Pizza

I'm on a quest to find decent tasting gluten free pizza.  The crust really does make all the difference. 

I've tried frozen crusts to which we add our own toppings.  Judy G's are just ok, and are Egg free so my little guy can have them.  Udi's are a little better - thin and crispy, which I like.

I tried the Bob's Red Mill pizza crust mix which is supposed to be "the best" gluten free pizza mix, but no one in our family liked it.    I found a mix at Home Sense made by Gallo Lea that I plan to try next time the craving strikes. I will update with the results.

As for eating out/delivery we have tried:

Boston Pizza - sweet, doughy, bread-like crust.  Not my favorite. $8.89 for an 8" pizza.

Panago - square crust, not as thick as Boston Pizza, but chewy.  Not bad.  Medium Size only, $4 extra (so $14 for a medium pepperoni)

Pizza Delight (Fort Saskatchewan) - thin crispy crust, fresh toppings and they have a good selection of other GF items on their menu including Garlic Cheese Fingers (you can add bacon!)  They came in 10" size but I can't remember the cost.

Pizza 73 - we tried this last night and it was decent.  The crust is round, thin, and crispy.  Comes in cheese, pepperoni, hawaiian, vegetarian.  I ordered online and it was delivered 20 minutes later, fresh and hot. $9.99 - $10.99 for a 10".

I am optimistic more restaurants will begin putting out GF pizza's, and I can only hope the recipes will get better over time!

Has anyone come across GF pita shells?  We used to love making homemade pita pizza's for lunches but I've yet to see GF pita's.

What's for breakfast?

We love breakfast in our house.  Our 5 year old son is ready to eat the second he rolls out of bed in the morning. In fact some mornings I wake up to find him on the couch with a bowl of cereal and the TV on.

Eating gluten-free can really limit your breakfast options.  Suddenly the old stand-by's of toast, cereal, waffles, pancakes, etc. all got a little more complicated.

Our 6 year old daughter loves waffles.  In the old days before GF we would buy Eggo's, or I would make waffles/pancakes from scratch on the weekend and throw the extras in the freezer to reheat for weekday breakfasts.  Sadly to date I have not found a GF waffle/pancake mix that I really like (nor have I come up with a decent recipe - I will keep searching).   In the meantime, our favorite GF substitute is Van's Original Waffles.  I used to buy them for our Son as they are Egg-Free/Dairy-Free as well, but now the whole family enjoys them.  I stock up on them at Save-On Foods when they go on sale.

I recently bought a package of Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix .  I haven't tried making pancakes from it yet, but I did make some drop biscuits which are very yummy with jam on them.   Just add milk and shortening (I subbed in butter for the shortening as that's what I had on hand). 

Our Son is a cereal man - he will eat it for breakfast, snacks (and lunch and dinner if we let him).  His current GF favorite is Nature's Path Gorilla Munch.  They are a better version of Corn Pops.

My Husband told me "If you are going to blog about something, blog about Bakery on Main Granola.".  So far it's the only GF cereal that he's really enjoyed.  We've tried the Apple Raisin Walnut and the Nutty Cranberry Maple flavours.    I find it a bit rich so instead of eating it by the bowlful,  I sprinkle it on a yogurt/fruit parfait.

I seem to crave protein in the morning, so I might have a waffle or a piece of toast, but it has to have peanut butter on it, or yogurt/cheese on the side.  I do like eggs but can't be bothered to make them on a weekday morning.  I'm too rushed trying to get the kids to school on time.  A lot of mornings I just nibble on some fruit and cheese while packing the kids lunches.

One thing we all enjoy is a breakfast smoothie.  My standard recipe is 1 cup of frozen fruit, 1 cup of fruit juice, 1/2 a cup of yogurt and a splash of milk to thin it out if needed.  I often add vanilla protein powder to mine to make it a meal.

What is your go-to breakfast?

The Sawmill

I was craving a steak something fierce last week so we headed out for a family dinner.  I normally would choose Original Joe's if it was just the Hubby and I, but because we were taking the kids with us we headed to The Sawmill.

The nice thing about The Sawmill is that they are well-staffed, the servers seem knowledgeable and they clearly label the menu items that are "Gluten Friendly".  Here is a link to their dinner menu.

The restaurant was as busy as I've ever seen it on a weeknight, so our server was kept hopping.   We ordered prime rib and fries for the kids to share and the hubby and I each got a steak.  I had a baked potato and green beans with mine and the hubby had green beans and a spinach salad. 

The server brought out the kids prime rib without the fries because they had to oven-bake them to ensure they were gluten free and I guess that took longer than expected.  When they did finally arrive they were delicious but by then the kids had cleaned their plates and complained a bit about being hungry and having to wait for the rest of their food.

The server forgot to bring the toppings for my baked potato and it took awhile to flag her down.  By the time she got back I was done the rest of my meal.  The steak was perfectly cooked but I wish I could have eaten my potato with it instead of after it.

My Hubby is doing The Game On Diet with some friends and therefore is not eating processed meats. He ordered his spinach salad without bacon, but it was sent out with bacon anyways.  The kids were happy to eat it for him.

For dessert the kids each had a bowl of ice cream and the Hubby and I shared the Gluten Free Very Berry Cheesecake which was very berry good.

All in all, the food was delicious, and ordering gluten free was easy, even if all our food didn't arrive at once. 

Any recommendations for other Gluten Friendly restaurants we should try?