Dining GF at the Channel Cafe, Boston

So far, I have chosen to only review recipes, products and places that I have a favorable opinion of.  However, I was aware that this journey to Boston with a family of 5 would present some gf challenges.
I spent at least 2 hours researching restaurants online that offered a family friendly gf menu, were located near our travel destinations and were affordable - not an easy task.  On the day of our arrival we dined mid-day at the Channel Cafe in South Boston.  The Channel Cafe offered a variety of gf dishes and specials on their online menu.
The atmosphere was unique and hip as the cafe is located on the basement level of a main street South Boston arts building, but has an open 2 story ceiling.  Light pours in from the large upper floor windows.  The space houses and is connected to art galleries from painting to photography to woven rugs.
Unfortunately, the hostess and waitstaff seemed somewhat unclear and confused about which selections were indeed gluten free and were unable to answer specific questions with clear and confident responses.  The printed menu did not indicate which items were gf, only the chalkboard with daily specials indicated 2 items as gluten-free.  I offered our Living Without Dining Card to our waitress, which she read, but assured me that the "cook" didn't need to read it - extremely disappointing.
Our food was absolutely delicious.  My son wound up having a burger with sweet potato fries as that was the only kid friendly gf selection.  My husband had 5 spice salmon salad without the tamari dressing.  The waitress kept insisting that the tamari was gf even as I questioned her persistently.  After we placed our order, she returned indicating that the tamari dressing was not in fact gf.  Exasperating, frustrating, disappointing.  When our meal finally arrived it was all absolutely delicious - both the gf and regular lunches.  However, I can't recommend this cafe with complete confidence to the CD community.

Our Gluten Free Hotel Stay - Almost

We packed up our family of 5 and headed to Boston to visit college campuses.  We chose to stay at the Residence Inn by Marriott because it's affordable for a family of 5, has a suite with a full kitchen and offers free breakfast as a perk.  Staying at a hotel with a kitchen suite makes life a lot easier when traveling with CD.  We packed 2 grocery bags full of gf items such as granola bars, cereals, crackers  and a full sized cooler serving as snack central for the 5 hour journey as well as holding fresh fruits, cheeses and yogurts for our stay.  Thankfully I had packed several boxes of Chex Cereals and gluten-free Rice Krispies because the breakfast provided was a gluten filled nightmare. Regardless of being a gluten overload, the food choices were not healthy aside from the 2 varieties of fruit offered and 2 varieties of light & fit yogurt.  Breakfast consisted of white/wheat bread, bagels, 2 kinds of gooey muffins, English Muffins, 4 types of "regular" cereal, pancakes, french toast, biscuits with gravy and a scary look vat of scrambled eggs that I wouldn't dream of touching.  So, we grabbed a bunch of bananas, some fresh milk and headed back to our room.  We had fresh fruit and gf cereal in paper bowls that we brought from home to avoid cross contamination. Its always nice to hope for the best but plan for the challenges of gf dining.  Our plan was to have a nice breakfast at the hotel, a large mid-day restaurant meal, and a light evening snack back in our hotel room.  We accomplished that but were disappointed in the lack of healthy breakfast choices.

Frozen Fruit & Yogurt Star Pops

My kids and I were at it again having fun creating frozen fruit and yogurt pops!  Such a simple, fun and creative way to get kids involved in the kitchen and creating a healthy dessert.  

The necessary ingredients, tools & supplies are simple.  Fresh strawberries, organic strawberry yogurt, a cutting board, strawberry slicer, popsicle sticks, a tiny star shaped cookie cutter and most importantly a fun silicone mold.  If you'd like more specific directions, please visit one of our other frozen yogurt posts. 

Cool and healthy on a steamy summer day!