We spent our Saturday running up to Apple Hill to find some (hopefully hard) apple cider and have a picnic. We weren't the only ones- as soon as October hits the drive up the hill gets a bit more congested. Plus, there was some sort of event going on, which made getting off the freeway tons of fun.
We landed at Jack Russell Brewery, pretty sure that this would be our only stop for the day.
(Source)
Their name is a bit deceptive- they also opened a cool new winery cave as of this fall! Beer is available on one side of the building, then you meander over to the cave to find a selection of mead, cider, and wine. Did you know that mead happens to be delicious? It made this gluten-free girl very happy!
In addition, the brewery has a great little picnic area and they had vendors lined up around the edges of the property selling everything from hotdogs and tri-tip, to clothes and jewelry, even blown glass "art". There was a lady doing chair massages that I really wanted to take advantage of, but I worried that I would be cheating on Don.
So, for my What's for Dinner weekend post, I'm featuring some butternut squash in a nice risotto and plenty of other comfort foods, including a roast recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess. Despite the eighty degree weather, it's still fall to me! Hence the autumn mix in the halloween bowl (upper left corner)-my favorite fall candy. Have a great weekend everyone!
Behold!
I know the picture sucks. I ate lunch at close to 2 pm. Since I had pilates this morning and then ran a bunch of errands, I was starving. Hence, the shaky picture. I was literally moving forward to devour it as I was taking the shot. Sorry, everyone.
One of those errands was running to this wonderful place: Azna Gluten Free Bakery in Cameron Park, California. Kinda a random place for a shop like this, but worth a short drive. I picked up one of the "Sweet Noni" loaves of bread, which includes these ingredients:
Holy wow, that's a lot of stuff, including some stuff I had never heard of before. The result? It tastes like a Honey Wheat Bread. The loaf is really tiny, and apparently I'm supposed to keep it frozen until it's time to eat it. It was still a bit crumbly, but much better than the rice bread. I toasted it, topped it with stone ground mustard, turkey, pepperjack, pickles, and tomato. Super tasty.
Now, for what I didn't like... That loaf of bread cost me twelve bucks! Now, I expected the bread at this place to be slightly more expensive than the bland rice loaves from the grocery store- I did not expect double the price. Don't tell Kevin.
This makes me all the more ready to purchase this bad boy:
I really can't justify the prices of the breads in the store- even six bucks is crazy for the small, tasteless things readily available. And, with the opening of Whole Foods in Folsom, I should be able to find all the ingredients (Sorghum Flour?) in one spot rather than traveling from Bel Air to the Natural Foods store to Trader Joe's. It gets old.
Happy present shopping, everyone! I'm about to go enjoy my other purchase from Azna's, a (vegan) vanilla cupcake.
Probably one of the biggest things I miss about gluten is beer and wings on Sundays while watching football. Thankfully, I discovered this at my local grocery store. It tastes pretty decent, but was pricey at 7.49 for a six-pack. I'll savor one each Sunday. :)
I'm taking the beginning of autumn and the onset of cooler weather to signal that I should start making soups, stews, and anything and everything squash!
As of today I am on day four of actual unemployment- no volunteering, no job, no training, no nothing. And I am going insane.
I was actually starting to go insane on day two. I managed to hold off on writing a whiny post until now. You're welcome.
I'm just not one of those people who likes laying around. I need to get out and do things and be productive. Don't get me wrong- I'm trying: Yesterday I watched a full season of Supernatural.
Check out those sexy jaws.
In my defense, a lot of the time I was watching TV I was also doing housework, applying for jobs, or riding my stationary bike.
So, until I get a job, I have a whole lot of nothingness to look forward to. I'm already going to physical therapy twice a week and exercising whenever I can. How should I spend my time? Here are my options:
Work on getting published in a social work journal
Practice gluten-free baking
Get fat
Clean (Booo!)
Update my cookbook
Read
Learn Spanish
Start being an extreme couponer
The darnedest thing about unemployment is that I'm not supposed to be spending money. Hence, the limited options.
Also on my to-do list is that I need to work on is not being a huge bitch when Kevin comes home. After a long day of nothing, the last thing I want to do it spend an evening doing nothing. So, sometimes that makes me cranky and resentful.
My dear friend and physical therapist, Don, has suggested that this is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps, unemployment is what I need right now. I don't know if I just need this time to get stronger or if there's some larger cosmic reason. We'll see.
Here's the plan for this short week, although I have to do some rearranging- today is National Taco day! I hope you're all celebrating! And, of course, all this deliciousness is sans wheat.
For over the past week Kevin and I have been on the road. We traveled down to San Diego to catch one of our favorite bands, TV on the Radio- give them a listen below. We stayed with my best friend since third grade, Cassie.
Much fun and much alcohol was had by all.
There was also Muddy Buddies and mediocre gluten-free pizza.
But pizza nonetheless!
From San Diego we traveled up Highways 1 and 101. We passed through all the tiny rich towns with lots of expensive cars.We drove along the ocean for most of the journey up until about Portland. We went on an AWESOME dune buggy ride near Coos Bay, scoped out the Tillamook Cheese Factory and the Blue Heron wine tasting and cheese place. It was a wonderful trip- just me and the hubby (and the booboo). We ended up in our hometown of Spokane, Washington in time to celebrate my nephew's third birthday. I'll post more on the trip later- this part is about the food.
Kevin and I knew that if I could survive a roadtrip on the gluten-free diet I could probably rock it long term. It was difficult, to say the least.
For car snacks I mostly stuck potato chips and tortilla chips. Not super healthy, I know, but when you're traveling you want the delicious salty stuff. At one point we bought some beef jerky, only to realize it was flavored with soy sauce. Frownie face.
Breakfasts got easier after the first day. I discovered, happily, that Odwalla bars are gluten-free!
This one tastes like a rice krispy treat!
We would stop by a grocery store in the morning, pick up a couple bananas, some yogurt, and some of those bars. Yum!
Lunch was another issue- especially in the smaller towns. McDonald's was great for salads. I learned that Carl's Jr., home of the charbroiled chicken salad (yum!) seasons their grilled chicken. This is not unusual practice. KFC makes a delicious grilled chicken, but they do the same darn thing. So, I ate a lot of lettuce wrapped burgers. This wasn't an issue at Carl's, home of the low-carb six dollar burger.
It looks delicious, but I got sick of it eventually. Other places didn't get the concept of a lettuce wrap so much. "You mean, like put lettuce around the bun?"
No... instead of a bun, you wrap it in lettuce leaves. "Oh, so the chicken snack wrap".
No, not the wrap either, just lettuce. "So, on a bed of lettuce?"
Well, no, not really, you still make it like a sandwich. "Oh, I got it".
There were quite a few disappointing lunches. None of the non-Carl's places got it right. The example above is a McDonald's, when I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. It arrived on the bed of lettuce, with all the fixin's. It was close, at least! Burger King didn't do so great. They stated that their lettuce was shredded, so they couldn't do a wrap (it wasn't that shredded). So, I was greeted with a Whopper patty sitting atop a mound of lettuce. The kicker on that one is they didn't give me any condiments. It was a dry, flavorless experience. To make matters worse, they also messed up my side salad order. I cried during that lunch.
Dinners were easier since we were settled in for the night. One evening we had mediocre Chinese food, another, a rotisserie chicken from Safeway (verified gluten-free). One amazing night we indulged in some Thai food (Thank you, Portland!). On our last night (and drive home) I encountered a very friendly Subway employee who gave me all the ingredients for a turkey sammich, but charged me only as "double meat" on my hubby's order. Assembling all that Subway fresh veggie goodness on my crumbly, bland rice bread was a bit disappointing, but at least it wasn't another salad!
So, here is my list for gluten-free friendly traveling:
Carl's Jr. (Low Carb burgers)
McDonald's- Their salads are pretty good, and I rounded my meal off with a sweet tea and apple slices. I was pretty happy.
Wendy's- After squinting over their little allergen chart I figured out that their grilled chicken is gluten free. I put one of those on a large Caesar salad. They also have the chili and the baked potatoes for options.
Taco Time- Taco Bell uses flour on their meat (and everything else). I didn't get to try anything, but if you stick to corn shells and grilled meats you should be good.
Grocery Stores- why not just pick up an apple, some deli meats, and some Blue Diamond Nut Thins?
Chinese/Thai/Sushi- Just watch out for soy sauce and don't get anything that's breaded and deep-fried.
I think the toughest parts about this were that for lunch we wanted to save money. This almost always translates into fast food. And, when you're driving through tiny towns along the coast, there isn't always a ton of options. You can get hangry in that amount of time. Just make sure that you've married a guy who can make you laugh through your tears... some joke about flame-broiling the Burger King restaurant... I don't remember. :)
So, I made it! And, the crazy thing is that I feel amazing. Normally the week of a roadtrip/traveling return rivals my period week for how shitty I feel. I have almost NO stiffness. I'm cautiously optimistic!
