New Triumph Dining Book!

Have you heard about the new Triumph Dining Restaurant Guide that just came out? They are on their 5th edition now, and I consider it a must-have when trying to navigate gluten free dining. It has saved me many-a-time while traveling. Plus, now that we have moved to Texas, I have had to start all over in finding safe places to eat. Back in Denver, a lot of places were very aware and friendly about making sure they had something that could accommodate a GF eater. In the DFW area, well, not so much. I can't say enough good things about this book!

The Triumph Dining Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide is set up by state, so if you are in a new area (or an old area), you can find all sorts of places that will accommodate you. They have chain restaurants and small hole-in-the-wall places. This edition has added 1,511 more restaurants! There are now over 120 gluten-free menus from the nation’s most popular chain restaurants, a 50% increase from last year. This includes Wendy's, Chili's, Panera, and 117 other gluten free lists in the new guide as well.

As a sponsor, Triumph Dining has sent me a discount code for free shipping on your book, so if you want to check it out, you can get free shipping! Just enter coupon code MK958 in the shopping cart area.

This code expires August 25th, so jump on it!

Uno's Chicago Grill and Where Have I Been?!?

OK, starting out, I promised that I would give my review of Uno's Chicago Grill. As I mentioned before, they have gluten free options a-plenty! The really nice thing is that not only can you find these options on their website, but they also have a nutritional info kiosk in their lobbies as well as having printed gluten free menus. The only disappointment I found with all of these resources is that they did not match each other. The printed menu did not match the kiosk, and the kiosk dis not match the website info. Needless to say, I was worried about weather my meal was truly GF or not.

I ordered the Mahi Mahi with the Mango Salsa along with steamed broccoli and mango nut rice. I have to say that everything was so good! I did suffer a little disappointment when I saw my husband's Chicago-style pizza, but he said he didn't like it a whole lot, so it made me feel better! LOL :) Maybe he just said it to be nice to me, but the look on his face sure didn't lie. They forgot the sauce on his pizza (how does anyone forget the sauce on a Chicago-style pizza??), and even when he did get the sauce, he just didn't like the flavors. Maybe the cook was just off that day. Anyhow, my fish was cooked perfectly, and the rice and veggies were delicious. The meal was light enough that I decided to try one of their GF dessert options. I went for the Strawberry Shake. After eating, I was feeling pretty good, so I was fairly certain that my food was GF, but once I drank the shake, I felt horrible! First of all, it tasted like fake strawberry. It tasted like the nasty strawberry flavoring from some candy that I would have loved when I was 8, but not now. I was not happy with it at all. I stood up and just felt sick to my stomach. I don't know what was in that thing, but it was not good.

I guess my conclusion with Uno's is that the food is pretty good, and expensive. But, I can make it all at home for much less cost and with a whole lot more flavor. And my strawberry shakes will have real strawberries in them, and I won't feel sick afterwards.

Results: Eat at Uno's at your own risk.

Nextly, you are probably wondering where I have been. Aside from at Uno's. Or maybe you haven't wondered. Either way, I'll tell you :) As most of you know, Celiac Disease can cause infertility in certain individuals. Apparently I am one of those individuals. Mark and I have been married for 3 1/2 years, and we wold just love to have little mini-me's running around. Unfortunately, my body cannot support a child right now, so we have decided to try alternate avenues. So I would like to announce that we are adopting (yessss!), and that is what we have been up to. We have been working on this since May, but just recently got super busy with it all. Neither of us have had much time to make a creative meal at home, let alone throw something from a can onto the stove. Most of our meals have come from a cereal box or from our neighborhood Chipotle. So I hope that none of you are offended that I have not been around to visit your blogs lately, and that my blog has been void of anything new. I hope to have some more time to blog soon, but we will see how everything goes :)

Oh, and if you happen to know anyone who is looking for an awesome couple to adopt their child to, please think of us!!! :)

Uno's Gluten Free Options

As I was perusing the different articles on Health.com, I found an article entitled "America’s Healthiest Restaurants: Our List of the Best Casual Dining Spots". This website is a great resource for those who like to keep up on nutritional info, so I enjoy checking it out every so often.

Anyhow, I was reading the list of healthiest restaurants, and found this little blurb on Uno's Chicago Grill: "Another reason Uno’s is at the top of our list: You know what you’re eating. In the lobbies of most of the restaurant’s locations, there are Nutrition Information Centers that detail ingredients, fat and sodium contents, and calories and fiber of every item, in addition to gluten-free options."

How awesome is that!! I love that some restaurants are making this information more readily available, and a big high five to Uno's for providing Nutrition Centers in their lobbies for everyone to look through! Mark and I have decided to go scope our local Uno's out this weekend, so stay tuned for the review :) Yesssss!

Restaurant Review: WaterCourse Foods

"WaterCourse Foods is proud to serve a 100% vegetarian menu. Our style of comfort food has won over the hearts and stomachs of people from all types of dietary backgrounds. The greatest compliment we hear (and we hear it often) is when a initially reluctant patron, who was dragged in by their spouse or kids, says they never thought they would eat vegetarian food and now WaterCourse is their favorite restaurant."

Last night Mark and I made the trip out to Downtown Denver to try out Denver's most popular vegetarian resaturant: WaterCourse Foods. I had heard nothing but good things ablout this restaurant for years, so we decided to give it a try. Visiting their website before heading out, I was comforted by their statement "We speak fluently about allergies, just let the wait staff know of your special requests". Their menu covers breakfast, lunch and dinner and is mostly comfort food, but very eclectic.

I was pleasently surprised that although they do not specify the gluten free items on their website, the gluten free items on their menu are clearly marked with a 'squiggle' next to the name. Yippee! Our server, Carly, was very pleasant and was well versed in the menu and what was what. I ordered the Polenta Crusted Portobello Cap, which was crispy and delicious, covered with a chipotle aioli served along side cooked carrot 'fries', brown rice, home made pico de gallo and sliced avocado. Every bite was delicious, and I was satisfied, but not over-stuffed at the end. Mark-o decided to step outside his (and my) comfort zone by trying the marinated Tempeh Scallopini dredged and fried in it's own mushroom gravy, served along with mashed potatoes and steamed chard. At first, Mark was unsure about his dish. His first comment was 'this tastes like earth'. I had to laugh at him and then try it out for myself. I dug in and was really surprised...it tasted great! I even offered to trade him plates, but he decided to stick through it. By the end, he was happily saying that the tempeh had grown on him, and he really enjoyed the nutty flavor and texture. The one thing he consistantly did not like was the steamed chard, which he said tasted bitter.

"Polenta Crusted Portobello Cap"

WaterCourse foods also has a full service bakery that supplies their desserts. On the website, it boldly states: "WaterCourse Foods Bakery has employed pioneers and scientists, dreamers and career bakers. In order to create a baking program that matched the innovativeness and quality of WaterCourse Foods Restaurant, we went through much trial and error to come up with the incomparable product we now offer. Our highly skilled and motivated bakery staff is the industry leaders in gluten-free and vegan baking".

We decided to take home one of their gluten free 'Scout Cookies', made from coconut and chocolate (and I think some nuts). It wasn't until I made the comment "this looks just like a Samoa girl scout cookie" that I realized that's the reason it is called the Scout! Haha! We got home and gave it a try. Eh...it was ok. I guess I was expecting the real girl scout cookie taste, which I did not get. Unfortunately, the flavors were a bit dull and muddled together. I never like to say the phrase 'for being gluten free and vegan, it was ok', but in this case, it fits. I want gluten free and vegan to taste better than the original. Sometimes I think my standards might be too high.

Anyhow, we love WaterCourse, and we will absolutely return. I highly recommend them if you are in the area!