So shortly before I was diagnosed, one of my best friends asked me if I wanted to go away for a weekend to Banff for a girls-spa thingy for her birthday. Given that her husband is actually paying for us both to go for her birthday present and it's barely going to cost me a thing, I jumped on that like a fat kid on gluten-free cake! So first of all, I am super excited about going. Let's be honest, I'm going to get a pedicure, a full body massage, and a custom facial... fo' free! I get to take a break from work and family to stay in a lush hotel bed and lounge around all day in a fluffy robe... fo' free! Basically, it's any broke student's dream! Well... probably anybody's dream, but I'm sure you can imagine the extent of my excitement. Secondly, I am terrified. This will be my first proper restaurant-dining experience since my diagnosis and I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING! Naturally, I couldn't have anticipated that this was going to happen, but a weekend in Banff two and half weeks after diagnosis and a 10-day trip to Scotland only a month after diagnosis... talk about jumping right on into the deep end!
Being the nerdy academic I am, I figured the first step in successfully pulling this off is to do my research ahead of time. The spa that we are using, which provides a free lunch, offers a gluten-free vegetarian salad that looks delicious. So that's one hurdle jumped. As for dining out of the spa, I have a couple of suggestions from the fabulous land of the internet! I figure if we make sure to hit up places that have gluten-free vegetarian options and so long as I let my server know that I have Celiac Disease and that it's VERY important that my food is kept safe, I think I should be okay. Scotland will be another story, since we are on a tour and I don't get to decide where we stop to eat... but let's just do this one step at a time, shall we?
First, I hit up the gluten-free friendly in Banff page from Urban Spoon:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/tn/72/1/46151/Alberta/Gluten-Free-Friendly/Banff-restaurants
The two best suggestions I got from here are
- Nourish Bistro: which offers vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. The menu looks promising, offering a blend of ethnic and fusion cuisine. Reviews are mixed regarding service, however the general consensus is that the food is pretty good!
- Silver Dragon Restaurant: which is supposed to offer gluten-free friendly Chinese food at a good price. Fortunately, they offer a fully vegetarian menu upon request. The one thing that gets me here though, is that I didn't see anything on the actual menu about gluten-free options. My particular concern, is gluten in the sauces and in soy sauce. I suppose you could always ask your server about this, but I thought it was unfortunate not to find any of this information online.
Next, The Little Red Kitchen blog (http://thelittleredkitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/04/gluten-free-in-banff.html) recommends stopping in at the Wild Flour bakery which offers lots of gluten-free baked goods in addition to the usual bakery selection. Also recommended is the gluten-free pizza at the Bear Street Tavern, which seems to get pretty fantastic reviews!
The I Made Toast blog (http://imadetoast.com/2010/10/11/gluten-free-in-banff-alberta/ ) recommends the Elk and Oarsmen Pub which offers a gluten-free menu! She also mentions that Boston Pizza, a popular pizza chain, offers a gluten-free menu as well and that if you mention to your server your needs, that your food will be prepared in a specialty gluten-free area! My only concern is that this blog entry is about four-years old, which means that the pub mentioned above may no longer be in business. Now, I hope it does, but you just never know!
While I will have to consult with my friend to figure out which of these places we will actually visit, I feel like there might definitely be gluten-free pizza in my future! Memo to self: bring the lactaid pills because I'm going find me some cheesy goodness!
Now, on to the highlight of my day so far: Carrot Fries for lunch!
Carrot Fries with Hummus and Sriracha:
Serves: Me
3 Medium sized carrots
1 Tbsp coconut oil
Dash of cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp of your favourite hummus
Drizzle of sriracha
2. Toss your carrot fries on a non-stick baking sheet with coconut oil and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. You could use other seasonings here if you wanted, such as sea salt or Mrs. Dash or whatever-the-hell, but I personally love me a little cayenne pepper and don't like adding salt to my food. Deal with it.
3. Bake your fries in the oven for about 20 minutes, taking them out at the 10 minute mark to shake them around a little. There is definitely room for personal preference at this stage. If you like your fries a little on the crunchy side, you might put them in for a bit less time. If you like yours really soft, you might add some more oven time. 20 minutes gives you sweet, roasty carrots with a bit of chewiness that I'm extremely fond of.
4. Plate your sexy carrot fries with a big glob of your favourite hummus. Roasted red pepper hummus would be really good here, but today I felt like using traditional plain hummus. While you're at it, toss a bit of Sriracha hot sauce on that plate too. Because spicy things are awesome!
I don't think I can properly describe to you how intensely good these fries were, but I am determined to do my very best. The fries themselves are best enjoyed hot out of the oven. The roasting brings out their natural caramelly sweetness, particularly on the golden bits! The coconut oil further enhances that sweetness and adds a bit of richness without overwhelming your palate. It's like taking a bite of pure, clean-eating happiness! Honestly, I think the sriracha/hummus combo with these was inspired! Not to float my own boat or anything... the hot, sweet fries with the rich, cold hummus and the kick from the sriracha was a wicked combo!
It's easy to be so in love with the flavours of this dish that you forget that it's brimming with beta-carotene, fiber, healthy fats, and a splash of protein! Not to mention, it's pretty low in calories for those of you with an eye on your waist line. As my dad used to say: if you don't watch your waist, nobody else will! See what I did there? I used only three carrots here since this was an addition to the first part of my lunch, (yes, like a hobbit, I do second-breakfasts and also second-lunches), but it would be easy to polish off an entire bag of carrots this way! For those of you who catch me in the street with orange skin, probably assume that this is what I did to get that way!
Anybody have any favourite carrot recipes to share?
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