Hot Table Panini

Gluten Free Panini!

One of the newest restaurants at Shoppers World is Hot Table Panini. A Massachusetts/Connecticut based sandwich chain restaurant.

The restaurant features all sorts of unique paninis such as: Cranberry Turkey Club, Chicken Pesto, Chicken Parm, Southwest Chicken, Buffalo Chicken, Cheese Steak, Swiss Steak Mushroom, Black & Blue, Spicy Bbq Pulled Pork, Cubano, Italian Cold Cut, Turkey Club, Turkey Honey Dijon, Classic Tuna, Santa Fe Veggie, Pesto Veggie, and Caprese.

You can also get salads and soups too.

Gluten Free Panini!

Did you know that that they offer Gluten-Free rolls? Yup, you can get any sandwich they make on a Gluten-Free bun.

Three Things We Learned

The gluten-free bun is only available in a small size. I supposed if you are really hungry you can get two sandwiches. The small portion is ??? well ??? small. It???s a good size for my ten-year-old - who doesn???t eat much.

Your sandwich will get toasted! They don???t have a dedicated panini maker for Gluten Free sandwiches. They wrap your sandwich in tin foil and put it in the panini maker. They serve you the sandwich still wrapped in tinfoil.

The gluten-free sandwich is delicious! It???s a hit! My ten year loves the sandwich and eats it all in one sitting. She likes that she can pick out what she wants on the sandwich - just like everyone else.

Finding Hot Table

The Hot Table restaurant is located next to Chipotle in Shoppers World.

Which Panini should you start with? Any one of them. They are all excellent!

Liberty Pizza

Delicious Gluten Free Pizza

We love to have pizza every once in a while. Usually, we have frozen pizzas but every once in a while we'll order pizza for delivery. It's not hard to find a pizza place that offers Gluten-Free pizza - but finding one that has really good pizza is very difficult.

My 10-year old daughter is picky when it comes to pizza. She'll usually settle if there's nothing open or we are traveling. When we are at home she loves Liberty Gluten-Free Pizza.

Liberty Pizza

What makes Liberty Pizza stands out is the sauce. The tomato sauce is really good - its the same sauce they use on the regular pizza. It's pretty much the main reason why we all enjoy getting pizza from Liberty.

The Gluten-Free pizza is only available in small. The pizza cost an extra $2.20 over a regular small pizza.

The pizza crust is good. Usually, my daughter saves 1/2 the pizza for another day - rumors have it that she eats some as breakfast on a Saturday morning.

Finding Liberty Pizza

Liberty Pizza is located in the Pinefield Shopping Center in Framingham (61 Nicholas Road)

The Oregon Club

Great Options for Gluten Free

The Oregon Club is hidden gem located on the backroads of Ashland. It's a unique place as it started out as the place to go to get drinks during Prohibition.

Five Things We Learned

• Reservations Recommended - There's very limited seating. Reservations are highly recommended.
• Quiet Restaurant - The inside dining room is small and has the feel of being at someone's house and not at a restaurant. There is a piano in one of the dining rooms, but it was more of decorations.
• Lots of Gluten-Free Options - The waitress worked with us on what meals they were able to make Gluten Free. They were very knowledgeable on what meals could be made safe for her. My daughter selected the Roasted Chicken.
• Appetizers - We went with the Roasted Pears with Prosciutto for the appetizer. It seemed to be the only one a 10-year old might like. She didn't like it. I thought it was pretty good.
• Roasted Chicken - The Roasted Chicken was good. The only problem was that it contained bones, I think she was thinking more of chicken strips than 1/4 of a chicken. She had coleslaw and baked beans as a side dish. She enjoyed it.

D Ellis Sugarloaf

Excellent Gluten Free Sandwiches

Last week my daughter was on vacation near Sugarloaf, Maine. One day while playing Disc Golf, she was looking for a lunch place that had Gluten Free.

Via the "Find Me Gluten Free App" she found D'Ellis Sugarloaf.

Four Things We Learned

• D'Ellis Sugarloaf is only open for breakfast and lunch - great place to go to get energy for skiing.
• very sandwich can be made with Gluten Free bread - or no bread.
• They don't have a dedicated toaster - so you can't toast your gluten free bread.
• My daughter says that the sandwich was good, and certainly would go back if ever in the area again.

Finding D'Ellis Sugarloaf

D'Ellis Sugarloaf is Located at: 5 Village West, Carrabassett, ME 04947 (207) 237-2490

Specific Location on Google Maps.

J.P. Licks

Great Ice Cream - Good Gluten Free Options!

Earlier this Summer my daughter had a birthday party in Newton Center. I dropped her off and walked around the area.

About an hour into the party, she texted me that she wanted ice cream. Apparently, there were no gluten-free deserts at her party. So I told her that I would stop at JP Licks to get a sundae for her.

Four Things I Learned

I just got a plain chocolate ice cream with some hot fudge topping. The person behind the counter was accommodating and hand washed a scoop and make sure to use a new ice cream container.

JP Licks has gluten-free cones. I didn't order as a sundae would be best eaten in a cup.

The ordering board identified ice creams that were not gluten-free - which made it easy to figure out what to order. My daughter is simple, as basic chocolate was good for her.

I saw some gluten-free oreo cookies by "My Dad's Cookies"- that I thought would be good to get for the ride home.

Great Ice Cream

We loved our ice cream and we'll be back. We don't frequent Newton Center - but we have a good reason to come back!

J.P. Licks is a local chain with 17 locations throughout the Boston area. The nearest one to us would be the Wellesley location - about a 22 min drive from home or 10-mins from her dance studio. (Might be a good treat after the dance!)

You can see all their Gluten Free ice cream options on their website.

As of today for Ice Cream they have: Chocolate, Coconut Almond Chip, Coffee, Maple Butter Walnut, Mint Chip, Pistachio, Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocolate Chip. Frozen Yogurt: Coffee Chip, Mint Chip, Peanut Butter Chip, Vanilla.

The LookOut

Great Place for Apple Picking and Burgers!

Last weekend, we visited The LookOut - which is a fairly new restaurant at Lookout Farms. We had heard that they have good gluten-free options, so we decided to check it out.

How would you describe your experience? "It's kind of like going to a restaurant and ordering take-out to eat there."

Five things I Learned

There's plenty of tables. We were there on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and there were plenty of tables available.

The dining area is temporarily located near the train waiting area. You go up to the gazebo and they will direct you to a table to sit at. Once you arrive at the table you scan a bar code that opens up a menu at toast.com. After you place your order, a waiter will come to your table with your food.

We found the toast website to be tricky to work with. We found that we had to scroll a lot to add items to the cart. If you are stuck - ask someone at the gazebo.

They have gluten-free buns for their sandwiches - including the hot dog! The menu does describe the allergy ingredients so its easy to make the right choices.

The food was excellent! Juliana ordered the cheeseburger - no surprise! She ate most of it. The bun looks to be Udis Classic Hamburger Buns. The hamburger came with a side bag of Cape Cod potato chips.

We'll be Back!

The food at the Lookout was good, and it felt nice to be sitting outside on a mild summer day. We had a very good experience - minus the whole food ordering thing.

The ordering wasn't all that bad, just weird that that you simply scan the bar code - no instructions on ordering or specials.

Gluten Free Oreos

Americas Favorite Cookie

One of the downsides of being a celiac is not trying some of the popular cookies. Sure there are alternatives - but it's not the same. It's kind of like being at a birthday party. You can only drink Walmart brand soda while everyone else is drinking Coke-Cola. It might be good, but its not the same. (Try the store brand challenge and see for yourself!)

This is how people with celiac feel. They do feel a bit left out. Earlier this year, there was some good news on the snack front.

In January 2021, Nabisco started shipping Gluten Free Oreos. Yes, the same Oreos that everyone loves, is now available Gluten Free.

Its a Hit!

My daughter tried it and it's a hit! She absolutely loves them. They are better than any of the gluten-free Oreo "knock-offs." (We stopped buying different brands because they weren't good.)

They were hard to find in January and February but now available in every supermarket that we visit - including Target and Walmart.

We typically buy a couple of packs just so that we have them available. She loved to snack on them.

I have tried the Gluten-Free Oreos and they are exactly like regular Oreos. There's no different taste or texture. I don't know how they did it. But it does taste great.

Five Things I Learned

• Gluten Free Oreos were announced in November 2020 and came out in January 2021. We were able to get it on January 25.
• They look exactly the same as regular Oreos, except they do say Gluten-Free on the cookie. (Its hard to see the words)
• Most stores stock them with regular Oreos. They tend to stand out more because of the white packaging. I am guessing that they don't put them with other Gluten-Free foods because Nabisco comes in the store and stocks them.
• The Gluten-Free Oreo costs about 20% more than the standard Oreo. I have noticed that they don't go on sale as frequently as regular Oreos. They were on sale early on as a promotion to get the word out.
• Did you know that the Gluten-Free cookies segment accounted for the highest revenue share of more than 32% in 2020 (Among Baked Gluten-Free goods.) - according to the Gluten-free Baking Mixes Market Report.

Celiac Vaccine Update

Quick Update on the Vaccine Search

Back in January, 2019, I wrote about how the Nexvax2 was in Stage 2 trials. This vaccine would help people with celiac disease to occasionally enjoy foods that may contain gluten.

I thought I would follow up on the update of the testing.

Nexvax2 Trial has been discontinued

Unfortunately testing didn't go well. Six Months into Phase 2, and the trial was stopped.

The results of the trial showed that the vaccine didn't provide any more protection from gluten when compared to the placebo.

The official statement from June 25, 2020:

ImmusanT, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing a treatment, and a set of diagnostic and monitoring tools to manage patients with Celiac disease.

Next Steps for ImmusanT

ImmusanT has closed its doors shortly after stopping the Nexvax2 trial. Any testing information is likely to be Vatera Healthcare Partners as they were the primary backers to ImmusanT.

While it's disappointing to hear that Nexvax2 didn't make it. There are plenty of other trials still in play.

Zedira Phase 2b Trial

Earlier this month, the New England Journal of Medicine featured a story about an experimental drug called ZED1227 that looks to be promising to those diagnosed with celiac disease. (A Randomized Trial of a Transglutaminase 2 Inhibitor for Celiac Disease)

According to early testing, patients on the drug showed fewer signs of intestinal damage when eating a biscuit with some gluten.

As part of the study, patients have to take a pill every morning and and once in a while they would eat a biscuit that contained a trace of gluten.

Zedira is still moving forward with the phase 2b study in Europe.

Kanes Donuts

Awesome Gluten Free Donuts

Finding a place that makes good gluten-free donuts may seem like an impossible task. Not in the Boston area,

Kane???s Donuts is the place to go for not only awesome donuts but a great selection.

Five Things We Learned

This past Spring we stopped at the Kane???s Donut shop in the Financial District in Boston. Here are some of the things we learned.

They had a large selection of Gluten Free donuts. We arrived moments after they open so we had a large selection to pick from.

Kane???s keep the donuts on a separate track from the other donuts in the shop. They will move it so you can see what is available.

Gluten Free Donuts are expensive

They taste awesome! My daughter loved them so much that we went back a couple of days later to get more. To her, It was a real treat to get delicious donuts from a donut shop. She really liked the glazed donuts.

You can order the donuts online. Order online for early morning pickup to ensure the freshest selection and variety.

Stuffed Puffs

May Contain Wheat Ingredients

One of the hot food products this year is the Stuffed Puffs. This is a marshmallow with some chocolate inside. Making this the perfect S???more marshmallow.

I was surprised to find some at a local Market Basket. So I picked up a couple of packages.

My daughter was delighted that I brought some home and couldn???t wait to make s???mores.

She had a couple of them and thought they were just okay. I think she was expecting more chocolate inside.

We noticed that when we cooked them over the fire that the outside would sizzle as if it had a sugar coating.

That got me thinking - what is inside the marshmallow? So I checked the ingredients and was surprised to find its more than marshmallows and plain chocolate.

There is a bit of a surprise if you are a celiac- the marshmallow contains Wheat.

Facts from Stuffed Puffs

According to the Stuff Puffs frequently asked questions:

Note: On their website, the ingredients don't list Wheat in the "Contained Ingredients".

My daughter didn???t encounter any Gluten side effects from eating the marshmallows. She said that she felt fine the next morning.

We were happy that she didn???t get sick and I felt bad that I didn???t check to see if the marshmallows were safe.

Now What?

We probably won???t use the rest of the marshmallows- out of caution. Instead, we may make our own stuff marshmallows

I think she likes making s???mores the old fashion way - with a recesses peanut butter cup instead of a Hershey bar.