Gluten Free Birthday Cake

Gerardo European Bakery is a great place to get a Gluten Free Birthday Cake.

If you're looking for a great Gluten Free Bakery near Framingham Massachusetts, I would highly recommend Gerardo's European Bakery in Westborough. They have a lot of great Gluten Free options and make a great gluten-free cake.

Check out this cake that was made for a 7-year birthday party:

None of the kids at the party knew it was gluten-free and they all ate up their large slice of the cake. Even some of the adults at the party wanted to know where the cake was made.

They did a great job making the cake and having it taste great. We did provide the bubble gum balls and the glasses on top. They were easy to work with and make sure that we were satisfied with the cake before leaving.

Gerardo's European Bakery is located at Gerardo's 232 Turnpike Rd in Westborough, MA 01581. You can call (508) 366-1845 and place your order.

Top 7 Gluten Free Post of 2017

A look at some of the most popular post of 2017

We did a lot of food exploring this year, we found some great restaurants in the Boston area and some delicious food options at the grocery store.

From Disney World to Cape Cod, and from Santa Village to Boston's Back Bay... we tasted a lot of food this years.

Here are the top seven blog post of 2017

In no particular order...

• Maggiano's Little Italy - Bad service, but still a great dinner
• American Girl - We love that they have gluten free options. This year my daughter is going to go to the 110 Grill for her birthday, just to have a few more options.
• Ashland Ale House - It's the new favorite local place to visit.
• Santa's Village - Our experience with eating gluten free in this park.
• 110 Grill - Nice place for lunch and dinner.
• Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brew Co - Great place to go in your in New Hampshire White Mountains. Great food and atmosphere.
• Catholic Church's Holy Eucharist - Learned a lot about the catholic church position on the eucharists. There is gluten free options available for Catholics that wish to receive holy communion.

Gluten Free Christmas Cookies

Holiday Double Chocolate Cookies better Gluten Free

Since 2015, my daughter has put out a good selection of cookies for Santa Claus. He is happy because all the cookies are made at home and are gluten-free.

I would argue that gluten-free cookies are much better than "regular" cookies. Gluten Free cookies have more crispy taste and they stay crispy longer than regular cookies.

Cookies and carrots that was left for Santa last year.

HOLIDAY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Classic Hershey Cookie recipe that has been updated using King Arthur Flour (Gluten Free) - one of the best Gluten Free Flour available. Anyone that taste these cookies will have no idea that they are gluten free!

J&M Diner Reopens!

Nice that J&M Diner reopens

The J&M Diner was one of 11 businesses destroyed by a 3-alarm fire on March 11, 2017, at the Old Path Village Plaza on Concord Street. The Diner reopened on November 27th to huge crowds. We decided to wait a couple of weeks and checked out the new place.

We were fortunate to be served by the owner of J&M. She told us that a lot of people were very excited that they were back in operations. She told us that they had a large Marathon Day following, apparently people that run the Boston Marathon like to treat themselves to a breakfast when they travel to Boston for the Marathon. (Just a heads up that there may be busy around the 3rd week of April.)

Same great Food and Company

The new restaurant has a much larger dining room and kitchen. We still had to wait for 15/20 minutes to be seated at 10:30 am. At least in the new location, you can sit and wait for your name to be called.

The food was good as we remembered. Sure you can get breakfast anyplace in the MetroWest, but there's something special about ordering a meal that's named Ooowy Googy. They do put a lot of creativity in their food.

The other nice thing is that J&M now accept credit cards! In their old location, it was a cash-only business. While they did have an ATM machine in the back - it had a $3 surcharge. We like it because we don't really carry that much cash around.

Gluten Free Options

While J&M Diner was constructing their new location, we asked if they were going to have any gluten-free options. In particular, we saw all the waffle machines they had lined up and wouldn't it be great if one of them was dedicated to making gluten-free waffles!

They told us that they were working on getting the store up and running. Once things have calmed down, they would consider having gluten free options.

We'll keep an eye out and will update on delicious gluten-free options at J&M Diner in Framingham, Massachusetts.

J & M Diner is now located at 50 Worcester Rd, Framingham, MA 01702.

Nespresso Mocha

Have you tried Mocha Nespresso?

Nespresso is a really good single cup coffee. If you haven't tried it yet, stop by one of the Nespresso stores and try one of their coffees. You can't get a free coffee, but its certainly worth the investment. A basic cup of coffee cost a bit less than one that you get at Starbucks.

Nespresso coffee shops offer all sorts of different drinks and for the most part, they are all gluten-free, with the notable exception of the Smores drink. Each drink can be made decaf - so your children can try the coconut peanut butter drink.

The people at the Boston, Newbury Street store are very friendly. They offer great one on one service. So if you have an allergy they will make sure that there's no cross-contamination.

Meanwhile at Home

When you do get your own Nespresso machine, here's a great drink-mix to try: Nespresso Mocha

• Stormio
• 2 scoops of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate

Put the Swiss Miss in the cup and then add the coffee - obviously, make sure that you're using a mug that can handle the mix.

This is a great winter morning drink. You won't need to add any sugar or cream to this drink. (Ya I know there's plenty of sugar in the Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate)

Nutrition Facts

Adding 2 Tbsp of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix will add 73 Calories and 140mg of Sodium. This compares to using Dunkin Donuts Extra Extra Coffee Creamer 120 Calories and 18g of sugar.

Target Holiday Commercial

Is there a hidden message in Target commercial?

Did you see this Target commercial before Thanksgiving, titled "Target Holiday 2017 - Thanksgiving":

Kind of cute, right? Well, what you may not know is that the last line in the commercial was said by the Fad Barbie. This sort of implies that eating Gluten Free is a fad thing.

This is a bit insulting to those that have celiac because it implies that eating "Gluten Free" is just a fad diet. While many people have jumped on the "Gluten Free" bandwagon, it's certainly not a fad for millions of celiac users.

What do you think? Was the Target Commercial in bad taste?

Chocolate Pretzels Recipe

Traditional chocolate pretzel recipe

Its always hard to find the right dish to bring to a potluck. You can't go wrong with a gluten-free chocolate dessert treat. The good thing about this recipe is that it doesn't take much time to prep, and you don't have to worry about it.

Gluten Free Pretzels have more of a crunch, and would certainly recommend using gluten-free pretzels than regular pretzels. In addition, gluten-free pretzels tend to hold the crunch longer when in the refrigerator.

Simple Ingredients

• Bag of Gluten Free Pretzels
• Hershy Hugs
• M&M (Seasonal Colors)

Basic Instructions

Top a pretzel with a Hershey's hug and put it in the oven for 5 mins. Take it out and place an M&M on top of it. Put in the Refrigerator to let it cool for a few minutes.

Download the complete Instructions.

Things I learned

We have been making this for years, even so, there are a few things I learn this time around:

• It takes about 2 bags of Hershey Kisses (16oz) to top all the pretzels in a 16oz bag.
• One 1 lb bag of M&Ms is enough for 3 bags of Pretzels
• Better off getting a 16oz bag of Snyder Gluten Free Pretzels than two 8oz bags Glutino's Pretzels. (Cheaper!)
• The Snyder's Pretzels are a bit smaller and are perfect for this project.
• Hershey Hugs are better than typical Hershey Kisses because you get a nice color swirl
• Once completed, I kept the finish product cold all morning, and it was a nice and cold treat.
• This easily could be made several days in advance.

Quick and Easy to Make

The nice thing about this is that there's no prep ahead of time. You don't have to wait for the microwave or mix ingredients at the last minute.

Simply store the container in the refrigerator and take it out when you're ready. A great idea for anyone who wants to contribute to a potluck but may not have time during the day.

Best Hot Chocolate

Marshmallow Fluff and Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate are the perfect combination for a treat on a nice cold day. Have you tried it yet?

Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix

The large 58.4 oz container of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix is great to have in the pantry. You never know when you have to make a large batch of Hot Cocoa when company comes over. Once open the container is good for a year.

If Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix isn't strong enough chocolate, you can always put a Hershey Miniatures in the cup. Simple drop in the mini and stir the mix before topping it off with Marshmallow Fuff. The hot water will melt the Hershey Mini for a nice boost of chocolate flavor.

Marshmallow Fluff

Typically you would top off the hot chocolate with standard Marshmallows, but the melted Marshmallow Fluff is an excellent way to sweeten your drink. I have found that the Marshmallow Fluff has a more taste than a standard marshmallow. In addition, you can pack more fluff in a cup than you can with typical marshmallows so you get a slightly sweeter cup of Hot Chocolate.

Dehydrated Cereal Marshmallows

If you're not into Marshmallow Fluff, try Dehydrated Cereal Marshmallows instead of standard Marshmallows. We have found a 2 lbs bag of Hoosier Hill Charms Original Cereal Marshmallows is great for the entire winter season.

Gluten Free?

Yes, both Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Fluff are all naturally Gluten Free. There's no need to look for a gluten free container in the Natural foods section.

The Hershey Miniatures may contain gluten. Your better off using Hershey's Nuggets Milk Chocolates. Check out the Hershey's Gluten Free page on which products are gluten free.

Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brew Co

This past summer we visited several attractions in the White Mountains, including Story Land and Santa???s Village. On our last day we stopped at the Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brew Co for dinner. It was a great experience and we???ll certainly be going back!

We accidentally discovered Moat Mountain Smoke House because we stopped at the Local Grocer thinking that we could get a good Gluten Free meal there. We arrived too late and they had already closed the kitchen. They don???t open for dinner. We did a quick search and surprise to find that the highest rated Gluten Free restaurant, on Find Me Gluten Free, in North Conway was right next door.

Good Gluten Free Options

Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brew has a great selection of Gluten Free options. Which was a nice change of all the different places that we tried in North Conway.

The server was very helpful with the choices that my daughter could have. The server appeared to be not only knowledgeable about how things were prepared in the kitchen, but also cross contamination issues.

My daughter selected the gluten-free cheese pizza. She was happy to have so many choices and even delighted to have cheese pizza on vacation.

Excellent Meal

The pizza was excellent, and as I recall she ate most of it. Which is a rare thing for her to do? Usually, she just has a couple of bites and says she???s full. So the pizza must have been that good to want to eat a lot in one sitting.

I did have a bit of one of the slices and it was good well and nice and crispy.

We???ll Be Back

All out meals were really good, and it was a nice family restaurant. They actually have quite a good selection of micro-brews. We???ll certainly be back on our next adventure to North Conway.

We were lucky that we didn't have much of a wait, as we left we could see that the wait to sit down was going to long wait. I can tell you that it's definitely worth the wait. Especially if you want delicious gluten-free food.

Finding Moat Mountain Smoke House

Moat Mountain Smoke House Co. is located on historical White Mountain Hwy. It's about 4-minute drive North from the 5 and 10 store. The address is 3378 White Mountain Hwy, North Conway, NH.

Lucky Charms Shake

Perfect drink for a Post-Trick or Treat evening, also delicious as a Saturday Morning treat. Try this mix some time:

DIY Lucky Charms Shake

It???s a homemade version of Burger King???s Lucky Charms Shake. At least when you make it home, you know it will be gluten free.

Lucky Charms Still Gluten Free?

Lucky Charms are still Gluten Free. I have seen some Facebook posting about how Lucky Charms is not safe. All the information I have found out over the last few days are quite the contrary. The FCC hasn???t posted any warnings and there???s nothing about it on the General Mills website.

Fact is that Lucky Charms is still Gluten Free and currently meeting the US guidelines of being gluten free.

In 2015, there was a change.org petition titled, "Change testing and production of gluten-free Cheerios to be safe for all.??? While not directly related to Lucky Charms, the Cheerios testing would have impacted testing and certification by General Mills. Oddly enough the petition failed to pass by one person.