Gluten-Free Weekend at Universal Studios

The rides at Universal Studios are a lot of fun, but to be honest one of my absolute favorite parts of visiting the park is the abundance of gluten-free menus and well-trained staff.  As anyone who is strictly gluten free can understand, our choices are so often limited that when we have a lot of options it feels a little like Christmas.  This was our second trip to the park so I already had some familiar places I wanted to revisit, but we tried some new things too.

On Friday night, we headed off to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  They advertised having a gluten-free menu, and we were both in the mood for some seafood, so we headed there.  It's a very kitschy place, full of Forrest Gump memorabilia, and there are different sections of the restaurant designed like different parts of the movie.  They did have the promised gluten-free menu, but I was slightly disappointed to see that I had about three choices in total.  Fortunately I found something in my limited selection that sounded good - the shrimp and veggie skewers with lemon cream sauce.  They were pretty good, but nothing I couldn't have done at home myself.  Still, a nice way to start the weekend!

On Saturday we returned to Mythos for lunch, since it's right in the Islands of Adventure and they had some good gluten-free options clearly marked on their regular menu.  I debated trying something new, but ended up going with the same pad thai I ordered last time since I knew it was really good.  It was a hit yet again - and actually even better left over and cold, since the portion was so huge that I had plenty for a late afternoon mini-meal!

Dinner Saturday night was the highlight of the trip - we had reservations at Emeril's Tchoup Chop, a fantastic restaurant right in our hotel, the Loews Royal Pacific.  We loved our meal there on our last visit, so it was the first place I thought of when we booked this trip.  It was even better this time around!  They had a new offering for table munchies, these amazing light shrimp chips, that were gluten free, and the server brought a special GF orange chili dipping sauce for me.  Then we ordered a tuna roll appetizer, which was served up with gluten-free soy sauce - they even brought the bottle out to the table so I knew for certain it was safe.

For my entree, I chose the pan-roasted duck with mashed potatoes and broccolini.  It was already a gluten-free dish aside from the plum umeboshi glaze, but they replaced it with a different glaze that was amazing - sweet and tangy, and a fantastic accompaniment to the perfectly-cooked duck.  

Total home run on this one - it was a very memorable meal and the highlight of our trip!

The next morning we decided to eat breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and when we first entered I thought I was going to be in trouble - they weren't doing the a la carte menu I had seen online, just a buffet, since they were busy prepping for a big Mothers Day brunch event.  But I ended up being very pleasantly surprised when I mentioned my issue to our waiter and he had the chef out to our table within two minutes.  The chef told me that the omelet bar would be a safe choice, and that he could prepare me some safe bacon in the back and even some hash browns done in gluten-free oil.  Music to my ears!

The hash brown patties I got were way better than the potato chunks Hubs got off the buffet - he ended up pilfering one of mine actually!  Luckily the chef brought out generous portions and there was plenty to go around.  They were crispy, light, and really made my breakfast something special.  Extra bonus that the table had cute little sealed mini glass bottles of ketchup - zero cross-contamination risk!  I have seen too many knives get stuck in glass bottles to free up the ketchup flow to ever use a shared one again...

 

Our final meal of the weekend was another one I had really been looking forward to - a cheeseburger in paradise at Margaritaville!  Sure, I can eat a burger at plenty of places minus the bun, but there's just something so satisfying about being able to pick up a big, juicy burger with your hands.  Plus, not only do they have GF buns, their fries are also safe.  It was a great meal to cap off the weekend before we headed back home!

Meal Plan Monday

I'm starting to get bored of my go-to easy meals that have been par for the course this last month so I broke out my Evernote Food app while menu planning for the week and added some new recipes into the mix!  Definitely feel like I'm starting to get back into the groove after all the moving stress.  I think the weekend away in Orlando really helped me unwind and get into a better mindset - going to share some photos of gluten-free delights from the trip tomorrow!

Monday

• Turkey Meat Sauce with Tinkyada Pasta
• Green Salad

Tuesday

• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches using this super-simple Oven BBQ Chicken recipe and Udi's Hamburger Buns
• Ore Ida French Fries
• Corn on the Cob

Wednesday

• Chicken Sauteed with Apples from Real Simple
• Broccoli
• Baked Sweet Potatoes

Thursday

• Grilled Pork Chops
• Easy Cheesy Zucchini Casserole
• Annie's Gluten-Free Shells & White Cheddar

Friday

• Pizza (still haven't used that Mama Mary's gluten-free crust I found!)
• Green Salad

Saturday

• Red Wine Marinated Flank Steak with Cherry Tomato Caprese Salsa from How Sweet Eats
• Roasted New Potatoes
• Green Beans

Sunday

• Brown Sugar & Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin from Veronica's Cornucopia via I'm a Celiac
• Green Beans
• Mashed Potatoes

Honey Sesame Chicken with Green Beans

I have always been a huge fan of sesame chicken, and almost always ordered it whenever we went out for Chinese food.  The combination of crispy chicken and sticky-sweet sauce was a siren call of sugar and fat, and I loved every bite.  I haven't attempted to make it on my own much, but I watched Hubs eat some the other weekend and it kicked up some major cravings.  I came up with a fairly decent version of it for what is likely a fraction of the fat and calories of his take-out meal!

Honey Sesame Chicken with Green Beans

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3 egg whites (I used about 1/3 cup of All Whites)
• Vegetable oil, for pan frying
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• Fresh cilantro (optional)
• 2 cups green beans, cut into bite-size pieces
• White or brown rice for serving

For Marinade and Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup gluten-free soy sauce (recommended - San-J brand)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions

Prepare rice according to package directions.

Whisk together the marinade/sauce ingredients.  Add chicken to a zip-top bag and add about 1/2 cup of the mixture, making sure chicken pieces are coated.  Set the remaining sauce aside and put the chicken in the fridge to marinate for about half an hour.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry.  Heat a large stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat and add oil just until the bottom is coated.  

Whisk egg whites until foamy, then toss in the chicken chunks to coat.  Next, toss chunks in the cornstarch to coat (you can do this on a plate, but easier/less messy to use a fresh zip-top bag).  

Add chicken in batches to the hot pan and cook on both sides until golden brown, adding more oil as necessary (it's OK if not cooked through all the way - it's going in the oven while you finish up the dish).  Remove to a paper towel lined plate, then transfer to a baking sheet lined with foil.  Put chicken in oven.

Drain oil from skillet and wipe out.  Add the reserved sauce to the skillet and cook until syrupy (about 10 mins), whisking often.  While sauce is reducing, microwave the green beans until crisp-tender (about 3 1/2 minutes).  Put sesame seeds in a small bowl and microwave for about a minute to toast them.  

When sauce is ready, remove chicken from oven and toss into the sauce along with the cooked green beans,  Garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro if desired.  Serve with the rice.

Meal Plan Monday

I still feel a bit mentally exhausted when it comes to getting in the kitchen - last month was crazy, and my brain is still catching up.  Lots of easy stuff planned this week, and we're off to Orlando this weekend to celebrate our anniversary so I'm going to get to enjoy some wonderful gluten-free meals out - especially looking forward to another celebratory dinner at Emeril's Tchoup Chop!

Monday

• Sesame Chicken
• White Rice
• Green Beans

Tuesday

• Buttery Baked Chicken
• Cilantro Lime Rice
• Green Beans

Wednesday

• Leftovers

Thursday

• Apple Bacon Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Green Salad

Friday

• Dinner Out

Saturday

• Dinner Out

Sunday

• Baked Chicken Breasts
• Brown Rice
• Broccoli

Eating Out Gluten Free: River Grille in Sebastian, FL

After an extremely stressful long weekend of moving last week, I decided to surprise Hubs with a little treat as a way to celebrate finally getting settled in Sebastian.  I booked us a couple of massages, then followed it up with dinner reservations at a highly-recommended restaurant right by our new house, River Grille.  Pretty much everyone we talked to from the area said we had to go there, so I decided it would be perfect for our celebration

Everyone was right!  We had a wonderful meal.  I didn't know much about their gluten-free friendliness going in, but normally in my experience nice restaurants are always great about accommodating my needs.  Little did I know that they were ahead of the game compared to a lot of the other restaurants that I've found around here - the menu was clearly labeled with gluten-free options (and there were lots of them), and our server was extremely knowledgeable.  They even had little extras like gluten-free crackers to serve me instead of a bread basket!  

It was really difficult to choose what we wanted to eat as everything looked so good, but we were both really in the mood for seafood so we started with the chipotle grilled shrimp skewers.

Such a pretty presentation, and so tasty!  Perfectly grilled, with just a tiny bit of heat, and the fruit salsa on top was perfect.

Next, I chose with the crab-stuffed salmon for my entree - normally I avoid anything "stuffed" due to the inevitable addition of breadcrumb filler, but I was assured that it was perfectly safe and all lump crab.  For the sides I went with the spinach soufflé, already gluten free with no modification needed, and the honey-glazed carrots.  I was trying to be healthy by getting the carrots, and they were good, but after seeing the twice-baked potato on Hubs' plate I immediately wished I had opted for that instead!  The spinach soufflé was fantastic as well, and went great with the fish.

One of the most special parts about our meal was pure luck - the executive chef, Michele Hennessey, who is actually pretty famous in these parts for winning several local Top Chef competitions, just happened to sit down at the table next to ours to enjoy her own dinner with friends after she finished up in the kitchen.  It was really fun hearing her talk about the wine and food on her menu, and she was friendly enough to draw us into the conversation - it was nice to talk directly to a chef about being gluten free, especially when she was clearly interested in accommodating her gluten-free guests and even requested my opinions on products that I enjoy.  Bonus - she even treated us to a complimentary dessert of delicious crème brulee and port wine!  Hubs dug in before I got a chance to snap a pic, but it was an incredible way to top off the meal.

Now here's the sad part - this amazing, gluten-free friendly restaurant that is less than five minutes from our new house is closing in just a few short weeks!!  It's for a good cause at least - Chef Michele wants to spend more time with her family.  However her husband plans to turn the restaurant into an Italian place this fall, which I was told has plans to be GF friendly as well, so I can at least hope for GF pizza or pasta close by in the near future - which would be fantastic, as currently the only option in within a half hour of me is Domino's!

Meal Plan Monday

After a very busy weekend, our kitchen is officially at a livable state!  We still have a long way to go to get fully settled, but we've got the important rooms set up for the most part, and we're starting to get back into our usual routine, which means cooking dinner every night instead of relying on restaurants or takeout.  Plus we now have our grill back after a long time in storage - something I definitely missed when we were doing the apartment living thing!

Monday

• Grilled Garlic Cheese Sausages
• Yellow Rice
• Grilled Zucchini

Tuesday

• Mini Turkey Meatloaves
• Mashed Potatoes
• Green Beans

Wednesday

• Grilled Hormel Apple Bourbon Pork Tenderloin
• Mashed Potatoes
• Zucchini Casserole

Thursday

• Perdue Gluten-Free Chicken Tenders
• Green Salad
• Ore Ida French Fries

Friday

• Pizza (using a new Mama Mary's gluten-free crust I found at Publix)
• Green Salad

Saturday

• Grilled Steak
• Baked Potatoes
• Green Beans

Sunday

• Baked Chicken Breasts
• Brown Rice
• Broccoli

Gluten-Free Friday: Eating Out in West Palm Beach, Florida

Sorry for the long hiatus between posts - it's been quite a crazy couple of weeks getting packed up, moved and (somewhat) unpacked.  We are still living amid lots of boxes, but we're starting to put our lives back together.  This weekend is going to be another busy one, but I just keep reminding myself that every empty box is a step closer to our goal!

So there are clearly a lot of up sides to living in Sebastian, Florida – beautiful beaches, great weather, lack of traffic, vacation vibe.  But one of the big down sides is the lack of gluten-free restaurant options.  Sure, I have found places where I can eat safely, but there aren’t many gluten-free specialty products to be found except at the grocery stores (and thank goodness for those).

So when we head south to the significantly larger West Palm Beach area, I get super excited about all the gluten-free options they have in restaurants there.  I still have quite a few places on my wish list to visit, but here are the highlights of my most recent weekend trip! 

Breakfast

We went a bit out of our way for this one on Saturday and drove down to Wellington so I could check out Taylor Made Cafe – they advertised having gluten-free tortillas and bread so I was interested in seeing the offerings.  I ordered a simple egg sandwich with ham, and it came on some pretty decent gluten-free bread.  It was still a tiny bit on the dry side, which is somewhat to be expected from gluten-free bread, but overall a very tasty sandwich!

 

On Sunday we visited the Palm Beach Gardens Original Pancake House and I was served delicious gluten-free pancakes.  I make pancakes fairly often at home and they turn out pretty good, but these were absolutely amazing, really fluffy and rich – I would guess thanks to the addition of lots of extra butter.  But that’s what treating yourself is all about, right?  Extra appreciation for the fact that they brought out the butter in a separate little cup with a lid that had obviously been piped into the container, instead of putting it straight on the pancake with a potentially contaminated scoop.  

Lunch

C.R. Chicks is a small chain with locations throughout Palm Beach County.  Their specialty is rotisserie chicken, marinated and then slowly cooked over Brazilian oak logs.  They have a lot of gluten free options for sides as well, and there is a gluten-free menu on their website. Food comes fast and it's really affordable, so it was a great option for a quick lunch.  The chicken was fantastic - nice and juicy, with a great smoky flavor.  I ordered mine with the rice and cucumber salad on the side, and it made for a very light and simple meal.  I will definitely be returning on our next trip!

Dinner

This was my favorite find of the weekend.  Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar is also bit further south, in downtown Lake Worth.  We were in the area for a concert, so I went hunting for restaurants near the park where the concert was being held and happened to stumble across their website, which advertised a gluten-free menu.  It wasn't online, but when we arrived I asked for it and I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found - apparently one of the owners can't have gluten, so they have an extensive variety of options, from appetizers to dessert, and even Redbridge beer!  

We ordered a bunch of seafood, and all of it was good.  I was introduced to rock shrimp for the first time, which is a bit harder to peel than regular shrimp but well worth it, as it has a bit more of a lobster texture.  We also had their peel and eat shrimp, which were amazing.  We also had the clams, which were steamed with garlic, lemon and white wine.

They also had a good variety of cocktails on their menu that were safe for me, although these weren't on the GF menu.  I avoid sour mix because that's not always safe, but they had many options that only used fruit juice as a mixer.

It was a great atmosphere with great food, and we had a really fun time there.  Bonus that it was walking distance to Bryant Park for the concert!  I was really happy with this place.

I found most of these places using the Find Me Gluten Free app, which is a lifesaver for gluten-free traveling.  Dave's wasn't on there, but I submitted it so future diners could take advantage of their awesome menu!