Lazzaro's Italian Bistro

My mother passed on a gift card that was given to her to us as the menu had a lot of gluten free items listed, and well, no matter how old you get, your mom still likes to take care of you.   So we decided to go for lunch today. First, I know this used to be a flower shop and apartment building.   I had been in the one of the apartments before and got to tell my friend who has moved away that I had lunch today in her old kitchen.   The place is very cozy and cute.  The menu is great, they offer a lot of gluten free options, including as I was told when we were leaving, a gluten free cupcake with canoli cream topping with cocoa dusting.  Oh .... My......God!!!!  I can't wait to go back and try that alone.  My litmus test, as always, is the pizza.   The crust didn't have much flavor per say, but the texture was great.  And finally, I got a pizza margherita with sauce instead of tomato slices.  I was very happy.  I would get it again.  Ken got a turkey and bacon panini.  He said it was good, could have used a little bit more meat in it, but over all we agreed we will be back and we are planning a family gathering there to introduce more people to it.  

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Gf dinners are fun!

Beef tips with GF: cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, chicken broth (I ran out of beef broth) and spaghetti! I also made garlic bread out of my newest loaf of GF bread out of the bread machine :-) I can say, I was totally digging this!

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Ken's mom has made this before for us and we have never successfully recreated it, until now!   It really is a yummy treat.   It's different from other Mac and Cheese recipe's as the cheese curdles and becomes little clouds of cheesy goodness!  I used brown rice macaroni noodles in the following recipe:  

2 cans evaporated milk

½ tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

2 T minced onion

10 oz cubed cheese (sharp or cheddar, sharp works best)

2 T butter

1 egg, beaten 

Put all the ingrediants in the crock pot and stir well.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hr.   Stir occasionally.   Then add in 1 ½ cups dry macaroni.   Stir and cook on LOW for 3-5 hours, however ours was done in 1 hr 15 min.  The cheese will look curdled when it’s done.   

Bread, glorious bread

So the bread journey continues. Last night I made loaf #4 and by far the most normal looking one. It doubled in size and has real nooks and crannies in it! You wouldn't be able to tell it's Gluten Free. SCORE! I think the best tasting loaf so far has been the cinnamon raisin. I am making another loaf of that this weekend. :-) The White loaf is going to be cut up for stuffing for our Christmas dinner with my family tomorrow.
Also of note, Classico's red and white sauces are gluten free. I decided to mix the vodka sauce and Alfredo together and bake with some penne, Italian cheese blend and gf bread crumbs. Mmm mmmm good! The next night we reheated it and added the AppleGate farms gf chicken nuggets with some cheese on-top for a bite sized chicken parm. I can say this was awesome. Will make again :)

Food

So I keep on my quest to check out places, and quite honestly, see how educated they are. Almost anyplace has something gluten free. However, not all places are educated as to what that is. Take Ted's Bar and Grille, I asked if they had any items on their menu that are gluten free. Their reply was all of this , "No sorry."
That was it. Now, I can see their menu online, I am certain some of the salads are safe, although we know how much I just love salad . There are several items I am sure are or can be made gluten free with a little care. But their response says all I need. Never gonna go there.
Now I tried some quinoa pasta the other day, the garden pagoda's and they were tasty! With some vodka sauce, parm cheese and some of the Glutino pizza crusts I repurposed as garlic bread, mmmm mmmmm GOOD.
Also, a friend gave me some gluten free cheese curls to try. Now, yes, they have sponge bob on them, but they were light and tasty. I would buy these.
I am excited. I am going with a friend at lunch to get some take out from Bangkok wok, which previously advised many of their dishes are or can be made gluten free, including my beloved pad thai. J Soooo stoked!
Also, the last batch of cookies came out great :-)

Olive Garden, you made me sad

So we went to the OG for dad's bday dinner. I asked, twice, for the gluten free menu, which is admittedly small. I ordered the Penne Rigate Pomodoro with chicken. I was underwhelmed. The pasta had been sitting under the heat lamp for a while, judging by its chewy, leathery texture. The amount of chicken was laughable. The flavor was good, and that was its saving grace. I think next time I will try their salmon or steak, as a solid piece of meat will surely be better than the scant amount I had and those don't involve pasta that could be overdone.