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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!

The Ice Ridge

A few weeks ago a few of my friends posted some photos of their family's ice skating in Des Moines at The Ice Ridge.  It looked like they were having a blast and then I noticed they didn't have coats or mittens on!  Whatever they were skating on, wasn't ice, but they were wearing real ice skates and skating around this rink.  I had to find out what this was all about!

So, I took a trip over to the Southridge Mall today to check it out.  What a cool place!  I was greeted by Owner/Operator Burton who so nice and was excited to show me the "ice" which is really a synthetic material much like a cutting board that you skate on.  There are chairs all around the rink for spectators and lots of high chairs to hold on to for learners.  

The Ice Ridge offers classes and well as public open skating times and even birthday parties and special events!  Check out of the offerings and times at their website here.

Admission for public skating will run you $5 and skate rental is $3.50.  You can also purchase punch cards for discounted admission.

Very exciting to have something like this in Des Moines where you can skate year-round!  Take your kiddos out (or your adult friends) and support this cool place!

To the right is the weekly schedule and prices, but you can see this info better on the website as well.  They also have a Facebook page you can follow for special events and announcements.

Ugly Sweater Par-tay

So....You might think we are out and about ALL the time....Not true!!  We love to host parties at our house too.  Our latest swaray was our Second Annual Ugly Sweater Party.  And it was a blast if we might say so ourselves!

Just because it was so fun, I thought I'd share a few photos with you and some of the things we did to make out party a blast.  I'd love to hear your ideas too because we are always trying to make our parties more awesome!

We ordered some food from Hy-vee and I made a few things.  Red and green deviled eggs are always a must for our sweater parties to add to the tackiness.

We hired Brianna Dawson Photography to set up a photo booth this year because I wanted to enjoy the party and not worry about the most important of the party...taking pictures to document the tackiness!  She was fantastic and I'd highly recommend her for your party.  She brought in a 10 foot backdrop and even had silly pose ideas for everyone.  Check out her Facebook page and more photos from our party here.

Our cocktail of the evening was candy cane shots.  So easy and so good!  Just white chocolate liquor and peppermint vodka.  We also had cheesecakes from Sugar Creek Baking (My favorite cheesecake EVER).  If you love cheesecake or are in the market for the most fantastic pecan pie ever, check them out.  Here is our past review of Sugar Creek.  And don't forget about the Ugly Sweater cookies made by Three Chicks Bakery.  These awesome cookies exceeded my expectations when I told them I wanted Ugly Sweater cookies.  I loved them.

And to round out the unhealthy food smorgasbord, we did a chocolate fountain this year.  We of course had tacky prizes like leg lamps and fruit cakes for the winners of each Ugly Sweater Category.

Did you have an awesome Ugly Sweater Party this year?!  Share your tips!

Jersey Guys

Finally got my first taste of Jersey Guys Pizza in Beaverdale.  I've heard a lot of good things about it being pretty authentic to Jersey.  The owners are young guys straight from the East Coast.

I'll start by saying that being from Boston, my hubby and I have been trying unsuccessfully to find New England House of Pizza-style pizza since we moved here.  There is definitely a difference between Jersey-style and what we've been searching for, but this is the closest we've found.  And don't get me wrong, head downtown to Pizzeria Regina in the North End in Boston and this is exactly what you'll find.  But hey, this is Jersey Guys and not Mass guys, so we weren't expecting it to be exactly the same =) 

The Greek-style which is what you'd find in a House of Pizza is more of a crunchy and buttery on the bottom and chewy on the top crust, but the toppings were close.  This pizza was mighty fine though.  This style is also very popular in Italian restaurants that aren't House of Pizzas in Boston and they hit it right on.  Their sauce it excellent and makes a difference in the taste of everything they make, not just the pizza.

What stuck out to me were the hoagies.  Perfect mixture of seasoning, cheese and the most awesome tangy marinara sauce.  I prefer an actual fried chicken breast as opposed to chicken fingers to be used in my chicken Parmesan subs, but that was a small detail.  It was the best chicken parm I've had since I've been in Iowa.  And it was HUGE, easily sharable by two people with big appetites.

I also liked the pizza fries.  They didn't just put sauce and cheese on top, but they made the effort to make a few layers so there was sauce and cheese on each fry.  A creative dish.

All-in-all this was a great meal.  The have a lunch special that includes two slices of pizza (with a select topping) and a can of soda for about $4.25. Great deal if you just want to try the pizza.  But I'd recommend giving a sandwich and pizza fries a shot too.  Good stuff.

Zuzap

We've been to Zuzap Thai restaurant a few times now and have always had solid experiences.  It's located on University Ave. in Clive, but you can't quite see it from the street, it's set back behind some other shops in the plaza.

For lunch on the weekday, the restaurant was packed, but the service was still quick and efficient.  It was fun hearing the owner greet regulars already knowing their order and calling them by name.

We must have been in for dinner on our last visits because this was the first time I noticed their very neat "Lunch Sets".

$7.95 includes an egg roll, soup of the day and an entree.  For an extra charge, you can pick a soup off the menu and pick your appetizer instead of the egg roll and soup of the day and includes a drink.

I chose the corn cake and coconut soup along with Pad See Ew and my hubby got the Basil.  Everything was very good, except we realized that they used a lot of salt in everything we ordered.  My hubby said that while his sauce was every good, there could have been more sauce and I agreed with my dish as well.

I normally really enjoy the thai coconut soup.  It's creamy with chunks of white meat chicken and has a tangy flavor.  I still enjoyed it today even though it was obviously more salted than usual.

The portions were great for lunch and the lunch sets were a great value.

The restaurants is casual enough to bring the whole family, but cozy enough for a date-night.  Nice to have a good Thai restaurant on this side of town since the my other go-to Thai places on the West side are down the road a few miles in WDM (Cool Basil and King & I) .

I also left with a warm-fuzzy feeling after reading my fortune-------->

Palmer's

If you live anywhere near Des Moines, you've probably eaten at a Palmer's Deli by now.  

There are now locations in West Des Moines, Urbandale, Downtown, Ankeny and Ingersol Ave in Des Moines.

While I have always been a fan of their tasty soups, large salad selection and fresh sandwiches, what I'm most is excited about is that now most of their menu can be prepared gluten-free. Even the soups and sandwiches.

On my last visit I ordered the apple orchard sandwich on gluten-free bread and it included roasted turkey, provolone, granny smith apples and apple butter.  Yum!  They even had gluten-free cookies for dessert.

They also have spectacular egg salad which the hubby ordered.  Just fresh eggs, the right amount of Mayo and not too many fillers.  Awesome.

I will warn you that they get pretty busy during the lunch hour, so try to go when you can get there early or have a few extra minutes to wait in line.  Well worth the wait though.

You are sure to enjoy anything you order.  Make sure to try a brownie for dessert if you aren't gluten-free...Ah-ma-zing!

Don't forget about their breakfast!  The omelets are awesome and so is the Challah french toast!