Mozart's - Clintonville

Mozart's Bakery and Piano Cafe is an Austrian inspired treat in Clintonville. There's something for everyone on the menu! Breakfast include waffles, breakfast sandwiches, omelets and quiche. Other menu items include soup, salad, sandwiches, wiener schnitzel, strudels, spatzle and beef stroganoff. Afternoon tea is served daily from 2 to 4pm and includes three courses of scones, canapes, pastries and tea. In the bakery you'll find a ton of specialty tortes, including the wheat-free Wolfgang, Esterhazy and Ginnsbruck Tortes. The bakery also makes breakfast pastries, European tea cookies, biscotti and adorable petit fours and marzipan peaches.

Buca di Beppo - Arena District

Buca di Beppo is an eclectic Italian restaurant that focuses on family-style served meals. Serving extra large portions makes this a great option for large groups, which is what we had the evening of Kenneth's Oath and Hooding Ceremony for the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. The larger portions makes ordering a little different (especially taking into account all of our dietary restrictions and preferences in our family), but everyone was happy with what they ordered.

Cbus Bloggers Lunch at Cafe Istanbul - Bexley

This past weekend I was able to grab lunch at Cafe Istanbul in Bexley with some of my fellow Columbus bloggers! A few of the lovely ladies I met in February at the Explorer's Club brunch, others were new faces. This blogging get together was organized by Lauren of A Few of My Favorite Things. We had a very long table in the cafe, which was decorated with golden vases, pink flowers and pink and gold placemats - very pretty!

GF Review: Rudi's Spinach Tortillas + Multigrain Bread

Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery* is a gluten-free food company with a nice selection of products: sandwich bread, tortillas and wraps, ciabatta rolls, cherry almond bars, pizza crust, buns, rolls and stuffing! I recently received two coupons from Rudi's in order to review their products for my blog. I chose the Spinach Tortillas and Multigrain Bread to review (I'm still waiting for our local grocery store to carry the ciabatta rolls - they look delicious!). 

Bravo! Cucina Italiana - Grandview Heights

I think a lot of gluten-free diners miss pasta. I'm not saying I miss it as much as I miss regular pizza, but it's up there. Pasta is such a comforting, filling food that seems to find its way into a lot of special events. My Grandma's macaroni and cheese is a staple at Hill family gatherings. I also remember how excited I used to be when my high school cross country team would have pasta nights two days before a race, or when we'd stop at Fazoli's on our way home from a race. One of my favorite meals my mom would make when I was a kid was spaghetti. When I was a vegetarian in high school and college she switched from using a meat based sauce to a vegetable sauce so I could enjoy the pasta too. Now she makes my own batch of macaroni and cheese or lasagna with gluten-free noodles for family gatherings. Pasta is wonderful and it was definitely one of the top foods I missed when going gluten-free. I'm really glad that there are restaurants offering gluten-free pasta!

Prior to eating at Bravo! for the first time a few weeks ago, I'd only had gluten-free pasta at two restaurants: Rusty Bucket and Olive Garden. Both have great gluten-free options and their pasta is pretty tasty. A fellow gluten-free friend of mine, Sarai McCulley, suggested I eat at Bravo! for their gluten-free pasta, which she prefers over Olive Garden. I couldn't wait to try it out!

Ramps + Pizza

Harvest Pizzeria had ramps* on tonight's special! It was delicious! The special featured wild ramps from Ohio and West Virginia, truffled mushrooms from Athens County, fennel sausage, Taleggio cheese and local honey. We enjoyed it on top of a gluten-free crust - it was divine! 

To round out the meal, I enjoyed a very gingery Moscow Mule. Read my full review of Harvest Pizzeria, written after my first visit, here!

Gluten-Free Rhubarb Oven Cake + Recipe

Happy Earth Day! To celebrate I made a gluten-free rhubarb oven cake for dessert. My Dad sent me home with some rhubarb from the garden on Easter Sunday and I was excited to put it to good use!

Harvest Pizzeria - German Village

Harvest Pizzeria is my new favorite place for gluten-free pizza! I can't believe I didn't try eating here sooner! I went to Harvest with my parents last month for dinner. We arrived at the perfect moment to be seated without having to wait. The dining area is small but very open. Large windows on two sides of the room let in a ton of natural light.

Pumpkin Feast in April! - Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookie Pumpkin Pie + Recipe

Pumpkin pie in April? Why, yes please! I have three reasons for why this is an awesome idea:

1. It snowed yesterday - which made me want to go back into hibernation and eat lots and lots of pie. 
2. Pumpkin. I love pumpkin and if I could find canned pumpkin year round I'd just have 12 months of Pumpkin Feast every year. 
3. I'm trying to clean out our cupboard and I have one last can of pumpkin puree and I didn't want to hoard it any longer. 

Gluten-Free Chocolate for Breakfast Smoothie + Recipe

I see no problem with having chocolate, or dessert for that matter, for breakfast, especially if it's something like a muffin or sweet bread. I don't have dessert for breakfast every day, but I usually have a little bit of chocolate with my morning coffee. This smoothie is a healthy way to indulge in delicious chocolate, even if you don't eat dessert items first thing in the morning. It even has fruit in it!

Gluten-Free Cream Biscuits for a Rainy Day + Recipe

I was craving biscuits and soup after being out in the cold rain today. I'm grateful it's not snowing, but I'm tired of the clouds and cold! I'm hoping for warm and sunny spring days. Until then, I have warm soup and these gluten-free biscuits.

Gluten-Free Strawberry-Blackberry Crumble + Recipe

I saw this recipe today on POPSUGAR - it's a strawberry crumble with only five ingredients. It looked delicious, so with just a few changes (it brings the ingredient total up from five to nine) I was able to make it gluten-free. It's pretty good - I'm sure it would be delicious with some vanilla ice cream too!

"Ch-ch-ch-chia!"

These aren't pebbles or beans - they're chia seeds! Chia seeds are very tiny (about 1mm) and nutritious. They contain omega-3 fatty acids as well as grams of fiber, protein, calcium, phosphorus and manganese. When wet, chia seeds become mucilaginous with a gel-like coating that increases the seeds size and changes their texture. 

C'est Si Bon Cafe - Bexley

C'est Si Bon Cafe in Bexley serves sweet and savory crepes, all of which can be made gluten-free with buckwheat flour. My mom and I visited a few weeks ago before heading to the Columbus Museum of Art's Wine and Canvas: Toulouse-Lautrec Edition. The cafe is tucked in between the Drexel Movie Theater and Star Jewelers of Bexley on Main Street. It's a small cafe, but we went before dinner and it wasn't crowded.

GF Review: Glutino Honey Mustard Pretzels + Apple Cinnamon Toaster Pastries

Glutino is a gluten-free food company with almost 100 different delicious products! Their range of products is impressive - they create gluten-free baking mixes, bagels, breads, cereal, breakfast bars, chips, cookies, crackers, frozen entrees, pasta and pizza! I recently tasted two of Glutino's newer products, their Apple Cinnamon Toaster Pastries and their Honey Mustard Pretzels in order to review them for my blog.

Gluten-Free M&Minty Chocolate Cookies for St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My favorite color is green, so even though I don't have very much Irish ancestry (that I know of), I still like to don a green outfit for the day. This year I also made some 'anti-pinch polish' for some friends (I don't condone pinching someone that doesn't wear green though, that's just mean!) and baked some gluten-free M&Minty Chocolate Cookies. I got the templates for the 'anti-pinch polish' from the blog eighteen25. Check it out here to download the template: Anti-Pinch Polish. 

Spagio - Grandview Heights

Spagio is a restaurant in Grandview Heights which serves European and Pacific Rim Cuisine. I've been wanting to try it out ever since I found out that they have a gluten-free menu. Two weeks ago I had my chance - it was the restaurant my friend, Brittany, chose for her bachelorette party!

DIY Vanilla Extract

Today I made my own vanilla extract! I've been wanting to make my own vanilla for a long time so I asked for a Homemade Vanilla Extract Infusion Kit and Ugandan Vanilla Beans from Beanilla for my birthday this year. My mom got me the kit and beans, she also threw in a bottle of Bacardi Select Rum (mostly because she knows rum is gluten-free and because Bacardi has one of my favorite animals on the bottle, a bat!).

Gluten-Free 'We Got The Beet' Cupcakes

I love beets! I've always liked them, even as a kid. One of my favorite ways to eat beets is roasted with other vegetables, I also adore pickled eggs and beets. We almost always have picked eggs and beets at family get togethers, when I was a kid my cousins and sister used to tease me that I must be some sort of alien for liking purple eggs and beets so much (I didn't care - I had an egg and beets to focus on eating and keeping the juice from turning my other food purple).

Pistacia Vera - German Village

Pistacia Vera has some delicious treats! I stopped by last week to pick up some Valentine's desserts for Kenneth. Pistacia Vera has macarons, chocolate truffles, tarts, dacquoise (a type of cake), tortes, cookies, breads, pâtes de fruits, caramels, nougat and house-made preserves. Many of their desserts are gluten-free or nut-free, a few of them are both! They also serve tea and Cafe Brioso coffee and have a brunch menu from 7am to 2pm daily.