Let's Go To The Olive Garden!

Another mainstream restaurant has gone gluten free! This time it is the Italian chain, the Olive Garden!

The Olive Garden has a Garden Fare Menu that offers low fat, low carb, gluten free, and no sugar added options for its' customers. The gluten free menu offers an assortment of choices including gluten free penne pasta! The gluten free options include:

*Garden Fresh Salad - [no croutons, house salad tossed with Italian dressing]

*Caesar Salad - [no croutons]

*Pennine Rigate with Marinara - [marinara sauce made with a blend of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and Italian herbs and served over gluten free penne pasta]

*Steak Toscano - [grilled 14 oz. choice center cut Strip steak brushed with Italian herbs and extra virgin olive oil and served with grilled vegetables]

*Herb-Grilled Salmon - [salmon filet brushed with Italian herbs and extra virgin olive oil and served with broccoli and red bell peppers]

*Mixed Grill - [skewers of grilled steak and chicken marinated in Italian herbs and extra virgin olive oil and served with broccoli and grilled vegetables]

*Children's Grilled Chicken - [grilled chicken breast served with broccoli and grilled vegetables]


Olive Garden's Gluten Free Menu was created in accordance with the 2000 American Dietetic Association Guidelines.

Olive Garden has locations throughout the United States. In NYC, you can find them at:

-696 Avenue of the Americas (btw. 21st and 22nd st.)

-2 Times Square (Bway btw. 42nd and 43rd st.)


For more information, please visit their website at www.olivegarden.com.

Pomx Tea Is Delicious!

Last week, I received a package of Pomx Tea from the company, Pom Wonderful. After sampling the tea, I am now positively addicted to it! It is one of the most refreshingly delicious gluten free teas that I've ever had.

Pomx tea is a hand-picked, whole-leaf tea with less caffeine than traditional tea. It is packed with Pomx - a highly concentrated blend of polyphenol antioxidants made with the same California pomegranates in Pom Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice. This drink has more antioxidants than red wine, green tea, grape and acai extracts!

It currently is available in 5 flavors:

*Pomegranate Lychee Green Pomx Tea (less than 3 mg of caffeine)

*Pomegranate Peach Passion White Pomx Tea (less than 3 mg of caffeine)

*Pomegranate Blackberry Pomx Tea (black tea with less than 1 mg of caffeine)

*Light Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Pomx Tea (35 calories and less than 2 mg of caffeine)

*Light Pomegranate Wildberry White Pomx Tea (35 calories and less than 1 mg of caffeine)


You can find Pomx Tea in the produce department at your local supermarket. In addition to this drink being good for you, its' container is also good for the environment. The new plastic bottles are made from 100% recyclable plastic and use less energy to produce than glass!

For more information, please visit www.pomxtea.com!

New At Legal Sea Food!

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! Recently, I told you about the recent revisions Legal Sea Foods has made to their gluten free menu, which includes adding gluten free dinner rolls and french rolls by Gillian's Foods to the menu.

So, over the holiday weekend I decided to visit Legal Sea Foods and try out some new items. Well, after I was seated and they discovered that I needed a gluten free menu, the waitress brought out a plate with 3 gluten free dinner rolls. They are "everything" rolls and were soft and flavorful. I didn't need to use butter!

For my entree, I was very excited to try the gluten free lobster roll, but much to my disappointment I found that they were sold out of the french rolls used to make this dish. So, I just had the lobster salad without the roll and with a side of french fries and broccoli. It was very good, I just wish I could have tried the gluten free french rolls!

Ok, well I hope you all enjoy the pictures of what I ate this past weekend at Legal Sea Foods!

~Paige

Celebrate Labor Day The Ole' Fashioned Way!

It's that time of year when everyone is having barbecues with hamburgers and hot dogs and it can be a completely dreadful experience to those of us on a gluten free diet. However, it doesn't have to be as it is quite easy to prepare a completely gluten free hamburger and hot dog with the bun and everything!

Now, for the most part if your hamburger consists of ground meat and nothing else then it is gluten free. If you are on a vegetarian diet then you will want to look for a gluten free veggie burger. One that I recommend is Amy's Organic Gluten Free Veggie Burger! Things get a bit trickier with hot dogs. The following brands and varieties of hot dogs that are gluten free are:

*Applegate Farms (beef, chicken, and turkey hot dogs)
*Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs
*Dietz and Watson's New York Brand Deli Beef Franks, Regular Franks, and Regular Weiners *Hebrew National Franks
*Trader Joe's Hot Dogs
*Wellshire Farms Chicken, Turkey, and Beef Franks

Now for the bread part of this meal...

Whole Foods Bakehouse sells gluten free Hamburger Buns and Trader Joe's sells French Rolls that make for a great hamburger bun.

Ener-G Foods, The Grainless Baker, and Kinnikinnick all sell gluten free hot dog buns and are available in various health food stores.

Finally, for the ketchup, go get some from Heinz and for mustard try some of Annie's Naturals!

Have a great long weekend everyone!

~Paige

Gluten Free Beer?

Beer is traditionally made with barley meaning that it has been off limits for those with Celiac Disease. Not anymore! Several breweries are starting to produce beer made from gluten free grains including sorghum, millet, rice, and buckwheat.

The following breweries in the USA have gluten free beer:

Bard's Tale Beer-
*Golden Dragon (made from 100% sorghum)
www.bardsbeer.com

Ramapo Valley Brewery-
*Honey Lager (Kosher / Free of Cross-Contamination)
www.rvbrewery.com

Anheuser-Busch-
*Redbridge Beer (made from sorghum)
www.anheuser-busch.com

Sprecher Brewery- (African-style beers brewed with sorghum and millet)
*Mbege Ale
*Shakparo Ale
www.sprecherbrewery.com

Lakefront Brewery -
*New Grist (made from sorghum, hops, water, rice, and gluten free yeast grown on molasses)
www.lakefrontbrewery.com

Microbrasserie Nouvelle France - (Available in Canada)
*La Messagere (made from rice and buckwheat)
www.lesbieresnouvellefrance.com

AVAILABLE OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA:

O'Brien Brewing - (made from millet, rice, and sorghum)
*Brown Ale
*Premium Lager
*Pale Ale
www.gfbeer.com.au

Green's Gluten-Free Beers (made from millet, rice, buckwheat, and sorghum)
www.glutenfreebeers.co.uk

Nick Stafford's Hambleton Ales -
*GFA
*GFL
www.hambletonales.co.uk

The Fine Ale Club -
*Against The Grain
www.ale4home.co.uk

Bi-Aglut -
*76 (a light ale)
www.biaglut.com

Let's Have Some Gourmet Ice Cream!

For those of you that have enjoyed ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery, then you are in luck as they have many gluten free flavors! In fact, when you go to one of their locations they will provide you with a list of all of the flavors that do not contain gluten!

Now, at Marble Slab Creamery you can also get a variety of candies, fruit, and nuts to mix-in to your ice cream to create a one-of-a-kind dessert. Some of the gluten free mix-ins are:

*Pecans
*Strawberries
*Bananas
*Cashews
*M&Ms
*Peanut M&Ms
*Pineapple
*Raspberries
*Sliced Almonds
*Walnuts
*Blueberries
*Pistachios
*Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
*Snickers

This fresh-made gourmet ice cream shop has locations throughout the United States and in Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Arab Emirates.

For those of you in the NY-area, their New York location is at:

Sunrise Plaza Shopping Center
48 East Sunrise Highway
Lindenhurst, New York

For more information, please visit their website at www.marbleslab.com.

Some Great Additions To Any Pantry!

One of my favorite brands of gluten free baking mixes that has been around for quite some time is by the Gluten-Free Pantry. This brand is part of the Glutino Food Group, which has a few other delicious gluten free lines as well. You can visit them at www.glutino.com.

Their current product list includes:

*Chocolate Truffle Brownie
*Yankee Cornbread
*Crisp & Crumble Topping
*Old Fashioned Cake & Cookie
*Muffin & Scone
*Chocolate Chip Cookie & Cake
*Beth's All-Purpose GF Baking Flour
*Perfect Pie Crust
*Decadent Chocolate Cake
*Favorite Sandwich Bread
*Coffee Cake Mix
*French Bread and Pizza Mix
*Spice Cake & Gingerbread
*Brown Rice Pancake
*Quick Mix

In addition to their gluten free baking mixes they also produce gluten free olive oil & garlic croutons and gluten free frozen products including chocolate chunk cookie dough delights and buckwheat raisin cookie dough delights.

Gluten-Free Pantry products are sold at natural food stores throughout North America. You can also purchase them online at www.glutenfree.com or at Ms. Celiac's Market!