As I watch the film Flubber, I am thinking back to all of the wonderful and delicious foods I had the pleasure of tasting this week. From homemade (literally made at my house) dairy free and gluten free desserts to Bang Bang dessert to the Vegan Hogtown’s Caesar salad and its homemade ice tea lemonade, food did not disappoint.
The Hogtown Vegan is a trendy vegan restaurant, which – to my obvious excitement – has all of its food completely dairy free (because it’s vegan) as well as an entirely separate gluten free menu. As such, I managed to taste the following items before being way too full:
- Homemade ice tea lemonade
- Mac n cheese
- Tortilla salad
- Caesar salad
- …and a bite (excluding the bun) of my boyfriend’s “bacon” “cheese” burger with vegan poutine on the side
My favourite, hands down, was the gluten free dairy free Caesar salad. It reminded me of the Caesar salad I had at Crossroads (a vegan restaurant that Ellen DeGeneres frequents in California); it LITERALLY tastes like real Caesar salad. It was heavenly. Though nothing beats the Caesar, I also recommend Hogtown Vegan’s homemade ice tea lemonade and tortilla salad. They were yummy.
After that whirlwind of a dinner, my partner and I decided to go for a nice 25-minute walk. Doing so, we were able to work off enough food in order to make room for a big dessert! That brings me to our next stop: Bang Bang Ice Cream & Bakery. Bang Bang has many dairy free ice creams (vanilla, chocolate, and Pina Colada to name a few) as well as its famous gluten free dairy free “almost everything” cookie.
As you can imagine, I decided to go out with a bang by having a full ice cream sandwich. I had it with the almost everything cookie (which includes dark chocolate chunks) with smooth vegan chocolate ice cream in the middle. It was beyond delicious, like… other worldly. HIGHLY RECOMMEND that dessert, though maybe the half sandwich as opposed to the full one – it’s bigger than you think.
All in all, Hogtown Vegan followed by a walk and bang at the Bang Bang made for a glorious evening of gluten free and dairy free elements. I will definitely be going back to both places for a second visit in the near future.
To further encourage your taste palette, I highly recommend this quick & easy-make recipe for a cool summer evening dessert: Dairy Free Chocolate Banana Split.
Ingredients include:
- 1/4 cup of dairy free chocolate chips (which you can get at Shoppers Drugmart believe it or not)
- 1 full banana
- 1/4 cup of marshmallows (make sure there is no dairy in the ingredients)
- 1 scoop of frozen fruit sorbet (of your choosing)
Recipe:
- Cut the banana peel in half and pour in all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the sorbet
- Wrap the banana in tin-foil and put on the barbecue for 5-10 minutes
- Take the banana off the grill and top it off with a scoop of your favourite frozen sorbet
- Eat and enjoy!
That’s all for now, folks. Next stop, a trip to Montreal of all things gluten and dairy free! It’s gonna be epic, talk soon.
Carly & The Gluten Free Dairy Free Factory 