Gluten Envy

Saturday, January 26, 2007

What a treat to find a restaurant in Florence, Oregon that serves gluten-free pancakes for breakfast!

On the south end of town, just before the bridge is a nice little restaurant and market, Nature’s Corner Cafe & Market, offering a wide variety of organic and gluten-free menu options.

When I entered my attention was drawn immediately to the grocery section, I typically look there first, from across the room I was able to see Bob’s Red Mill, always a good sign. Diane Raybould, owner, keeps a nice selection of gluten-free products on hand for resale at very reasonable prices, some of the lowest I’ve seen in our travels.

The restaurant boasts gluten-free pancakes, omelets, oatmeal, toast (yes! toast with your eggs!). Today Ben had  a blueberry pancake with eggs and bacon, the pancake mix used is Bob’s Red Mill and was the size of his head! The cooked meal prices are about average for a sit-down meal anywhere. I had a Denver Omelet with potatoes, it was OK, a bit bland.

If you are headed through Florance and need a quick bite to eat this is a good option, either for a sit-down or to stock up on snacks to go.

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If you’ve read the previous blog describing the difficultly uploading, it looks like it did go through after all.

On March 2nd, login and vote for this video, assuming I am in the top ten. (You should see me in a grey shirt against a red background.) My wife will thank you with your part in getting me out of the house.

Sorry for the pun in the beginning of the video. I couldn’t help it. I could have stopped it, but once a pun exists it must be stated. Ego pun proinde ergo sum.

You could also look at Yvette’s video of her with a yellow hidden Mickey book and a slideshow.

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Florence is a nice coastal community on the North end of the Sand Dunes. Gluten free traveling is always somewhat stressful. Traveling to Florence you can find the two chain restaurants with gluten free options in Eugene. Eugene has a P.F. Changs China Bistro and an Outback Steakhouse. It would be nice if a gluten free restaurant chain were in Florence as it would make it less stressful going there blind.

What we found when we got to Florence was a nice gluten free selection in the local Fred Meyer.

I have given up on Safeway corporation. (They once had GF in one section. Then they decided to intermingle it with the rest of the store with no regards to customer allergy safety. They have not returned calls on my suggestions returning GF to one section away from bags of wheat flour. I knew Safeway was going to be trouble when I went in for a Doan’s pill and found them on the bottom shelf four years ago where the staff thought it funny when I pointed it out.) This may just be the city Safeways. I don’t know. There may be options at this store but I am tired of pointing out how much is done wrong so I usually avoid that chain when looking for gluten free options. That said we often shop Safeway for meat because a meat person at Fred Meyer admitted that Fred Meyers injects their meats.

We found an organic themed Nature’s Corner Cafe and Market. They had a nice gluten free goods area as well as a gluten free pancake breakfast for me. This place is worth a try because the owner seems well versed in the gluten issue. You never know how much education sticks when talking with a standard restaurant worker.

Don’t forget about Mo’s. Many seafood options can be made gluten free. Due diligence, read the labels. The cabbage salad with shrimp is good.

Running the Florence strip several times did not reveal any other restaurants advertising gluten free options. There may be more to find still but none were actively advertising.

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This is a fun promotion that Disney has put together where you make a video and upload it to this site. Unfortunately many people have been getting the message in the image when they tried to upload. It was the same on PC and MAC. It appears that careerbuilder.com wasn’t prepared for the network traffic. It took my wife two hours to upload a 20MB video. The page eventually said ‘Thank you’ but I don’t trust it without a thank you email which I believe were not going to be sent out. Apparently the first part of this lottery is technological. I hope other people had better luck uploading. 

The videos were fun to make. The videos they have displayed on the dreamcmo.com site are fun to watch. You have just a few hours left to enter, but you should start uploading right away.

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When you are craving a gluten free treat try The Gluten Free Pantry’s Muffin and Scone Mix. Although good by itself we add fruit or berries to keep them moist a day longer.

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The Gluten Free Pantry has a wonderful white sandwich bread mix. The Gluten Free Pantry mix makes an excellent ‘toaster’ bread as well as the advertised sandwich bread. This is one of the recommend mixes to have on hand.

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If you have not been to a P.F. Chang’s then you likely have a Chinese food sized hole in your middle. Sporting a Gluten Free Menu, P.F. Chang’s features a gluten free soy sauce. (If you are new to this outing, soy sauce is normally boiled wheat.)

I’ll start with the bad because it is such a short list. They automatically bring out a condiment tray with regular soy sauce and a few other items. As always, you should be careful with items containing vinegar because vinegar can be cross contaminated with wheat during distillation. With this said be careful of the mustard. I always tell them to take the whole tray away. If I don’t then they lift off the wheat soy sauce and bring back a gluten free one and set it on the same tray.

At the end of the meal is the traditional cookie which is brought out without fail, even if the whole table ordered gluten free. It is cellophane wrapped but is still a wheat cookie. Only once have I been asked, “Do you want the cookie? It not gluten free you know.” I should have given this waiter a bigger tip. Normally I tell them to take the cookie back with them which is met with mock protest. I in turn tell them I don’t want to have to go wash my hands to get the cookie off of them before they come anywhere near my face.

What P.F. Chang’s does right? How about a different set of plates for allergy sufferers? This is a visual queue to all wait staff, and it is quite a good idea. The food is great and is consistent between the different locations. I’d recommend trying the Gluten Free Chicken Lettuce Wrap. It is an appetizer that could be eaten as a meal.

If the lettuce wrap isn’t enough then finish with a Chocolate Dome. If you like chocolate, you need to eat this. It is in the top of my gluten free dessert at a restaurant list. It is enough for two. I say that because the chocolate sensors start to go out about half way through this simple yet wonderful chocolate creation.

Pictured is Chang’s Spicy Chicken, brown rice, Ginger Chicken with Broccoli and gluten free soy sauce.

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If you haven’t tried Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix as a replacement for white wheat flour, you’re missing the gluten free boat. This mix works excellent for cookies and pancakes. Try it as a direct 1:1 replacement in your wheat laden baked recipes.

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Describe how, starting at nineteen hundred eight, adding three straight lines adds twenty seven years. Then, for extra credit explain the significance of the two years.

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1 cup rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon orange extract
Potato starch for kneading and rolling
Colored sugars, sprinkles, or frosting for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

In small bowl, whisk together flours, cornstarch, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening, and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, mixing enough to combine. Dough will be soft, knead in enough potato starch to make the dough easy to handle and roll out (unlike sugar cookie dough made with wheat flour, this dough will not become tough with handling, so knead and roll all you like!).

Roll out 1/2 of the dough at a time to about 1/4″ thickness, keep the other half covered with plastic wrap to prevent from drying out. Cut into desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with the colored sugars or sprinkles at this time if you are using them. Bake for about 12 minutes, let cookies cool for about 5 minutes before removing. Allow to cool completely before you frost.

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