Pizza!

Pizza!, who doesn't like pizza? If you're like me, especially a college student, pizza is a food staple. Pizza is nutritious and cheap! But if you are on a gluten free diet, pizza is a treat. In my quest to find good gluten free pizza, I have tried many horrible tasting pizza. Basically cardboard with cheese and sauce on it, YUCK!! Back home in Northern New Jersey my mom found two restaurants that serve excellent pizza. She likes pizza more than I do! Mangia Tratorria in Glen Rock, New Jersey specializes in brick oven pizza. The gluten free crust is pre-made by Still Riding, a round disc of refridgerated pizza dough. I get the brick oven pizza with pepperoni and sausage. The crust is sweet and crispy.  Gooey mozzarella cheese is deliciously melted over a perfect salt to sugar red sauce. When I first tasted it, I thought I died and went to heaven. Price, a little steep at $16, but you get 6 slices so you can take some home for reheating. I would definitely recommend Mangia Tratorria, I give it 8 out of 10.

Pizza Fusion is just up the road from Mangia Tratorria in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The pizza at Pizza Fusion is artisan pizza and I feel the dough tastes the most like regular pizza dough.  Pizza Fusion uses organic ingredients and eco friendly pizza boxes, napkins and cutlery. Their motto is "Saving The Earth, One Pizza At  A Time." They roll the dough out into a square like oval, slather with red sauce and sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese. DEVINE!! The crust is crispy perfection. Gluten free pizzas comes in personal size for $9 (4 slices) and a large for $18 (8 slices). If you like reheated pizza, I 'd purchase the large rather than the personal. In addition to their gluten free pizza, Pizza Fusion offers gluten free brownies, a nice finish to a great pizza. I highly recomment Pizza Fusion if you like artisan pizza, I give it a 9 out of 10. Please continue to follow my gluten free path. 

I love my carbs!

The biggest food and probably the most delicious food I had to give up or anyone has to give up when going gluten free, is BREAD! I would eat bread all the time, especially if it was warm and had butter on it. I could go to Panera Bread and buy a whole French baguette and probably eat the whole thing in one sitting. My mom and I have tried many different gluten free breads over the years and everyone of them was either too dry or would fall apart easily. She used to purchase bread online and have it sent to our house, good bread, but too expensive. While shopping in Whole Foods my mom stumbled upon a bread company called Udi’s. The bread is a smaller than regular bread, but it tastes like regular bread. Not only does Udi’s make bread, but they make cookies, bagels, muffins, pizza crust, buns and more. Udi’s hamburger buns are so tasty Red Robin and Pizzeria Uno use the buns on their cheeseburgers. Now you can go to Red Robin or Pizzeria Uno and eat a burger on a bun like everyone else!!

Another food I miss after becoming gluten free is pretzels, especially living in Philly. The city of brotherly love is known for  cheese steaks and Philly pretzels. I still have not found a soft pretzel that is gluten free, but I have found good hard pretzels from Snyder’s. My mom discovered them a few years back and said they were really good and tasted just like "real" pretzels. I hadn't tried them until this year, but they're really good. You can buy them at many grocery stores like Shop-Rite, Stop&Shop, Wegmans and other grocery stores. The price isn't bad, $3.69 per 8oz bag, not as big as it's non gluten free counterpart, but better than Glutino pretzels which cost $6 to $7 a bag, and don't taste as good as the Synders. Other then gluten free pretzel sticks, Snyder’s offers potato chips, tortilla chips, veggie chips and popcorn, all are gluten free. If you miss eating pretzels, I would definitely recommend trying Snyders pretzel. Please continue to follow my gluten free path.

Gluten Free Bakeries

Since I have the biggest sweet tooth, I am going to talk about desserts again. The weekend that my parents came up to Philly for my birthday, we stopped at a gluten free bakery called Sweet Freedom. My mom googled "gluten free bakery in Philly" so we could get me something sweet for my birthday. Sweet Freedom Bakery is on 14^th and South Street in Philadelphia. All their products are gluten free, vegan, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, peanut free, refined-sugar free, and kosher. The only sweeteners they use are natural and unrefined of sugars that are gentler to the body. I do not know how they make the items taste so good, but they do!  There are many goodies to choose from. Some of the tasty delights they offer are cupcakes, cakes, bread, brownies, bars, tomato pies, muffins and donuts. When I went to the bakery I got the fruit oat crumble, magic bar and a raspberry filled cupcake. I loved apple pies before I went gluten free, so my favorite was the fruit oat crumble. It tasted just like a crumb apple pie would taste. Even though they  are a little pricey, I would recommend this bakery because there was a large selection of good tasting desserts.

Another baked good I tried was a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting from Sweet Megan. My boyfriend got it to from his teammates mom, she actually owns Sweet Megan. All of their products are gluten free, wheat free, diary free, soy free and there are no artificial colorings. This was probably one of the best cupcakes I have had from a gluten free bakery. I could not even tell that this was a gluten free cupcake and my boyfriend that does eat gluten free said it was good too. This is not a store, but you can order online at www.glutenfreesweetmegan.com. Sweet Megans' specializes in cupcakes, cake pops and cakes.  Everything they sell looks awesome and tastes great! Please continue to follow my gluten free path.