London Jack's Fish & Chips in Regina

Inconveniently, I fell in love with a restaurant in Regina, shortly after I moved to Saskatoon. I don't know the next time I'll be in Regina, but I promise whenever that is, I will be eating at London Jack's Authentic British Fish & Chips. As their name might suggest, they specialize in authentic fish & chips, and everything deep-fried.

Wait. Why is a celiac going to a restaurant that deep fries everything? Well, because not only do they have gluten-free flour and batter, they have a dedicated gluten-free deep frier. What? That's right! Dedicated gluten-free fish and chips. Deep-fried, just like everybody else!

They have a very small restaurant, with an order counter and three small tables. The deep friers are behind the counter, and you can watch the cooks work while you wait for your take-out (unless one of the tables happens to be open). I did watch, because I'm paranoid, and I noticed that they have a whole bunch of green utensils, and anything that's green only gets used for gluten-free orders. I don't even need to tell them it's an allergy, they treat it like one anyways.

I was blown away, and super excited.

Hubby and I went to this restaurant a couple weeks ago when we were in Regina. We had a hard time finding it, but I was determined. When we got there, I scoped it out, and asked a bunch of questions, and when I was satisfied that I could really, truly have battered fish and french fries, I ordered just that! Hubby ordered the same, but with regular batter, and we sat down to wait.

One small thing that amazed me was when the next guy walked up and ordered some fish, and the server asked "Gluten-free or regular?" Gluten-free isn't a side choice there, on a seperate menu that you have to know about. It's right up there with everything else they serve. Their menu is just a laminated piece of paper on the counter, and the items on the menu are all either in black or green font. The green items are ones that are gluten-free. So I don't have to check if I can have the deep-fried pickles. I just have to select a green item. How awesome is that?

On top of being awesomely gluten-free friendly, they also make the most amazing fish and chips I've ever had. Seriously. I'm not a fish and chips kind of person, but this was the best I've ever had. They also serve deep-fried pickles, mars bars or cola. Yeah, cola. We got some deep-fried Dr Pepper for dessert. It was awesome.

I would highly reccomend this place whether or not you eat gluten-free. I would, however, suggest planning for takeout. But other than their small storefront, there is not a bad thing I could say about this place. So check it out, as soon as you can!

Day 62: Lemon Butter Shrimp

Well, today I ate leftovers. So I can say that yesterday's casserole heats up just fine, and still tastes great. I was saving this for a lazy day, so here's the shrimp I made a few days ago, before the other shrimp I made. If that makes sense.

I love shrimp. I really do. I have a hard time eating it with other things, because I just want to eat shrimp, not shrimp with pasta or anything. I did serve this with pasta, but of course I made gluten-free pasta, and this spaghetti turned out gross. Hard, like it wasn't cooked enough, but also gloopy and sticky at the same time, despite the fact that it had olive oil poured over it. Whatever.

Anyways, the shrimp dish was super easy to make, and I'd definitely make it as an appetizer if I ever had those kind of parties. It was better on it's own than with the pasta. Oh, and I bought the kind with tails on, and that's kind of hard to just eat with spaghetti. Tails on is better for an appy.

1 lemon
Stick of butter (1/2 cup)
Pound of cooked, peeleed shrimp
Italian seasoning

Thinly slice the lemon and place in the bottom of the pan. I used an 8x8 pan, and needed 9 slices of lemon. If you use a bigger pan, just slice them thinner.

Spread the shrimp on top. Sprinkle italian seasoning on. I wish I had a measurement for you, but I just sprinkled until all of the shrimp had some on it. You don't want it overpowering, but don't underdo it either. Slice butter and set little squares on top, so that it melts down and makes the shrimp all buttery.

Pop in oven at 350F for 15-30 minutes, until it's done. The shrimp is cooked, so you're just looking for the butter to melt and everything to infuse. That took 25 minutes for me, maybe because my shrimp was frozen.

Now, of course I didn't take a picture after it was done, because when an amazing-smelling dish comes out of the oven, my first thought is not to pull out a camera. It's to pull out a fork.

But the butter melted, the shrimp cooked, and the lemon infused. It was amazing. Super easy to throw together, and then you just pop it in the oven and forget about until you serve. My kind of dinner.

Day 59: Cheesey shrimp and pasta

I made another yummy shrimp/pasta dish. I only made it for me, because hubby didn't want shrimp twice in three days, and he has stuff in the house still that I can't eat, so it's easy enough for him to just feed himself.

I made pasta shells, which always turn out better than the same brand's spaghetti, and near the end threw some frozen peas in. I cooked some shrimp with chili flakes and garlic powder, and then tossed it all together with a bit of olive oil and some parmesan.

PS, if I ever say the word parmesan, it means hubby didn't have any. Haha.

Pretty yummy, although nothing to write home about, but it was really easy and quick to throw together. Before I figured out the main, I was going to roast some asparagus. I loved it so much last time, and I bought some today. But when I settled on shrimp, and hubby backed out, and I found a good recipe that had peas in it, I just didn't bother. Save it for another day. Maybe a day when I eat something to take a picture of. Something about asparagus. It's so pretty, it's just begging to have pictures taken of it.

Day 24: Tuna Casserole

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My mom asked me yesterday to meet her for lunch today during her lunch break, so we went to Boston Pizza. It must sound like I go there all the time, but you need to know it's one of two mid-price restaurants here. There's a few more expensive ones, and a lot of cheaper ones, or family restaurants, but BP's and Original Joe's are the extent of that style of dining. No Applebee's, Montana's, Rock Creek, The Keg, Earl's.... Nope. Just two BP's and one OJ's.

Anyways, so I braved the outside world this afternoon and unburied my car from a foot of snow. No exaggeration. Yuck. I picked her up from work, which is ironically where I used to work until June, and then we went for lunch.

When we talked about it, she said she wanted their original lasagna. It's like lasagna noodles with bolognese sauce and then baked with cheese. That sounded heavenly, so I set my heart on a gluten-free version. Since the noodles and toast were the only offending things, I ordered their Boston's Lasagna, sub GF noodles. Well, they have a create-your-own pasta menu, which is where you actually find the GF noodles (also where it says to add $1 for GF) and you could order bolognese noodles baked with cheese. So the waitress punched my order in like that; Gluten-Wise noodles, bolognese sauce, baked with cheese, and my mom just got the lasagna, but my bill came out $1.50 more than hers. Not sure if you're following still, but basically, we ordered the same thing, and I should have paid $1 more, but the way it was punched in, I had to pay $1.50 more.

So I was just ranting to my mom about how gluten free people basically have to eat inferior food. Why can't I order a pasta dish off the normal menu and sub the noodles? Why does my only option have to be create-your-own? So my mom pointed it out to the waitress, who reacted with a "Here, I'll go get the menu and show you." Which basically means "I did it right. You're wrong." But when she came back, she had a new bill for me, that wrote it up as Boston Lasagna, sub Gluten-Wise noodles, and said she didn't realize there would be a price difference. So that was great, and I thanked my mom, because I wouldn't have said anything.

I spent most of the afternoon at the gym with Banana, after I dropped off my mom again. I managed three rounds on the circuit, and then 4.5 miles on the upright bicycles. That was intense. My legs were like jelly when I got off. But we were thinkers and brought our swimsuits! So we went and sat in the sauna for awhile. Amazing how intense sweaty heat feels great when there's a foot of fresh snow outside. Also, it did wonders on my would-be sore muscles.

For dinner, I made tuna casserole. I know, yuck right? I like it actually, as does my hubby, so we have it occasionally. It's an easy pasta dish that isn't pasta, beef and sauce. I kind of just wing it when it comes to the casserole part. Mostly because most of the recipes I find call for something I don't have when I want it. The easiest recipe I've found calls for cream of mushroom soup, which is something I don't like so I don't keep on hand, but now I can't eat, so it's fine that I've already found my way around that. Last time, I just cleaned out my fridge into the casserole, mixing the last of the sour cream with the last of the milk with some chicken bouillon  to make a cream of chicken like soup. And it actually tasted great. Hubby liked it way better than the version he usually made. The recipe also calls for breadcrumbs and parmesan for the topping, but parmesan has always been on our no-no list (it makes him throw up) and breadcrumbs are a given... This time I wrote down how much of what I used, so next time I make it, I'll have a yummy recipe for you guys!