Most delicious black seedless grapes from Central Market

Recently I was in Central Market in Fort Worth and I bought some black, seedless grapes.  They were very, well, grapey.  They had much more of a taste than the standard red and green seedless grapes I get at most stores.  If you get a chance, grab a bunch before they're gone!

Gluten-Free cupcakes at Central Market

After everyone had reported back on the cupcakes at Central Market, I had to see and taste for myself!  Indeed, there are vanilla and chocolate cupcakes by French Meadow Bakery for sale in the frozen dessert section of Central Market in Fort Worth - and probably in the other stores as well.  I haven't checked.

They also have single slices of cake as well as an entire cake for sale.  You might want to call ahead, they had sold out of the whole cake tonight. 

The cupcakes come in a package of four and sell for $5.99.  The taste was above average and the convenience factor beyond compare.  I have to confess that I ate two tonight.  One frozen and one defrosted.  The other two are in my freezer.  The defrosting is definitely worth the wait.

Cupcake Confirmation - and a good GF outing

This is from the comments on the last cupcake post:

Lauren Melissari said...
French Meadow GF Yellow and Chocolate Cupcakes are sold at Central Market for $5.99!

I'll have to try one!

Also, I got this awesome post from blog reader Diane Shaw about a Gluten-Free Mother's day that went well.  I'm really impressed by their resourcefulness of calling ahead and warning the pizza place that they were bringing their own food.  I have shown up at restaurants with part or all of a meal, ordered a soda and a salad and tipped as if I have eaten a full meal and no one has ever been rude, but this sounds really nice.

My husband wanted to take us all out for Mother's Day, but we have the challenges of me being
a Celiac, 2 gluten intolerant daughters, one gluten intolerant grandchild and the rest can eat whatever they want. 

The other problem was everyone wanted to go to Grimaldis' Pizza at Watter's Creek in Allen for the atmosphere and the delectable pizza. 

We did the unthinkable and called and asked if our party of 10 came for dinner could we bring our homemade GF pizza for those who cannot eat their pizza. After a few minutes on hold
they said "Sure." 

We arrived 30 minutes later, they had our table ready and they were so gracious and kind to us. I think it is rare for a restaurant to allow you to bring food in and to be so kind about it. We will visit there again for sure.

Also, Cru wine bar at Watter's Creek was very aware of gluten issues as was PF Chang's. 

Unconfirmed rumor of Gluten-Free Cupcakes

There is a rumor that Central Market has been carrying fresh gluten-free cupcakes in their bakery section.  If anyone finds out if this is the case, let me know!

Gluten-free pasta served hot at Central Market

It took me a few tries and an achy belly to get this right.  However, I think I've got it all figured out.  At Central Market's pasta/pizza bar they have rice noodles and mung-bean noodles.  You can get them to make the curry dish or spaghetti with marinara sauce using these noodles, but the key is to ask them to warm the noodles in a separate pan.  Normally, the noodles are warmed in water cross-contaminated with wheat pasta.  Today, I figured out to ask for them to be heated separately and had a delicious spaghetti with baby bellas for about $8.

Gluten-Free potato pasta

Last night I tried out Nuovo's classic potato gnocchi.  It's only one of their many Gluten-Free products.  I just checked and looks like this is well-known in the GF community - if you judge by the blogs.  So, let me add my voice in saying that this is a nice, easy-to-prepare, tasty treat.  One warning, I had gobbled the whole package before noticing it is supposed to provide two servings at 250 calorie each.  Sigh.  At least it was filling!  On Nuovo's site, you can see a wide array of flavors and seasonings, but at Central Market on Hulen in Fort Worth where I bought mine, I only found the classic potato.

Hail Merry products are delicious, healthy and Gluten Free

A friend at work brought me a sample of Merry's Miracle Tart - Chocolate.  The Hail Merry products seem to be a fabulous blend of tastiness and nutrition - I haven't tried all of them, yet.  They are raw, gluten free, have no refined sugar and "No processed anything" according to the packaging.  The tart was decadent and fairly reasonable calorie-wise.  Half the tart was listed as a single serving and came in at 180 calories.  It was very rich and filling and I think most people would be content with half.

Give these guys a try - here's a link to where you can get them locally!

Pop Chips - Healthy and Gluten Free

Pop chips are quite tasty.  I was really disappointed when I realized I couldn't have most of the baked chips any more.  These taste tons better and are just as good for you if not better!  

The magic is they are popped with heat and pressure, not fried or baked.  Our local health-food stores like Central Market have trouble keeping them in stock!

Check the ingredients, not all of them are GF!

Central Market has Gluten-Free cooking classes

Central Market recently posted it's Fall cooking class schedule.  You can download it here.

They have a wide variety of classes, but one particularly interesting one is Gluten-Free Bking with Christine Llarraza on Wed. Sep. 3 from 6:30 - 9:00 PM at the Fort Worth location.

The description for the $60 class states:

"In this class designed to introduce you to the wonderful gluten-free products featured in our store, Chef Christine will demonstrate and you will sample: Chile Cornbread; Red Onion & Rosemary Pizza; Lemon Drizzle Loaf; Spiced Apple Scone Round; Basic Gluten-Free White Loaf; and Sticky Spiced Loaf."

Central Market also has Dallas and Southlake locations.