L.A. Burdick Pastry

If your looking for some awesome Hot Chocolate in Bostons Backbay, the best place to go is L.A. Burdick. You can find all sorts of yummy treats to enjoy on a cold day.

Nothing goes better with L.A. Burdick Hot Chocolate than their famous pastry.

Gluten Free Pastry

In the L.A. Burdick store are several Gluten Free Pastry options, including:

• Luxembourger - hand-piped meringues layered with all-natural buttercream, ganache, and fruit jam.
• The Burdick - Layers of Japonaise (Almond meringue cookie) and dark chocolate ganache with a hint of rum.
• Hazelnut-Orange Cake - A moist, flourless cake with hazelnut and citrus flavors, enrobed with a generous layer of hazelnut gianduja chocolate, topped with candied orange peel.

L.A. Burdick location

You can find L.A. Burdick at 220 Clarendon Street in Bostons Back Bay. They are located about a block from Copley Square. The front of the building has a distinct brown awning with Chocolate on the fold.

You can enjoy your afternoon treat in the store, or if its not too cold out, it's a short walk to Copley Square.

Wegmans Shopping

Looking for the best supermarket that offers the most Gluten Free products? Your best choice is Wegmans. They have the best selection of refrigerative and general grocery items than any other major food chain in New England.

In particular, we have found that the Wegmans store in Westborough has the best selection. Every time we go we find something new! Then have plenty of Van's Gluten Free French Toast, which is impossible to find at Stop and Shop. There's a great selection of gluten free bread and breakfast goodies.

Asian Bar Gluten Free Options

There are plenty of good Gluten Free options at the Asian Bar. My daughter likes the salad and some of the gluten free foods. She has never complained about the food offerings and doesn't always finishes her meal.

She likes that the store has a kids seating area with a TV that is tuned to Nickelodeon.

Store Location

The Northborough Wegman's is location at 9102 Shops Way, Northborough, MA.

We find the best time to visit is just after dinner hour on Saturday and Sundays. We would grab a bite to eat at the Asian Bar. Then we do our weekly shopping.

Immaculate Gluten Free Cookies

One of the disadvantages of eating gluten free is that you can???t make a quick batch of cookies. All the instant dough making products, such as Pillsbury Cookies, are not gluten free.

Immaculate Gluten Free Cookies

We just found out about Immaculate Gluten Free Cookies, which are available in the Gluten Free refrigerative section of Wegmans. They are exactly like the quick oven bake cookies that you find in the dairy aisle. They come in three flavors:

• Chocolate Chunk
• Double Chocolate
• Peanut Butter

They don???t have any seasonal special cookies, like Easter Eggs or Christmas trees. However, it???s awesome that we can now make a quick batch of cookies whenever we want. So if we want some cookies to enjoy with a movie, it???s super easy.

Storage Tip

The cookies are available in the refrigerative section, but the directions on the packaging does indicate that you could freeze them and bake them from frozen.

Cookies will last 6 months in the refrigerator. We put our packages in the freezer. It was very easy to break apart the dough when they were frozen. I put the bags in several Ziplock bags and back in the freezer.

So, How are they?

Cookies were yummy. It took about 17 minutes to cook. However, they appear to be slightly undercooked in the middle. Perhaps a few more minutes would have made them perfect.

In our taste test, we found that the Double Chocolate was the best tasting of all of them.

Immaculate Gluten Free Cookies are available at Wegmans, Market Basket and Target.

Sugar Heaven Ice Cream Factory

The weather in Boston was great this week, several days it was it hit 60 degrees. Not bad for late February.

If you're enjoying a beautiful spring day in Boston and happen to be walking down Boylston Street hungry for ice cream, you should consider stopping in at Sugar Heaven for some devious ice cream.

Sugar Heaven is a fun candy store. On the walls of the store, they have a huge selection of bulk candy. In the middle of the store, they have a selection of hard to find candy.

In the basement of Sugar Heaven is a small ice cream parlor.

Eating Gluten Free at Sugar Heaven Ice Cream Section

Much of their ice cream is gluten free, obviously the Cookie and Cream isn???t one of them. They do have a great choice of toppings and they are stored in individual containers.

When ordering the hard ice cream, ask them to clean the scoop.

They do have soft serve ice cream, but the machine isn???t always working. If your looking for soft ser

The store has a $10 minimum for credit cards. This isn???t hard to exceed if your buying bulk candy. If you're just getting a couple of ice cream dishes it will be less than $10. Your best bet is to stop at an ATM on the way to the store. There is a Citizen???s Bank at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Street.

Sugar Heaven Ice Cream Factory

Sugar Heaven is located at 669 Boylston St in Boston's Back Bay.

Gluten Free Pasta at the Boston's Eataly

Eataly Boston is a vibrant Italian marketplace that features an array of cafes, counters, restaurants, and a cooking school. Eat, shop, and learn.

The marketplace opened in December 2016 and has been doing very well with the lunch and dinner crowds. At lunch time, I have seen lots of people buying things for dinner - wine, cheese, and various other things.

Eataly Has Gluten Free Pasta!

Did you know that Eataly has a good size Gluten Free pasta selection? Near the center, court restaurant are several shelves of quality gluten free pasta:

• Garofalo Spaghetti
• Garofalo Quinoa
• Schar Yellow Lentil
• Schar Red Lentil
• Aurora Natural Pasta
• Banza Shells
• Banza Pene
• Banza Rotini
• Banza Elbows

Also located on one of the shelves are some gluten free flour used for baking or making pancakes.

Eataly doesn't have any ???fresh??? gluten free pasta, but just as well, since there could be cross contamination issues. They do carry gluten free pasta sauce!

Try the Gluten Free Mario Batalo Alfredo with Banza Elbows and fresh Parmesan Cravero grated cheese. Makes for a delicious dinner!

Eataly Marketplace

You can find the gluten free near the Il Pesce restaurant.

Goofy Candy Company in Disney Springs

In Disney Spring, is the Goofy Candy Store. A fun place to get all sorts of delicious goodies.

If you're eating Gluten Free you should be aware that not all of the Goofy Glaciers are gluten free. These slurpy like drinks are delicious but you should know that some of them may contain gluten.

There are eight regular flavors:

• Coca-Cola Cooler
• Razzle Dazzle Pink
• Orange You Happy Orange
• Goofy's Glacier Apple
• Brrr-Banana
• Gawrshly Berry Blue
• Rootin'-Tootin' Red
• Pucker Purple.

We were told that the Gawrshly Berry Blue was Gluten Free. Before you try a sample, simply let them know that you want the gluten free Goofy Glacier.

Refresh Your Knowledge

It's helpful to re-learn more about eating gluten-free. There are plenty of resources online. If you want more information on the Celiac Disease, check out the blog post over on jenreviews.com.

Jen posted some useful information about What foods to Stay Away from and she has some Delicious Celiac Disease Diet Recipes.

Logan Airport - Terminal C

Practical Gluten Free Breakfast Options at Logan International Airport.

If you're taking an early morning flight, there are some options for those that need to eat Gluten Free. However, your best safe bet is to bring along a morning snack. The last thing you want is to encounter cross contamination on a long flight.

One thing to keep in mind that if you're taking the first flights out in the morning, not all dining places will have all menu items. We have found that people will wait in line for Wolfgang Puck and PotBelly.

Gluten Free breakfast options at Terminal C

All restaurants are open at 5am and close 30 minutes before last flight.

• Green Express - Fruit Cups and Yogurt [Post-security, gate C36]
• GoGo Stop - Lots of Gluten Free Options, focus on healthy foods [Post-security, gate C33]
• Currito - None of the breakfast burritos are gluten free [Pre-security, departures]
• Au Bon Pain - No breakfast items [Post-security, gate C12]
• Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express - See restaurant for current offerings [Post-security, gate C28]
• PotBelly - Hard Boiled Eggs, Seasonal Fruit, Yogurt. (No Gluten Free Bread) [Post-security, gate C11]

Play it Safe and Keep it Simple

We have learned that it???s best to bring our own snack, and just get a fresh cup of coffee at Dunkin or Starbucks. The lines are both coffee shops will be long, but they do move pretty fast compared to a typical coffee shop.

Our daughter enjoys getting a fresh fruit snack in the morning and Green Express and GoGo Stop at the Jet Blue Terminal is a good place to go as we wait for boarding.

Above the Grain Pizza Crust

We enjoy making our homemade pizza from home and using the Above the Grain pizza crust makes it easy.

You can find the crust for about $8 at most stores in New England including Whole Foods and Stop & Shop.

We usually make a spinach pizza and a pepperoni pizza. Instead of using a typical pizza sauce, we like using the Francesco Rinaldi Hearty Sweet & Tasty Tomato Pasta Sauce. A 24oz single jar is perfect for two pizzas.

The crust is really good and guests that have tried it can't tell that it's gluten-free. In fact, some have suggested the crust is better than anything that they have tried. Certainly doesn't taste like frozen pizza.

Cooking Tips

• Oven Temp: 400 degrees - This is 15 degrees more than what the packaging suggest. The higher temp will produce a crispy crust.
• Cheese: 3.5 Cups of Mozzarella Cheese
• Cooking Time: 20 mins

Since we cook a lot of pizza at home, we find having a couple of perforated pizza pans is worth the investment. The pizza comes out nice and crispy and the pans are very easy to clean.

Champagne

Wine is gluten-free because wine is made from grapes. The Celiac Disease Foundation says all fruits are gluten-free and safe for people with celiac disease to consume. Champagne and sparkling wines are also made from grapes and gluten-free.

This new year???s eve your safe to enjoy your glass of Dom Perignon, and not be concern about gluten.

My soon to be six-year-old daughter will have to wait for another 15 years (2031) to enjoy her first champagne.

Massachusetts, Gluten and Alcoholic Beverages

In Massachusetts, bars are excused from highlighting alcoholic beverages that contain gluten ingredients. Many of the ???higher end??? type of bars will have a category to highlight which items are gluten free, This is from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Frequently Asked Questions:

Betty Crocker Gluten free Cookies

We just notice something on Betty Crocker Gluten free packaging. On the 2017 packaging, they no longer have box tops.

We noticed this as we recently purchased multiple boxes and noticed one of them didn't have a box top on it anymore. The box that didn't have a box top was a newer one.

What are Box Tops for Education?

Box Tops are a way for schools to earn rewards for school supplies. Simply purchase a product with a box top, clip the top and give it to your school. For every Box Top you clip, your child's school will receive 10 cents.

Box Top 20th Anniversary

This past September marked the 20th anniversary of the Box Top program by General Mills. They celebrated by coming out with a new mobile app that makes it easy to find products that have Box Tops.

The App allows you to find all the bonus Box Tops - so that you can maximize your box top contribution. This is perfect if you child is in some type of contest at school.

The app features bonus Box Tops offers from participating brands and retailers. Users can select offers, purchase the products and scan their receipt to get electronic credit for their schools.

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cookies

The Better Crocker Gluten Free Cookies are great for school. We made them for a Polar Express reading that they were doing at my daughter's school. The kids love the cookies and nobody could tell they were gluten free.

Several teachers really enjoyed them and they also couldn't tell that they were gluten-free.

The trick to cooking them is to use parchment paper. They don't burn on the bottom when you have parchment paper on the cookie sheet.