Gluten-Free Paris: Le Coq Rico, La Maison Rose & Moi

I’m back from the land of the meat, cheese, and cigarillo and wow, am I hungry. My hunch, that I later ignored, was in fact correct:  Paris is not so gluten-free. No matter, my friends! In spite of 9 days filled with longing, a pregnancy scare, getting kicked out of a market, one broken foot*, and having a hand in losing my husband’s iPhone within 12 hours of his arrival, Paris was awesome. Why? Because Paris is awesome. Everyone knows this. I’m not sure why we’re even discussing it.

Even though every place on my gluten-free “must go” list was on vacation (Helmut Newcake opens up again today, FYI you lucky gluten-free Parisians), I still ferreted out some places for you to grab a meal that won’t make you sick. Two, in fact! Three if you’re counting the one buckwheat crepe I found in all of Paris. Let’s count it!

Gluten-Free Labor Day Should Include Tacos & Beer

I mean, duh. Quite frankly, every weekend should include this combo and it’s no mistake that the first meal I made when I got back stateside included both tacos and beer, since those were the two things I missed most. But of course finding gluten-free beer that keeps up with the gluten-filled Joneses can be difficult. Meet my new favorite brew, the Off Grid Pale Ale via New Planet. It’s almost totally like normal beer!

Tacos, of course, are not so difficult to enjoy gluten-free, but I did discover something that makes your tacos even more awesome: Stubb’s Green Chile Marinade.

This bit of awesomeness wound up in my mail on account of the gluten-freeness of it, and the fact that the nice people at Stubb’s found my blog. Plus, I used to spend an incredible amount of time at Stubb’s in Austin whether at a show or enjoying their Sunday gospel brunch. So I was already on board with just about anything Stubb’s had to offer.

This New Planet beer? Same kind of thing. I KNOW. I’m the luckiest blogger in the whole world. So naturally I put the two of these things together and had a kick-off in grand gluten-free style for the holiday weekend. Then, I passed right out because jet lag is hard.

So fire up the grill, celebrate America, work, and tacos with this super duper taco toppings that are soooo gluten-free.

Gluten-Free Paris: Musee D’Orsay

So yeah, so far it’s been, ummm, challenging to eat gluten-free in the Paris. Part of it is I want to be like, “Come on people, just give me a steak without the au poivre, can you?” And then go find that magical gluten-free buckwheat crepe people have been talking about it.

My expectations were perhaps, a bit high.

But don’t feel sorry for moi! I just had gelato and coffee from a French press in my rented apartment in Montmartre. See?

Which brings me to vacation rule #1 for the gluten-free: If ice cream is what you want, ice cream is what you get. While technically what I wanted was a buckwheat crepe, or another amazingly delicious jambon et fromage omelette — but this time without the gluten — I settled for gelato stracciatella.

And here is vacation rule #2 which comes from my husband’s Aunt Mimi: If all else fails, enjoy a museum and a salad. Turns out, that’s exactly what I did yesterday and it was pretty danged amazing.

Gluten-Free Care Packages Are Here!

So this is a thing. Someone had the genius idea of curating a gluten-free box of snacks and sending them to your house once a month. Sure you could drive all over town and shop online to find all of these yummies in one place, but how much easier is it to have it arrive on your doorstep? Lots easier, that’s how much.

Especially if you’re a broke college student with a gluten problem. You’ve got to fend off the pizza delivery some way, so how about some Good Cookies? You’ve also got your mac and cheese, your bars, your pretzels. Really, you’re gluten-free set in the dorm.

Of course as an adult I can only do so much snacking, so I’m psyched the good people at GFreely sent me this box right before I fly across the universe. This way I can totally justify hoarding all of these munchies for myself. Have you had these Halfpops? Oddly delicious. But there’s more good news.

Gluten-Free With Friends: Hugo’s West Hollywood

It’s so nice to see friends from the east coast. It reminds me of how pale and jumpy I used to be. Okay, still am. While they usually tend to head west during those hellacious winter months, my friend Matt* was just here for work’ish today! Hooray! So I got to enjoy a lovely gluten-free breakfast with him and try to convince him to move to LA. That’s what all of us east coast transplants do, by the way. Try to convince everyone else to populate Los Angeles. And now you know why so many people in LA have crazy New York accents.

So I picked a spot somewhere between his lovely vacation work spot in Santa Monica, and my lovely home spot in the hills, and settled on Hugo’s in West Hollywood. True, it was closer to my house, but I’m not sure how to get to Santa Monica. Just ask Matt, who was the beneficiary of horrible directions back to the beach.

I’ve been hearing great things about Hugo’s ever since I had to give up the devil gluten, but I was really not prepared for what awaited this gluten-free gal (and friend who couldn’t care less). Even with the cross-contamination disclaimer, I have never been so excited to see a menu in my life. Just about everything can be made gluten-free, even these –

The Fanciest, Most Gluten-Free Taco Bell Dinner EVER

So I got a super interesting invitation this week. The good people of Taco Bell invited me to an undisclosed location to partake in their new Cantina Bell menu created by celebrity chef, Lorena Garcia. Having put Taco Bell on my no-way-in-hell list, I politely emailed back to say, “I don’t know if you know this, but gluten is totally my bitch. Thanks, but no thanks.” It turns out that was precisely why I was all up in that invite.

Apparently, I can eat at Taco Bell again. Or at least, starting July 5th, I can eat at Taco Bell again. My six-year-old could not be happier.

Gluten-Free Los Angeles: Scott Baio Loves Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill

Something awesome, yet bizarro is happening in my neighborhood you guys. Or rather, my adjacent neighborhood. Not one, but two restaurants opened this week that serve gluten-free pizza. That’s right, gluten-free pizza within walking (if-we-still-lived-in-Brooklyn-but-we-live-in-LA-so-driving) distance!!! It’s like all of my complaining is finally paying off and now I can enjoy pizza every night of the week without looking like that person that comes into your restaurant every night of the week. Because of trading off, that’s how.

Thank goodness someone made the Sophie’s choice for me as to which pizzeria to try first, as the lovely people of Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza and Grill extended an invitation to me to check out their new digs earlier this week. I obliged. So did Scott Baio, as the hubs and I totally star-sighted that guy chowing down at Sammy’s. (Apparently his wife loves the joint.) But back to the food. The food that Chachi loves more than Joanie.

While the pizza is certainly a super delicious treat (we had the BBQ chicken pizza, because why not?), there are a variety of items on the Sammy’s menu that are gluten-free. And all kinds of cues on the menu about how to order up some gluten-free grub. See —

Red Velvet Cake For Your Gluten-Free Mother

I could have just left this box out and maybe someone in my family would have gotten the hint to make it. But I didn’t. Instead, I decided to see if my favorite gluten-free flour — Cup4Cup could also make a dang good gluten-free cake mix. I honestly could not resist this box staring at me from the Williams-Sonoma shelf. Which is  incidentally, what I also said about the margarita mix. Both worth it.

By the way, after I bought this cake mix some crazy woman hit me with her car. She was driving into oncoming traffic, and I was sitting waiting for a red light. It’s a bit of a shock to be sideswiped, especially when you’re not actually doing anything wrong. Not even trying to Shazam while driving! Do you know how often something bad happens to me when I’m completely not at fault? Never. I’ve always done something to provoke. However, not this time. Here she is:

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins for an Elephant’s Birthday

This elephant. You see, my daughter convinced me it was her elephant’s birthday yesterday, and Ellie the Elephant needed cake. It’s totally true, see the piece of paper with yesterday’s date on it? That’s proof, terrorist-style. Private school tuition at work, people! Check it.

Not one to deny a birthday treat to a stuffed elephant, I ransacked my cabinets for a gluten-free quickie. The first thing I grabbed was this chocolate chip muffin mix from Authentic Foods. I have exactly zero recall as to when I acquired this package of goodness, but I’m guessing it was one of my rampages through Whole Foods or the gluten-free store. I also found two boxes of gluten-free chocolate cake mix, one box of gluten-free pie crust, and about three boxes of random gluten-free cookies that cannot be okay after sitting in the back of my cabinet for god knows how long. Time for some spring cleaning, gluten-free style.

Celiac Disease Convention Surprisingly Delicious & Boozy

News Flash: Dum-Dums are gluten-free

You guys, this weekend was cray-cray! I just got finished partying with a bunch of Celiacs at the annual Celiac Disease Foundation Convention and you know what that means. That’s right, the Tito’s vodka was flowing, the gluten-free pizzas were being passed around, and nobody went home alone. Can I get a wha-what?

Or, you know, maybe the convention started at 7:30 a.m. and since the hotel was all of 2.5 minutes from my house and my kids woke us up at 5:30 I drank a lot of coffee and walked across the street to see what’s new and g-free! Either/Or.

The point is, I discovered some new tasty treats that are all gluten-free, and I’m going to fill you in on that business. As seen in the pile of free samples I walked away with, above. Not pictured: Bard’s gluten-free beer, which was chilling in my fridge; Venice Bakery gluten-free pizza crust, which was in my oven covered in prosciutto and mozzarella; and a snack pack of Lay’s original potato chips which I already ate. I kind of had to, as I didn’t know they were gluten-free, so when the nice man handed them out I immediately busted those chips open.

In addition to these goodies, you could kind of graze your way through the convention hall and fill up for the day on gluten-free foods. I have to say there’s something refreshing and very much an antidote to the disappointment I feel when walking through Costco on the weekend. I could eat anything in that entire place, you guys. ANYTHING. And I did. Here is one of my faves.