Tastings - Gluten-Free Friendly

I went to the Grapevine, Texas location of Tastings on Main Street this past week and had a phenomenal time. Of course, all wine is gluten free and they had several gluten-free items on the menu. They have a range of cheeses, salads and aged meats. Also, they were very accommodating and made sure that my salad was safe from croutons or crusts of bread.

I would suggest brining your own crackers if you would like some to go with your cheese.

Tandoor Chef - Tikka Masala

I came across this tasty frozen dinner at Whole Foods - a Chicken Tikka Masala by Tandoor Chef. While it doesn't have any ingredients listed as containing gluten it is made in a facility where wheat is processed. This was delicious, but it doesn't have any rice in it to soak up the sauce.

So, after you eat the chicken chunks out you basically have tomato yogurt soup. Which was good, but could've used something to sop it up like some tasty brown rice. They recommend eating it with Naan, which, of course, is not an option for us.

Martha Stewart pumpkin tart - de-glutened

Recently, I made the pumpkin tart on a chocolate crust from Martha Stewart's Oct. 2009 magazine. I simply subbed the cup of all purpose flour for a cup of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour and everything else stayed the same. It came out beautifully!

I didn't take my own pics, but this blog entry has the recipe and pics that look very similar to what I made.

The tart was a big hit with my guests and there were several surprised remarks of "This is gluten free?"

Genral Mills Fruit Snacks are gluten-free

I recently received a very generous package of Genral Mills Fruit Snacks to try. They were just as I remembered as a kid, quite sweet and tangy. While my tastes have changed, it's good to know these kid-friendly, grab-and-go treats are still available to the gluten intolerant.

Easy, delicious gluten-free biscuit mix

This past weekend I whipped up a batch of these 1 2 3 Southern Glory Biscuits. They are delicious. At first, I was concerned because the dough was really wet, but I rolled it out carefully one biscuit at a time and used corn starch to keep the dough from sticking. They looked like little hockey pucks after I chilled them, but in the oven they baked up light and flaky. Well, as light and flaky as possible considering they are gluten-free.

Still, two gluten-eating friends sampled them and also found them quite yummy. I froze most of them and have eaten one thawed biscuit and it was good as well! This is a very exciting resource to have in the pantry. I got mine at the Bedford Kroger.

Wild Grape Bistro in Salt Lake City

This past weekend I feasted at the Wild Grape Bistro in Salt Lake City. I had found it listed as gluten-free friendly on Urbanspoon.com so I went to check it out. The food was fantastic and my server really worked with me to make sure everything was safe.

They have a good variety of dishes, all of them very flavorful. The gluten-eaters at the table enjoyed their food as well.

Aunt Gussie's Gluten-Free Cookies

These cookies are good enough to write home about, hence the post. I picked up a box of the chocolate spritz cookies in a local market in Durango, CO. I shared them with some gluten eaters and they agreed they were quite tasty. In addition to being gluten free, they are all natural with no trans fat. You get a whopping 3 cookies for 140 calories and they were very satisfying.