Pacific Sustainable Seafood - Cod

So incredibly delicious. Crunchy outside, perfect flaky cod inside. Yum yum yum

Followed the instructions perfectly and it rewarded me with an incredible dinner. 

Found at Wegmans for $4.99 for 8 small pieces of fish but it was more than a filling dinner. I will keep stock of this now. So good. 

Cappello’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I have tried a few gluten free gnocchi, although it is something I had never eaten when I ate gluten. So I honestly don’t know what gnocchi should be like but I really like this one.

I followed the instructions exactly including the sautéing in oil in a pan after boiling and that probably helped me like them.

They were substantial and I enjoyed the sweet potato flavor. I did have some tomato sauce on the side and I liked these both with sauce and plain. 

I don’t know if I would spend $6.99 for two servings again but I might. Overall I’m impressed with the  Cappello’s items I’ve had recently. What have you found, tried and liked? 

Manini’s Four Cheese Ravioli

 I love ravioli. I’ve eaten a lot of gluten free ravioli. This is by far my favorite gluten ravioli I’ve had in the past 20 years. 

Great ratio of pasta to cheese. Well flavored cheese. Not salty. Not slimy. Didn’t explode when I cut into a ravioli, held its shape and stayed together on the fork each time. Didn’t stick together in the colander after draining! 

It’s two servings and only 250 calories per serving. That’s incredible! 

I found this at Wegmans in the gluten free frozen section. It was $6.99 and I would most definitely pay that for this ravioli. Soooo delicious. I wish actually that I had leftovers. Lol  

Odd Bagel - Plain

I have seen Odd Bagels reviewed many places but I never tried them. Well this time there was free shipping for 2 packs or more, so I decided to order. I ordered Plain, Sesame and Cinnamon Raisin.

They have been described as New York bagels. Now I am really a Philly bagel gal but I know what a NY bagel should be. And this is pretty darn close.

It has heft to it. It smelled divine. It looked like a NY bagel.

One bite and I was back in NY eating bagels with my family on a trip.

Slightly thick outside but chewy, airy, soft inside.

Delicious! Highly recommend.

Schar Snacker Thins

Very good, not as good as the Schar Entertainment Crackers I've written about but good.

A little messier and thinner/lighter which I don’t mind but I couldn’t get the Entertainment Crackers out of my mind when I ate these. Maybe if I had these first?

Again one of my favorite things for these crackers is the individual package for the crackers. I just really like being able to take just a pack for lunch or sitting watching TV.

Try them. Compare them to the Entertainment Crackers and let me know which you like better.

Josie’s Best Gluten Free Crepe Mix

The last Josie’s Best mix that I had is The Crepe mix. It was actually the one I wanted to try the most but it is also the one I knew the least about making. 

I thought I followed the directions for cooking the crepes but apparently I didn’t follow something or understand something.

This is not a crepe. 

I will be honest, I got very frustrated with myself and my lack of crepe making skill and I gave up.

I did write to both Josie’s Best and Alexis Gluten Free Adventures for some tips.

Both got back to me with more information including a video of how to make the crepes from Josie.

The video was a huge help but I was still gun shy to go back and try again.

I promise I will make these, I just need a moment.

In no way is my frustration a negative for the mix as it was very easy to make and looked perfect.

I just need patience and more time to learn how to make the crepe. It was all operator error.

Josie’s Best Gluten Free Waffle Mix

It was a Josie’s Best mix weekend. Next up The Waffle mix. Simple instructions, simple ingredients and simply delicious waffles.

Except for some operator error on timing for these waffles they were very yummy and easy to make.

If you do not bake these long enough they are rubbery when you take them out of the maker but they still taste good. Will try again, making sure to cook them at least 10 minutes if not 12 minutes. At least that would be the timing in my waffle iron. But I love the ease of this mix.

Josie’s Best Gluten Free Pancake Mix

Next up from my variety pack purchase of Josie’s Best mixes is The Pancake mix.

I have a love/hate relationship with making pancakes. I usually HATE making them. There are various reasons for this but mostly the mixes I’ve tried have caused me problems. Too thick or too thin or too lumpy or too watery. Well, we have a Goldilocks winner here. This mix was juuuuust right. I mean it.

I followed the one cup directions perfectly, including the optional vanilla. It stated if you let it sit, it would get thicker ... and it really did. I feel this is the first time ever that the directions matched what I saw as the completed product.

Aren’t they beautiful. Too bad you can’t taste or smell them through the internet. Soooo good. 

I even added blueberries to the second half. 

I can’t recommend this mix enough. Simple, easy, tasty, what more could I ask for.

Thank you Josie’s Best for my Goldilocks pancake mix. Juuuust right!

Josie’s Best Gluten Free Muffins and More Mix - Dutch Baby

Again Alexis Gluten Free Adventures has posted many times about these mixes and in particular making a Dutch Baby or German Pancake. I have never heard of it before but it looked yummy and didn’t look hard to make. So I ordered the variety pack of Josie’s mixes and then made a Dutch Baby.

There is also a waffle mix, pancake mix and crepe mix.

As I use them I will post about them.

I decided to add blueberries to half of the mix as I had some to use up and I was also curious how it would taste.

It was fun to watch this bake.

Ooooo look at it all puffy!

It stayed that way for a little it once it was out.

Look how pretty.

And it was very tasty too. A little more moist than I though it would be.

It really reminded me of funnel cake minus the funneling :)

The recipe calls for powdered sugar and lemon. We had the sugar but no lemon... well not really.

The blueberries were ok in it. I much more enjoyed that we put Blueberry Lemon jam on it that we just happened to have in the pantry.

There is something about the lemon that really made the flavor different and more enjoyable.

I would make it again but I am not sure it will become a regular item.

The mix, though, was easy to use and the recipe was easy to follow.

I do highly recommend these mixes as they are minimal ingredients and allergens.

She is great to follow on Instagram as she interacts well and offers advice on options for the recipes.

Hollywood Brown Derby a Walt Disney World

The main reason for our February trip to Walt Disney World was to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and to eat at our honeymoon and 10th anniversary restaurant, Hollywood Brown Derby. It is one of our favorites and we always have wonderful service and amazing food here. This time was no different. We ended up splitting appetizers and desserts this time, instead of getting large meals and it was perfect.

Pan-seared Sea Scallops with Roasted Pork Belly - it was a little too spicy for me but the scallop was really good.

Deanna gluten free rolls with salted butter. I could have just had this for dinner :)

Their famous chef salad. So fresh, crisp and tasty.

Hubby had Curried Butternut Squash Soup - too hot for me but he really enjoyed it and would have it again.

I decided to get the special sweet drink, Malibu Beach, the only one without soda in it and it happen to come with a light up ice cube. Silly but fun. Honestly the drink was way too sweet and even though I could get a refill, I did not.

Sorbet with fruit.

Something neither one of us remembers the name but it was good, especially the whipped cream.

As I said this is always a favorite of ours and it is our honeymoon dinner so it has personal meaning to us. We did have an amazing server and service.

The only downfall, is that they changed their dining room set up and we ended up basically eating with someone else, so the romantic nature of our meal was definitely hindered. At least he was very nice, if not too talkative, and finished before us so had a little alone time to reminisce about previous trips to celebrate our anniversary. Until 2025!

Snacks at Walt Disney World

Oh how we love our snacks at Walt Disney World. Our February trip had us seeking out L'Artisan des Glaces in the France Pavilion of Epcot World Showcase. Alexis’s Gluten Free Adventures wrote about these and it was now my mission to find them and try them.

Macaron ice cream sandwiches!

Strawberries and cream was the flavor of the day and I have no words good enough to describe how incredible these were. The macaron was crunchy, airy and so tasty. The ice cream was strawberry and vanilla and it was creamy and sweet. I could have eaten a dozen of them and I am definitely glad we didn’t share one of these ;)

Later we went to find the Maple popcorn at the Canada Pavilion in Epcot.

It was a chilly night so this really hit the spot. It smelled soooo good and tasted just as good too.

The next day, we got one of my favorite treats. 

This always hits the spot and I make sure to get at least one each time we visit.

Our last night we were determined to get more fresh popped popcorn.

Unfortunately (for our want of fresh popped popcorn) we ended up staying in Star Wars Land until after closing and missed out. It was definitely worth it though since we got to ride Smuggler’s Run with only a 20 minute wait, photos with no one else in them by the Millennium Falcon and an invite into Oga’s Cantina with no wait and we got a table!!

Anyway, back to the popcorn...So we got the next best thing from our hotel gift shop. And even though we really wanted plain popcorn, this kettle corn flavor was perfection. It was neither too sugary nor too salty. True Disney magic but once again.

Sanaa Animal Kingdom Lodge Walt Disney World

I am not an adventurous eater. Well I wasn’t. I have gotten better in the past few years. Sanaa is not a place I would have gone to 5 years ago for sure. But I was willing to try some new things this time in Disney World and it went on the list. We could not make a reservation for the day and time we wanted so we decided to try and just walk-in.

We headed to the lodge well before sunset and checked in at the desk. A wonderful woman helped us and I told her that we would love a window table, that we were gluten free, that it was our first time at Sanaa and also our 20th wedding anniversary, which she could see from our pins. I thought I would lay it all out there and see what happens.

More Disney magic for us!! She told us she could have a window seat ready for us in about 20 minutes. YES!!!

We went to check out the animals from the walk out off the lobby and waited for her to text us. Apparently we were so into the animals that we missed her text and she came to get us. She laughed and said it wasn’t the first time she has had to do this.

She walks us to our table and not only was it a window table, I would gather it is the BEST window table in the place. Smack dab in the middle of everything. And sunset would be coming - mind you we were facing east but we knew the colors could be awesome anyway.

Our server was fantastic and she was training someone new who was also just a joy. They interacted with us over everything from the animals outside, to the gluten free food choices to being from our area in Pennsylvania.

Ok on to the food. We ordered the gluten free Naan bread service with a nine spreads and we forgot to do our sharing meal and we each ordered a meal. In retrospect I would not do that again. One it was too much food and two we had no room for dessert and I really wanted to try their desserts. Oh well, we will just have to go back again. Although I would still get the gluten free Naan bread service and then split a meal... or just skip the meal and just get dessert :)

I found the menu a little confusing so our server had her work cut out for her.

Our server told us that the Butter Chicken with Aloo Masala and Basmati Rice I wanted wasn’t hot at all, in fact it was on the children’s menu. I was happy to hear that as I am not a fan of spicy hot food. Well I don’t know what children eat here but my dinner was spicy hot, NOT terribly so but my tongue was dancing :) But it was also DELICIOUS! I would definitely order this meal again but be better prepared for the spice.

Hubby had the Mozambique Chicken, which is Roast Piri Half Chicken with Sweet Yam and Roasted Vegetable Hash and it was amazing. The flavor from the outside of the chicken somehow soaked all the way through the piece of chicken and it was divine.

We saw tons of animals

 and we saw the sunset in the clouds and reflecting in the hotel room windows across from the dining area. It was so amazing that hubby did run outside to try and get photos but he was still not facing the right way to capture it.

So not only did Sanaa have it’s own Disney magic to offer us, the food was incredible, the service impeccable and the view was heavenly. I doubt we could ever match this situation again but we will be back for more Naan and to try dessert.