Gluten Free Life Leads to Super Bowl Win

Fine, I'll admit it, the logic behind this post's title may not add up.

Regardless, Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints' quarterback, lead the team in today's Super Bowl XLIV win and did it while maintaining a gluten free diet.  He is also allergic to dairy, eggs, and nuts.

Brees was also selected as MVP of tonight's game!  Amazing the things you can do without gluten, right?

Thanks to Hilary for the heads up.

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Brees' Official Page
Brees' Workout

Sweet Freedom Bakery

This is my first post about Philadelphia -- so welcome to any readers from Philly who stumble upon this post!  My brother has lived on and off in Philadelphia for the past 9 years... whoa.  Sorry to break that sentence off, but that sentence is crazy -- 9 years can really fly by!  Anyways, Jeff has been living in Philadelphia for a long time and is currently in law school there.  His girlfriend Morgan is potentially gluten intolerant so I did a little searching for some gluten free options in Philly.  I stumbled upon Sweet Freedom Bakery and sent Jeff the link a few weeks back.  This past weekend Jeff and Morgan were able to visit the bakery and give me their opinions.

There were reactions were very positive.  A direct quote: "Morgan tried the brownie which was awesome, and I had the chocolate cookie sandwich that is in the picture (below).  That was incredible."

I don't have much to add since I haven't visited the shop myself -- everything in the bakery is vegan and gluten free, for you vegans out there.  I'm hoping to make it to Philadelphia for Jeff's graduation in May, so look for a longer post then.  In the meantime, I'll have to satiate myself with Babycakes!

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Sweet Freedom Bakery
1424 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19146 (Map)
215.545.1899

Schwartz Bakery

Today I visited my Aunt and Uncle and my brand new cousin, Eliana, who all live here in Los Angeles.  I know that when I head over there I'm bound to be fed great gluten free food and today was no exception.  They even surprised me with some delicious gluten free chocolate muffins from Schwartz Bakery here in Los Angeles.

It never would have crossed my mind to check Schwartz for gluten free products, but my uncle said that he was recently in the store and saw the chocolate muffins prominently labeled "gluten free" so he picked some up for me.  The store also offers gluten free brownies, bagels, and vanilla cupcakes.

The treats were good but not great -- the bakery isn't dedicated to gluten free baking so it can't rival the expertise of The Sensitive Baker or Babycakes.  However, it's great for gluten free people who keep Kosher to have a viable option.  I know that Babycakes and Sensitive Baker are both Kosher as well, but with the varying degrees of Kosher food Schwartz's may be some people's best option.

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Schwartz Bakery
8622 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035 (Map)
310.854.0592
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433 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036 (Map)
323.653.1683

Pavilions' Gluten Free Chocolate Chewies

I normally avoid the bakery section of grocery stores.  Why go if I'm only going to be tempted by the best gluten filled baked goods the market has to offer?

Fortunately my friend Lulu keeps her eyes out for gluten free treats around L.A. for me.  While shopping in the West Hollywood Pavilions, she found Chocolate Chewies in the bakery section that she thought would especially appeal to me since they were marked with a gluten free sign!

I know the photo quality isn't great, but it was really nice to see freshly baked gluten free products in a market like Pavilions.  It was even better that they were marked as such!

The cookies are great; very chewy, as their name implies, and very flavorful.  They're made from sugar, pecans, water, cocoa, egg whites, vegetable oil, salt, and modified food starch.  They are not marked gluten free on the packaging itself. Another great part is the price -- they cost about $3.50 for an entire package!  Where else can you find freshly baked, delicious gluten free cookies for that cheap?

Unfortunately I stopped in the store pretty late at night and wasn't able to locate a manager to see if these would be in stock permanently or are just a temporary item.  So run... er, since we live in Los Angeles, drive, don't walk, to Pavilions' West Hollywood location to pick yourself up some of these delicious cookies!

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Pavilions West Hollywood
8969 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069 (Map)
310.273.0977

Tasti D-Lite's Gluten Free Listing

Tasti D-Lite has just released a full list of gluten free flavors available at the frozen yogurt chain.  You can check it out here.  Unfortunately there are no locations in CA yet.

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Tasti D-Lite
Find a Location Near You

Cafe Flourish New Dessert

My friend Lauren invited me to dinner at Cafe Flourish; it's closer to her apartment and her friend Lauren (yes, "the Laurens") was in town and looking for great vegan eats.  While my normal vegan go-to is Real Food Daily, I decided to stop in and visit with them and check out Cafe Flourish again.  You can check out my first post about Flourish here.

In that first post, I wrote that I was unhappy with the dessert I bought.  I remember wanting to like it but not enjoying it.  With Babycakes now serving up life-changing cookiewiches here in Los Angeles I don't know if I'll ever venture anywhere else for cookiewich, or anything similar.

However, Cafe Flourish has a new gluten free dessert -- a brownie.  The icing looked awesome so I ordered one up for the girls and I to split.

We were all very surprised by how much we enjoyed it, particularly because I was unhappy with the whoopie pie from Flourish.  The brownie was moist and chewy and the icing was spectacular, especially for being vegan and gluten free.  I'll definitely check out Flourish again for their great, gluten free mac and cheese and these delicious brownies.  The restaurant's prices are also more reasonable than Real Food Daily's.

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Cafe Flourish
5406 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036 (Map)
323.939.3932

Denny's Offers Free Grand Slam Breakfast

Denny's is repeating an offer it made last year to its customers -- a free Grand Slam breakfast from 6am to 2pm on February 9th!  Call your nearest location in advance to confirm it is participating.  Check out the official press release here.

Denny's also has a list of the allergens on its menu available on its website here.  Unfortunately gluten is not listed; however, wheat can act as a general signpost.  Ask your server before ordering anything off the menu, of course, but the Grand Slam breakfast seems to be easily made gluten free: eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns!

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Denny's
Find a Location Near You (Top Right of Page)