I Can Has Cheezburger?

Yes, Virginia, you CAN have a cheeseburger...a Cheeseburger in Paradise no less!

Now that you're all singing, let me tell you about our night.

Last night we found ourselves with a few hours to kill at Universal's City Walk since our oldest headed to Teen Night at the Groove and we were the taxi.

I work at Universal Orlando and know they've taken great strides over the past couple of years to provide safe, tasty choices for Celiacs and GF'ers so as soon as I learned we were headed to the Walk, I Googled "gluten free City Walk Orlando" and found this GREAT menu at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.







I know, I keep forgetting to take a picture BEFORE I take a bite :(

   

OF COURSE I had a Cheeseburger in Paradise ...but skip the Heinz 57, it's not Gluten Free...(a fact I should've checked before I went).

The burger was delicious and so were the fries. Note, it was also HUGE, my hub and I could've shared this and been more than satisfied. This was an extra special treat since we typically eat a more paleolithic diet (it's naturally gluten free). The GF bun on the burger was soft and flavorful and the fries were crispy! My meal was even brought out separately from the rest of the table's to reduce the risk of cross contamination.

And then...there was dessert...

We share desserts around the table. Again, the staff was knowledgeable bringing separate sets of silverware for each dessert to avoid cross contamination. The GF offering is a Chocolate Hurricaine, a warm, fudgy brownie with macadmia nut chunks, creamy vanilla ice cream and a mountain of fresh whipped cream drizzled with hot fudge sauce. Drooling yet?

This was DEFINITELY big enough to share with the table and we still barely put a dent in it.

My son hit it right on the head when he said "this should be your birthday dinner spot!"

Yes indeed.

The atmosphere was fun

The food was fantastic

The staff was knowledgeable

The prices were reasonable for the food we got

and the company was good!

Enjoy!

What'd you eat in Key West

Last month was glorious! We spent an entire week soaking up the sun in Key West. We did a few other things as well ...parasailing, ghost hunting, lobster tickling...but mostly we enjoyed one another's company, vegged by the pool and relaxed. THAT'S Vacation :)

Going on vacation can be scary for a gf'er...I mean what the heck do you eat and who do you trust?!?!

Well for starters...I did a lot of internet research before the trip. Our accommodations also included a full kitchen so we stocked up our first morning there and made it our goal to eat out one meal a day...that helped the pocket book too! We had breakfast and dinner at home and took advantage of early bird specials for lunch :)

Our first stop was the Blackfin Bistro on Duval where I opted for the Lobster salad.

We had a "watersports" day which included a grilled lunch. The staff was very knowledgeable and accommodating and I had plenty of veggies and grilled options to choose from...

We cooked for ourselves quite a bit on this trip

Not only was it cheaper...we splurged on GREAT food ...steaks, ribs, fish...because had we eaten these tihngs out, well...it would've cost MUCH more than our grocery bill.

The hub and I snuck away on the 4th for breakfast at Two Friends. That's what I call independence...breakfast with the man-o-my-heart sans teenagers :)

Again...the staff was very knowledgeable and accommodating. I had a seafood omlette sans the hollandaise sauce with fresh fruit...impeccable flavors and HOT...so we knew it was fresh!

A place we wanted to get to but only managed to drive by is Help Yourself Foods. Super ummy raw, vegan and GF fare. Unfortunately, they're on a funky cross street location with parking in one direction and just a tad too far away from where we were staying to walk...definitely accesible by bicycle so check them out and let me know how the lasagna is!!!

Old Spanish Sugar Mill

This Sunday, in honor of Father's day AND my birthday...the fam is headed out to a local adventure. The hubs said he'd like to go canoeing or snorkeling for the day.

I've heard great things about DeLeon Springs State Park...especially the "make your own pancakes" at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill.
Not only do they have famous pancakes, the park is absolutely gorgeous from the trails to the springs and the canoe runs so it promises to be a great day.

I called them last week to see what gluten free offerings they have...not fair for my fam to miss out on great pancakes just because I can't eat them...and to my surprise...THEY OFFER GLUTEN FREE PANCAKE BATTER!

We're going tomorrow...
I'll update you after the weekend!
Woo!

WOO a GREAT Gluten Free Deal!

Rhapsodic Bakery  in downtown Orlando has a living social coupon today!
Check it out! $20.00 worth of purchasing power for only $10.00.
Click here now to get your deal!!!

Clicking the link for their website is joy enough! Such gorgeous delectables pictured there. Kate, the owner and webmistress does a beautiful job virtually...and in the kitchen! We purchased a GF cake for my mother's birthday last year and it was hands down delicious!

My favorite part about Rhapsodic? I can stop in at any time and pick up a Gluten Free treat...my favorite is the chocolate cupcake with a kick of hot spice :)

Don't miss out on this deal! It expires April 28, 2011

OH...and you don't have to be a GF'er to enjoy...Rhapsodic is all handmade, all vegan and organic. Guilt free goodies :)

Happiness as Expressed in Pizza

Friday night the hubs and I found ourselves sans offspring and headed to the Mellow Mushroom in Winter Park, Florida. We've ALWAYS loved MM pizza...but alas I haven't had it in years. A couple of weeks ago a co-worker of mine mentioned they have a Gluten Free Crust and bingo...we had our date night location!

Now we've tried several different GF crusts along the way because sometimes, Pizza-Outta-Da-Box is just what ya want. We've had Pizza Fusion, Naked Pizza, Uno's and I even had GF from Austin Pizza with the BFF. They were all good but
NOTHING tops the GF pizza we had at MM. Even the hubs said he'd default to it over a regular crust pizza and peeps, that just doesn't happen.

Not only do the folks at MM know their stuff, they know their GF stuff too. Our server made sure to tell us right away that the GF crusts take longer, not only because they take a little longer to bake, but because they take care to make sure there is no cross contamination in the kitchen...uber awesome!

It was quite alright, it was date night AND we had some scrumptious stuffed portobello mushrooms while we waited.

So here's the skinny on MM GF pizza
Here are the important points to remember...

1. Mellow Mushroom is using a frozen pizza crust product from Still Riding Pizza.  The crusts are made in a dedicated GF facility and shipped to each MM location frozen.
2. MM is bringing in nearly 50 GFCO certified Gluten Free toppings/ingredients for it's GF pizza.  All these ingredients are kept in a separate preparation area away from the main prep line for wheat pizzas.
3. MM has developed an extensive preparation procedure that will be used by "certified Gluten Free pizza makers" to deliver safe pizzas to those who cannot tolerate Gluten. 
4. MM only uses corn meal in their restaurants when preparing wheat pizza, thus no atmospheric gluten.
5. MM keeps all GF toppings, supplies and crusts in a dedicated area.  All GF pizzas will be prepared in this dedicated location.  They use separate utensils as well.
6. MM uses dedicated GF screens to cook the GF pizzas in a shared oven (wheat pizzas are placed directly on the oven stone itself) to avoid cross-contamination while baking.

Philosopher's Pie

Okay enough of the facts

The TASTE was amazing

It really was buttery and fluffy and crusty and yummm all at the same time

We'll be back!
Again
and again
and again!

The Pie is great, the atmosphere was fantastic, the kitchen was concerned and the service was stupendous!

Oh...and leftovers make good breakfast :)