More and more peanut and gluten allergies and sensitivities are coming up and families in Parker want to know where they can go out to eat and be safe. We had a tremendous response to this list and have added tips from local families.
Gluten Free:
Indochine Cuisine in the Parker Station building on Mainstreet maintains a gluten-free kitchen. Even their tempura and rolls are gluten-free. They can have vegetarian and vegan options on their menu.
Parker Garage has several Gluten Free options, and some can be made gluten-free with the switch of the bun.
Posh Pastries offers gluten-free bakery good and gluten-free flour is for sale there as well. (Not Celiac Safe)
Wave the Grain Bakery in Littleton delivers to “The Local” on Mainstreet. They have savory & sweet treats.
Gluten free in 303 has their goods at Convict Coffee
Panera and Noodles have gluten free options.
Mexican Restaurants – Just ask the server / owner questions. I tend to just order things with corn tortillas if uncertain.
Panera has a few gluten-free salads and soups, check their website for the latest as they change seasonally.
Both Sprouts and Vitamin Cottage also have a large variety of gluten free packaged food as well as Kings, Safeway, Walmart and a large variety at Costco.
Pho Vy, Opa’s Grill, and Chipoltle. Noodles also have GF options but are more limited. There are several pizza places offering GF, but only a few try to be as allergy safe as they can. Those are Lil Ricci’s and Parry’s. Also, Coldstone does a great job of creating allergy-safe treats. We use them for kids’ birthdays and parties all the time.
Sweet ‘Ness cupcakes also has GF cupcakes. But, they are made in the same kitchen as the regular cupcakes are so not celiac safe.
Matt at Mauna Snoa Shave Ice says we are gluten-free, peanut-free, dairy-free. And it’s delicious!
Peanut Free/Safe:
In general most Mexican restaurants are peanut-free, we have some local moms writing up the lowdown on how to keep your kids safe when eating out.
The first thing I did was to download a few iPhone apps that were suggested in my local Moms group.
My Favorite Fast Casual Food
Chipolte & Tokyo Joes are my go too “Fastish” food places that I know I can find most items on the menu to be GF.
Tokyo Joes now list all of their GF options and their recommendations right on the menu. I was so sad to learn that their peanut sauce is NOT GF! I freaking LOVE that peanut sauce. I usually order their chicken skewers & spring rolls and dip in the peanut sauce. They do have several other sauces so I guess I’ll have to try them!
Panera has a list of gluten-free foods and how to adapt a few items to make something gluten-free. They do warn they are not celiac safe. I’m SO happy that my two favorite soups, Autumn Squash & Tomato (ask for no croutons) as well as my current favorite salad Southwest Chile Lime Ranch Salad with Chicken. They even have 2 desserts that are GF. The Coconut Macaroons and the Triple Chocolate Cookie with Walnuts.
I honestly rarely go to any regular fast food joints anymore, I’m a former Taco Bell addict but it looks like that is the WORST of the drive-through joints for being GF. Reports say cross-contamination happens there more than any of your other options, so steer clear.
To find the GF menus of a restaurant online I just Google the name of the restaurant with Gluten-Free and the options pop right up.
Please share your favorite sources, links to recipes and any GF tips and suggestions you have for me. I’m starting day 6 of my Gluten-Free Journey and am doing OK so far thanks to the input of friends & family.
The Best Gluten Free Apps
Gluten-Free Scanner App (Only on iPhone & iPad) has been a Godsend!
This handy app will scan the barcodes of any foods and let you know if there is hidden gluten in there. All sorts of foods like pesto, ketchup, artichokes, mustard and pasta sauce have gluten in them. Why? Because it’s a cheap food filler and helps with textures of things to make them more palatable. WOW! So many things that I wouldn’t have known had gluten in them if I hadn’t have had this hand scanner app. I recommend downloading it right away. I used it to grocery shop to replace things I had to throw out or gift to my family, friends and the local food bank.
Find Me Gluten Free
The next App I downloaded was Find Me Gluten Free. This app is a local restaurant guide that will pull up all the restaurants near you that have GF options. It gives you the ability to see what types of food they have that is gluten-free, location, phone number and then a review section where users can upload pictures of their food and write reviews about the establishment. One of my favorite spots was listed and people talked about the owner being celiac so she was particularly wonderful and in fact, most of the dishes on the menu were either GF or could be made that way.
Shopwell App
With this Shopwell App, you create your food profile to learn how products match your needs, goals, and lifestyle. It will also warn you if something has gluten in it like the Find GF app. They also send you an informative newsletter with tips & tricks after you fill out your profile. You can always opt-out but so far it’s been good information.
There are several others I want to check out including “My Symptoms“, “I Can Eat Fast Food” These are all free in the App store.
Gluten-Free Mexican Food Options
We are HUGE Mexican food lovers and use the 505 brands of green chili sauce and salsa and guess what, they are super clean products with no gluten and GMO-free.
I really can’t have eggs or make guacamole without this 505 Roasted Green Chili, you can choose from mild, medium or spicy.
Gluten Free Eating at Home
I used the Gluten Free scanner app above to go through first my refrigerator, then my inside freezer, all my cupboards and then the outside freezer. WOW! So many things that I wouldn’t have known had gluten in them if I hadn’t have had this hand scanner app. I recommend downloading it right away. I used it to grocery shop to find things to replace packaged food I had to throw out or gift to my family, friends and the local food bank.
Once the clear-out task was done it was time to take a look at what I still had to eat. Ok, I found out that some of my favorite brands of foods are already gluten-free so that was fantastic.Once the clear-out task is done it’s time to take a look at what is left in your cupboards.
In Colorado & New Mexico Green Chili is our native food so I use the 505 Green Chili Sauce to smother any of my enchilada bakes or smothered burrito recipes when I don’t have time or energy to make my Crock Pot Green Chili from scratch. You can find 505 products in most grocery stores in the Southwest US, like Kroeger, Whole Foods, Sprouts and Safeway.
I know that corn tortillas and tortilla chips are usually Gluten Free… hey ok, and you can find gluten-free flour tortillas and wraps at many grocery stores although I’ve still not found one that has the right consistency for me. The search continues
What about GF Italian though?
Italian food is all about pasta or pizza dough! I figured that was something I was just going to have to do without, but it turns out there are now SO many gluten-free options for pasta and frozen gluten-free pizzas. I know a ton of pizza joints do offer gluten-free crust so I guess that will be next, to see how it tastes! Any recommendations?
Luckily, my favorite jarred pasta sauces were in the gluten-free category and strolling down the pasta aisle I learned there are a TON of GF pasta to try. Classico Alfredo Sauces are Gluten Free. This is a go-to meal for me, cut up a rotisserie chicken, artichokes, mushrooms, tomatoes, and sauce. You are good to go!
Both Classico & 24 Prego’s red pasta sauces are Gluten Free as well. I miss crunchy garlic bread with pasta.
Gluten Free Baking
I have mostly found it difficult to use my original tried and true white flour baking recipes so mostly I turn to mixes. This is the part of being gluten free that’s the most expensive and frustrating. Particularly if you were a bread and baked goods lover for years before your diagnosis, things just are never going to be exactly the same. The good news is, eventually your taste buds adjust and you can figure out a few great substitutions.
For gf flour mixtures and bakery mixes King Arthur is a tried and true.
Save on King Arthur’s Shortbread Cookie Mix! Ends 12/31/24 Shop King Arthur Baking
