Not A Trace Awards 2016

Regular readers will know that each year I have my own little awards ‘ceremony’ where I acknowledge the best products / companies in various categories.

The awards for 2016 are obviously a little late(!) and as my blog posts were few and far between last year, due to a certain little person taking all my attention, the 2016 awards are more a summary of my blog reviews from last year.

Despite my inability to blog of late, it’s great to have had over 58,000 blog views since Not A Trace began. I am also very proud to see the constant stream of views every day even if I haven’t blogged for a while. Thank you to you all!

So, on to the awards / 2016 round-up….

Zizzi – gluten free garlic bread

Three years ago I wrote a review about my local Zizzi at Cabot Circus. I had a great meal there and have eaten at numerous restaurants since that first review, all offering a good service and great gluten free options.

However, back when I did the first review there wasn’t an option to have gluten free garlic bread, but there is now! 🙂 Although it’s not actually advertised on their menu as being available…..

Renaissance Cafe Bar Restaurant, Penzance

Back in April we went back to my home town of Penzance to celebrate my birthday and to see my friends before we had the baby (we knew we wouldn’t be back home for a long time once we’d had him).

I wanted to get everyone together in one place which meant that I needed to find a suitable venue to accommodate a large group, as well as one that could cater for my dietary requirements.

Situated in Wharfside Shopping Centre overlooking Penzance harbour, I’d been to the Renaissance Restaurant on numerous occasions both before being diagnosed and since then, so I knew that they could safely cater for a coeliac, making it the perfect choice.

Bristol Coeliac Group – Meet No. 6

The May outing for members of the ‘Coeliacs in Bristol’ Facebook group was to Italian restaurant La Grotta which can be found on Union Street in the city centre.

I regularly used to spend my lunch breaks eating at La Grotta when I used to work just around the corner, but this was in my pre coeliac days. So how would it compare now?

I’d been advised that they had gluten free options, so I emailed them to find out more and they supplied me with an entire gluten free menu, which was 4 pages long!! What a great start, but how would I know that they could be trusted with cross contamination etc?

Well, it turns out that one of the team is gluten intolerant. Not quite the same as being a coeliac, but she understands the pain of eating out when you’re sensitive to something and having to ask lots of questions about your food!

Here is the opening text from their Gluten Free Menu:

We are pleased to be able to offer the following options from our menu as Gluten Free. Here at La Grotta we understand all about food Intolerances and Allergies and the havoc they can cause to digestion and general wellbeing. We try to source the best tasting Gluten Free products for you to enjoy and feel passionately that Gluten Free customers should enjoy eating out as much as everyone else.

Venice Bakery

Since first learning about Venice Bakery at The Allergy & Free From Show a few months ago, it has taken me quite some time to get around to using the two bases that I bought whilst I was there.

Having sampled some of their garlic bread at the show, I was keen to try to recreate this at home, so I opted to buy a seasoned crust, as well as plain crust to make a pizza :).

If you don’t know much about Venice Bakery, here’s a little bit more about them, taken from their website:

Founded in 1950, Los Angeles-based Venice Bakery is one of the country’s largest family owned pizza manufacturers. We supply the food service industry, grocery stores and markets, as well as restaurants and pizza chains across America. From our humble beginnings of artisanal breads and crusts, Venice continues to satisfy customers with a wide variety of delicious, convenient, and health conscious products.