We Go Together Like Crab and Butter

 

I feel very confident that two weeks ago, I married my best friend. I know that Parrish loves me more every day, and I feel the exact same way. BUT given the chance to choose between me and seafood…

I’m 99.9% he would choose me. Lucky for him, on our honeymoon he was able to choose both!

One of the first gluten free meals I ever had was crab legs, and I LOOOVE crab legs. In Wilmington, I had only ever had steamed crab legs but in Florida all the crab legs were grilled.

Verdict:

Grilled is WAY better!! Every cracked shell released a FULL piece of meat, effortlessly!

Enjoyed with a side of butter

super cute fish silverware and

a HUGE glass of water!

 

The best seafood we enjoyed was at a small restaurant near Ft. Walton Beach,

The Black Pearl. We were able to dine with an amazing view:

 

and it was really a gorgeous day. Not too hot with a cool ocean breeze. :) I could have sat there for hours and gorged myself on crab. Luckily, I’m not made out of money.

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Tonight I’m making supper for my parents so that my Dad can teach us how to fix our leaky kitchen faucet! So I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make a tutorial on kale chips tonight, but hopefully tomorrow!

Are there any other dishes that I’ve made you would like a step by step on?

Any dishes you would like me to try to recreate gluten free?

My Favorites

 

The Cheeseburgers weren’t the only ones in paradise…

yeah, that was too corny. I’m basically just trying to intro you guys in to my favorite day of the honeymoon, our trip to Seaside and my favorite lunch!

Seaside just happens to be a super cute beach town AND where the movie The Truman Show was filmed! Several folks had recommended it to us, and so we made a day trip down the coast.

On the way we stopped at Grayton Beach State Park to trail run and were surprised by quite possibly the most beautiful beach we’d ever seen. But first, the trail.

 

I honestly don’t know how Florida healthy living bloggers do it. Running in Florida is insane.

A large part of the trail was totally shade free. The sand was hot and the sun was hotter. We thought about taking shelter in the brush. But then the trail switched it up.

And it was shady but still sandy. My calves were BURNING.

Finally we got to the part of the trail that was through a swamp. All shade, no sand. I was little wary of snakes and alligators, but we saw neither.

After the run we were SUPER sweaty. So we ventured down to the beach.

SO PRETTY!!!

The ocean in front of our hotel had a ton of seaweed, but the water at Grayton was crystal clear.

We were kicking ourselves for only having our workout clothes.

 

I could have stayed at that beach all day, but lunch was approaching, so we headed on to Seaside.

And to the Taco Bar!

The best of lunches always start with a margarita!

AND guacamole :)

It was a tiny little restaurant and the chef was really knowledgeable about preparing a meal gluten free. They had corn tortillas and all the sauces used on meats were prepared fresh on site and without gluten!

I ordered a steak taco:

and a shredded chicken taco:

They were both amazing, but the steak was my favorite! Super fresh.

We both agreed that if we lived in Seaside, we would eat there everyday!

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It’s Wednesday night! Quite possibly my favorite night of TV!! Middle, Modern Family, and Cougartown. So good!

I have two more posts to recap the honeymoon, but I might take a break tomorrow and show you guys how I make kale chips! I’ve never gotten so many emails about one mention!

Two Cheeseburgers in Paradise

 

So, when we last left off, I was telling you about the highs and lows of eating breakfast while on my honeymoon! But enough about breakfast, let’s move on to lunch! Actually one lunch in particular: Gluten Hates Me visits Cheeseburger in Paradise!

If you follow me on twitter, then you know that I was invited to dine at the popular chain Cheeseburger in Paradise and try out their new:

gluten free menu!

In all honesty, you guys know that I am ALL about the LOCAL food. I’m not big on chain restaurants…but I’m also no going to turn down free food. So I RSVP’d YES and boogied my gluten free booty to a booth! And actually, there aren’t any locations in North Carolina, so it was pretty serendipitous that CIP contacted me the one week out of the year I was within 2 miles of a restaurant! :)

I was pretty shocked by how large the menu is, and while it’s mainly burgers without buns, it’s still nice to know that the wait staff are fully aware of what being gluten free means. (Ahem…Cracker Barrel)

And CIP even puts their promise in writing:

 

And speaking of fresh, when Parrish and I pulled up to the restaurant, there was a truck unloading food at the back. And it wasn’t a Sysco truck with pre-packaged nonsense, it was a refrigerated truck with FRESH produce! It’s all about first impressions. :)

I ordered the:

and Parrish ordered the:

And for once in a blue moon, when our food arrived I actually had order envy. Parrish’s burger had big chunks of jalapeno. TASTY

Mine had big chunks and mushrooms…and while it was really good, Parrish’s was REALLY REALLY good.

I do love mushrooms though :)

Every bite was delicious, which with burgers is pretty rare. You almost always get a little bite that’s a little…questionable. But not these! They were…

AND they have gluten free veggie burgers!?! I’m never able to find gluten free veggie burgers! Do you guys ever have any luck?

Plus, since Parrish and I never buy ground beef, it was a really nice treat. We savored every bite!

And every sip!

I don’t even know what this delicious cocktail was, but was INSANE-ly delicious! Our super sweet waitress came over with it to celebrate our honeymoon, and because the bar had accidentally made an extra! :)

Fruity, Smoothie

Cutie

So overall, would I recommend Cheeseburger in Paradise to a gluten free diner?

ABSOLUTELY!!

And will I dine there again? Sure! While I love local, chain restaurants do add a certain “uniformity” to training their wait staff and chefs on what being gluten free truly means. And I pretty much fall head over heels in love with a restaurant who takes initiative to help me dine there. (Ahem…Cracker Barrel) I mean I’m ga-ga over P.F.Chang’s. (call me)

So there you have it. And speaking of paradise…

I miss it here.

First day back to work was H.A.R.D. hard.

But I did just make a bangin’ batch of kale chips that’s definitely making this day better.

The Beginning and Breakfast!!

 

So since I’m working on getting pictures of the wedding from our photographers, I thought I would go ahead and start sharing the honeymoon! Can you tell I’m sad it’s over? :)

The day after the wedding, Parrish and I flew out early in the day and headed to Destin, Florida, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. My new Father-in-Law had arranged for us to stay (for free!!) at The Resorts of Pelican Beach, right on the beach!

The room was really cute!

Super beachy!

Since breakfast is the toughest meal to eat out gluten free for me, I decided to go to the grocery store first thing. I had packed some gluten free oats of course, but in the heat I knew I would wake up wanting something cold.

Gorilla Munch!!!!!!! nom nom nom nom

Enjoyed with a view :)

I pretty much ate Gorilla Munch EVERY morning except for one! I mean, I had to make oats at least once!

Sunshine in a bowl <3

If you follow me on twitter, then you know my last breakfast in Florida didn’t go too well. We stopped by Cracker Barrel on our way to the airport, and I REALLY struggled to find anything on their breakfast menu I could eat. Especially anything healthy! So I had some scrambled eggs and bacon, and told myself that I could eat an early lunch. But the worst part was when the waitress asked if I wanted toast, right after I asked her to let the kitchen know I’m allergic to wheat and gluten. My response was, “Oh no. But thanks. I can’t eat wheat.” Her response, “Oh! Okay, well would you like something else? A muffin or a biscuit?” Parrish and I just looked at each other.

So I explained to her what wheat is, and that I’m actually gluten free because I have Celiac Disease. Then I explained what gluten is. And then my friends, she gave me the SADDEST face you have ever seen. Direct Quote: “Oh my gosh, that must be SO HARD.”

Eeesh.

And let me just say, that I know she meant well. And while I don’t always expect my server to know what gluten is, is it ridiculous of me to expect folks to know what wheat is?!

So I scraped myself up off the table and told her that no, it’s not hard. Not for me. It was at first, but it gets easier everyday. Sensing that I wasn’t one to suck up pity, she finished with “Well, I’m sure it’s much healthier! I mean so many people, especially here, over eat on bread.” I smiled and said you’re right. And left it there.

But I’ll admit that it deflated me a little. I’m not sure if it was her pity or my lack of options for breakfast, but I almost felt sorry for myself. Well, not almost, I did for about half a second. But then I looked at Parrish and reminded myself of how lucky I am.

How truly blessed I am. I have an amazingly supportive husband, and tons of foods that I can eat and be healthy. (Even if they’re not available at The Cracker Barrel)

And I had just spent an entire week on vacation, I wasn’t going to let anything get me down! At this point, I feel confident that in every category of glutenous foods, I have found a gluten free substitute that is AWESOME!!

Especially bread. Oh Udi’s. How I love thee.

:)

Speaking of Udi’s…

you guys had some great sandwich ideas!!

Especially Georgianna!! Check out the comments for some of her awesome ideas: avocado, feta, and mexican seasoned tofu – YUM!

And I honestly wish I could send you each a loaf. Especially those of you that don’t have it available!! (But did you know that Udi’s has a printable PDF.file that you can give to your local grocer to plead you case?)

The winner is…

#1 Kelly8977

who said: I have not tried Udi's bread since they do not sell it where I live in Bangor, ME. I have been gluten free for a little over 1 month and I feel almost back to normal. I do miss bread, a low cal/fat bread. I would love to make a sandwich using Udi's bread with my homemade turkey burger, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and spicy mustard. Hopefully, the Natural Living Center here in Bangor Me will start to carry Udi's GF bread soon. Thank you for subbing for Marlow, I love her blog.

So Kelly, email me your shipping info! And print out one of those PDFs, because you’re going to be an Udi’s addict!! :)

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Up next, a Gluten Hates Me…and Cheeseburger in Paradise Loves Me!