3 new GF things I learned today...

Today I was chatting at the playground of my son's preschool when some well meaning and observant moms shared some gf sightings they have had. I'm always so grateful to hear this information. So often I already know what I am told but then, like today, I learn about 3 new options and I am happy to check them out and file them for future use. Here is what I learned:

Mariano's Fresh Market in Arlington Heights (http://www.marianosfreshmarket.com/). It is hard to tell from the minimal website, but this looks like a less expensive Whole Foods. They have a "large selection" of gluten free shelf items and they stock four varieties of frozen whole GF cakes- carrot, chocolate, vanilla, lemon. I don't know about brands or taste, but isn't nice to know that the option is there?

My Pie Pizza in Northbrook (http://www.mypiepizza.com/). It is actually My Pi (like 3.14- the math sign). They are located in downtown Northbrook by the train station. They carry Udi's pizza crusts and will create any of their pizza options with the GF crust. They also have rice pasta to substitute on any menu item. The manager I spoke to understood about cross-contamination and seemed to have steps in place to keep the gluten safely separate.

Breadsmith of Highland Park (http://www.breadsmith.com/locations/highlandpark.html). Every Wednesday they bake gf fresh onsite: bread, 3 kinds of muffins, 2 types of cookies. Yum!

The White Sox are offering some GF eats

Have you heard about this? U.S. Cellular Field is now offering a bunch of gluten free options, including beer for those of you seeking a very complete baseball experience.

Fresh carved sandwiches with multi-grain bread, cookies, hot dogs with gf buns, nachos, tex-mex barbacoa and carnitas, soft-serve ice cream, and some Bard's Tale gf beer.

How wonderful that gf diners are not limited to a bag of peanuts. As GF dining becomes more mainstream I am excited by the possibilities!

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/ballpark/cws_concessions.jsp