Feel Good Foods - Three Cheese Bites

 

I’ve read from a few people about how much they like these bites. It took awhile to find them but a Wegmans came through. 

I really wanted pizza tonight but I didn’t feel like eating a large amount of pizza. These were perfect! Amazing pizza taste but a simple and light meal. So very good.

There were 10 pieces in the box so it was 5 pieces each which was just right. I can’t believe it was cauliflower for the crust. I would never guess it. I liked the sauce and everything about these bites.

I definitely would buy these again without question. I wish I had more already. 

Banza Four Cheese Pizza

 

I won’t lie, I didn’t have high hopes for this pizza. But I’m tired of cauliflower crusts and I like chickpeas. 

I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t spectacular but it was not bad at all. I would most definitely buy it again. 

It was a little softer than I like for a crust but the taste was good overall. Good sauce and yummy cheese. We added some chicken and it was a good match. 

I did worry that it seemed too small for a pizza for two but it ended up working and not being over filling as bigger pizzas can be. And the size also makes the calories doable for half a pizza. 

This pizza was $8.99 at Wegmans and I had $1 back from Ibotta. It was worth this especially since frozen gluten free pizza prices have only increased through the past two years or so. There is a roasted veggie option that I would also like to try. 

Tell me of any other gluten free pizzas I should try that I haven’t written about yet. 

Tattooed Chef Cauliflower Crust Cheese Pizza

 

I decided to try this pizza when I needed to spend a certain amount of money in frozen foods at Giant. I believe it was $9.99 at the time. 

It was not bad but it wasn't great either. I wouldn't turn it down if it were offered to me but I don't think I will buy it again myself unless I need to spend the money and there is nothing else to try.

I think I'd rather gluten free "traditional" crust instead of cauliflower crust. I just seem to prefer the taste of "flour" crust than cauliflower. But again the pizza was good, just not great. It was crunchy which I like and it was a good size for two people to eat in one sitting.

It is worth a try if you are seeking different pizzas to try but if you have something you love, I am not sure this will beat it BUT everyone has different tastes.

California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza

Waaaay better than I thought it would be. It was on sale and I wanted to try it. Turns out it’s the first frozen pizza in awhile that had a crisp crust and you could hold a piece of pizza without it flopping over. 

It wasn’t too spicy and all of the flavors worked well together. The cheese was perfect. Nothing overwhelmed and the cauliflower taste was very mild if I even tasted it at times. 

The directions were spot on for my oven. I loved that it only needed 375 degrees to bake. All other pizzas I get are 400 plus. This was extra welcome for our 90 degree day.

 I really enjoyed this pizza. I will definitely buy it again.

Mama Melrose's Walt Disney World

I really wanted to eat at Mama Melrose's in Hollywood Studios but for some reason the day we chose to go, we could not do a walk in. The place looked empty but the girl swore there was no room. She advised us to try for a reservation same day as something might open up. So we stepped outside and after fighting with the app, we had a reservation for an hour later. We were starving so we went and got popcorn to hold us over.

It was worth the aggravation to eat here though and I would eat here again in a second! Excellent service, lots of options, great setting and wonderful food.

I got the strawberry lemonade and we had gluten free rolls to start, along with the Margherita Flatbread. We tried not to stuff ourselves but it was all so delicious.

Then we split the Wood-grilled Chicken and Penne Pasta with four cheese sauce. Soooo delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it now. It was a huge serving which I think they did because we were splitting it but if you were one person eating the serving we got you would be stuffed! Just the right amount of chicken and the cheese sauce was gooey and warm and cheeeeesy.

I have to say though the place never filled up, so I was still stumped as to why there were no walk ins being taken but it worked out for us and I was so happy and stuffed.

We didn't get dessert here because we were headed to Epcot for something special.

New Day Eatery - Port Angeles Washington

I have known about New Day Eatery for a few years now but have not been able to get there on my travels from Seattle to Forks. This year, though, the construction was on hold for the week I was there and so I made the easy decision to travel the 101 North and stop in Port Angeles.

New Day Eatery was bigger than I expected and very nice inside. The service was very good and everyone was very nice.

I mentioned I was gluten free and the server started to tell me that the menu was marked with GF for certain items but there were no markings in the menu and she realized that they must have printed new menus. That saddened me as those designations reduce the amount of questions you need to ask.
But I managed to only ask two questions: Was the grilled cheese able to be made gluten free? Could they put chicken on the cheese pizza?

Both answers were yes.

I ordered the grilled cheese with homemade potato chips for lunch and a cheese pizza with chicken to  go.

The grilled cheese was perfection. Hot, cheesy, buttery, the perfect amount of cheese and bread with some almost burnt parts and it was really oh so good. The potato chips were like kettle chips and they were still a little warm when they came out. I am so glad I ordered the grilled cheese and I would do so again in a heartbeat.

I was very excited for the pizza but it didn’t live up to my expectations. I am not sure if it was because I had to reheat it... and it definitely was not good cold at all.... or what the issue was. It was very dry, almost like there wasn’t enough sauce or the crust was too thick. I probably would not order it again or I would talk to them about it is made to see if there is a difference from other pizzas.

I hope I will get the chance to stop here again in my future travels to this area. I would like to try more of their menu... or just order the grilled cheese again :)

Smart Flour Cheese Pizza

So I had seen lots of people talking about Smart Flour Pizza. So I decided to try it.

I found this at Wegman’s and the price wasn’t too bad. I was hopeful it would be good.

It was good. It wasn’t great and I might buy it again if it were on sale. It definitely did not wow me and I was sad. I am always in search of yummy pizza. So far I think I might still choose Freschetta’s gluten free 4 cheese pizza but it is not a consistent liking.

There is certainly enough cheese and sauce and the crust is ok but nothing to special. 

Again pizza is very personal choice, so try it and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Greater Philly Gluten Free Expo 2019

This year my Mom and I headed to Oaks for the Gluten Free Expo.  It was held on Saturday May 18 10:30am until 4pm. We arrived just before 10:30 and had to stand in line but it was a lovely day and we met a nice family in line who I chatted with about all things gluten free.

Once inside my Mom was ready to go get everything but I had to calm her down and mention that I wanted to try and get a gluten free funnel cake this year. We missed out last year and I had been thinking about it every day since then. So we walked down to the food truck and found a line BUT not as long as I thought and not as long as it would become not too much longer after we got in it.

Our friends from the entrance line ended up two people behind us and we chatted some more, this time about our excitement for gluten free funnel cake. Also available at the truck were dounut holes, corn dogs and pizza. We heard nothing but rave reviews for all of it but couldn’t wait to have our own opinion in about 10 minutes after ordering I was holding my holy gluten free grail.

It was warm, light and absolutely delicious. I must have had mis-remembered thoughts on funnel cake because I really thought we could never eat the whole thing and not be so full we couldn’t eat the other samples but I was wrong. It was very light and it while a good size it was not overwhelming. I got teary as I thought how wonderful it was that I could eat this and someone took the time to figure out how to make it for us. I watched families with little children able to enjoy what everyone else was enjoying and it was just so heart warming.

Then we were off to try everything else. And everything else we did indeed try. Everyone was so nice and everything but one thing was delicious. We had Petit Pot pudding, cheesecake, three kinds of pizza, BBQ chicken (my favorite sample), Happy Mixer everything, Buddha bread (one of my favorites from last year), soft pretzels, and I think more than I can remember. No Promise Bread unfortunately as that would have been a large purchase if they were there again.

The one thing I definitely did not like was the Nomato Ketchup and Nomato Sauce. I was very hopeful that it would be good because I know a few people that can’t eat tomatoes so I thought this would be a nice change. I don’t even think I could guess what it actually tasted it like but it did not taste like tomato but it didn’t taste like the veggies that were in it either. So glad they had samples because I would have been very disappointed if I bought this and took it home.

We didn’t win any door prizes and while we bought some things it was way less than last year. There did seem to be less free samples to take home compared to last year also but honestly that was fine with me. Last year hubby and I ate way too much there and brought way too much home so I was good to be able to find places to put all our wares this year :)

Free Samples 

Coupons and Reading Materials 

Our purchased items

I highly recommend this expo if you are gluten free. It is only $10 and it is a great way to try some new things and learn all about celiac and gluten free. There are panels too throughout the day but I did not attend any. I hear they are very good.

It is just so amazing to look around the expo center and know I can eat everything in the building. A freeing time for sure.

Lastly I recommend that if you want anything from the food truck that you head there right away upon entering the expo or buy a VIP ticket and use it to be able to buy the food at the food truck. They sell out of things and the line at one point was taking 1.5 hours to get through. Now while I think it is I worth this wait I wouldn’t really want to wait that long and miss out on the other things. So prepare or divide and conquer if you are going with other people.

Oh and bring bags and in our case my Mom’s rollator was a HUGE help with said bags. You get a bag when you enter the expo but you mostly like will need more than that one bag :)

Arizona Christmas

So my family went to Phoenix Arizona for Christmas this year. I was very lucky as I was able to eat many delicious gluten free meals.

First up was the new gluten sensitive meals on American Airlines in first class! I had no idea what to expect for these meals and when I asked the flight attendant what the meal might be, she said usually eggs and potatoes. Well, she was right but it was so much more than that. The eggs were a delicious omelette and there was also an Udi’s blueberry muffin (one of my favorite gluten free items). The fruit was fresh and except for the tomatoes that were a too tough to eat, overheated I think, the meal was delicious. Very impressed and very happy to have a good breakfast on the plane.

We then ate at Fatburger our first night at Wild Horse Pass Casino and Hotel and while I was happy to have a gluten free bun for my turkey burger there was waaaaay too much cross contamination. It was sooo delicious though. Reminded me of a Big Mac from back in my gluten eating days. No photos.

Joe’s Farm Grill was my brother in law’s choice and it was an excellent one. They were wonderful at taking care of my requests and they work hard to avoid cross contamination. My turkey avocado burger was very yummy and very filling. They have a dedicated fryer for the French Fries and the salmon my husband had was perfectly cooked. All local and many items cultivated right on the site.

Next up was breakfast at the Sheraton at Wild Horse Pass at their restaurant Ko’sin. I can not rave enough about this place. From the eclectic menu, to our amazing server to having my own Herb Mornay sauce made just for me with cornstarch. I would have eaten here every day if I could. And I would have had the same breakfast each time. The Herb Mornay sauce was one the most wonderful things of any type of food I have ever tasted. Perfection

Barleen’s Opry Show was an unexpected surprise in that they had a very good gluten free option for their dinner show. Just tell the server when you arrive that you require a gluten free meal. You can get their beef with gluten free gravy but since I can’t have beef either, we had the extra chicken strips (grilled) and pork ribs (no sauce - you add your own). MMmmmmmm sooo good. And the show...incredible. This is a must do if you are in the area.

Vovomeena was another surprise for breakfast. While not explicitly gluten free, most of their menu was or could be made that way. I just had eggs and potatoes and they were exceptional. It is so true that local is better.

Organ Stop Pizza. Just what I said. Pizza with a Wurlitzer organ playing music while you eat. What a fantastic place! So much fun. And guess what? Their gluten free pizza is excellent. They actually have a crispy crust!! They make the pizza on the top of the oven so crumbs don’t fall on the pizza and they use all separate utensils and glove changes. They have a menu that you request at the cashier and then the ice cream area has the flavors marked GF. I also loved that they booked the pizza so that the bacon we had as a topping was sooo crispy. We liked the pizza so much, we ordered one to go. Be sure to add this to your list of to do when in the area. You won’t be sorry.

Christmas Eve brought our traditional Polish meal at All Pierogi. Again our server was incredible and she really made our meal even more special. Their dinner menu is marked with GF and they can make a few substitutions but it is not common. My pork meatballs were perfect and the tomato sauce was one of the best I have ever tasted. The mushed potato (yes, mushed) was creamy and tasted like butter and potato only. I added potato salad but would choose something else the next time, only because it wasn’t my favorite type of potato salad but I wanted to try it. It felt like Christmas Dinner’s of old and I wish we could go back every year.

Harrah’s Ak Chin Buffet was Christmas dinner and while a chef came out to tell me about the items on the Buffett, I was still kind of on my own to determine what would work and not. I found excellent choices and I was quite happy. As with all buffets cross contamination was an issue and in some cases it was worse than some other buffets I had been to but I was lucky to have no issues. No photos

Last was the gluten sensitive lunch on the plane ride home. This time the flight attendant did not know what the meal was going to be. Luckily it was some of my favorite items. Chicken, rice, green beans, salad and fruits. Absolutely delicious. They even offered gluten free crackers to replace the bread that’s was offered. I am very pleased with American Airlines and these gluten sensitive meals. I hope they keep up the good work and don’t go back to not serving these meals.

As you can see I did not starve on this trip. In fact I probably ate too much. I am very lucky to find great places to eat. Thanks to Find Me Gluten Free and the internet for offering help whenever I need it. If you know of any other places we should have tried in the area, please let me know.

Happy New Year!

Panago Pizza - Toronto Ontario Canada

I needed dinner tonight and was craving pizza (and leftovers). It was a hard search to find a gluten friendly place that was close by to my hotel. I luckily used google maps for what was near and clicked on Panago Pizza. The website has tons of info on their gluten sensitive crust. It is NOT a gluten free facility at all but I was lucky to watch him make my pizza. 

The crusts are maintained in a separate area and are not placed on the flour covered area. They are placed on separate trays and then put in the slide through oven. On the other side it is cut with a separate knife and placed in the box. I even saw the worker wash his hands between everything having to do with my pizza. 

Came back to my hotel room and dug in. 

Absolutely delicious. 

The crust was perfectly baked and the sauce and cheese was a perfect amount. I had grilled chicken added and accidentally extra tomatoes but I’m glad I did, they were delicious. It was the perfect temperature too and I have a good feeling this will be wonderful as left over pizza and good cold too. 

I recommend Panago Pizza if you don’t have Celiac. It was also a good price and size (medium only - 8 slices). 

Flatbread Gluten Free Pizza

I know I have had this pizza before and I wasn’t impressed that time.

So I am not sure if this time I had it, it was actually better or if I was just hungry or what it was.
But this time I really liked the pizza. It was a little chewy but I loved the flavor of the pizza.
It was very enjoyable. I wish there were a little more cheese on it but it still tasted good.

I mainly got it because I wanted pizza and it was on sale. I am not sure I would spend regular price on it but on sale I would try it again.

It is thin crust and where it was crunchy it was even better. I am not sure if the chewy was due to me, the oven or the pizza BUT the taste still overcame the chewy. I really liked the sauce, the cheese, the crust and I don’t usually care about basil but all together this was very flavorful. I would love to use this as an appetizer sometime because I think it would be really good as small pieces of pizza.

Try it and let me know your thoughts... and if you have any suggestions for eliminating the chewiness, please let me know.