Gluten Free Travel Blog

Gluten Free Meals extends $19.99 shipping offer through the end of 2010

Many of you may recall my recommending a service called GF Meals by Your Dinner Secret. This is a company that prepares and ships "ready -to-cook" gluten-free (and in many cases, casein-free) meals directly to your door on dry ice. They offer a nice range of entrees, side dishes, and baked goods -- and even offer many value-priced packages that let you sample many of their selections. They're based in Southern California, and for those of you lucky enough to live there, they have special designated days when you can pick up orders. For the rest of us, they ship the food on dry ice to your home or place of work. Best of all, because of the economic situation that continues to put a strain on people's budgets, GF Meals is offering to limit their shipping charges to just $19.99 through the end of 2010. That means you can purchase as much of their easy-to-make food as you like, and you'll pay only $19.99 flat-rate ground shipping per order (within the lower 48 states). 

Our family has ordered food from GF Meals both to prepare at home -- and to have on vacations where we've had a condo with a full kitchen (we just arranged for the food to arrive on the first day of our stay). This helped us save money and avoid having to eat out every night (which can sometimes be difficult anyway, depending on the availability of restaurants that can safely prepare a gluten-free meal). Some of our family's favorite entrees from GF Meals include Autumn Chicken, Meatballs, Breaded Pork Cutlets, Chicken Tenders, and Asian-style Orange Chicken. They also just introduced their new gluten-free Turkey Meatballs prepared with organic caramelized diced onion, garlic, and a hint of cinnamon. Most of these dishes require little more than baking them in the oven...nothing could be easier! So stock up now to have some quick, healthy, and tasty gluten-free options on those nights when you're just too busy to make a meal "from scratch." GF Meals is "from scratch" cooking...just prepared by someone else!

 

One Dish Cuisine Serves Gluten-Free (and even Casein-Free and Soy-Free) Market

At a recent DC Celiacs support group meeting, I had the opportunity to meet Maureen Burke, a lovely lady who has devoted her culinary talents to serving the gluten-free (and also casein-free and soy-free) communities. 

Maureen owns a specialty food company called One Dish Cuisine, which provides lunch and dinner menus for gluten-free and  gluten-free/casein free guests at The Irish Channel Restaurant in Crofton, Maryland. Her mission is to "welcome these underserved populations back to the table by bringing great-tasting food, at reasonable prices, into the mainstream." You can also purchase One Dish Cuisine's "ready to cook" meals at the Healing and Wellness Center's Farmer's Market on Kent Island on Tuesdays from 5-7 pm and at the University of Maryland Farmer's Market on Tuesdays from 10:30-2:00. They will also be making their delicious meals available at My Butcher and More in Annapolis soon....

I had a chance to try many of One Dish Cuisine's specialties, which they were sampling for us at the DC Celiacs meeting. DIagnosed over 20 years ago with Celiac Disease, Maureen has adapted just about every one of her recipes to fit a gluten-free lifestyle, but her specialties available through One Dish Cuisine are meals and menu items that can be served in the same dish in which they're prepared, to avoid the risk of cross-contamination. After her young nephew was diagnosed with Autism a couple years ago, Maureen took her gluten-free recipe adaptations a step further to now offer gluten-free/casein-free -- and even gluten-free/casein-free/soy-free menu items. 

In response to "overwhelming need for great-tasting gluten-free (GF) and gluten-free/casein-free (GFCF) food," Maureen has developed wonderful crab dips, which she recommends serving with her GFCF mini bread loaves. Other specialties include lasagna, crab cakes, shepherd's pie, chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, meatloaf, and burgers with GFCF buns, all served on the menu at the Irish Channel Restaurant. Side dishes include fries fried in a dedicated fryer, mashed potatoes, and butternut squash. 

Tenzo Bakery supplies the gluten-free (and some casein-free) desserts for The Irish Channel Restaurant. Tenzo Bakery is located in Frederick, Maryland, and their products are available at a couple local markets and farmer's markets, including the same University of Maryland Farmer's Market where you can find One Dish Cuisine every Tuesday. I personally sampled Tenzo's black-bottom cupcakes, which I brought home to share with my family, and we promptly devoured them with abandon! WOW...so moist and delicious...I was really amazed they were gluten-free!

If you live in the DC metro area, I encourage you to seek out The Irish Channel Restaurant or one of the Farmer's Markets where both One Dish Cuisine's and Tenzo Bakery's items are sold. 

Back to School Promotion: Get unlimited ready-to-cook Gluten Free Meals shipped to you and pay only $19.99 flat shipping rate

If you've never tried the delicious gluten-free and ready-to-prepare meals from GF Meals by Your Dinner Secret, now is the perfect time. For the month of September, they are offering flat rate shipping for only $19.99, regardless of the size of your order. So it's a great time to stock up on your family's favorites for those nights during the school year you don't have the time to create an entire meal "from scratch." 

This is gluten-free "from scratch" cooking...just prepared by someone else!  Most meals involve little more than popping the items in the oven. GF Meals offers a great variety of entrees, side dishes, and baked goods to choose from. The company ships your order on dry ice to your home or travel destination, unless you're lucky enough to live in Southern California, where they have a regular location for order pick-up. Check out their site today.

Great Gluten-Free Mixes From the Heartland!

I don't usually blog about gluten-free food, per se, unless the focus is on dining out or traveling gluten-free. But recently I was sent some great gluten-free mixes from a company based in Amarillo, Texas, called Mixes From the Heartland. So far my family and I have sampled the Chicken and Rice Soup, Cajun Pastalaya Soup Mix, gluten-free flour mix, strawberry dip, and "Impossible Coconut Pie" mix. We've thoroughly enjoyed them all and still have a few more to try: Texas Sausage and Bean soup, the Spinach and Chives dip mix, and the Green Chili Veggie Dip Mix.  

The mixes are so easy to make (you usually only need to add 1-3 ingredients to the prepared "dry mix"). For example, tonight I made the Cajun Pastalaya Soup mix which came packaged with gluten-free pasta and a large spice packet. You simply add chicken or sausage (I made it with a little of both), crushed tomatoes, and water. It took less than 30 minutes to make -- start to finish -- and was delicious...a hearty, satisfying, and healthy dish. The Chicken and Rice soup was equally as good (it just needed more water than what the recipe called for). But my favorite so far was probably the "Impossible Coconut Pie" mix. Put the mix and a couple more ingredients into a blender, pour into a pie plate (actually two...the mix makes two pies), let sit for about 5 minutes, and bake. It's similar to a Bisquick coconut cream pie I used to make (prior to our son's Celiac diagnosis) in that the flour (with this mix, gluten free flour!) "falls" to the bottom of the pie plate during baking and forms the "crust." It's so easy, and our son loved it. I took the second pie to a baby shower, and it was a hit there as well. No one suspected it was gluten-free, of course. 

So, if you (like me!) don't mind "almost homemade" meals, especially when you're pressed for time, I'd highly recommend checking out Mixes From the Heartland's website for wonderful meals, sides, soups, baked goods, and desserts. It's a great thing to keep in mind, too, when you're traveling and will have access to a kitchen (i.e. if you're renting a condo or staying with family) but don't know what gluten-free items the local stores will have. These items can be ordered and sent ahead to your destination (no need for dry ice) or literally packed in your suitcase. We plan on placing an order soon to try out even more of their great-sounding items. Be sure to post your feedback if you order anything yourself...we'd love to hear from you! 

Gluten-Free Meals...Ready to Cook

OK...we can all admit it...there are some nights when you just don't have the time or desire to tackle the perennial question of "What's For Dinner?" But picking up take-out or microwaving a frozen dinner isn't always an option when you're eating gluten-free (or should we say...the options are pretty limited). That's where a great service I've recently discovered -- comes in. GF Meals by Your Dinner Secret offers a large range of options of ready-to-cook meals and will ship anywhere within the U.S.

After recently trying -- Your Dinner Secret's GF Meals -- I was pretty excited. They really are the next-best-thing to a homemade gluten-free meal, and I feel like our family finally has some of the convenience so many families eating "regular" food have at their disposal. Don't get me wrong...they aren't as easy as "pop it in the microwave," and you still need more than a few minutes to cook the food. But at least you've eliminated the planning, shopping, and prep work involved.

I ordered their Deluxe Package, so our family could sample many of their entrees, as well as some side dishes and desserts. I also added on an order of chicken nuggets. My total order was about $200, which included a pretty hefty shipping charge (due to the foods being frozen), but we probably have gotten about 9 meals out of that for our family (2 adults, 2 young children). So all in all, I felt it was a pretty fair value, given the quality of the food and the convenience. We haven't tried everything yet, but what we have made, we've enjoyed (and we have a couple finicky eaters in our family!) The entrees are inventive (Autumn Chicken was a favorite), healthy, and easy-to-prepare. Keep in mind, though, the food still has to be thawed and fully cooked (usually this just involves pouring the item into a baking dish and baking for about 30-40 minutes), so some advance thought and time is required. In other words, you can't get home from work, take the food out of the freezer and have a meal ready in 10 minutes -- sorry!

What I really like about this service is that they also give people following gluten-free diets an option when traveling. If you're worried about the gluten-free options available to you when visiting friends or staying at a hotel or resort, this is something you could have shipped in advance of your stay. Then you won't be as preoccupied scouting out gluten-free food at grocery stores or restaurants. GF Meals ships nationwide to your door and offer individual menu choices, as well as specially priced packages that allow you to sample a variety of foods, so give them a try!