Sweet Treat Without Wheat

You may have noticed a new vendor at the Downtown Farmer's Market this season...Sweet Treat Without Wheat.  While they leave out the gluten, their products don't lack in taste.

Owner/Chef Sarah came up with the idea for the business after creating some tasty gluten-free treats for her daughter who has celiac disease and thought others would enjoy these items too.  There is certainly a need with the number of people on gluten-free diets growing.

Her donuts, cookies, cheesecakes and even crepes have been really popular at the Farmer's Market and while the market is over for the season, you can still order these items and more by contacting them on Facebook here.

I've stopped by their tent at the market a few times and was lucky enough to stop by last month for the last Downtown Market of the season for a Hawaiian crepe (awesome choice for lunch) and a donut, yum!  Certainly a treat for those with gluten intolerance's or celiac disease, but just as good tasting for those without!

The crepes are made to order and you'd never know they were gluten-free.  Try a neutella and banana! Yum!

If you or a friend are in the market for some gluten-free deliciousness, check out Sweet Treat Without Wheat's Facebook page for more info and and to order!  You can pick up or she will deliver in the DSM area.

Their products have been so popular that they are looking to expand and in a recent Facebook Post they proclaimed that their resolution for 2014 is to spread more gluten-free goodness!  Cool!

Des Moines Holiday Events Extravaganza!

It just happened that my sister and my nephew were in town visiting this week from Boston, so what better time to fit in every Des Moines Holiday Event we could into the shortest amount of time possible.



The week started with the Ugly Sweater Run at Principal Park.  What a fun event!  Lots of gigantic Holiday inflatables for cool photo ops, candy canes and more.  Runner brought toys for Toys 4 Tots that went right to kids in our community.




If it wasn't -1 degree with the wind chill, it would have been a fabulous family friendly event.  There was a Groupon for it, so only $20 got you registration, a hat, hot chocolate along the 5k route and 2 beers or hard ciders at the end.  Fun event!  Looking forward to next year!



Next up, we hit the Jordan Creek Mall Santa and Build-a-Bear for their Holiday "Bears".  Nathan picked the Rudolph and of course we spent the ridiculous amount of money on the matching hat, scarf and sweater for Rudolph, you know, because it was too cute not to.



Our elf (Named Elephant) returned for the season which is fantastic because my kid always behaves a little bit better when he knows the creepy elf is watching him.




While at the mall, we also got to check out Live, Love, Bake which recently opened up near Banana Republic on the first floor of the mall.  They have a cupcake kiosk.  What a great idea and they have really great cupcakes!  I tried a gluten-free chocolate-chip and it was really fabulous.  It was a little more pricey than the competitors around town at $4, but it was huge!  It was moist and delicious though and worth every penny.





In the middle of all of this, we had time to meet my friend Carye for a painting class, via El Arte Uncorked, to make some festive Christmas ornament paintings.  We also got some matchy-matchy photos of the boys taken since they only see each other a couple times a year.




Continuing the fun, we had our Thanksgiving meal at Tally's in Beaverdale which was fantastic as always.  Robert's (the owner) wife has celiac disease, so there is always a ton at Tallly's that is gluten free for my family members to eat.



We don't discriminate around here and since we have all sorts of heritage going on in our family, we made time for Latkes and Hanukkah house building!  It was really for the kids, but they lost interest quickly and the grown-ups ended up doing the building...




What the kids did love was the chocolate we picked up at Beaverdale Confections! I just love this shop.  We picked up Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas themed chocolates along with fantastic gift baskets for only $10 each!  They'd make great teacher gifts!  (hint, hint...) A great stop to celebrate Small Business Saturday too.  



Once our Thankgivukkah celebrations were over (and my brief dabble in Black Friday Shopping in which I stood in line for an hour and a half for an iPad deal...not worth it),we headed to the Festival of Trees and Lights at Hy-vee Hall.  This is one of my most favorite events of the season and is for such a great cause that is very near to my heart.  Every year this events gets bigger and better is lots of kids crafts, train rides, beautiful trees including a scavenger hunt, snacks, silent auction and entertainment.  Definitely an event not to miss.


Luckily we still had time to take our annual drive through the Jolly Holiday Lights at Waterworks park where you can drive through thousands of holiday lights throughout the park for $10 (more for limos and busses and only $5 on Monday nights) to benefit Make-a-Wish foundation.  We love turning up the Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa and enjoying the lights.  They had 3D glasses available a few years ago and Nathan loves to wear them every year, they don't offer them anymore though, but that's what he's wearing in the photo.


That takes us to our road trip to The Scenic Valley Railroad and Museum in Boone for the Santa Express train ride!  This is always a hot with the kids.  You ride the train out to "The North Pole", read the Santa Express book, drink hot chocolate and eat cookies and there is of course a visit from Santa.  It was my 2 year old nephew's first train ride and he was enthralled for every minute of the hour and a half excursion.



We fit in a trip to the Science Center, which I highly recommend during the holiday to catch the Polar Express in the IMAX theater and check out the current traveling exhibit which is very cool.



Today, we end our very busy visit with family with DIsney on Ice at Wells Fargo Arena.  Many Iowans have made this a Thanksgiving week tradition every year.



Are there any Holiday events that you love to do in Des Moines (or close-by)?  We'd love to hear about them!



For me, it's back Ugly Sweater Party planning!  Our annual Contest/Party is being held soon and we can't wait!  Here's a photo of some of our friend's from last year's event!  I'm getting the fruit cakes and leg lamps ready!

PS...I almost forgot!  A new find (for me) this year is the Lincoln Place Lights this very cool house at 129 Lincoln Place Drive in Des Moines (not far from DMU).  They have a fantastic holiday lights display, that if you set your radio to 94.3, their light show is in sync with the music!  Check it out!

Wasabi Tao

Wasabi Tao is the sister restaurant to Wasabi Chi (which is located near the Merle Hay Mall) and is located downtown on Walnut St, right across from the Gramercy Tap.

Being that I'm on a Bento Box kick, I stopped in for a Bento Box of course!  I'm getting quite versed on the Bento Box offerings at each restaurant in town and I definitely have some favorites.  It's refreshing that each offers such different options and I was not disappointed with Wasabi Tao's.


They have such a large selection that it was hard to choose.  They offer chicken, steak or salmon teriyaki, shrimp tempura, yaki udon or sushi or sashimi boxes.

I went with the chicken teriyaki so I could keep it an even playing field to make a better comparison with other boxes I've tried it town.

I have to say, Tao's box stood up the competition pretty well.  At $8.50 it's just a great value.  I was first impressed that I was offered a spicy egg drop soup in lieu of the miso and it was fantastic.  You can't go wrong with creamy ginger dressing over some fresh salad and their California roll was excellent.  The chicken teriyaki was in a rich sauce and I appreciated the fresh steamed veggies.  The shumai wasn't my favorite "obligatory fried side" that I've had in a local box, but it was tasty.

Over-all a winning box.  More food than I could finish for lunch and so much variety.  Ahh..the   wonders of Bento Boxes.  They service a lot of the downtown lunch crowd so it gets busy at lunch time, but they are fast and efficient with a good amount of seating.

It's obvious that I'm addicted to Bento Boxes and I'll happily order one from Wasabi Tao again soon.  Try it out or come in just for the great sushi, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

EPLDSM Night @ Confluence Brewery

We are pleased to announce that our event on November 7th at Confluence Brewery raised $500 to donate to Greater Des Moines Buy Fresh, Buy Local.

There was plenty of food, beer and fun and we appreciated each and every one of you who came out to the event!

A Huge THANK YOU to all of the vendors, entertainers and donors that made this evening happen!!

 

Raffle Doantions:

Kritter Knits & More

Peace Tree Brewing

Moonbugs Art Classes

Padded Little Seats

Grounds For Celebration

Radiant Om Yoga

Dishcrawl Des Moines

The Durr Family

Vander Sluis Chiropractic

Chick –fil-a Paradise Pointe

Tarre De’Amore Farms

515 Brewing Co.

Rogue Sweets

Noodles & Co. – Jordan Creek

J Sayles Design Company

Buy Fresh Buy Local

Confluence Brewing Company

Mo'Rub

Norwex

Vendors:

Confluence Brewing

Mo’Rub

Tamales Industry

Noodles & Co. - Jordan Creek

Rogue Sweets

 

Entertainment:

Jerry Lorenson

Dishcrawl Des Moines

Des Moines Derby Dames

 

Shhhhh...It's a secret!

Dishcrawl Des Moines' first Secret Supper did not disappoint.  Tickets were $49 and guests were told of the meeting location and menu the week of the event.

The first Secret Supper was prepared by Chef Mike Holman in the private room at Dos Rios Cantina and Lounge on Court Ave.  I had the pleasure of interviewing him before October's Battledish competition and you can read about it here.

The venue was cozy and nicely decorated for the intimate group of 15 for the event.

This was seriously one of the best meals I've had in a while.  Chef Holman outdid himself on this one.  Drink pairings were also offered and got rave reviews from the diners.   I was smitten with the blood orange cocktail I had.

The Amuse course was a cold smoked seared foie gras with black mole, duck chicharron and black mint & apricot compote.  The flavors surprisingly blended so well together.  It was excellent.

The first course was an ancho infused tamale with slow braised goat shoulder, charred tomatillo salsa and jalapeno pickled onions that added just a little kick. It was superb and the goat was tender and delicious.  I loved it.

The second course was a sweet corn bisque with fried octopus, crispy chorizo, cilantro and garlic jalepeno crema.  These flavors
together worked so well.  This was a favorite among a lot of the diners.

The third course was a seared sea bass with Spanish cannelloni ragout, braised swiss chard and lemon ginger espuma.  They must have had this bass flown in today because it was incredibly fresh and and perfectly flakey.  It was my favorite dish of the evening.

The fourth course was picadillo stuffed rotisserie quail with crispy tacu tacu dressing and romesco cream sauce.  Chef Mike called it his version of Thanksgiving.  It was fantastic.  Almost too cute to eat, but the flavors meshed so well.

The fifth course (yes, another course!) was a chile crusted rack of lamb with fried smashed plantain, spiced black bean sauce and mint jalapeno jam.  The black bean sauce made the dish.  I didn't care for the texture of the plantain as I'm used to it a bit softer, but the flavors of this dish were great.

The sixth and final course was a dessert of leche fritz, goats milk caramel, vanilla apple chutney, powdered hazelnut espresso brittle and white chocolate cinnamon tuile.  Can you imagine fried cream?! It was stellar.  Heavy and sweet and heavenly.

This was an overall great event.  I feel like Dishcrawl's events get better with each one and I'm looking forward to Cocktail Wars next month.  Great job Chef Holman and the staff at Dos Rios and kudos to Dishcrawl on a great first Secret Supper event.