Need I really say more? It was awesome! The staff was very upbeat and careful that we sat in spaces where the utensils were double washed. The food was good and the taffy was yummy!

Here’s my girl with her FIRST ever taffy and our little family (I’m behind the camera of course) filling up our tummies!

We are definetly going back to this restaurant (well, maybe the Laval location) for a family outing with no stress or extra lunchboxes!

And what happens when you give a 2 year old too much sugar…

GREAT service! Can’t beat that. Last weekend, I had the pleasure to run around left and right to find specific products I knew I’d find at only certain locations. Some great tasting “country style” bread from La Maison Cannelle that I’ve so far found at these fine stores: IGA extra (Salaberry & 15); Viva Marché ÉcoBio; Dr et Mère Nature. Now what makes the biggest difference between these three stores?

Well the first is a mainstream grocery store that has a wider variety of GF foods because the manager’s daughter was diagnosed with Celiacs a couple years ago I think. It’s a little farther from us so I don’t go unless I want some Sprinkels for our Ice Cream.

The second store is a little out of my way, in the Marché 440 west of the 15, but they also have a great selection, very eager staff (some more than others) and also want to hear about any specific products we’d like to see in the store. They have a dangerously good GF treat/candy similar to Skor chocolate bars, but just better, if you can believe that

And the last but certainly not the least is Dr & Mère nature which is literally at the end of our street and the service, wow, you can’t beat that. All the staff is very knowledgeable and will be more than willing to look through things with you and want to hear about any products you’re looking for so they can carry it soon! Really, fantastic, it’s worth the visit.

I LOVE great service and am willing to shout from roof tops to have their stores known for it. If you have a chance, check out those stores, it’s really worth your time and money! And to boot, the first 2 stores have “priviledge” cards that enable you to benefit from 5 to 10% deals off most of their products! You can’t beat a good deal… well, except for great service!

Had a surprise birthday brunch for my hubby this morning and invited a bunch of friends over (surprise part of the brunch). I made the pancake recipe I posted before and used it in our waffle iron. YUM! Make sure to let them cook a little longer than the waffle iron’s chime so they really become crispy outside and soft inside.

Once everyone filled up on waffles, turkey bacon, ham, fresh berries, nice cheeses (PC from Maxi or Loblaws, call their CS number to check the items), I took out the fabulous yellow cake with chocolate frosting… to everyone’s dismay! They simply weren’t hungry anymore, but couldn’t help themselves to a taste anyway and then couldn’t stop at just one bite. It really is that good

Yellow Cake

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups white rice flour
3/4 Cup tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2/3 Cup mayonnaise
1 Cup milk
2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and rice flour 2 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans. Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside.
Beat all wet ingredients together in a mixer with the whisk attachment completely blended. Whisk in the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
Divide between cake pans and spread out evenly with a knife or small spatula. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly tapped and is golden all over. Let cool completely, then frost if desired.

Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 Cup butter
4 squares Bittersweet Baking Chocolates
1 lbs confectionners chocolate ( I had to add about 2 cups more)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup 35% Cream
** I had to add more sugar, as stated above, and milk)
~1/4 Cup Milk

Directions
Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and 1/2 cup of the cream. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture.Add more sugar until desired consistency is achieve. Add milk to lighten mixture as desired. Frost immediately.

Enjoy!

One of things it took us a long time to find is pasta that has a good taste AND texture. There are now quite a few pasta products now available to the Gluten Free community. Sadly, not many of them come close to the same yummy al dente texture as wheat or semolina pasta. Now, to top things off, a couple years ago I started my own journey, a weight loss journey that is. Having 2 kids left me with a lot of extra everything I thus joined Weight Watchers and, finally, reached my goal this past month Yeah! Back tot he point though (hehe), I was looking for GF pastas that wouldn’t make such a crimp in my daily points and also could MAYBE be considered as what was then called “Core” foods. I DID find a pasta that would be only 3 points per serving, but they still wouldn’t be considered a CORE food as they weren’t “Whole Wheat”.

In any event, they also tasted pretty great and stood up to cooking very well. Whole Wheat pasta can usually take a little over cooking and still be quite edible. Most GF pastas will become a mushy mess if they are cooked even slightly too long. This pasta could stand up to the heat ok and even if slightly overcooked, they were still edible. I still recommend not overcooking ANY pasta

I’ll post another great GF pasta another day, but today, let me introduce you to, PASTATO!

No joke, that IS the name. As the name suggests, they are made with potatoes. They have a lot of fiber and have a great texture all around. They’ve been harder to find recently, but I know you can get them through El Peto’s website if you can’t find them near you.

As Everyday goes, we don’t eat pasta nearly as often as we used to. Like I posted Saturday, we stick to a more naturally GF diet (veggies, fruits, meat & dairy, naturally GF grains) but when the fancy strikes us, a nice bowl of pasta is still welcome.

Next time: Wanna get corny? You will after tasting my next find!

How can I truly emphasize the way I felt when I found this next item. It all started with her annual check up, this was for her 4 year well visit. Our Doc started by saying that since our daughter’s diagnosis, the clinic had also diagnosed another patient, an adult, who happened to be the IGA’s owner’s daughter (follow that?). The grocery store is just up the street from the clinic, and she said we should really visit that particular store because the owner went above and beyond to stock his store with GF goodies. So, a couple weeks later, I saunter over there. It’s not “far” per say and it’s just a hop over the river to Montreal, but it’s still sort of out of our way.

So I head over there on grocery day, walk up to the GF section… and nearly fall over! Not that it’s a HUGE section, I’ve seen better stocked stores, but it was the different things that I never knew even EXISTED that shocked me! Imagine two kinds of gummy bears! CANDY! (um, Halloween just around the corner at that point!) Chocolate SPRINKLES! for ice cream… or, drum roll please… ICE CREAM CONES! I’m getting goose bumps right now! Seriously, at 4 years old, my daughter had NEVER had an ice cream CONE. I was elated!

Now, be warned, the box contains 24 “small” cones for about 10-12$. It’s not cheap, but I was giddy and I couldn’t wait to make her an ice cream cone, complete with GF Vanilla Ice Cream and some Chocolate Sprinkels for good measure. Of course, then you have to deal with the incessant demands for more ice cream “in a cone!”, but I was willing to deal with that Actually, I may whip them out later today, just ’cause

Also, there is at least another variety out there, waffle cones, which I would LOVE to try out some day soon. So far though, we love these, they taste “right”, they crunch right and they just make eating ice cream so much fun, yes, even in the middle of February.

Next week: Pass the pasta, um, potato, um, pastato??? um, Yum!

For Ice Cream!!!

Oh the joys of the perfect Vanilla Ice Cream. Since my eldest turned 1 we had been searching for the “right” Ice Cream. The one that didn’t taste too sweet, too fake or too rich. One day, I found the PERFECT Ice Cream. It was creamy, smooth and lightly sweet with the great taste of Vanilla.

Behold, Chapman’s Ice Cream! We started eating this yummy Ice Cream at least a year before we were Gluten Free. Actually, we never really noticed the Gluten Free logo until my daughter’s 2nd Birthday! I had bought the Ice Cream a while before (probably before she was diagnosed, and yes, it was still in the freezer 4 months later!) and I’m fairly sure my husband’s the one that made this surprised sound foraging in there and showed me! How WONDERFUL! Our favorite Ice Cream wasn’t off limits!

Better yet, they have SO SO many flavors! Twenty One to be exact. They also have 3 types of Sorbet & bigger tubs of their “Original Ice Cream” that is GF! Once you’re on the site, just click on the GF icon and again on the next page and you’ll find their “GF” section on the left hand side showing all the other flavors available. Now to solve a couple problems…

Firstly, where to buy them? {Solution A: they have a great store locator tool right on their site!} or {Solution B: I’ve personally found these products in most Lobaws, Provigo, Metro and Maxi. Check the Useful Links library to get these store’s websites and the addresses to the stores in my area.}

Second, how to keep from eating it all in one sitting? {Solution: well, if you find one, tell me please }

Next week: Alright, we got the Ice Cream, can you give me cones to go with that??