The Griffin Takeaway

As someone with celiac disease, I've always struggled with those crazy busy days that I don't have any time to cook or eat out, because there aren't a lot of gluten-free fast food options, but if I'm over on the East side, then  The Griffin Takeaway is my hands-down my go-to. It's easily one of my favourite places in the city, with a selection of sandwiches, soups and salads that will be ready in a jiffy, and a large case of delicious baking - all of which is gluten-free!

I've been there a ton, and it's become one of my staples. I can always expect a most delicious dessert that doesn't make me one bit paranoid. I'm always torn between cheesecakes, brownies, pastries, cookies, and tarts. They have so many options, and it always looks splendid.

Chocolate Cream Puff

They also have a selection of soups and sandwiches, but I haven't tried very many. I usually order the pulled pork, which is delicious and I love it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

To be honest, pretty much everything else is a little "weird". You'll find hummus, goat cheese and artichokes, but not much for "classics". However, if you're looking for dairy-free, vegan, or vegetarian options, you will find them here!

Brownie with icing and cherry

 If you have any dietary restrictions at all, I would recommend checking out the food at Griffin, and if you're looking for a great bakery on the East side, definitely check them out! It's one of those places that proves gluten-free can be delicious too.

Chili's Grill & Bar in Regina

I don't spend a lot of time in Regina, so I don't know it very well. When my husband and I decided to meet my brother and his wife in Regina for a late lunch, I pulled out my phone and did a quick search on Urbanspoon for gluten-free friendly restaurants. Chili's came up, and I am always in the mood for Mexican food (even lame Canadian-ized Mexican food), so I basically insisted we go there.

When we got there, I flipped through the menu, hunting for anything that said anything about gluten-free. On the very last page, I found a note that said "Gluten menu available upon request."

First of all, restaurants really need to work on their phrasing. I don't want a "gluten menu". I want the exact opposite of a "gluten menu". I also don't want "gluten friendly menus" like most restaurants offer. I realize their intent, and I understand that a "gluten friendly menu" will have gluten-free dishes listed, but I would prefer if they called it "Gluten-free friendly" or "Gluten aware" or something that actually suggests there is no gluten.

Anyways... I tracked down a hostess and asked her for a gluten-free menu, and she said "We don't have any." I pointed out the note on the menu and she explained, "Yeah, we used to have them, but our whole menu changed so now we don't." Okay, so you got new menus. I get that. But your new menu says you have a menu for me, but you don't, because you got new menus. Hmmm.

Whatever, I can handle that. The hostess said the waitress would be able to point out some options for me, so I waited for the waitress. When she came, I explained I have a gluten allergy, and asked what I could eat. She said "Well we have corn tortillas available, so basically whatever you want."

Umm, no. Nope. It doesn't work like that. But okay, I'll play your game. My husband wanted an appetizer of chips and salsa, so I asked about that, and she said the chips are corn chips.

"Okay, but are they deep-fried?"

"Yes."

"Are other contaminants deep-fried as well?"

"I don't know."

"Can you check?"

She ran off to the kitchen, although I already knew the answer. I wasn't having any chips. I really just wanted to prove a point, and make her realize how severe my gluten-free-needs are.

When she returned, I asked about the fajitas. She didn't even ask which fajitas, she just told me I could get them with corn tortillas. Well, the chicken on one was marinaded, and on another it was rubbed. Either could contain gluten, so I sent her back to ask again. She came back telling me the marinade was a lime-something-or-rather, so I could have it. I gave up at that point, and ordered those fajitas.

The fajitas were delicious, and I thoroughly enjoyed them, but I was also really frustrated. In my opinion, that was not a gluten-free-friendly experience, but rather an "I'm sure you can eat something" experience. If they'd actually had a gluten-free friendly menu, I might have had a fine time. As it was, I did enjoy my food, and I didn't get sick, but I just really wasn't impressed with the service.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this place. If you have strict gluten-free needs, find a different restaurant. If you want Mexican food, there's a ton of places that make better Mexican food. If you want to go to Chili's, go to Chili's, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Day at the Beach

Oh. My. Goodness.

How is it June already? Where on earth did spring go??

Well, technically it's still spring for another three weeks, but I don't think anyone considers early June to be spring.

I spent yet another weekend in Saskatoon the last couple of days, and this one might have been my favourite.

I started spending weekends there in October, while M was at school, and when he left in December, I'd made enough friends and hobbies to have reasons to go back about once a month. This time, I got Friday off work and I drove up Thursday, with plans to come home on Saturday morning, with plenty of time to still spend a weekend with my husband.

Daiya Cream Cheese Style Spread

Every time I pick up a new pack of my dairy-free cheese, I notice all the other dairy-free products. It's crazy, isn't it? Butter, sour cream, cream cheese, you name it, you can get it dairy-free. I usually eye up all the options, and then buy only what I actually needed.

Cream cheese is my biggest weakness. I used to be a bagel-addict. I probably ate a dozen bagels every month, sometimes more. If I was out of cream cheese, I'd eat peanut butter or Nutella on them, but cream cheese was my very favourite thing.

I honestly have not bought a single pack of cream cheese since my diagnosis.

Not one.

How depressing is that? I consider it, every now and then, but what would I eat it on? Whenever I buy bread products, I usually have a plan for them. I'll buy a pack of gluten-free sliced ham and a loaf of bread and eat sandwiches for lunch a few days. Or I'll buy a package of gluten-free crackers and a little package of goat cheese. Bread products are such a luxury for me, that I haven't wanted to "waste" one on cream cheese.

But I caved. I bought a package of gluten-free sandwich bread and a little container of Daiya cream cheese style spread in strawberry flavour.

Quick Meals: One Pan Lunch

I love breakfast foods, but I very rarely eat breakfast, so what I really love is breakfast for dinner. Or lunch. You know, I think I'm in love with lunch. At lunch, you can eat breakfast or dinner or whatever you please and nobody judges you. Roast beef for lunch? Cool. Waffles with whip cream? Okay. Peanut butter sandwich? Awesome. See? Nobody cares. Lunch is the best meal of the day.

However, most people don't have a lot of time for lunch. I know I'm lucky by being able to go home every day for lunch, but I still have a limited time to prepare and consume lunch.

When you combine the love of breakfast with the lack of time, you end up with bacon. Bacon and eggs. Neither take very long to cook, and they're whole, real and a part of most clean-eating diets. I add in a potato patty because I'm still a little old-school and I like to see carbs as a part of my meals. Amazingly, I discovered that one egg, one potato patty and two slices of bacon all fits in one pan.

I add the bacon to a dry, heated pan, and let some of the fat come out, and then add the egg and patty so that they cook in bacon grease. Oh, so healthy, hmm? I like to cook my egg sunny side up or over easy and then soak up the yolk with my potato patty.

I like this meal because it's about limits. I can only cook two slices of bacon and one egg, even though my brain says I want two eggs and three slices of bacon. Also, without any added oil, salt or sugar (besides whatever the potato patty was processed with...), it is very nearly a clean eating meal! (Most clean-eating or paleo diets restrict potatoes, which is why I haven't managed a paleo diet yet.)

A Day In The Life

I haven't really told you about my daily activities in months, mostly because my life got really boring, and my meals got really repetitive, but I had quite the exciting weekend, so I'll share!

Saturday - I worked at my retail job from 10am-6pm, selling lots of clothes and catching up with my coworkers, who I hardly see.

6pm - I left work and drove straight to Saskatoon. Ate "dinner" on the road. I had a pudding cup and a couple chocolate peanut butter cups.

Quick Meals - Tuna Spaghetti

As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't always have a lot of time to eat, and I eat some creative meals sometimes. This is definitely one of them. Sometimes, I look at whatever ingredients I have on hand and type them into a Pinterest search. I've gotten a lot of really great recipes this way.  I'll type things like "Bacon hashbrown" or "egg spinach" and it comes up with pins where people typed something like "Breakfast casserole with bacon and hashbrowns". This time, I opened my cupboard and grabbed a box of gluten-free spaghetti and started boiling it. While it was cooking, I found a can of tuna and searched "tuna spaghetti." The recipe I found was a lot more complicated and involved sauteing garlic, but I skimmed it, got the basics, and went from there.

I dumped one cup of garlic and herb pasta sauce into a microwaveable bowl, stirred in a can of tuna and heated it up. When the pasta was done, I dumped the sauce on top and chowed down. Super quick, easy, nutritious and delicious. It could have had chopped fresh veggies or cheese to make it better, but my focus was time and ease. Feel free to make it your own. 

This made two servings, which meant it could have been a meal for my husband and I, but instead it was lunch one day and dinner another for me.

Quick Meals - Huevos Rancheros

I've been working two jobs for six months now. This means a couple of things. Primarily, it means I don't have a lot of spare time. And what spare time my schedule does leave me gets eaten up by fun, enjoyable things (like dancing! I've taken up ballroom dancing). This means that I either eat really poorly (hello, cans of soup) or really creatively. When I have that extra mental energy, I think up some pretty cool meals that take a minimum amount of prep time, and when I don't, I eat like a college kid.

This is one of my favourites. I bought a big bag of frozen corn tortillas at a Mexican grocery in Saskatoon, and they are quite the staple. I scramble two eggs and heat up three tortillas with a dab of butter and presto! It makes a great breakfast, a quick lunch, and a good dinner. Not that I eat it three times a day, but it's very versatile and I love it. If I have some salsa or guacamole on hand, I throw that on there too. Or a slice of avocado, if I haven't eaten the whole avocado before the eggs cook.

It's basically a super quick version of huevos rancheros. I love it.

How I Survived The Holidays

The holidays are full of gluten. Left, right and center, there is nothing but gluten. Everyone makes and gives baking, there are dinners constantly, everyone has at least one Christmas party to go to, and then of course there is Christmas day! A lot of people who try to avoid gluten-free, or just eat less gluten give up over the holidays. I know several intolerant people who are just saying Oh well, and feeling sick because there is too much temptation.

But as a celiac, I don't have that luxury. So how did I survived the holidays?

Merry Christmas from Lola!

Say Cheese!

I realized that I had five different kinds of cheese in my fridge, three of which were dairy-free.

Now before you go thinking I'm some kind of cheese freak, let me explain.

1. The first cheese was a brick of soy cheese, the first one I bought when I decided to try eating dairy-free.
2. Next, was a pack of dairy-free Swiss flavoured cheese slices.
3. There was also a pack of dairy-free cheese shreds.
4. My husband bought a bag of Mexicana style cheese last time he was home.
5. And I had a container of feta.

I was in the mood for cheese toast, but I wasn't sure what kind of cheese, so I went with all of them! Excluding the feta, that is. I love feta, but maybe not on a toasted bun... Haha.

Daiya Swiss Style Slices

The next stop on my dairy-free expedition was grilled cheese sandwiches. I can pretend I planned it that way, but I'll be honest. M and I were talking about what to eat one Saturday and I announced I wanted grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. However, I can't eat bread, cheese or tomato soup! Well, at least not any of the "normal" kinds. Since we needed some other groceries, M and I went to the grocery store and picked up a loaf of Udi's gluten-free white bread and a pack of Daiya Swiss Style Slices.

Brown's Social House

A couple weekends ago, I decided to brave something unknown. Going to new restaurants makes me anxious, even when they have amazing gluten-free-friendly reviews. A new restaurant opened downtown not too long ago, and I haven't really heard much. I mean, I know people who went, and they said the food was good, the atmosphere was nice, etc, but they really aren't going to know how the place treats a gluten allergy. Suffice it to say, I was nervous.

But, feeling adventurous, I went to Brown's Social House! The service was incredibly friendly. The hostess asked if we'd been there before, and quickly explained their menu. The waitress was was friendly. I told her I had a gluten allergy, so she said she'd grab a manager. A minute or two later, a very nice gentleman appeared and walked me through the menu, bottom to top. Yes, bottom to top. I don't know why, but he even commented that he always starts at the bottoms of menus. Anyways, he pointed out every dish I could eat. They'd all need substitutions or accommodations made, but there were several options for me. Some of them sounded sub-par without the bread component, but a few sounded even better like that. Like the breakfast burrito I ordered.

Leyda's in Saskatoon

There is a 100% gluten-free and nut-free restaurant in Saskatoon called Leyda's. I've been wanting to go for months, but I always end up trying on Sundays, and they are closed Sundays! Finally, this past Saturday, Banana and I found a chance to go!

My Strainer Fiasco

Contamination is one of those tricky subjects. A lot of celiacs will turn blue trying to avoid any form of contamination, refusing to eat food that even entered a kitchen containing gluten. Some people seem to think contamination isn't a big deal at all, giving me looks when I ask that they wash that knife or grab a new spoon. There's a spectrum of people at every level in between.

Personally, I do as much as I can. People who live in my house eat gluten. That means my kitchen has gluten in it. Crumbs get on the counters, dirty dishes go in the dishwasher, things happen. I wash all of the dishes in the same loads, and I definitely don't have a separate set of utensils. I don't use a dish if someone else has used it, no matter what they used it for. I don't put my food on a bare counter unless I just wiped it down. I think I toe a pretty safe line.

Jerry's Artisan Burgers & Gelato

I'm quick to say a place is my favourite, but this place is my favourite. First of all, gelato. I shouldn't have to say more, but this place is so amazing, I do.

I was pointed towards Jerry's the first time, because I expressed a need to have ice cream, and M's new flatmates said there was a gelato place not far from their house. They have two display cases filled with ice cream, gelato and sorbet, all made by them. I did have a hard time finding two gluten-free chocolate-free gelatos, for my friend (who has a chocolate allergy) and I, but that is a little bit specific, so I don't blame them.

On my second trip there, I noticed their billboard advertising a gluten-free friendly menu, and a sign saying breakfast was served until two pm. I'm a serious lover of breakfast at all times of the day.

Coffee Encounters

There's this little coffee shop downtown that I quite like. Coffee Encounters has a fun, hip feel, and plenty of menu options. Mostly, I like it because they sell gluten-free treats. Depending on the day, they'll have cupcakes, muffins, cookies, squares, cake... I wish I could eat a sandwich there, but a cupcake suffices most days.

Antonella's Cheddar Pasta Sauce

I recently stumbled across a new brand at Safeway. New to me, not to the market. They are a Canadian brand, but all of their sauces are gluten-free. Meet Antonella's! They have four different flavours of pasta sauce, but I only bought two to start off with. I will, however, definitely be picking up the other two.

The two I bought

The Hollows in Saskatoon

The Hollows is this little gem of a restaurant, buried in an iffy area of Saskatoon. Driving by, it looks like a run-down Chinese restaurant. A out-dated neon sign reads The Golden Dragon. Underneath, broken neon lights list typical Chinese dishes this restaurant once served. The large window nearest the door has a new, white window decal that reads The Hollows.

Annie's Pasta and Cheese

I got around to making my little box of Annie's Rice Pasta Shells & White Cheddar. Let me just say, I will definitely be buying more of this. It is quick, convenient, cheesey, and most importantly, gluten-free. Now, I know I threw my whole dairy-free thing in the can with this, but I so don't care. 

Finally! A GF Pasta in a Box!

My best friend has long since raved about her favourite boxed pasta and cheese. I'm not really sure what makes it so special, but it's probably more wholesome and less processed than Kraft Dinner. I mean, I love me some KD, but I have always avoided reading the ingredients. Ah, this is Old Me talking. Old Me loved KD. I would eat it every once a month, maybe two months, but when I did, I ate a whole box by myself.

I never bought a case, and I hardly ever had a box on hand, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a craving for some bright orange super-processed cheesey pasta would hit, and it would all I could think about eating until I ate it. M hates it, always has, always will. Partly because he doesn't like pasta, partly because processed cheese makes him sick.