Closed: Anello's in Portsmouth :(

I was lucky that I was able to get into Anello's Gluten Free Cafe in Portsmouth, NH before they closed. So sad. I had one of the most delicious sandwiches, and the owner (Traci) is the sweetest woman who really cared about delivering quality, good-tasting GF products to people. She talked to me for a while about my trials and tribulations with flours, and what had a weird taste, and what was normal. Then a man came in to get some flour mix, and she gave some suggestions, and even pulled out a personal recipe & wrote it down for him so he could go home & bake it himself. So great!

I know a few of you have been there, and I'm not sure if you even knew it closed, so I hate to be the one that just had to tell you!

BUT - Traci is now doing some cooking as a private chef, so if you're in the New England area, I would DEFINITELY recommend getting in touch with her to organize something. I am just trying to figure out some kind of even to organize so I can hire her to do a whole gluten free feast!

She has a page on Facebook - Anello's Gluten Free Cafe -- friend her!

Thank you General Mills!

I may be a little behind, just starting to read blogs & start blogging again. Although life is still crazy for me! Anyway -- just saw this gluten free site that General Mills came out with called LiveGlutenFreely.com -- how cool?! BTW, I really really love their chocolate cake mix... Makes the best cupcakes!

Better Batter Giveaway

Did you guys see THIS POST??

WOW - Heidi made some amazing-looking gluten free pastries/breads using Better Batter mix & is doing a great giveaway... check it out!

ps - i neeeeeed to make cinnamon buns. how good do those look?

Au Bon Pain - Potato Cheese Soup, GF?

There is an Au Bon Pain on the first floor of my office building which is very convenient, especially when it's pouring rain and I forget to bring lunch. I don't often eat there now -- but in my pre-GF days I worshipped their scones, cheese danishes, french toast bagels and their oatmeal. yum.

Sorry if mentioning any of those delicious treats makes your mouth salivate remembering the taste of sweet cheese in the form of a danish, but in all honesty, the amount of calories & fat in those aforementioned items is rather disgusting, so it's really for the best.

I do like that they're trying to offer some gluten free items though --- on their website & sometimes in the store they label what is, in theory, gluten free, and I have occasionally had the Black Bean Soup (labeled vegan, low fat and gluten free) - and it's pretty good and never made me sick.

This month there was a new soup in rotation - Potato Cheese. I was psyched. Potato AND cheese? Two of my favorites in one bowl and offered just downstairs? Sweet.

But no.

Two times I got the soup, two times I got that familiar gluten-y sick feeling.

I'm going to write something to Corporate just to let them know -- but I wanted you all to be warned. And I ate it twice because the first time I questioned something else I had that might have made me feel bad, but this time I knew.

Bummer!

Blogging Hiatus

Well, that's obvious, but I figured I would make it official & post an update.

Life is super crazy/busy right now -- can't spend any of my free time blogging knowing there are so many other things I need to be doing.

I'll be back when things calm down, oh, and Happy New Year!

2 Meals, one hunk of pork

This weekend we were in RI visiting my family and some friends. On Saturday my mom wanted to make pulled pork and we threw together this simple recipe:

pork butt

apple cider

3 apples, chopped

2 onions, chopped

splash of apple cider vinegar

salt & pepper

Cook in slow cooker for 5-6 hours or more -- shred pork. Done.

It was delicious - you can add some BBQ sauce on top - I just ate it plain.

There were tons of leftovers and the first thought i had - HASH.

So we sauteed some onions and cooked potatoes in olive oil, added the hash, let it all cook, fried up some eggs and threw them on top. YUM.

Here is my husbands very generous, rather filthy looking plate:

I ate about 1/4 of what is shown here, and I didn't do BBQ sauce on top, just the egg & some cheese.

great leftover dish :)

Eco-Planet gluten free instant oatmeal

 I happened upon this product in the grocery store the other day and I had to get it! This is the first time I have seen GF Instant Oats in the market - I wasn't in a big grocery store, but this market/butcher called McKinnon's - I think there are a few in the NH/MA areas, but I was in Salem, NH.

This is also a new brand for me, haven't had any of their other products, but here is a link to their site.

Anyway - so exciting, I love oatmeal, but hate making it - actually, I hate having to clean the pot afterwards -- so instant is perfect for me.

I really liked this! I added some cut-up apples one day, and just ate it plain the other times. This oatmeal is kind of mushy - which I really like. I know some people like their oatmeal a little grainier, or more oat-like, but I much prefer to it be like mush - I don't know why, it sounds gross just typing it, but that's how I like it.

What's also great is it's only 145 calories per packet (not including milk if you add that instead of water) and 5g of fiber! Nice!

Big fan -- will buy this again. I have been looking for Glutenfreeda's gf instant oats, but haven't seen them anywhere yet.