Golden Chef Restaurant in Wheeling

I had heard through word of mouth that the Golden Chef Restaurant on Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling can modify anything on the menu to be gluten free. I've heard it a bunch of times, actually. Over the weekend we decided to take the kids out for dinner and I wanted to try someplace new. So we took the kids for their first Chinese food!

I asked the man behind the host counter "Can you serve us gluten free" and he said "Yes, anything on the menu." Can you even imagine how good that felt?

My husband has told me for a long time that he does not like Chinese Food. I had a hunch that if we ordered the right dishes that I could convert him, and I did.

We ordered egg rolls (the regular size ones are not GF, we had some mini rolls, I think called Shanghai rolls), sweet & sour chicken, beef with broccoli, and shrimp chow fun (served with rice noodles). The sweet & sour sauce on the table is GF and good. The food looked great- it was obviously fresh and nicely presented. My kids liked the egg rolls the most. My older son actually took a large bite out of the flowered carrot garnish... I don't think that there was any soy sauce in our food, and I wished for a bit of saltiness. I may bring my bottle of San-J tamari with me next time. Or maybe if I had asked there was some in the back.

The owner/chef is Esther Moy, and she came out to talk to me. She said that she studied to be a nutritionist but then married a chef. She said that she is happy to cook gluten free for diners. She told me that she gets customers referred by the Northbrook Gluten Free Store and offered me their business card. She also gave me her business card and an extra menu that I will bring to my next gluten intolerance group meeting. Her take-out menu does have a list of 8 items on a gluten free menu. Although she said that she can make any entree gluten free.

What a great find! We had a great AND safe dinner, my kids tried something new, and we found yet another dining out option. My husband even mentioned that we could consider catering from the Golden Chef for some future event, that was a great idea!

Subway Restaurants testing 2 gluten free products

I read on celiac.com that the Subway restaurants are testing a gluten free roll and gluten free brownie. Down in Texas the test involves pre-wrapped gluten free rolls and brownies and sandwich artists are being trained through a tutorial video on avoiding cross-contamination. Subway is including a one-time-only use knife and the sandwich is prepared down the line by one person. You can read the full article here. I know that I find that the quality between Subways really varies a lot, and I wish them great success with the test. How great would that be to have Subway as an option? There are so many of them!

book review- The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free

I read a preview about this book in the Chicago Tribune a few months ago. I was so excited to be able to finally order it on Amazon! I read through the entire book, made notes, used my highlighter. Have you heard of Anne Byrn, the Cake Doctor? She takes regular grocery store mixes and fancies them up into something special. Just for us, she has worked her magic with gf cake and brownie mixes! She does not specify which mix to buy, but she does reference Betty Crocker a few times :) I recently ordered a case of Pamela's yellow cake mix from Amazon so I have been using those. (Although the book calls for a 15 ounce box of cake mix and Pamela's bag
is 21 ounces and I've had to count out 30 tablespoons to get the right amount for the recipe). Anne has color pictures at the front of the book for each baked goodie! Chapters are layer cakes, bundt cakes, pan cakes, cupcakes & muffins, brownies/bars & cookies, and frosting.

I had just recently bought a bundt pan so I tried the caramel melted ice cream cake first. It was so easy, and really came out nicely. I overbaked it just slightly and will be more careful next time. My family loved the cake! It had a nice crumb, sliced well, was moist, and looked really pretty! Here's a pic:



Right now I am baking Kathy's Cinnamon Breakfast Cake- with 2 layers of struesel! My kids are very excited about the Cookies & Cream cake- truth is they both called it an Oreo cake. I didn't have enough whipping cream for the frosting so we will try that layer cake later this week.

I definitely recommend this book. I think it would be a great gift for someone new to the GF life, and much appreciated by those of us looking to make a fantastic dessert with a pre-made mix. Happy reading!