My Favorites of Allergy-Free Portland

After attending my first cooking class at the Portland Culinary Workshop (which I will post about soon), I realized I ought to make a master list of the best gluten free restaurants, food carts, etc. So here is my quick version of my Gluten Free Guide to Portland:

1. Cafe Rio Co.
Gluten Free Waffles (Dairy free options): My favorite is the waffle ranchero!
21st and W Burnside

2. Corbett Fish House/Hawthorne Fish House
Gluten Free Fish and Chips: My favorite is the halibut fish and chips!
5901 SW Corbett or 43rd and SE Hawthorne

3. Mississippi Pizza and Pub
Gluten Free Pizza (Vegan options): My favorite is the GF Vegan pizza crust with red sauce, no cheese, canadian bacon, pepperoni, mushroom, and black olive. Classic!
NE Fremont and Mississippi

4. Por Que No?
Mexican-they use corn tortillas, chips, etc (Dairy free options): My favorite is a Brian's bowl with chips!
46th and SE Hawthorne or NE Fremont and Mississippi

5. P.F. Changs
Gluten Free Asian cuisine (Full menu). My favorite is the GF lettuce wraps and the scallops!
11th and NW Couch or Tanasbourne

6. The Dog House Food Cart
Gluten Free Hamburgers. My favorite is the GF sweet potato tots!
21st and NE Alberta

7. The Gluten Free Chef Food Cart
Rotating menu-corndogs and chili (not many dairy free options)
20th and SE Everett

Other Resources
Gluten Free Food Carts
Gluten Free Portland

Pizza night at Ari's

I got distracted and didn't take many photos but these one's are too great not to share. We made 2 allergen pizzas for the normal people and one allergy-free for me. Of course, we started it out right, Ari made margaritas with fresh squeezed lemon/lime juice, tequilas and grand marnier. The best!



Micah practiced his new rolling over moves while we cooked. Go Micah!



Pizza dough is rising.



Fish bait or caramelized onions? Kinda hard to tell.



Chantel made a great looking pepperoni pizza!



Yum!



Ari and Matt made a mushroom extravaganza pizza with all types!



Sooo pretty.



Of course I forgot to photo my pizza made with Namaste's pizza crust. It had olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, caramelized onions, Italian sausage, mushrooms and some Daiya cheese. Great pizza night!

'Calzones' and an Artichoke

Matt and I decided to try and make 'calzones' the other night. We kind of just went for it which, may have been a poor choice but oh well. This one falls under the 'mishap' category.

First we made the dough with brown rice flour, an egg, and some cold water. I don't have a rolling pin but I always have an extra bottle of wine. Put parchment paper on the dough and roll away!



We threw in our favorite toppings: marinara sauce, mushrooms, onions, red pepper, zucchini, Italian sausage and some Daiya cheese.



Folding them up was tricky and they're not pretty but, it's our first try.



Sprinkled with polenta.



Bake for an hour at 350 and watch old office episodes in the mean time. This is the finished product.



Throw some sauce over it and you're done. Honestly, the dough was crappy. We should have made it in advance, with yeast, and let it rise because it tasted just how it looks, like cardboard. I ate the ingredients out of the middle and was done. Nice try!



Our side dish/dessert was an artichoke. Ooooh artichokes, I love you. I eat them as often as possible and with the giant ones now at the farmer market I now also eat large quantities. So here's how to do it.

-Cut the stem off the bottom and then cut some of the top off so steam can get in and cook it through. You'll need you're best serrated knife. It's beautiful!



I use my fantastic garage-sale-find mini Black & Decker steamer but I've also used a pan with 1.5 inches of water in the bottom, cover, and put the stove on med-high. Put the artichoke in face down and put the timer on for an hour either way. If using a pan periodically check to see that there is still water in the pan or you'll have a burnt pan and a burnt artichoke.



The artichoke is done when you can pick an outside leaf and scrape meat off half of it with your teeth. Serve with two bowels, one for waste and the sauce of your choice. When you peel off all the green leaves, and the purple/white leaves, and are left with a furry mistery, use a fork to scrape off the top layer of 'furry-ness.' Whatever is left is the soft heart and is all edible. Dip into some sauce and eat up!

Sauces:
-Melted butter and minced garlic
-Ketchup and mayo

YUM!

If you don't pick an artichoke off the plant when it's ready to eat, it turns into this awesome purple flower. I want a garden of artichokes!

EPIC Pizza!

The attempt of the week: Epic Pizza. This entails Matt insisting that we make allergen-free deep dish pizza after watching Man vs. Food in Chicago. So we went for it.



Ingredients:
Namaste Pizza Crust
1 flaxseed meal egg
Sauce:
one can diced tomatoes
one can tomato paste
minced garlic
chopped onion
Italian seasonings
1/2 cup Merlot
Toppings:
sausage
pepperoni
sun-dried tomatoes
minced garlic
spinach
Daiya mozzarella cheese
prosciutto
fresh basil, chopped



The crust was Namaste Pizza Crust mix. It is the best GF crust I've found. It has some herbs and spices in it and cooks decently. It takes one egg-one flaxseed meal egg, and water. Divide in two and but one in the bottom of a 9x13 and the other on a cookie sheet. It's a sticky mess and can be a pain to spread out because it's very thick. I recommend wax paper.



I was very proud of this as it took FOREVER. I may have used a can of Pam as a rolling pin



Pre-cooked for 30 min.



Here's the second layer of crust and my classy Pam rolling pin again



Top crust, pre-cook for 15 min, it will be crunchy but I liked it that way



Pizza sauce: we used one can of diced and one can of paste



Sauce ingredients:
one can diced tomatoes
one can tomato paste
minced garlic
chopped onion
Italian seasonings
1/2 cup Merlot



Topping number one: sweet Italian sausage, cooked



Times they are a 'cookin



Time to layer: Crust-sauce



Crust-sauce-sausage



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach-Daiya mozzarella cheese



Baked at 400 for 15-20 min. Mainly so things would cook down so we can add more.



Slice the prosciutto (Italian bacon)



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach-Daiya mozzarella cheese-crust-sauce



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach-Daiya mozzarella cheese-crust-sauce-Daiya cheese



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach-Daiya mozzarella cheese-crust-sauce-Daiya cheese-prosciutto



Crust-sauce-sausage-pepperoni-sun-dried tomatoes-minced garlic-spinach-Daiya mozzarella cheese-crust-sauce-Daiya cheese-prosciutto-fresh basil, chopped



Bake for about 30 min.



EPIC PIZZA!!!



It was SOOO good and although we made so much it was gone in a just a couple days. Highly recommend this pizza endeavor.

The weekend in Seattle

After chowing at Gramma's we headed to Seattle for Thanksgiving and it was awesome. Mom, Rich, Dan, me, Rich's twin brother Andy and his girlfriend Angie. We stayed in a house on the Sound in West Seattle. It was a mansion compared to where any of us live. It was incredible to spread out and not have 5 people in mom's parlor (seated for 3-4). Andy and Angie went out on the town on Saturday but we were completely satisfied with just hanging out at the house. Big screen, big couches, big kitchen, and a hot tub. What more do you need?







THIS is vacation. Hot tub and mimosa at 1pm. Yes!



Momma made turkey soup with leftovers from Thursday.



I made a GF pizza but look at that stove!



GF dumplings are a' cookin'. Made with GF Bisquick which rocks!



Everyone else's dumplings all done.



Dan caught me in a rabbit pose. Mmm basil.



Pizza ingredients: kalamatas and fresh basil,



sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms,



Prosciutto too! So gourmet.



Whoa, what else can we put on the table!



eating, eating, eating



Luxory! The weekend was absolutely glorious. Lucky us! :-)