Mar 12, 2013
traveling gluten free can be interesting, tricky, scary and down right frustrating. i have been gluten free for a little over 4 years now and since then the majority of our trips have been within a few hours drive (little kids contribute a lot to our lack of big trips). the longest trip we had taken until this past december was to san diego. which honestly, is an amazing place to visit gluten free. i had so many options of restaurants to try that i never had a problem finding good food.
that being said, i haven’t travelled internationally since our dietary changes. so when the opportunity to spend 7 days in the dominican came up i was both excited and terrified. not only was i leaving the comfort zone of my kitchen, but also many times when we travel we rent a house, having full access to being able to pack and prepare foods for some meals. i knew i also would be dealing with a language barrier, my spanish is fairly pathetic at the moment…i can read it pretty well, but that’s about it.
to make everything a little more interesting, i actually found out that i was expecting our third, two weeks before we left. my pregnancies aren’t super easy and i struggle badly with morning/all day sickness. so i was definitely a little nervous about traveling.
the majestic colonial (colonial club) punta cana
before we made plans for an all-inclusive resort, i read a bunch of reviews, emailed resorts and tried to discern which ones were better options. (we were traveling with 2 other couples, so it wasn’t a decision that was only ours). to be honest there aren’t a ton of reviews on any of the resorts, so it did feel like a crapshoot.
the majestic colonial had said that i would meet with a concierge and a chef upon arriving and that they would have me pick my restaurants for the week and would also give me a letter to present at every restaurant. when we first arrived, it didn’t go quite as planned, (though i do have to give the disclaimer that we were staying in the new adults only section and it had only opened the week prior, so they were still working through some communication kinks.) after leaving check in, i was pretty frustrated, hungry and fearful that i might starve…but then we met elana. she was fairly fluent in english and pretty much ran the entire colonial club section. she got me set up with a letter to present to every chef and sent out a memo to every restaurant letting them know about me, my restrictions and that they needed to take extreme care.
so we headed off to our first meal with my little letter in hand.
our first night we dined at the rodeo grill (their steak house). as soon as i got there, the server took my letter back and a chef came right out to talk with me and go through the menu. i had a simple but fabulous rib eye, potato and a beautiful plate of fresh fruit. no problems. i was definitely starting to relax and feel better about my eating situation.
(photo of our meal being made at the Hibachi restaurant ma+suri)
the restaurants i ate at while at the majestic colonial:
rodeo grill – fantastic grilled meat
le gourmet – this restaurant was open during the day to colonial club members only, so it was a nice break from busy buffets. rico the head server knew me as soon as i walked in and would give me thumbs up after he put my order in and talked with the chef. their dinner and lunches were fantastic (octopus ceviche was the most unique item i ate there).
ma+suri – japanese hibachi and sushi restaurant. we dined here with a group of 10 around a hibachi grill (which can be a little nerve wracking). as soon as i arrived, they removed my sushi plate and made me salmon and shrimp only rolls (most soy sauce and artificial crab have wheat in them). they then cooked the entire hibachi meal with out adding any soy sauce and served me my plate before finishing off with sauces for the other diners. it was a fantastic presentation and meal.
supreme – was the buffet restaurant, which we visited a few mornings for breakfast. it is buffet based, which can be a gluten-free nightmare, but they had an omelet station and everything made on that grill was safe. (i ate a lot of eggs).
tres carabelas – seafood restaurant with main dishes served ala carte. they had grill stations with unmarinated meat, so i could get grilled meat safely.
i avoided the domincan/mexican resturant…almost every dish was in gravy, stews or had flavored rice.
overall, i had a fantastic experience at the majestic colonial. i never got sick and though my options were limited at a lot of the meals, i still had fantastic food. the only major area that was lacking was in the desserts. basically the options were fresh fruit plates, ice cream (which i eat very little dairy) and i had one banana flambé. needless to say i ate a lot of tropical fruit.
i would recommend the majestic colonial to gluten-free vacationers, but always do your homework before you arrive, let them know you will need accommodations and make sure to get a letter from their head staff and a memo sent out to all the restaurant chefs. our first half of the vacation in punta cana at an all-inclusive went really smoothly and i didn’t feel like the language barrier caused to many issues. i will share more on the second part of our trip in santo domingo later.
Mar 12, 2013
i know i haven’t had a blog post in a long time. so i though i would explain my little blogging hiatus. i had originally planned on taking the month of december off from blogging because we had a packed schedule with holidays and traveling. in early december we also found out that we were expecting our third baby. i get pretty bad morning sickness and since i am balancing pregnancy with 2 active little boys, i figured it was best to cut some of my extra activities. now that i am almost 18 weeks, i am finally starting to feel a better and get some energy back! so i am back and have plenty of recipes to share and some tips on traveling gluten-free!
Oct 5, 2012
not gonna lie, i was a little bummed when border’s shut down at the outdoor mall near us. {i know, i know…first world pain} but it was a favorite little hang out for my husband and i when we needed some time away from the kids. needless to say, i was so excited when i saw the banner hanging on the building welcoming “earth fare” this fall.
don’t get me wrong, we live in fishers. we are spoiled, we have both a whole foods & trader joes about 25 minutes away and farmer’s markets galore, but there are always those times when i decide on a whim that i want to make something, that i have none of the ingredients for and having more organic, nutritious options nearby is very exciting. earth fare will literally be less than 5 minutes from our house. if i am adventurous, i could even ride my bike with the boys in the bike trailer there.
my first experience at an earth fare, was 3 year ago, when i was looking for gluten-free foods while on vacation in the carolina’s and we happened to visit the charlotte store. overall, i was very impressed by the selection, the local options and the prices. as a store, their motto is “eat better. live longer. spend less. start now.” i love that they have a list of banned food products and that they work hard to keep prices affordable. i am excited to have another healthy super market and the convenience of how close we are to it is an added bonus!
earth fare is set to open in noblesville at the hamilton town center on november 7th. as part of welcoming earth fare to the area, the sprouted life is taking part of their “30 days, 30 dollars” contest. we will be giving away a $30 gift card {for the noblesville earth fare only} every day for the next 30 days. yes, we are giving away $900 in gift cards!
how to enter:
it is a simple contest. all you have to do is comment on this blog post one time and tell us why you are excited about the new earth fare store or how you would spend your $30 gift card. this will enter you for a chance to win all 30 days. each day, starting monday, october 8th, a generator will randomly select a winner.
to double your chances, “like us” on facebook and your name will be entered in the drawing twice. {if you already like the sprouted life, like the post on the facebook about the contest, and you will receive your second entry)
to triple your chances – share the contest link from the sprouted life’s facebook page to your friends on facebook and you will be entered in the drawing a third time!
all the other details:
each person is eligible to only win one gift card.
this offer is for the noblesville, indiana store only
winners will need to be available to pick up their gift cards in person at the noblesville store november 7th – 11th
please make sure your comment has a valid email address, this is how i will notify winners and daily winners will also be posted on the sprouted life’s facebook page.
join us in welcoming earth fare to the northside of indianapolis!
***comments may take a bit to appear, because of a recent spam barrage on my blog, i have tightened the spam blockers***
Jun 5, 2012
so a good friend of mine requested the other day that i add a scrolling box into my sidebar that gives a quick blurb as to “what’s for dinner.” her request was because many people just want quick inspiration ideas as what to make for dinner and just curiosity about what we eat on a day in day out basis…not just the recipes i decide to share. so i added into my sidebar a twitter feed for {the sprouted life} in which i will quickly share daily what we are eating! if you see items there that interest you and want those recipes shared, please just send me a request and i will add it to my list!
enjoy!
May 27, 2012
it is hot out!
there has been very little actual cooking in our house the last two days, because we have been spending the weekend at the splash park with the kids & at cookouts with friends. i had big plans of creating an interesting side dish to take to our cookout last night, but after spending 5 hours of our saturday meeting with a home builder, i ran out of time and energy. so needless to say, our contributions to the cookout, were last minute dijon mustard potato salad, (with the random ingredients in our house) and homemade applesauce (we are trying to eat through our pantry before we move). other than that, we have literally eaten every left-over we could find in our refrigerator and grilled applegate farms organic hot dogs. this week i will share some of the quick recipes of our weekend foods, including our organic quinoa
& black bean mexican style salad (served hot or cold). but for now, here are a few pics of what we have been up to this holiday weekend!
happy memorial day!
May 3, 2012
as i was buzzing around making dinner, i sent the boys outside to play on our patio. a few minutes later as i ran outside to start the grill, i was greeted by 2 mud-covered boys who informed me that they were planting a new garden. this “new garden” just happened to be created by them transferring buckets of mud into our fire pit and by them picking all of my fresh mint and stuffing it into the dirt. this makes me smile. welcome to my world with two little mud covered boys.
