9 Best places to eat gluten free and dairy free in Seattle

I thought I might share the 9 best places to eat gluten free and dairy free in Seattle.

1. Chaco Canyon in the University District and West Seattle (Serves a variety of dishes) - All day eatery
• Certified organic and vegetarian restaurant with vegan, raw food, and gluten free dishes. Delicious raw food dishes such as enchilada and pizza.  
2. Thrive in the University District (Serves a variety of dishes) - All day eatery
• Vegetarian restaurant with vegan, raw food, and gluten free dishes. Delicious bowls with red rice and veggies topped with raw food sauce
3. Cafe Flora in Madrona (Serves vegetarian dishes) - good for brunch, lunch, and dinner
• One of the best vegetarian restaurants in Seattle that also has many gluten free and vegan dishes. Try their gluten free and vegan pancakes, or scrambles tofu with roasted potatoes. Yum! 
4. Plum Bistro in Capitol Hill, Seattle, and Tacoma (Serves a variety of dishes)- good for lunch, brunch, and dinner
• Organic vegan restaurants with gluten free options.
5. Hugo's Organic in Redmond (Serves a variety of dishes) - good for lunch, brunch, and dinner
• Allergy friendly restaurants. Gluten free, cow dairy free, and more. Has a couple of raw food dishes.
6. Portage Bay in several locations(Serves pancakes, toast, and egg dishes) - good for brunch
• Go here for your gluten free, dairy free, and egg free pancake fix. Big berry buffet for toppings to your pancake. The main attraction is the berry buffet. If you are after pancakes, I would go to Cafe Flora.
7. Homegrown in Fremont (Serves sandwiches, salads, and soups) - good for breakfast and lunch
• All the breads are vegan, and you can get them gluten free as well.
8. Healeo in Capitol Hill (Serves smoothies and juices, but has also started with breakfast, lunch, and dinner) - good for breakfast and snack.
• This is not a full-blown restaurant. I would go here to expect a proper dinner. Better to call first and ask what they are offering.
9. PCC in various locations (This is a grocery store that has many allergy friendly lunch items) - good for lunch.

The reasons why I have selected these restaurants are because they are very accommodating regarding food allergies and the food in these places are good and healthy. 

Please let me know if you have other suggestions about similar restaurants.

Happy Easter and losing a part of me

I know it has been awfully quiet from me lately. I have been in a big thinking mode lately.

Having lived in Seattle for seven years, I feel like I am losing some of the feeling surrounding Swedish culture and tradition, but I am not really being able to replace it with something. I guess it is a typical feeling when you have lived in a new country for 5-10 years or so. There is probably even statistics with numbers. But I have not looked into that yet.

So I want to ask all of my friends out there who live outside Sweden if you have experienced this yet and, if so, what are your thoughts?

Well, this weekend I am going to make the most of Easter by socializing and eating typical Swedish Easter food, such as marinated salmon, smoked salmon, eggs, asparagus, and marzipan eggs.

Glad Påsk!

Please turn out the light on Saturday evening

I hope that all of you guys join me for Earth Hour this Saturday, March 23 at 8:30 pm, wherever you are.

I will be turning out the lights for one hour and hope to see neighbors and friends and cities do the same. I hope it will become dark, with only flickering lights from candles here and there.

Mr Nasty Flu: you are not welcome here

No raw food in the world helped when I came down with the flu a couple of weeks ago. That is why it has been rather quiet here lately.

I have not been that sick in over ten years. Fever, throbbing headache, and a sore throat. I have to consider myself lucky that I do not get the flu every year. At least not so far. My body still kind of feels weak, so I am taking it extra easy for another week. A lot of resting and drinking tea and water.

So glad I can work with my laptop of the sofa, in a horizontal position.

Yesterday, I went to the Swedish Cultural Center to sell Swedish Easter eggs, Swedish candy, and Scandinavian design products. Thanks to all of you who supported me.

If you missed me, I still have some Daim, Dumle, Kex Wafers, Licorice pipes, and Easter eggs left, so give me a call or FB me.

Now time to do some bookkeeping.

So long.

Raw food brownie recipe

Several people have asked for the raw food brownie recipe, so here goes:

Brownies (24 small)

4 1/2 cups fine cashew flour or pecan flour (put the nuts into a mixer to make flour)
3 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of maple syrup
1/2 cup agave
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 vanilla extract

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Put the mixture in a 9 x 13-inch pan lined with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Put the mixture in the pan and spread evenly. Put in dehydrator overnight. Take out the brownies, cut them into two-bite sizes, and turn them upside down. Place them in the dehydrator again for 4-6 hrs.

Enjoy!

Raw food cures for colds and flus

The raw food brownies I made last week were delicious. I did not even have time to take a photo of them before they were gobbled up by my family. I will definitely make these brownies again.

This weekend was a bit slow in our family. I volunteer at I's school in a program called "Read Naturally" where I sit and read with the children. Last week I had two kids with really bad snivels and so on Friday guess who was totally knocked out on the sofa the whole day. Enter raw food smoothies.

Yes, I decided to go completely raw and just vitamin boost my system. Hence green smoothie in the morning, citrus smoothie in the afternoon, and then another smoothie in the evening. I think it did the trick. At least, I would like to believe it did. Saturday and Sunday I was just a bit low and had a sore throat, and today I am good to go.

In the citrus smoothie I put one orange, one tangerine, one clementine, one kiwi, water, and a handful of frozen pineapple chunks. My 2 cents if you are experiencing a bad cold right now.

And, of course I stay away from sugar and dairy too.

Stay healthy out there!

Keeping it up is hard

I have already laid Vail and Colorado behind me and got straight back to working on my business. Some information about Vail is coming in a later blog post once I have transferred my photos to my computer.

With kids back in school, husband at work, and me in front of the computer a lot these days, it is hard to keep up the raw food explorations. I am at the point where I know the basics of raw food, can make a number of dishes, and enjoy trying different things out. However, with less time now that I am a business owner, I wish I just had a larger repertoire of recipes in my head.

That being said, I managed to get the dehydrator going this morning with corn tortillas, buckwheat for porridge, flour, and granola, and, last but not least, brownies. All raw food goodies. It is the first time that I make these brownies so I cannot wait to find out how they taste like. And yes, I have to wait a long time; they will be ready sometime tomorrow drying away as they are in the dehydrator. But then again, all the things I prepared for the dehydrator only took a few moments so it is well worth the wait.

I know that the corn tortilla does not look so tasty but they are, and when you add some salad, olives, tomatoes, and hummus it is better than ordinary wheat bread.