I <3 Lockwood!

I did not think it was possible to be busier than I have been this past year but low and behold my schedule as of late has made all the months prior to it seem like a walk in the park. Not that I can really complain all that much, in my opinion all of the uber long work days/nights and lack of adequate sleep are a welcome sacrifice to be able to do what I love.

 

For those of you that don’t already know, since late July Mari Made baked goods have been available at a lovely little café in Solana Beach called “The Lockwood Table”. Located in the Cedros Design District, Lockwood Table offers an array of tasty breakfast, lunch, and sweet treats. Almost everything on the menu can be tinkered with to be gluten free if it is not already and they always have a delicious selection of my gluten free baked goods. 

Currently we are offering…

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Strawberry Cupcakes

Lavender infused Chocolate Cupcakes

Black Bottom Cupcakes (with cream cheese + chocolate filling!)

Myer Lemon Tarts

Blueberry Muffins with crumble topping

Lockwich Sandwiches (2 oatmeal cookies with sour cherries + white chocolate and a vanilla filling)

Banana Bread (once a month, email me for dates!)

 

The menu will change seasonally (look for pumpkin scones and caramel apple pie tarts in the fall!) and as always custom orders are available by emailing gfmarimade@gmail.com

 

We are working on a bread to be used for sandwiches and French toast but in the mean time all of the sandwiches can be made as a wrap using French Meadow GF tortillas, which are amazzzing (imagine your old favorite flour tortilla, but that its 100x’s better, really!!)

 

I am there Monday and Thursday nights baking so if you want something really fresh or want to ensure that it is not sold out stop by within a day or two of bake night.

xoxo

Rachel Marie 

http://www.lockwoodtable.com/index.html

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lockwood-table-cafe-solana-beach

New! GF Menu at Urban Solace

As if this restaurant was not wonderful enough already, they now offer a gluten free menu that clearly points out all of their delicious dishes that are or can be made gluten free, yay! I dined there recently and wrote this yummy review for Specialty Produce….

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/28/solace-in-the-city/

xoxo

Rachel Marie

p.s. more to come soon! As in tonight when I get home from work :-)

Whistling While I Work

Been busy as a bee lately, snapping pictures at Specialty, hiring summer staff for the theater, helping keep the office organized at FDG, and baking delicious gluten free treats every chance I get. I feel so busy sometimes that it makes my head spin but overall its been an exciting few months. I know my work schedule won’t be like this forever, maybe not even for the rest of the year so I am trying to enjoy my crazy life right now just as it is. The only thing that has really saddened me is my lack of time to write consistently on here. Squeezing in more writing time is sitting pretty high on my list of priorities right now, I won’t make a promise of when because I know myself too well to do that but I will say this, it may not be this week or even this month but a semi consistent writing schedule is on the horizon and before the end of the summer I plan to be back in the saddle or more specifically in the kitchen and behind the keyboard again.

Until then here are a few blog posts I had the pleasure of writing for Specialty Produce. If you love food (and if you are reading this I imagine you do) then you are going to swoon for this yummy webby site. It's consistently packed full of delicious tidbits like scrumptious new San Diego restaurants, farmers market finds, and recipes. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Sweet Syrah

TGI(pizza)F(usion)

The Taste of Little Italy

Lovely Lemons

Scrumptious Simplicity

xoxo

Rachel Marie

Whole Food Finds and the return of Rachel Marie

I know it’s been quite a while.

There are stories to tell, recipes to share, new products and restaurants to gush about, and lots of catching up to be done but for now let me start with something simple. A delicious trip to the grocery store.

I headed to Whole Foods for lunch today not knowing exactly what I wanted and after wandering up and down most of the isles, trying out a few lotions, and tasting a few samples of cheese and watermelon my basket was filled with a scrumptious selection of gluten free goodies.

For lunch I decided on a salad from their organic salad bar.

Spring mix
Spinach
Sunflower sprouts
Carrots
Beets
Corn
Peas
Sunflower seeds
Dried cranberries

I opted to wait till I got back to the office to eat so I could use my own yummy dressing

To drink I found a delicious new Kombucha!

Botanic #9 which has bilberry, honeysuckle and red clover.

And for my sweet tooth I picked out an Enjoy Life Chocolate bar with crispy rice.

This GF vegan chocolaty treat reminds me of a Crunch bar but better!

I also picked up a snack to have after yoga tonight.

A chocolate banana muffin from a local bakery called Muffin Physics. All their treats are wheat, dairy, soy, nut, egg, and gluten free.

Like I said earlier, there is much more deliciousness to come and soon, I promise!

xoxo

Tasty Taco Thursday

Working in the San Diego Metro area makes it so much easier for me to talk myself into meeting up with friends for dinner, drinks and other downtown evening adventures. As of late I have been devoting Thursday nights for meet ups with my brother, Chris. Last week we went to Bernardo and Melanie Bermudez’s condo for a delicious dinner al fresco.

 

Chris works in Imperial Beach and is always so kind as to pick up lots of fresh Mexican goodies whenever we are meeting up for dinner. The night of our gathering at the Bermudez’s he brought along some pollo asado, queso fresco and a bundle of freshly made corn tortillas and since I was coming straight from Specialty I brought along some fresh veggies.

 

Super Scrumptious Soft Tacos and Stuffed Peppers

Feel free to mix and match ingredients as you like. Between the four of us these just happened to be the ingredients that we had on hand and they made for a most delicious dinner.

 

Ingredients for Stuffed Peppers

Bell Peppers

Mushrooms, roughly chopped

Garlic, minced

Onion, minced

Queso fresco, crumbled

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Cut the tops off the peppers, deseed them and then set aside. In a small bowl combine the chopped mushrooms, onion, garlic, queso fresco, salt and pepper. 

Stuff each pepper with the filling and then set aside. 

 

Ingredients for Tacos

Bell Peppers, cut into bite sized pieces

Zucchini, cut onto bite sixed pieces

Corn Tortillas

Queso Fresco

Pollo Asado

Once you have all the peppers stuffed and the veggies for the tacos prepared you are ready to head out to the grill and get cooking. Arrange all of your goodies on the grill and let cook until the veggies are tender, the chicken cooked through, and the stuffed peppers piping hot.  

Once the taco filings are done warm the tortillas on the grill, fill them with the veggies and chicken, and top with a sprinkling of queso fresco.

 

We also made salads with field greens, cucumbers, mushrooms and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and balsamic.

 Everything was delish! Bernardo and Melanie’s condo has a wonderful outdoor sitting area that not only has a grill but a lovely arrangement of couches, chairs and a fire pit perfect for relaxing with friends long into the evening.

  

Many thanks to the Bermudez's for having us over for such a delicious dinner! In addition to being fabulous hosts Bernardo and Melanie are both talented artists as well. Melanie is a fabulous painter and web developer and Bernardo is an amazing singer.