Celiac that Michello's in Blaine, MN has a gluten-free menu we thought we had to check it out. Michello's is about 2 miles from our house and has gluten-free pizza and pasta. Would we actually have a convenient location for gluten-free pizza?

We were really impressed with the number of choices on the gluten-free menu. Since gluten-free lasagna is so rare to find in restaurants we had to try it. Michello's gluten-free lasagna is the same recipe as their regular lasagna except for the rice noodles. All of their sauces are made from scratch.

The lasagna and other pastas are served with garlic bread. The garlic bread was good but not great, something you could easily make at home with store bought bread. They are working on their own recipe for garlic bread.

Nate is never one to pass up gluten-free pizza so we decided to share a pepperoni and sausage pizza. At Michello's they make their own pizza crust. The ingredients are listed on the menu which is nice for those with other allergens. I'm pretty impressed that they take the time to make their own crust. They also add toppings in a dedicated area to help eliminate cross contact.

They brought out a piece of chocolate cake and asked if they could get our opinion on it. This might be the first time that Nate and I shared a piece of cake at a restaurant. Usually if they offer a gluten-free cake it is a flourless chocolate cake which are too rich for his taste. We both really enjoyed the cake. Nate said it reminded him of one his Grandma would make which is a pretty nice compliment seeing as she's been baking gluten-free for almost 30 years now. They are working on their carrot cake recipe as well.

I am definitely worried about the damage to my wallet and waistline with this being so convenient for us.

Bunky's Cafe

The other day I heard that Bunky's Cafe in Madison, Wisconsin will make almost anything gluten-free. We don't make it to Madison very often although, my mother-in-law Ann takes the girls there often for doctor appointments and to run errands.

I had to check this out for them and Teresa informed me "Our whole menu is or can be made GF (with the exception of the ravioli)." When I told my sister-in-law Becca about it she was a little disappointed because she wanted ravioli. I don't think she'll be too disappointed considering they have gluten-free pizza, pasta, garlic bread and desserts. I don't think I'll need to twist their arms very much to get them to try it and let us know what they think.

Note they are not open on Mondays so try to plan around that. They also have many vegetarian and vegan options available.

Valentine's Day Dinner at Cafe Agri

This Valentine's Day Cafe Agri in Minneapolis is offering a set menu for two for $50.

The gluten-free dinner for 2 includes:
Smoked Trout stuffed beet appetizer
Wild mushroom risotto
Loving gluten-free cookie plate
Any bottle of wine

Call ahead to make your reservations.
Cafe Agri
4300 Bryant Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55409
612.822.3101

GF Valentine's Day Treats

We can barely go to St. Paul without stopping at Cooqi for a treat. Can you blame us? How yummy does this cupcake look?

This year for Valentine's Day they are offering some fun gluten-free treats for your sweetheart. These treats include a personal box of chocolates, chocolate lollipops and sweetheart cupcakes. After my sweetheart reads this he'll probably try to find an excuse for us to go to St. Paul.

If you purchase a ½ dozen or more of any item they will gift-wrap it for free from now through February 14th.

Simply Gluten Free Specialty Grocery

Are you looking for a one stop gluten-free shop? If you live near Thousand Oaks, CA you are in luck.

Simply Gluten Free is a specialty grocery store where you can shop online for gluten-free products. This past Saturday they opened a store in Thousand Oaks, CA. They offer a variety of products to help make gluten-free shopping easier. I particularly like the "Just Diagnosed" Gift Baskets.

Simply Gluten Free
Specialty Grocery
1321 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. #A108
Thousand Oaks, Ca 91362Store

Store Hours:
Tues. & Wed. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thurs. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Fri. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
(Closed Sun. & Mon.)

The Old Spaghetti Factory

The other day was my sister Katie's birthday so we went out to celebrate at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Our meals were fine, nothing special and the service was a little slow - although I felt bad because he was trying very hard. All meals come with bread (not gluten-free), soup or salad, a beverage (excluding pop) and ice cream.

When they brought out our meals they told Nate his would be a bit longer because after they made his they realized they made him the regular gluten meal. I was annoyed with this but glad they noticed it and were fixing it. At least he had a salad so he wasn't starving and his meal came out about two minutes later. Their creamy pesto salad dressing is very good and the spumoni was a fun treat.

Pros: gluten-free menu, meal price includes soup or salad, beverage and dessert
Cons: slow service, okay food, they almost forgot to make his gluten-free

ZPizza Restaurant Review

After reading Katie's blog I told Nate there was another place with gluten-free pizza. Since ZPizza has a location close to us he decided we just had to try it. All I have to say is their pizza is Amazing!

We ordered the American and Mexican to share. Both pizzas tasted like the perfect balance of everything. ZPizza definitely uses fresh quality ingredients. Thanks again Katie for posting about this.

American

Mexican

ZPizza has locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Call ahead to make sure your location offers the gluten-free pizza or request they carry it.

Laura's Wholesome Junk Food Product Review

A little while ago Nate and I tried Charlotte's Chocolate Chip cookies by Laura's Wholesome Junk Food. They are a nice snack when I'm craving something sweet but I don't feel guilty afterwards. I told myself that I should eat them because Nate probably doesn't care for them since they contain coconut. So I was surprised that he actually like them.

Don't expect them to taste like a "normal" chocolate chip cookie. You'll get a wholesome cookie sweetened with natural juices. We are addicted to them now.

Laura's Wholesome Junk Food has some other gluten-free cookies including:
Sally's Raisin
Better Brownie
Cole's Cashew Chocolate Chip

Check out Dr. Laura's interesting story on how the company got started.

Gluten-Free Fest at Fresh & Natural Foods

Do you want to try new gluten-free products but worry you won't like them and it will be a waste of money? Fresh and Natural Foods has some Gluten-Free Fests coming up in the next couple of weeks. If you live in the area it is a nice chance to try some new gluten-free products.

Saturday, January 31st 11:00am-3:00pm
Four Seasons Mall
4234 Lancaster Lane
Plymouth, MN 55441
or
Plaza 94 Shopping Center
1701 Ward Avenue, Suite 200
Hudson, WI 54016

Saturday, February 7th 11:00am-3:00pm
Shoreview Village Mall
1075 West Highway 96
Shoreview, MN 55126

Pizza Fusion has Gluten-Free Pizza

Pizza Fusion is the pizza place for everyone and prides itself on being environmentally friendly. Pizza Fusion offers gluten-free pizza crust, beer and brownies. They also have options for those who are vegan, vegetarian or lactose intolerant.

Pizza Fusion is very conscious of being earth friendly. These are just some of their environmentally friendly action items:

• Disposable silverware decomposes in 50 days
• Customers receive a discount for returning pizza boxes to be recycled
• Pizza is delivered in company hybrid cars
• My favorite, the counter tops are made from recycled detergent bottles

Unfortunately we don't have a Pizza Fusion near us. They have many locations across the country including Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle with more coming soon.

Marissa - They are opening one in LA!

Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas

I have been looking for a gluten-free wrap to mix up our lunches a bit. We bought some of the Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas. I brought one for lunch the first day and it was very brittle which made it difficult to eat. If I remember correctly the package says they recommend to heat them up. The second day I brought them I tried heating them up. They were still falling apart. We finally gave up on making them work and are on the search for a different sandwhich wrap.

I had higher expectations.

Strongbow Cider

Saturday night Katie and I dropped Christi off to work at the Swarm game. (The Swarm is Minnesota's professional lacrosse team.) Katie and I had some time before the game so we stopped at The Liffey to waste some time. I ordered a Finnegans to do my part and support the community. (Finnegans is not gluten-free but they donate profits to support local charities.) After we ordered Katie noticed that The Liffey has Strongbow Cider on tap. I like Strongbow because it is a dry cider and not as sweet as some of the other ciders out there.

The Nook in St. Paul carries Strongbow in the can.

Starbucks wants your help

Starbucks has a website called My Starbucks Idea where you can give suggestions and help shape current projects they are working on. Currently they are working on adding more gluten-free options to their menu and they want your help. Let them know what gluten-free items you would like to see offered at Starbucks. Here are some questions they have for you.

• What specific gluten-free products would you like to see in our stores?
• Would you prefer to see it individually packaged or unpackaged?
• How would you like to learn we have gluten-free products? For example, would you like to see it on a sign or would you prefer the barista tell you?
• Where would you like to see gluten-free products in the store; in the pastry case or placed elsewhere?
• The ingredient costs of gluten-free products tend to be higher, so would you understand if we charged more for the gluten-free version?

Click here to leave a comment for Starbucks.