Tag Archives: Gluten-free

How much gluten did I eat at Zoup! (?)

Posted on September 1, 2011 | 4 comments

Yesterday after work I had a doctor’s appointment, and knew that if I didn’t eat anything beforehand I would be one grumpy patient. Since I happen to work in the gf food desert that is downtown DC, I was struggling to come up with an option close to my office.

When I saw Zoup! I figured I would stop in and see if they had any gluten free soups on the menu. I used to love Zoup! (even if I do think it’s a little silly for them to have an exclamation point at the end of their name) because they always had unique flavors, and a cup of soup and hunk of break could fill me up for lunch. Now, of course, the situation is a bit different.

I asked the very nice man behind the counter if he could tell me what soups were gluten free that day. They already label their menu with DF (dairy free) and V (vegetarian) so it seems like they would be aware of which soups were also GF (gluten free).

He said the only one on the menu that day was the vegetarian split pea (with what sounded like certainty), which didn’t sound all that great to me, but after trying a sample I decided to get it anyway.

But then later in the night I looked at their gluten free menu on their website – the split pea is not on there!

Bleh! Hidden gluten and misleading workers have done it again.

Luckily I’m not feeling awful, just tired and crampy, they probably only use a trace amount in that soup. Considering this experience, and the fact that it cost me $6.25 for a small soup and these gluten free veggie chips, I don’t think I’ll be back to Zoup! any time soon.

I sent a message to Zoup! on Twitter asking them to put a GF label on their in-store menus like they have for vegetarian and dairy free soup. But they just replied sending me back to the gluten free menu on their website. Which is great to have, but not when you’re in the store and your phone is dead and the staff gives you the wrong information.

Sigh… Next time I’ll be more careful. Or make my own darned soup. No exclamation point 🙂

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Yes! Organic Market

Posted on August 30, 2011 | 1 comment

I’m already a fan of the Yes! Organic Market by my apartment in Cleveland Park. It’s small, but has reasonable prices and is great for picking up things that I can’t get at Whole Foods (things that will melt or are too heavy to carry).

After all the hype about the hurricane, and a long lazy Saturday, I needed to get out of my apartment in a bad way. So I ran. Then I went to yoga. Then I walked about six miles. So when I saw the Yes! Organic Market on 14th Street I figured I would stop in for a potential snack and to see if it was different from the Cleveland Park location.

It’s not only different, it’s about 300% better. Give or take.

It’s bigger, has a full wine section (with a sample table), and way more produce. The best part though? The gluten free baked goods.

I was particularly intrigued by Merry’s Miracle Tarts (they had chocolate-mint, and a lemon one as well).

And these chunky chocolate brownies from Frankly Natural Bakers.

Then I noticed that they had a whole shelf full of Katz’s products, including chocolate cupcakes, cookies, apricot tarts, and these vanilla and chocolate rugelech.

They also had a full freezer section with baguettes, breads, and this Against the Grain Gourmet pizza with nut-free pesto that I haven’t seen before.

So what did I buy? Nothing.

I panicked from the amount of choices, grabbed some Jojoba oil, and called it a day. I’ll have to go back when I actually need something, because that place has it all.

Have you tried any of these products? Let me know what you think!

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Appam at Indique

Posted on August 27, 2011 | 3 comments

Thursday was Ladies Night at All Fired Up in Cleveland Park, so a few friends and I spent the evening painting, drinking wine (it’s BYOB), and chatting.

But all that painting had us hungry, and my friend was craving Indian food, so we headed across the street to Indique. There was something on the menu that I’d never tried before: appam.

Their menu says that they are “hoppers, soft centered spongy rice breads made of fermented rice. It is traditionally served with Ishtew (Stew) made with coconut milk and meat or vegetables.”

I confirmed with the waiter that they were gluten free, and ordered one with vegetable stew. I’m always up for trying something new!

When it first arrived at the table, I was a little surprised at how it looked. Kind of like a wet thin frisbee. Ok, that doesn’t sound that appetizing, but it was just flatter than I expected.

The vegetable stew had peas, potatoes,and onions in it with a coconut milk/curry broth. If I could have done it over though, I would have ordered something more flavorful like Bringal Bartha to go with it, since the appam itself doesn’t have a ton of flavor.

The best part of the bread was the middle, where it had a bit of a crust on it, and was thicker than the outside. The texture was like a thin, spongy tortilla. Not sure if I would say that you have to run out and try it, but it was nice to be able to have something more than just rice. Especially when there’s all of that delicious smelling garlic naan around the restaurant.

Or you can try to make them yourself, using this recipe from Gluten-Free Cat. She is way more dedicated than I am to trying new recipes. I stop even reading after the first direction is “soak raw rice for three hours”.

Indique
3512 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC

Now it’s time to batten down the hatches for the hurricane! At least I still have some of my snack mix from El’s Kitchen to nosh on, plus three Indiana Jones movies to keep me entertained.

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Chocolate in all forms

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 2 comments

There are some times of the month when I swear I can eat chocolate at every meal. While I could definitely put down a pint of Haagen Dazs every night, I try to find healthier ways to control my cravings.

Chocolate ZICO coconut water

When I first heard that ZICO was coming out with a chocolate coconut water I thought – blech! That cannot possibly be good. I’ve tried the other flavored varieties before and they are way too sugary or taste odd to me. So I stuck to plain.

This stuff tastes almost exactly like chocolate milk. Or at least Yoohoo.

Plus it’s only 110 calories for a big bottle, and since it’s so yummy I can take a few sips and put it back in the fridge, unlike plain coconut water which I basically chug so fast I give myself the hiccups.

I need to order a case of this right away.

(source)

Lindt chocolate with a hint of sea salt

I had seen some rave reviews of this chocolate on other blogs, but I’m not usually one to just buy a big honkin car of chocolate from the store. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.

At first it tastes just like a good piece of dark chocolate, but then, when you get a little rock of salt it causes this little flavor burst that’s so cool! It basically amplifies the effect that you get when you add salt to sweet chocolate chip cookies.

Luna chocolate-peanut butter protein bars

When I was at Target the other day, I picked up a box of these and noticed that they are now labeled gluten free. I guess they just started labeling them, which is great because it clearly differentiates them from the normal Luna bars, which are not gf because of the oats.

“Our ingredient suppliers have confirmed that all ingredients are gluten free, so they contain no gluten from wheat, rye or barley. The location where we make our food is capable of making a gluten free food and we test our finished products to confirm that they are gluten free.” (source)

I can’t say that these taste all that great. They’re protein bars, so, they taste like protein bars. But, half of one out of the freezer works for me if I have a sweet tooth after lunch.

And when all else fails, I can always turn to…

Skinny Cow Chocolate Truffle bars. Because they taste like creamy frozen pudding.  Also, their website is confusing because it says “Does not contain” and then in the list it says “gluten free”. So it does not contain gluten free? Hmm…

Either way, they are gluten free and I can eat a box in two days. Or one day, or one hour.

So, there you have it. Some slightly healthier options for when you feel the need to have a constant stream of chocolate in your diet.

Do you have any other healthy gf chocolate dessert options?

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El’s Gluten Free Snacks: Bagel Chips and “Medleys”

Posted on August 24, 2011 | 2 comments

Apparently El’s Kitchen has been all over the place lately getting the word out about their gluten free bagel chips and Gardetto-like snack mix called “Medleys”. I saw a giveaway on Gluten Free is Life yesterday, as well as a review from Gluten Free and the City. Maybe they’re looking to build out their testimonials section?

Well, I’m happy to help! They were so nice to offer to send me a sample bag of each as well.

When they arrived in my mailbox I immediately ripped them open and dumped them on a plate to see what was inside.

Bagel chips on the bottom, Medleys on the top

This is not your average snack mix, people.

The Medleys mix was so interesting and fun!

There were corn nuts, which I don’t even remember eating before, and now I don’t know how they were absent from my life for 24 years. So yummy! Like edible popcorn kernels mixed with a nut. Plus there were these potato cracker/chip pieces that were ultra crunchy and had ridges on them. And to round it out, there were little Frito-like corn chips.

All covered in delicious spicy coating of Worcestershire, honey, paprika, cumin, and a bunch of other ingredients.

The bagel chips are really crunchy and thin, but I was dying to dip them into something. So I pulled out some smoked salmon dip from Whole Foods and got to it.

And that is the bagel chips’ natural state. SO good with the dip. They’re so crunchy that they didn’t break when I loaded it up with dip.

But, I didn’t stop there.

Last night I decided that they needed to go on top of soup. I used to get soup at Bruegger’s Bagels and use their bagel chips to dunk in my soup. Those were thick, and still a bit hard to gnaw on after they waded in the soup for awhile (in a good way).

Doesn’t that homemade roasted corn and poblano chowder look good?

Oh, who am I kidding? I bought one of those pre-made quarts of soup from Whole Foods. I did add in fresh broccoli, yellow squash, and a salmon fillet. That has to count for something, right?

Kind of like I remember. I think that if I’m truly going to get the Bruegger’s effect, I’ll need to make my own really thick bagel chips from gf bagels at some point.

Still, they made a pretty great topper. I think I still prefer them with that smoked salmon dip. Yummmm

El’s doesn’t sell their products in DC yet, so you’ll have to buy them online. Or check if they have them in your area on their website. They would make a great gift for your gluten free BFF too, since it’s a specialty product that you won’t be able to recreate.

I think we can safely say that El’s owns the market in gf bagel chips and snack mix. Crunch away!

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DC Pizza News

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

I think that a  certain part of my brain is devoted exclusively to pizza. I’m always on the lookout for new gf pizza places to try, as well as opportunities to make my own and share it, since everyone usually marvels at how good the gf pizza crust is.

So here’s some DC pizza-related news.

Homemade Pizza Co is now going to be serving gluten free pizza. This place has a pretty great business plan, where they make the pizza for you, but you bake it at home. I haven’t gone into an actual store, even though I pass the one on 14th St. and Church all the time. You can also order online (make sure you choose the medium crust option). I built one with BBQ sauce and four toppings and it came to $20.10. Ouch : /

The District of Pi is opening a brick and mortar store in 9 days on F St., which is described in Thrillist as a “skylit, chandelier-laden pizza haven with a huge, indoor faux-veranda and 40ft of bar.

Last time I walked by they still had this sign up and construction going on, but I’m excited to go give it a try! They also have daiya vegan cheese and vegan meat substitutes on their menu (although those have gluten in them 95% of the time).

Now, this place is not to be confused with Pi Pizzeria in Adams Morgan. It’s easy to make the mistake, since District of Pi’s Facebook page is www.facebook.com/pipizzeria and their website looks exactly like the Pi Pizzeria sign. I made that mistake a few weeks ago and tried to order gf pizza there, which they don’t have. Embarrassing! The waitress did, however, inform me that they were thinking about starting to carry it in the near future. Which is great because their patio is really nice.

If you’re too lazy to get to Homemade Pizza Co. or District of Pi, then you can always just go to a pizza party!

I brought my own dough mix, my favorite Namaste one, but got to use all of these yummy toppings and homemade tomato sauce made by the lovely hostess.

Topped with broccoli, mushrooms, basil, yellow peppers, and caramelized onions.  Everyone at the party helped me finish the whole thing before we headed out and seemed to really like it! Although that could have been the wine talking…

Lesson learned: if you keep a steady stream of pizza in my hand, I’m a pretty happy girl.

See? Wine and pizza is really all it takes. And a few rounds of Cranium.

So far my favorite pizza (and hangover cure) in DC is from Open City, but there are still a few places I need to try. What is your favorite gluten free pizza in the District? 

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DC Restaurant Week: Art and Soul

Posted on August 22, 2011 | 3 comments

Last week was restaurant week in DC. I loved restaurant week in NYC because you could try out some of the city’s best eateries for just $35 for three courses. While it was sometimes difficult finding a menu with a gluten free option for each course, I got to try places like Mesa Grill and The Breslin for a fraction of the normal price.

So when I saw Art and Soul on the list of restaurants for DC’s restaurant week, I jumped at the chance to taste Art Smith’s menu. If you don’t know Art, he’s the hilarious Southern chef who was on Top Chef Masters. I checked out the restaurant week menu ahead of time, and was sold at “buttermilk-ricotta panacotta, macerated peaches, local honey”.

Everyone else started their meal with this lovely gluten-fest of bread.

I chose the soup as my first course – heirloom tomato, minus the breadcrumbs that usually come on top. It was a nice starter – there were really spicy peppers as the garnish, plus it was just so pretty.

One of my friends got the shrimp and grits, which I would have gotten, but I would have had to ask them to omit the andouille sausage, and I didn’t feel like making a fuss with every course. I told the waitress that I had a gluten allergy, but she wasn’t overly accomodating.

Doesn’t it look so yummy though? That’s pickled okra on top.

I originally wanted to get the flounder as my main course, but I wasn’t sure what was in the sauce, and I didn’t feel like pestering the waitress with more questions, so I got the “dirty rice”. Basically like a risotto with sauteed mushrooms on it. Again, it was good, but more of a side dish in my opinion than a main course.

For dessert they didn’t have the panacotta on the menu! Such a bummer.

I hate when my only option is sorbet or ice cream, it’s kind of torturous to watch everyone else indulge in bread pudding and chocolate tortes while you eat the same thing that’s on the kid’s menu.

I asked them to put on some whipped cream to make it a bit fancier.

All in all it was a run-of-the-mill dinner for me. My fabulous company made up for the small portions and utter lack of protein in my meal. The atmosphere is great there too, but the service…not so much. It seemed like they were not very happy that it was restaurant week, and were lowering their standards.

I still love you though, Art Smith. And even though this experience didn’t blow my mind, you are still a top chef in my book.

This dinner also reminded me what a difference having an understanding/enthusiastic server can have.  Have you ever made compromises on your dining decisions because of a server?

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Sweetbites food truck cupcake

Posted on August 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Fridays call for excessive desserts eating. As do most other days of the week. Yesterday I was determined to find the Sweetbites truck, after I tried to go on Thursday but they had already left Franklin Square. How cute is their truck? Sweetbites was at Farragut Square for Farragut Friday – a mass gathering of DC food trucks every Friday around lunch time. Sweetbites has eleven kinds of cupcakes on their menu, with one gluten free option. If I had a choice in the matter, I would have gotten the non-gf salty caramel flavor, but I gladly accepted the gluten free Madagascar vanilla and chocolate buttercream one. This was all kinds of sugary yumminess. Strong vanilla flavor, and ridiculously fluffy and creamy buttercream. The cake was really moist, but also kind of collapsed under the weight of the icing. Not in a bad way of course, since icing is a “the more the merrier” type of thing. I’m not the hugest fan of cupcakes, and often have lamented how DC seems to be in a rut where the only gf desserts offered anywhere are cupcakes. And I’m not opposed to throwing one out if it’s too dry or not impressing me, like I did at Sticky Fingers. But I gobbled this one up. I also was happy to see that Sweetbites keeps all of their cupcakes in tupperware containers to prevent cross contamination. Some of the trucks had huge lines, like the Red Hook Lobster Truck. They serve their lobster salad plain (or maybe on lettuce?) instead of on a roll, so I may try it for my next food truck adventure. Although a lobster roll is really one of those things that seems kind of depressing without the roll… :/ Food Truck Fiesta is a great site for seeing where DC food trucks are every day. For other food trucks with gluten free options, check out this list!  Although note that Curbside Cupcakes does not have a gluten free option, I got confirmation via Twitter.

Now off to The DC Scoop! Going to eat ice cream until I get brain freeze.

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My quinoa lunches

Posted on August 18, 2011 | 1 comment

Last week I threw a package of red quinoa into my basket at the grocery store without really thinking too hard about it. Then I got to the checkout and found out that it was $7.00! I got it anyway, since I figured it would last awhile and I could use it for my work lunches.

Quinoa is great because it’s so versatile, and can even be used in sweet dishes, like Cocomama breakfast cereal. It’s high in protein, fiber, B vitamins, folate, and magnesium. And who couldn’t use a little extra magnesium in their life? 😉

And boy did I use it. I managed to put together the strangest combinations of ingredients that I found in my fridge.

First up:

Quinoa with tuna salad, broccoli, carrots, and feta.

Then there was:

Quinoa with chick peas, cucumbers, carrots, feta, and parsley.

And today:

Quinoa with stir-fried tempeh, carrots, hummus, feta, and parsley

I think I need to take a break from this quinoa thing. I love it dearly, but I think I’ve had enough.

At least I got my $7.00 worth – I still have some of the package left!

Any ideas on how I can use the rest of this quinoa in a different way? I think I’m turning orange from all of these carrots…

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Soft shell crab at Ripple

Posted on August 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

After a long day of work yesterday, nothing sounded better than a glass of wine and french fries from Ripple in Cleveland Park.  I found out via Twitter that their fries are “100% gluten free and delicious”, as well as their soft shell crab (fried in tapioca flour).

While my girlfriends enjoyed these crazy breadstick things and some cheeses, I tried to make a decision between all of the yummy dishes on their menu.

I wanted one of everything, especially the roasted shrimp, heirloom tomato salad, and the bluefish (no quail for me, thankyouverymuch!).

But that crab was calling my name.

It came on top of green beans with some kind of crazy cumin marinade.

Guess the fries will have to wait until next time.

Afterward we needed something sweet to fuel our trip to the National Cathedral, so we hopped over to Cacao, where they had a nice selection of French macaroons.

An Americano and a vanilla one for me. Usually I go for the more exotic flavors, but this was really good.

I don’t know if there’s a soft shell crab “season”? Either way, I need more of it. Immediately. For every meal of the day.

The bartender at Ripple was really great and knowledgeable about the menu as well, which is always a plus. He said that on any night about 90% of their menu is gluten free (in yesterday’s case, everything but the gnocchi).

I think I’ve found my neighborhood wine bar 🙂

Ripple

3417 Connecticut Ave NW, DC

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