the food

I could be perfectly happy eating tacos for 3 meals per day and I admitted that before the trip.  So, it is fitting that we ate a lot of tacos and I temporarily "forgot" that I shouldn't eat much corn.
Chilaquiles were the next most popular item on my mind, and margaritas of course.  We also had our fair share of some of the best jugo de naranja we've ever had (orange juice).

Started the trip off right with breakfast at Anthony's at the airport: Salmon Scramble.

And then we toasted on the plane:

We had a well stocked mini bar in our room as well.  I must admit that I loved the m&m's and sparkling water with tequila most.  (wild lady, I know).

Here we are at breakfast on our first morning there:

My breakfast: a regional cuisine.  I am forgetting the name now.  It was refried beans, topped with egg, peas, ham, and fried plantain.  YUM!

Dinner on the beach, the second night.  They called it a white beach party.  :)  It was so humid that my camera fogged up regularly, sorry for the blurry pic.

White beach party dinner buffet.

Indian food in Mexico?!  Yes, we did!

I forgot to take a picture of the gluten free onion rings and coconut milk ice cream that I was surprised to find at the resort.

Here we are at Agave, the Mexican restaurant at the resort.

Salud!

Steak and eggs.  Incredible.

In Playa del Carmen, we found a cocoa coffee bar and had frozen chocolate drinks!  So perfect when we thought we would melt.

The best cheap eats we had!  Tacos at Don Sirloin.

Margarita on the beach.

Ready for a late-night dinner after climbing some ruins :)

Are you surprised?  I ordered tacos again!  At least Tyler ventured out.

Breakfast at 100% natural.  Drank a pitcher full of iced agua de jamaica.

I had chilaquiles, Tyler the aforementioned Yucatan peninsula specialty.

Are you hungry yet?  I promise we did more than eat!  More on the adventures later this week.  

Real Germans

Moral of the story from Friday: real germans eat sauerkraut :)
This is a running joke in our family by the way.  Real germans do other things as well, like drink tequila, lol!

We enjoyed a friday night German dinner with fall-themed decor and amazing food, thanks to the chefs and the North Dakota sausage stuffers.

Home-made pickled goodness of course: beets, green beans and pickles.

Momma makin caramel rolls, even a gluten free and mostly dairy free batch.

These are the gluten-full kind :)

I love my sauerkraut!

Cream-free borscht.

Real germans drinking gluten free beer:

And eating home-made buns, roast brussel sprouts with apples, home-made North Dakota sausage and krautnip.  YUMMMMMM!

Eliana loves soothing carrots on her new teeth:

I am still smiling thinking of the fun day off that I had on friday.

In Laura's kitchen

It was a productive and healthy weekend here in Issaquah. Thanks to the wellness challenge, I worked out three days in a row and am now exhausted.
My kitchen was busy this weekend. On Friday, I baked up some grain free chocolate chip bars: http://tasty-yummies.com/2013/01/22/grain-free-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-gluten-free-dairy-free/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=grain-free-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-gluten-free-dairy-free. Yummy! Saturday morning was nitrate free bacon and GF French toast (thanks to Julie's GF bakery in Puyallup for the bread). Tonight, it was lasagna I can eat with brown rice noodles and creamed cashews instead of cheese. Thanks Kate for the recipe! For the most part I followed this recipe http://www.dancewhileyoucook.com/2011/12/kick-ass-lasagna-gluten-free-and-dairy.html?m=1 but used noodles that did not need pre cooking and a different but similar red sauce.
What a great weekend! Now time for bed. :)

Laura's kitchen

 

 

It has been awhile since I have posted food photos.  In case you are wondering, I still follow my modified gluten free dairy free anti-inflammatory diet (it has been over 2 years now) and am feeling great!  I'm not as good about avoiding sugar, corn or alcohol, especially during the holidays, but for the most part I do quite well.  Today, I had the fam over and cooked up two new recipes which we enjoyed very much: "ranch" dip and a "creamy" pesto-like spinach dip.  Both gluten and dairy free.

Happy Anniversary Tyler!

Tyler and I celebrated our six year anniversary last month and it was such a fun month, I missed it on the blog. (sorry!) We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Barking Frog in Woodinville wine country. It was pretty darn incredible! The food and wine pairings were just what this celebration called for. We started out with yummy salad.

This salad was so packed full of flavor!

Pear, Swiss Chard & Kale Salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts, white balsamic garlic vinaigrette

Steelhead with fingerling potatoes, maitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, baby spinach, paquillo pepper relish

Wine pairings

Housemade sorbet and dessert wine

Tyler's maple cake:

Cheers, amidst all of the wine.  Love you, Tyler!!!
:)

Are you hungry yet? ;)

a visit with Fisch!

I have a lot of bloggin' to do so please stay tuned.  Last Thursday, I headed down to Arizona for some *fabulous* and much-needed sunshine and a visit with Fisch who recently relocated (sad for us, happy for her).  Tyler was there on business, convenient huh?, so we were all able to enjoy the time together.  I was in awe of the scenery.  Mountains on all sides, palm trees, cacti, sunshine...

On Thursday evening, we had an AMAZING dinner at Guadalajara restaurant.  If you are ever in Tucson, this is a must-eat-at kind of place.  Wow!

Salud to $3 margaritas!

Even better, custom made to order salsa, right at your table!!!  Muy deliciosa (see, I remember my spanish)!

My carne asada.  I don't think this picture does it justice.

I think I better just make this post about food and beverage, just to make Amy hungry.  I seem to be good at that :)

On Friday, after a day of exploring the mountains, we stopped by a fun wine bar across from the university.  Very nice.  Here is Tyler amidst the scenery.

On Saturday, we headed North to visit with Beth's parents.  They fed us very well also and I must have been so enamored with Scooter the dog that I didn't capture any photos.  It was fun to visit with them and hear more about their lives.

Gluten-free cupcakes were also consumed that day.  Wow!  :)  I had lemon, Fisch had german chocolate, and tyler had cherry amaretto.

Later in the day, I learned what a Sonoran hot dog was.  Oh my.  The 'dog' was wrapped in bacon and topped with all sorts of goodness.  Not exactly gluten free, so Fisch savored this treat while I opted for some carne asada tacos and the most delicious beans I think I've had in a really long time. 

On Sunday, we visited Mosaic Cafe for brunch.  Fisch and I opted for the featured item from the Food Network: Huevos Rancheros with Chorizo.  Can I just say amazing?!  Even my dish without cheese was just fabulous.  Wash it down with a mimosa/bellini, and we were good to go :) 

Fisch, thank you for showing us a wonderful time!  I hope you don't think I am only going to post a blog about food, more details to come :)

January and February Valentines

Wow, I've been eating and drinking well this week...in celebration of Karlie, our January Valentine, and Valentine's Day itself.

On Saturday, we met Karlie and Jordan at Urban Enoteca for a fun visit, incredible food and amazing wine.  We'll have to head back there for wine tasting at some point.  What a great find! 

YUM!

Very cool ambience.

Who would have thought that roasted cauliflower could taste so good?! 

For Valentine's Day, Tyler and I tried a new restaurant in town: Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse.  It was fabulous!  All you can eat gourmet salad bar and cute waiters who carve your meat at your table.  A fun experience. 

Here I am playing with the new camera.  Love the flowers, thank you Tyler!!!

Our 'zert!  Brazilian flan.  Incredible! 

Good times.  Now, back to my regular eating and no drinking schedule :) 

If you didn't see this on facebook already, check out this mock ice cream recipe.  All it takes is a frozen banana, a blender, and 2 TBSP cocoa powder and it is sooooo delicious!