Kawartha Bakery

While vacationing this summer in Rice Lake, near Peterborough Ontario, we took a drive to visit the Whetung Ojibwe centre in Curve Lake.  Along the way, in a fairly rural area, we passed a bakery with a sign outside advertising gluten free baked goods.  My interest was piqued, and we made a point of stopping in on our way back at the end of the day.  I was curious to see what products would be offered, and to find out how a bakery specializing in gluten free goods survived in such a rural area. 

I'm so happy I stumbled upon this gem of a bakery.

I had the opportunity to speak with the owners and ask a few questions.  The bakery opened in 1975, and they branched out into gluten free baking over 23 years ago due to a large demand in the area.  Over the years, as word of their bakery spread, they began getting business from people willing to travel long distances to find products that were unavailable elsewhere, and they began expanding their offerings.   The bakery now offers over 80 varieties of gluten free bake goods, including both in-house baked products and commercial brands.

Some of the pasta selection

A sampling of the in-house baked goods

In all honesty, I was mesmerized by the selection and the low prices of their products.  They sell commercial brands of everything from pastas to baking mixes, dressings and sauces, at some of the lowest prices I've seen anywhere.  Their in-house products are also extensive, and I spent a long time browsing the shelves of cookies, pastries and other treats.  The labels have the ingredients listed, so I was easily able to identify options that were also dairy-free for my son.  The bakery also has a frozen section where pre-made items like pie crusts or pot-pies can be found. 

Part of the freezer selection

Although I wanted to purchase one of everything, I limited myself to a few items.  I picked up a box of pasta, a frozen pie crust, a package of gluten free oatmeal, a pancake mix, and some chocolate chip cookies. And paid $21 for the bunch, including a bottle of water.  For anyone familiar with gluten free prices, this is cheap. 

The website offers a list of their homemade products, and also has an ingredient list with all of the major allergens included. 

I wish this bakery was closer to where I live, because it would be my go-to place for gluten free items.  They do distribute to a few retail locations, including one in Whitby, which is a bit closer, but nowhere close enough to visit on a regular basis.  I will, however, be making return visits whenever I'm in the area, and will make the effort to get out to the Whitby retailer every now and then when I want a particular item. 

This is a fantastic bakery, with knowledgeable staff and great products that are priced right. 

Kawartha Bakery
County Road 18 and Highway 23
RR1 Lakefield Ontario
K0L 2H0

Wordless Wednesday

My little helper, picking the green onions in the garden

Grandpa and Xavier, doing some bonding

Gluten Free Weekly Menu Plan

This week the menu plan is more of a non-plan.  Pre-baby, I prepared a few dishes and stuck them in the freezer, so this week is going to be full of pre-made meals or meals that are put together with only a few ingredients.  Here's what I'm thinking, although I'm going to play it by ear. 

Monday:  Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (thanks to pre-cooked, frozen pulled chicken, this took little time to put together)

Tuesday: Chili from the freezer over Tortilla Chips with Homemade Canned Salsa

Wednesday: Greek Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta, perhaps with some Pulled Chicken

Thursday: Shepherd's Pie and Cornbread Muffins (all from the freezer)

Friday: Quick GF Garlic and Oil Pasta with Meatballs

Welcome Little One!

So after posting last week's menu plan on Sunday afternoon, I went into labor Sunday night.  I wanted a few days with my family to focus on the new addition to the family, so I haven't really been on the blog all week, but I'm starting to feel a bit better now and I'm itching to get back to posting. 

But first, a photo of our newest addition, Xavier!  At 9lbs 10 oz he's a big boy!

Gluten Free Weekly Menu Plan

So, this is week 39 (and counting!) and my oomph is a little less impressive than in weeks past.  I've still did a bit of cooking for the week, but the intention is to have some things do double duty (2 dinners) and to hopefully order in or bring home some take-out at some point.  Or, you know, have a baby.  Whatever.  Here's what we're eating this week!

Monday: Soup with Fresh Peas and Gluten Free Pasta 








Tuesday:  GF Lasagna













Wednesday:  Chicken and Zucchini Burgers 








Thursday:  Mushroom Risotto (if it lasts until then, my son has already eaten two bowls!)



Friday: Leftovers or we'll order something in.  There will probably still be some lasagna hanging around, so we'll finish that off.  My due date is Saturday, so maybe I'll be busy going into labor...

Wordless Wednesday

He didn't want to get up!

How To: Making Oven-Dried Tomatoes

This summer we planted 6 tomato plants, and they're starting to give fruit!  We can't eat all of the fresh tomatoes in time, so we've decided to make some sun-dried tomatoes, but in the oven.  It is possible to actually sun-dry them, but I like to do them in the oven.  It does take a long time for them to dry out completely, but in terms of actual work involved, it's really, really, simple and the flavour is incredible. 

Ingredients:
- Any quantity of tomatoes, washed, dried and cut into quarters or eighths with the stems removed.  Keep in mind that the tomatoes will shrivel to about 1/4 of their original size, so decide what's right for you.  I don't seed them, but you can if you prefer them that way.
- Enough olive oil to lightly coat the tomatoes
-Sprinkle of salt
-Optional sprinkling of dried herbs, like basil



Method:
1- Preheat oven to 200F.  I've tried it at higher heat, and found that the tomatoes are more likely to burn.
2- Prepare the tomatoes, toss with a small amount of oil and sprinkle with salt and herbs if desired.
3- Arrange the tomato slices on a lined baking sheet or on wire trays on top of baking sheets and place in the oven.
4- Check the progress of the tomatoes hourly.  If laying directly on baking sheet, turn the tomatoes occasionally to allow for even air flow.
5- Remove from oven when shriveled, and juice no longer flows from tomatoes when pressed, but before they are tough and leathery.  In my experience, this usually takes about 5 hours. 

Let cool and then package accordingly.  If you're going to eat them within a week, just refrigerate.  I froze mine in zip lock bags.  Lie flat until frozen, and then the individual tomatoes won't stick together.  Label with the date; they should be good for at least 6 months.

Weekly Gluten Free Menu Plan

This week's menu was based on the "clean out the fridge" theme, and was made with ingredients we already had on hand in the house.  Every now and then I realize we have a bunch of odds and ends that need to be gotten rid of.  That's what this week's menu is all about!

Monday:  Spanish Tortilla (egg omelette with potato) with added Arugula and Feta 

Tuesday:  Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Rice, Vegetables, Leftover Sofrito and Tomatillo Salsa 

Wednesday:  Fusilli with Basil Pesto 

Thursday:  Summer Vegetable Soup with Romano Beans 








Friday:  Chicken Breast with Bok Choy and a Salad  (chicken's still in the oven!)

Friday Five List

Well, 38 weeks and counting.  Not that I'm keeping track or anything.  As I wait (mostly) patiently for baby to arrive, I've been trying to get our yard cleaned up a bit.  It's been somewhat neglected this summer, so my goal is simply to prepare it for the fall so that there's minimum maintenance to do to prep it for winter with a newborn around. 

1- Trees:  The area along the back of our fence was disgusting.  The grass had all been worn down by my son and the whole area was just full of dirt and weeds.  This past weekend my dad and my husband planted a few cedars and mulched the rest of the area.  We'll see what we might want to add next year, but for now, the area looks finished and should look good throughout the winter with the evergreens in place. 

2- Play Area: We previously had no dedicated play area for our son in the back, and his toys were taking over the yard.  With baby number 2 on the way, we decided it was time to do something about that.  Given our limited budget with my impending maternity leave, we had to get creative.  Instead of creating a stone patio, we bought resin patio stones and created a 9x9 play pad in the back left corner of the yard, where there's shade in the afternoon.  I'm actually really happy with the results.  The area was put down in less than a day, and is safe to leave down all winter.  The dark grey colour is attractive, and our next door neighbours thought they were real stone.  I also like that because they're resin, they won't fade or crack, and if my son falls down, the landing is pretty soft.  We piled all his stuff over there, including his pool and water table and a toybox.  Now our yard is easy to keep clean and our son has an area all his own.

Well, it cleans up  nicely...

3- Vegetable Garden:  This is still a work in progress since the vegetables grow at their own pace!  However, I've been trying to keep on top of things as the ripen.  Here's what I've done so far:  Green Beans: blanched and frozen, Tomatoes: Oven dried and frozen, Herbs: Cut and dried, Garlic: Picked and Cured.  The plan is to can some of the hot peppers and some tomato salsa, make some pesto with the basil, and to continue freezing the green beans. 


Some tomatoes from the garden

4- Perennial Area:  So, one side of the perennial flower garden looks good, while the other side, not so much.  A few things didn't do well this year, a couple of things I didn't like got yanked, and now we're left with a big hole.  And I'm too pregnant to really care.  What's the plan then?  Well, we're going to shovel out the red mulch and replace it with black like we did along the back fence, and then probably plant an evergreen bush, like a boxwood where the hole is.  Done and done. 

The good side

The not so good side

5- Grass: Le sigh.  The heat waves of May, June and July coupled with the lack of rain (although it's coming down pretty good right now) have led to a disastrous lawn situation in the backyard.  The groundcover left over from the previous owner continues to creep up, and all the running my son does has left the backyard grass struggling.  For the first time, not only is it going brown in areas, but there have been a ton of weeds that have sprung up.  This will be the last area to tackle, and probably not until after the baby's born.  When the weather starts to cool down, we'll tackle the groundcover and weeds, plant grass seed, water and stay off the lawn.  If all else fails, we'll worry about it next year!

Our focus for the fall...

Casey's Grill Bar, Cobourg Ontario

While at the cottage, we spent a rainy day in Cobourg, and decided to go out for lunch.  Last year, we checked out Boston Pizza and ordered my son a gluten free pizza.  Click HERE for my thoughts on that visit. 

This year, we decided to try something new.  I'd heard a lot about Casey's extensive gluten free menu, but never had the chance to check it out.  When I realized that there was a Casey's in Cobourg, I made a point of choosing it as our lunch destination. 

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I am aware that Casey's is a chain restaurant, and as such I can only speak about the experience I had at this specific location. 

That being said, the Casey's website has the same menu for every location, including a separate gluten free section of their menu.  Click HERE to see the menu from the Cobourg website.  The gluten free part begins on page 4.  The site also has an allergen and nutritional information chart, which is always helpful for me since my son also can't have dairy.  I did my research before going, happy to see that there were even gluten free items on the kids' menu, and that the french fries were gluten free as well. 

Unfortunately, the staff at this location were not as well informed as their website.  I asked the hostess about the gluten free menu when we walked in the door, and she said she wasn't sure, but that the waitress would be better informed.  After being seated, I picked up the menu on the table.  The menu in the restaurant did not have the same gluten free section that is included on the website, although the rest of the menu is the same.  I asked our waitress about the gluten free options and she said that she was unaware of specific gluten free offerings.  She did say that the restaurant had an allergen binder, so I thought that maybe it would be helpful. 

The binder is quite thorough, but at about one hundred pages, it takes forever to navigate.  The allergen chart on the website is much more precise and easy to follow.  Based on the binder, there was very little available for my son to eat: french fries, steamed veggies, pad thai, and tortilla chips were about it.  It took me almost 20 minutes to go through the binder to figure this out.

I will say that our waitress was friendly and tried to be helpful, but I was disappointed at her lack of knowledge.  She eventually printed off the gluten free menu from the website, but when I asked about many of the items, they were unavailable.  They didn't have corn pasta, and the fries were cooked in the same fryer used to cook everything else, including the breaded items.  They were presented as gluten free, so if I hadn't asked about preparation, my son would have eaten them and gotten sick.  She pointed out items that could be modified to be gluten free, but at that point I wasn't confident in the kitchen's preparation methods, and was afraid of cross-contamination.  We ended up ordering my son a blueberry smoothie made with water, tortilla chips as an appetizer, and tomato pasta using the rice noodles that are used in the pad thai. 

Verdict:  I'm really disappointed in my visit to this location.  When I take my son out to a restaurant, I generally don't go with high expectations of having much to choose from on the menu, and I'm OK with that because most places don't advertise as having gluten free options.  But when a restaurant specifically highlights the several gluten free items available on their menu, I walk into the establishment expecting that a) those items will be available, b) that the staff will be aware of these items and be able to answer questions about menu ingredients and preparation.  Neither of these expectations were met at this Casey's. 

We chose this restaurant specifically because of the GF menu, and  to be honest, if we weren't all so hungry, I probably would have left without ordering anything after realizing that no one on staff (including the chef that the waitress kept going back to ask for clarification on things) even had any idea that the restaurant HAD a gluten free menu. 

It's difficult to find appropriate places for my son to eat, and I choose locations with care.  I often spend more money on his meals because often I have to order off the adult menu or have something specially prepared to meet his dietary requirements.  Again, I'm OK with that because I realize that I'm asking the establishment to make changes to their menu, or to prepare something new or to modify a recipe to meet my son's dietary restrictions.  I have no problem when I can't find something on the menu or when preparation restrictions make it impossible to accommodate his requirements, because they didn't promise those options to me on the menu.

Casey's got my business specifically because they targeted the gluten free consumer, and I feel as though I was duped since no one at the establishment had any idea what I was talking about, and the preparation methods of the few items they could identify as being gluten free, such as the fries, would actually ensure cross-contamination and illness in someone with celiac or a gluten sensitivity.  Not only was it frustrating to encounter staff who were so uninformed, it could have been dangerous for my son had I not asked the correct questions. 

If Casey's is going to advertise itself as an establishment with a gluten free menu, then it needs to ensure that staff in the restaurant are trained in what items are included, and how the food is prepared.  The menu in the restaurant needs to be the same as the website, and it shouldn't take flipping through a 100 page binder to find potentially suitable options, only to find out that the preparation methods of those items actually make them unsuitable. 

I would not recommend this restaurant to those looking to eat gluten free, and won't be trying out any other locations.