Gluten-free muffins to the rescue!

A traditional brunch menu is typically heavy on gluten-filled options and when you're visiting in-laws for Easter, you can easily end up having to make do while hoping for the best. Meaning, hoping you don't get sick due to uninformed or misinformed staff members.

While I was fortunate and was able to find plenty of safe food to eat at Easter brunch this year, what really made me feel like it was brunch was my gluten-free muffin.  That would be the Pillsbury chocolate chip muffin I took to brunch in my purse.  Due to where I was, I could not trust the staff to take the muffin into the kitchen to heat up for me, but it didn't matter.  The muffins are delicious any way you can get them - hot with butter or plain at room temperature!

Presently, this is the only nationally distributed gluten-free muffin that offers individual wrappers for each unit.  Just grab one out of the freezer, throw in your purse (or workout bag or lunch bag) and you're good to go!

This is the perfect travel snack, though I haven't yet taken an international trip with them.  They'd be perfect to give you a boost during a long flight, but I haven't investigated how long the muffins stay fresh once they're defrosted.

I'm partial to chocolate chip muffins, but there is a blueberry muffin in this line if you prefer a more traditional breakfast option.  They are hitting Ingles stores in the ATL and are en route to Kroger stores this summer.  Hopefully, Publix won't be far behind ;)

Like most gluten-free muffins, the Pillsbury brand is stocked in your grocer's freezer.  ENJOY!

True Food at Lenox Square

Recently, an old friend asked if I could meet for lunch near or at Lenox Square in Buckhead.  I told her to pick a place and I'd check on the gluten-free options.  She already had a place in mind - True Food - and she also knew there was gluten-free selection noted on the menu.

I checked out the menu online and decided it looked good enough to check out.  Mall dining is not my favorite thing to do, but True Food is on the corner of the mall with a street entrance.  You can easily forget your at the mall with the high ceilings and bustling ambiance.  There are gluten-free specialty items (like bread for sandwiches) available, but I opted for two half salads (may not be listed on the menu) and they were both delicious!

The turkey lasagna looks interesting - they use spinach instead of pasta sheets.  I think the pizza crust is from Venice bakery.  You can check out the restaurant's website and menu here.

If you have room for dessert, check out the macaron cart in front of Sephora on the main level of the mall.  They are not the best I've had, but they are decent enough if you're not a macaron snob like we are.  Another dessert option is the gluten-free cupcake at Sprinkles which is also on the front of the mall just down from True Food.  I only tried the gluten-free option once, and that was one time too many.  Hopefully, they are doing better for gluten-free folks by now ;)

  

Sprouts flourless chocolate cake review

Many specialty grocery stores (in our area) have individually sized gluten-free desserts in the bakery case.  When looking for such a treat at our Sprouts Market, I found a flourless chocolate cake with a Sprouts label.  It was very small and $2.99, but that is actually pretty reasonable for gluten-free treats.

Since the cake was cold, I let it sit on the counter for a while before trying it for dessert.  One bite was all I needed to decide it wasn't great and my husband wasn't overly impressed with it either.  We put the rest of the cake in the fridge and decided to taste it again later.

The second taste test involved heating the cake slowing in the microwave which greatly improved the taste and texture.  However, it's a much better value to buy the larger Trader Joe's flourless chocolate cake, cut it in small slices to freeze and pull out as needed.  And the TJ's cake is extremely delicious cold, warm or at room temperature to boot!  It even beat out the killer Godiva cheesecake (my personal fave!) at our holiday partly last December for number of pieces scarfed down ;)