Weekend Warrior

It has been SO amazing to have two weekends in a row where The Hubby and I had absolutely no commitments. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing friends and and going places and doing fun things, but there's just something so sweet about laying around guilt-free. The past three years I was in school, so there was always a looming guilt cloud hovering above my head every time I wanted to be lazy. There were always articles to be read, papers to write, research to be done, and homework to finish. Even between semesters, I was constantly aware that I should probably be doing something productive like cleaning out closets (still needs to be done, but it will be there tomorrow) while I had the time before school started up again. No more! Doing whatever the hell I want to is so incredibly freeing.

This weekend, The Hubby and I perfected the art of doing nothing...except in the food department.

Friday night, we tried out a new local chain of pizza cafes, Palio's Pizza. Apparently these have been around for a few years, but the one in our area recently opened. It's literally 5 minutes from our house, and they offer gluten-free pizza! One of my friends visited there last week and told me about it immediately, probably because they have this sign all over their restaurant:

The place itself is nothing fancy; it's sandwiched between Starbucks and a yogurt cafe in a generic-looking shopping center, and I probably would have driven right past it had it not come recommended. Inside, you order at a counter, take a number, and wait for your pizza to be delivered to your table. (Side note: one great thing about being gluten-free while The Hubby isn't: I usually get my very own pizza. Yesssss.) It's also BYOB, which is an added bonus! The pizza is cheaper than the gluten-free pizzas at national chains (Uno and Boston's), and they don't charge extra for the special crust. It was crispy and chewy, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious. Mine was the "Classic" - roasted chicken, garlic, tomato, basil, and mozzarella. I refuse to take pictures of my food while sitting in a restaurant, but I took a quick pic with my phone yesterday afternoon as I was about to devour the leftovers.

See? Amazing. I can't wait to go back.

After annihilating my leftover pizza and watching some college baseball with The Hubby, I decided to bake. As I mentioned in this previous post, Gluten Free Pantry sent me some awesome samples, and I wanted to try the Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cake Mix next. Feeling a little snazzy, I decided to make both cupcakes and cake balls out of the mix. Yum yum yum. I'll post details about both in a future post, a review of the product in general. Until then, here's a little sneak peek (shown iced with a little bit of Cherrybrook Kitchen Allergy-Free Vanilla Frosting):

Sunday morning, The Hubby and I both woke up with nasty colds. I hate it when we're both sick at the same time. It took me a while to get up and moving, but after a cup of coffee I decided I was going to make myself an omelet. Sounds innocent enough...except for the fact that the last time I tried to make an omelet it ended up as a scramble. I had some leftover (cooked) gluten-free chicken sausage from Memorial Day weekend that I chopped up and threw in...

...as well as some pre-shredded cheddar cheese and half of a tomato that happened to be living in my fridge. The end result was enormous (I had so much 'stuff' I wanted to put in it that I used three eggs), but surprisingly tasty!

Sidenote: Please disregard the darkness of this picture. I promise the outside wasn't burned. I just bought a new camera (finally splurged on the DSLR) and the two of us (as in me and the camera) are having issues. I'm taking a class next weekend, so hopefully picture quality will improve!

On another note, I may or may not have eaten a total of four cake balls yesterday. 

All in all, a great, lazy weekend (other than the colds). 

Until next time,

Kelly

Product Review: Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Mix

About a month ago (maybe a smidge longer...the past few months have whizzed right by), I was contacted by a representative of Glutino/Ian's Foods/Gluten Free Pantry about whether or not I had any interest in receiving and reviewing a few of their products. I didn't even have to think about it! I'm always interested in trying new things in my search for easy, delicious, gluten-free staples.

I received a glorious package with the following inside:

• Gluten Free Pantry French Bread and Pizza Mix
• Gluten Free Pantry Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cake Mix
• Glutino Breakfast Bars in Strawberry and Cherry
• Ian's Gluten-Free Animal Cookies

The Hubby and I decided to try the French Bread and Pizza Mix first. We've tried several times to make gluten-free pizza at home, either with a mix or a pre-made frozen crust, all with mediocre results. Either the crust was too dry, didn't cook correctly, or just plain tasted like cardboard and/or glue. However, with this mix, THIS is what we ended up with:

That is beauty if I've ever seen it. 

The last dough we tried required rolling out...and it was REALLY FREAKING HARD. 

However, the Gluten-Free Pantry mix created dough that did not have to be rolled out and was spreadable - especially after we (and by "we" I mean The Hubby because I had no brain function left after my thesis...and he's awesome) figured out that if greasing a spatula or other spreading utensil made smearing the dough onto the pizza pan more like working with a thick icing rather than dough. The mix makes enough for two large round pizzas - we used half and froze the rest. (I'll update later with how it turns out after freezing.)

With this mix, you just throw your stuff on and bake! No pre-baking required...although we decided that we might try that next time to see if that changes the consistency at all.

We chose turkey sausage, tomato, and onion. YUM! The outer crust baked up nicely, browned, and was just crispy enough, while the crust under the "stuff" was chewy. The flavor? The most reminiscent of a gluten-filled pizza dough that I've made at home yet! Even better? It tastes like "real" pizza when cold (rather than a mouth full of cotton balls and sawdust like other crusts I've tried) and reheats beautifully in the toaster oven.

Uhh...anyone craving pizza?

Kelly