A bit of blog love...Lettuce Wraps... a la PF Chang Style

One of my favorite things about reading other blogs is being able to relate to another person's gluten free story. Each of us arrived at the gluten-free lifestyle a different way but we each stay for the same reason- to feel good and enjoy food again. Posting recipes and sharing food via the internet, blog love at it's finest.
Dave and I have been making lettuce wraps for years but the other night we dug up Heidi's recipe over at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom and used it as a guide to make PF Chang Style Lettuce wraps. So good and a great dinner for two...

I'd like to blame my lack of blogging on spring. I'd love to say that the weather's been great so we're spending time outside with the dogs at night instead of the kitchen but that's sadly not the case as we had over a foot of snow last week Yes, it's May. Yes, I do miss spring. Yes, it's mostly melted now so I can start to pull out chacos until the next snowstorm later this week.
Dave's a snowmaker and groomer at the ski resort so we're readjusting to making dinner for two again. I'm spending a lot less time in the kitchen making and perfecting new recipes and experiments. When I dine alone, I tend to get obsessed with a new dish. Dave won't go for that as he likes variety. We're trying to move into summer mode even if Mother Nature has other ideas for us.

gluten-free travels

Before our road trip to Maine I did some prep work... I bought a case of chocolate Bumble Bars, a pack of Udi's Bagels, a few boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks and did some research. We drove from Colorado to Maine along I-70 the snaked up through the East coast on 84, 290 and 95. I'd plan out PF Chang's and Whole Food stops based on distance from the interstate, our hotel or dinner time.

I had all the potenial stops written down with the phone number and address so we could punch it into Gertie, our trusty GPS. We left Colorado at night and took turns sleeping and driving throught the middle part of the country and made it to St. Louis for a much needed sleep and a double whammy- Whole Food's and PF Chang's within 5 minutes of each other and I-70. Love. Love. Love.

  It's kind of a strange obsession but I've never had a reaction to either place. I picked up some trip snacks, cut fruit for breakfast and sandwich meat at Whole Foods and dinner at PF Chang's.

The next day was also a bonus as we drove through Indianapolis for lunch and had enough left over for dinner as well. This was one road trip where I had no chance to feel hungry or deprived.

 

Dave was a good sport about it too. We stopped twice on our drive east (two days in a row) and  three times on the way home (we took our time) and usually ended up with leftovers for the next meal/snack as well.

We did mix it up and the only constant was the lettuce wraps as we both love them so much.

Out of all the Whole Foods we stopped at- Denver St. Louis, Indianapolis, Portland, Maine was our favorite.

They had a great soup bar that I hit twice and options for Dave too. Plus they had a good supply of Udi's products for our time in Maine as well.

I did make a point to stop at our old food store and was shocked that the last year and a half they went from having a small shelf space for gluten-free products to 6 times the space and a lot more products.

 They even had a line of cake mixes I hadn't heard of before. Sara had picked up their strawberry pound cake and it was the bomb, great strawberry flavor with a nice moist texture.

 Cheers to Hannaford  for getting on board and making sure glutards can eat safely. 

Moab and a bit of blog love

Each spring, when the ski lifts stop turning but the snow is still falling there seems to be a huge influx of Colorado visitors to Utah. We joined the ranks a few weekends ago and hit Moab for some sunshine and relaxation with our two goldens along the muddy Colorado River.

This time we were well prepared for glutarded travels. We were camping with a small stove and planned to make most of our meals. Dave planned campfire potatoes with gluten free bun-less hot dogs for one night and Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta with gf sausage for the other. I brought a bit of Redbridge to enjoy by the campfire at night and lunches were easy thanks to Udi's Gluten free bread that tastes good even untoasted. Breakfast would have been a snap with jars of Artisans Pancake mix, a bit of butter, a 8oz travel soy milk and egg but instead I found this online and had to try it. I've become a big fan of just googling "gluten free" with the name of my destination.  

The Love Muffin in downtown Moab makes gluten free and vegan muffins. I had a GF Banana Muffin and was pretty happy. It was a bit dry but a solid muffin overall. We went back the next day and they were out of muffins so I had eggs & potatoes, they also had a warm quinoa salad for breakfast with honey and fruit but I just wasn't feeling it.

 Back at home I've been enjoying street noodles and working on my wok skills. We also found a recreation of my beloved but oh-so-far-away PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom.

Heidi broke it down and while we haven't tried the whole process we loved learning the trick of the rice noodles. Dropping the noodles in the hot oil is every bit of fun as she describes. I tried two different rice noodles and liked the thinner mai fun noodles better. We served with some rice and enjoyed the meal.

After I learned I had a problem with gluten we bought a rice cooker and it gets used at least once a week. Dave's always been a rice fan and we had been devoute rice a roni people until I learned that a lot the the seasoning packets weren't safe. If you invest in one be sure to get one that also has a steam basket as it makes great steamed veggies as well.

a little road trip

Last week we took a small road trip. Living in the southwest corner of Colorado means that to get to any major Colorado city requires at least a few hours of driving. Google Maps estimated it to be a 6 hour drive. Mother Nature turned it into an 8 hour drive. We left the house at 6am bound for Colorado Springs, armed with my gluten free road snacks like Stretch Island Fruit and Peanut Butter & Jelly flavored Lara Bars. The weather was just starting to move in and within the first ten miles I realized that this was not going to be an easy drive. It was still dark and fat snowflakes filled my 4Runner's headlights making me drive slowly. As the light grew the driving became easier but it was still slow going. By the time we hit Monarch Pass I realized that the windshield wipers really needed to get replaced and the thick slush killed what little use they had left. We made it over the pass with a few stops for clearing the window and found an auto parts store for new super storm grade wipers. The trash outside the store was filled with old wipers and we went inside for the item of the day.

Our mission of the stormy day?

A new puppy- we were on our way to meet our new puppy. He is a one year old golden retriever and was in need of a new home. He was living in Colorado Springs and we ventured through the storm to pick him up. We were pretty excited as the Springs is also home to a PF Chang's and they just added new items to the gluten-free menu! We started with the Lettuce Wraps then enjoyed the spicy Gluten Free Beef a la Sichuan and Gluten Free Fried Rice. I'm not a huge fan of the beef dish as I'm not a celery fan but loved the lettuce wraps as always. It was a good treat after a long, hard drive that day.

I even got the Flourless Chocolate Dome to go for the ride home.... yum. We did a monster round trip and after dinner and a quick stop at REI we hit the road with our new puppy for some more fun winter driving.

It was all worth it to wake up at home the next day with our new pup. We've named him Mayhem and I took him on his first gondola ride on his first morning home. He's settling in well to our home and life with his big brother Chaos. He doesn't even mind that I'm a glutard!

Chaos, age 5 and Mayhem, age almost 1

Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I usually crave hearty meals during the winter but lately I've been wanting veggies. These lettuce wraps have been filling that void. We've been making buffalo flavored chicken and white rice then building the wraps with a lettuce base, a small scoop of rice, chicken and shredded carrots. I like a dash of soy sauce on the rice (gluten free of course). We fold each wrap as we pick them up. Who needs PF Chang's when you can make these at home?  A bit of spice bundled in cool lettuce....

Gluten free PF Chang

Love it.....
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