Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe

After being in the park since the wee hours of the morning, we decided to hit up Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe around 11:30 am. This turned out to be a stellar lunch choice. Barely anyone was there! It was great to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere without feeling rushed. This is a very big place so I imagine that when it gets busy, it also gets quite loud as well.

We really loved the entertainment of Sonny Eclipse! In case you are not familiar with him, he is a Jazz singer from somewhere far away in the galaxy. Sonny's shows are about a half an hour long and he even cracks some funny jokes between songs.

The set up of Cosmic Ray's takes a moment or two to grasp. There are 3 "Bays" from which you can place your order. Each bay has its very own menu, line ups, and cash registers.


Bay 1 : Chicken and Pork
Bay 2 : Burgers and Hot Dogs
Bay 3 : Sandwiches, Wraps, Soups


Make sure you are at the Bay you want as they will not make you anything that is offered at the alternate Bays. I suggest anyone who will be eating here with children, scope out the menu beforehand (online before you get to the park) and go in with a plan.

 We ordered from the Burger Bay. As per Disney protocol, we advised the cashier that we would need to order Gluten Free. Within minutes a super bubbly and charming manager came by to take our order. It's a good thing it was not busy as we had to wait at the Burger Bay for our order. Thankfully it was only about a ten-minute wait.

Also worth noting,Cosmic rays has the infamous condiment station that has been known to produce a salad or two. Thankfully they also carry packets of Ketchup, Mayo ect.. which have the ingredients listed right on them.

 Both my mom and I ordered bacon cheeseburgers with a side or fries and an Enjoy Life cookie for dessert. Holy yum batman! I'm not sure what brand of Gluten-Free buns Disney uses, but they were soft and could not be more perfect. The burger itself was a welcome treat as well. The meat patty was nice and thin, quite the decent change from the ones I'm used to buying in the grocery store. I saved my cookie for later on in the day. When I got to it, I was so impressed that I was actually a bit sad. Why? Well, because I was hooked and we don't have these cookies at home.

A Gluten Free Mammoth Of A Sandwich At Disney's Boardwalk Bakery

After checking into our Little Mermaid room at the Art of Animation resort, we decided to hit up Disney's Boardwalk.  By this point both my mom and I were excited and ready for our first real taste of Gluten Free Disney.

A little bit about Boardwalk Bakery - It's super tiny inside. Like 4 people in line makes this place jam packed kind of tiny. Seating is located outside along the store front as per the top left photo with my family eating away. The style and setting of Boardwalk Bakery reminds me of something you would see in France. Not that I've been, but that's just the feeling it gave me.

While waiting for our order we had to shuffle around quite a bit as there is no real waiting area for us special diet peeps. This made for an awkward dance. After about 15 minutes, we were presented with mammoth Turkey sandwiches. The photo doesn't do my words justice. These things were HUGE. We were on the Disney Quick Service dining plan which included a drink, side and dessert with this meal. I was so full after only half of my sandwich that I took my chips and blueberry muffin back to the hotel. My mom had the vanilla frosted cupcake to the left of my muffin.She took that back to the hotel to keep in the fridge as well. When we did get to our desserts they were heavenly!

I would recommend Boardwalk Bakery to anyone on a Gluten Free diet. Keep in mind that options here are pretty much limited to what we ate. Great tasting and  satisfying portions trump variety in my book though. If you are going to check out this lovely little bakery, I would suggest hitting it during off peak meal times. I would also recommend checking with Disney ahead of time to verify that they are still serving Gluten Free food as things can and do change.

Wordless Wednesday - BabyCakes For My BabyCake

Lincoln enjoying a Gluten Free doughnut at BabyCakes in Downtown Disney

Review: Petro's Chili & Chips

West Town Mall, Knoxville Tennessee

This was our first major stop on our drive to Walt Disney World. We left at 7:00pm on a Friday night and arrived in Knoxville around 9:30am Saturday morning. Not bad I say! Our original plan was to get a hotel in this beautiful city and then take on some shopping. 

After checking out the Knoxville Welcome Center we discovered that there was a major football game this particular weekend which resulted in price surges and Zero availability at local hotels.

Clearly being Canadian  and a Leafs fan (Go Leafs Go!) prevented me from planning ahead for this one. I knew football was popular in America, but I didn't realize how big College football was. The team spirit was pretty fantastic! All over Tennessee, everyone was covered in Orange Jerseys, Hats, Jackets  and face paint. Even cars had the giant signature orange "T" decal.  We saw the odd Florida fan in the mix as well

This brings us back to West Town Mall. After giving up on a hotel, we decided to take a break for some lunch and stretch our legs. I had prepared myself for more disappointment, this time in the food department. I was ready to go back to the car to dig something out of the cooler.

 Boy was I pleasantly surprised!!! 

I saw a baked potato on this menu and figured I better check it out! The guy working was awesome. After my usually needed speech about Gluten Free, he told me his grandmother is Celiac too and that all the Gluten Free items on the menu are indicated by with the letters "GF" in a red circle. 

My mom and I split the nachos and baked potato. It was soo good and it felt great to get some food with real substance into our tummies. There's only so much you can pack in a cooler without fear of it going bad. Especially in the Gluten Free department. So this was great! Really great. 

I would recommend visiting this mall to anyone making their way through Knoxville. It's very spacious and really pretty! The shopping opportunities are endless. Stores like Brookstone, Belk, and JC Penny were pleasant deviations from the norm for us. Is my Canadian showing yet?

Another plus is the kids play area that we discovered. It's in the center of the mall with a soft padded floor and lots of seating for moms and dads. Lincoln had such a great time running around here! He definitely deserved this play time after being such a great sport during our 14-hour drive.

After some time at the mall, we ended up driving a few more hours more and spent the night in a Comfort Suite just passed the Georgia border for under $100.00 US. Hubby was the sole driver so he gets the trooper award! Not only was he alert and happy, he dealt with the crazy hectic I-75 drivers and traffic backup, splendidly. I should note that he slept a good 9 hours the night before the trip, got up for a little bit and then went back to bed for another 5 hours. Probably the most sleep he has ever gotten.  

The West Town Mall is located at 7600 KINGSTON PIKE, KNOXVILLE, TN 37919-5600

Homemade Gluten Free Stuffing With Gravy

Homemade bread that has gone stale. I then cut it into cubes and toasted it.

Other ingredients you will need:
2 cups red onion and 1 1/2 cup celery. Both finely chopped.

Gluten Free Croutons and chicken broth. Read all chicken broth labels as some contain wheat. 

                                        Melt 2/3 cup of butter.

                                    Add onion and celery. Saute.

Add 2 cups chicken broth and reduce on low heat. Pour over croutons.

Seasonings that I added: Mrs Dash, Salt, Pepper, Poultry Seasoning and Sage.

                                         Prepackaged croutons

                                         Homemade croutons

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I mixed both homemade and store bought croutons together. Place in the oven until golden brown, with a slight crust. Don't forget to occasionally stir the mix with a wooden spoon to ensure even heating

Finished stuffing

Next time I think I will go back to spreading the mixture over cookie sheets as it provides a much more even crisping of the stuffing. Tasted great, though!

The gravy I use is really easy to make. I make it regularly. Like all the time regularly. All you need is a packet of Club House gluten-free gravy mix.