September 4, 2025 • 16 mins
Have you ever wondered if you can really take a long road trip and stay safely gluten-free the whole way?
Well, I just did exactly that, driving from Ohio to Dallas, and I’m here to share all the lessons, surprises, and little wins along the way. From finding safe snacks at truck stops to navigating restaurant surprise, I’ve got plenty of stories and tips to help you plan your own gluten-free adventure.
And stay tuned for the end, where I’ll share the one thing I learned that made all the difference on the road.
Come join us in our free Facebook Community, The Gluten Free Engineer.
It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carrie Saunders (00:00):
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode this podcast is based onmy personal experiences and
isn't medical advice.
Have you ever wondered if youcan really take a long road trip
and stay safely gluten-free thewhole way?
Well, I just actually did thata few weeks ago when I attended
podcast movement for our podcastthat we have, and we were
(00:22):
driving from Ohio to Dallas,texas, my husband and I and I'm
here to share all the lessons,surprises and little wins along
the way, from finding safesnacks at truck stops to
navigating restaurants surprisesI've got plenty of stories and
tips to help you plan your owngluten-free adventure.
And stay tuned for the end,where I'll share one thing I
(00:43):
learned that made a differenceall the difference on the road.
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
(01:06):
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between to rebuild
a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
Welcome back to the show.
Today we're talking about roadtrips and how we can stay safe
(01:28):
gluten-free and I have otherfood issues too.
So how can we deal with that aswell?
And our road trip my husbandand I went on was from Ohio to
Dallas, texas, and it's about a17-hour drive without stops.
So how did we do it and how didwe manage to stay gluten-free
the whole time?
That's what we're going to talkabout in this episode and some
tips around it.
(01:49):
And I was able to staycompletely gluten-free, but I
did have a few mishaps and we'lltalk about that too.
So if you've listened to any ofmy travel trip episode tips,
then that's kind of a tonguetwister.
Then you probably already knowthat I love to pack snacks for
the road trip or the airplaneflight or however we're getting
(02:10):
there, and one of my favoritesnacks is Simple Mills granola
type style bars.
I kind of don't really considerthem granola bars because
they're grain free, so theydon't have oats in them, but
they're kind of it's like asnack bar like that, and they
really fill me up because theyhave a lot of protein in them
for a snack bar like that theyhave.
They're made for the almondflour and they're just really
(02:31):
tasty and I really enjoy eatingthem.
So when you're planning a trip,find that snack that's going to
be fulfilling and that youreally enjoy too.
That helps make your trip a lotmore fun when you're bringing
snacks with you that you enjoyas well as make you feel good
and fill you up.
Now you also can use placeslike we use Love's truck stops.
(02:52):
So if you know of a clean, nicetruck stop that is your
favorite, you can stop there foradditional snacks on the way.
I love to go to the Love's truckstops because we found they had
string cheeses, they had meatsticks, they had actually
options that were gluten-freeand refrigerated and cold.
On this trip we completelyforgot to bring our cooler with
(03:14):
us.
It wasn't packed, thankfully.
It wasn't like sitting at homerotting, but we completely
forgot to bring a cooler so wecould bring cold snacks too.
So make sure you pack ahead andbring that cooler if that's
what you're wanting to bring.
But places like Love's TruckStops you can find like
refrigerated cheese sticks.
We also found hard-boiled eggsthere, fruit cups.
(03:34):
So they have some really good,you know nice, fresh, cleaner
options to eat in the Love'sTruck Stops.
And then we also use the FindMe Gluten-Free app the whole way
there back and while we werethere, because we used it to
scout for restaurants and weused it to find places that were
gluten-free.
Now, one of the things that didhappen is we drove to Memphis on
(03:59):
the first day for the first legof the trip.
That's about 10 hours, butabout seven hours is Nashville.
So we decided to stop there forlike a late lunches type of
meal.
We found a dedicatedgluten-free spot.
It looked like it was going tobe so fun and yummy and
delicious.
And guess what happened?
The whole restaurant was closed.
(04:20):
It had been closed for a whilebut nobody had updated Google
Maps, nobody had updated Find MeGluten-Free that this
restaurant had basically failedand closed.
So that was a bit of adisappointment.
But we pivoted.
We decided to just eat more ofour snacks we had and get all
the way to Memphis so that wecan have a really nice sit down
meal in Memphis.
(04:41):
And then, when we were inMemphis, we looked up some of
the best barbecue places.
We used the Find Me Gluten-Freeapp to find the safest of those
.
And we actually found thisreally wonderful restaurant in
the basement of this building.
You wouldn't even know therestaurant was there if you
weren't either local or used anapp kind of like Find Me
Gluten-Free for it, and it wassome of the best barbecue we've
(05:03):
ever had and everything wasgluten-free except for the beer
and anything fried, buteverything else was safe for us
to eat and it was actuallysoy-free as well, which was a
great bonus for us.
And then when we were in Memphis, we stayed there the next day
too.
We just decided to make alittle bit of a side road trip
there, so we stayed a whole daythe next day.
(05:25):
So we just used a hotelrestaurant breakfast.
For breakfast, it had somesimple things there, and then
for lunch we went adventuringout to a place we could walk to
that had also gluten-free items.
We found this again with theFind Me Gluten-Free app.
They were really great aboutbeing very careful with our food
.
I didn't get sick.
So that Find Me Gluten-Free appis really kind of golden.
(05:48):
And note, if you are a listener, we do have a $5 off of your
subscription for if you want touse the paid version.
We for a very long time usedthe free version of the Find Me
Gluten-Free app and it workedokay, but I will honestly say
that the paid version does addsome benefits that can really
help you on your gluten-freejourney, especially if you're
celiac.
You can see those benefits ontheir website.
(06:11):
And then for dinner we went tothis fancy restaurant.
We decided to splurge a littlebit and we went to this fancy
restaurant on Beale Street Ifyou're familiar with Memphis or
the blues, you've probably heardof Beale Street and it was
absolutely delicious.
They were really sureeverything was gluten-free.
They were very well rated forbeing gluten-free.
(06:31):
However, one thing I didn'tthink of doing was asking them
about my other sensitivity,which was tomato.
I did ask them about gluten andsoy, because those have been a
staple of my life as far as likenot being able to have them the
soy for about two or threeyears and then the gluten for
like 12 or so.
I've kind of lost track there,but I recently found out I can't
(06:54):
have tomatoes.
Well, I got a steak and mashedpotatoes, not thinking at all
there would be anything tomatorelated on the dish.
You can probably imagine thatyou wouldn't think so either.
Well, my steak came out withthis red wine tomato reduction
sauce on it and I looked at itand thought, well, that might be
just red wine.
And I started eating.
(07:14):
I was like, oh, I think thishas tomato in it.
Well, this is where I made themistake.
I kept my mouth shut, I didn'tsay anything, I didn't like
return the dish because tomatoesactually really bother me,
digestive wise, and the next dayand it makes me really tired
about an hour or two after I'veeaten it for about an hour or so
.
So it's not nearly as big of adeal as soy or gluten, but it
(07:36):
still kind of bothers me.
But I went ahead and ate it.
You know it tasted okay to mebecause I'm not that big of a
fan of tomatoes to begin with.
Probably a good reason for that.
So that was one thing that Ishould have said.
You know, hey, I can't eattomatoes.
And the rest of the trip Idefinitely said that every
restaurant I went to, you know,make sure this doesn't have any
(07:57):
tomatoes in it too.
So make sure you're advocatingfor yourself.
It's just not something Ithought of.
So don't assume and that's thelesson here you know something
else that you're sensitive to oreven gluten, and you don't
think there's gluten in the dish, make sure you speak up, no
matter what.
I didn't have any issues withgluten at this restaurant, but
the tomatoes were really, reallygave me a hard time the next
(08:22):
day, but definitely not likegluten does.
So make sure you stand up foryourself and take that dish back
if you have to, if you're surethat it's got something on it
that you can't eat.
That's what the restaurant'sthere for.
And then we next drove fromMemphis to, technically, great
Rhine, texas, which is on theother side of Dallas.
We were staying at the GaylordTexan because that's where the
conference was, and first thingwe did once we settled in was I
(08:45):
went to each of the restaurantsthere to figure out which ones I
could safely eat gluten-free.
The Find Me Gluten Free appdidn't have quite as much
information on the restaurantsthat were in-house, just because
those just aren't restaurantsthat the public tends to go to,
so they're not rated as often asones that you know you can just
drive by and go to.
And they had an Italianrestaurant in there which I was
(09:08):
super excited about, and theFind Me Gluten-Free app said
that they could do gluten-freefine, so I talked to the
restaurant staff before evendedicating myself to going to
that restaurant.
So I asked them the questionsthat you should ask if you
especially if you're celiac orvery sensitive I double checked
that they didn't cook thegluten-free pasta in gluten
(09:28):
water, that it was separatelycooked.
They also said that they hadlike a gluten-free garlic type
of bread and that it would takethem longer to get that out to
the table than it would thegluten bread, because they take
extra care and extra specialattention to the gluten-free
stuff.
So when you are eating out,make sure you double check those
(09:49):
questions.
And yes, I did make surethere's no tomatoes in my dish.
This time I got an Alfredo,which has been my go-to for
Italian type things, now thatI've realized I can't have
tomatoes.
So make sure you're doublechecking.
You know the water.
If you're eating at a pastarestaurant, the bread is it
toasted in the same area thatgluten bread is toasted?
So there's just some things youwant to look for.
(10:12):
And then the rest of the trip.
In there and in the Gaylord weate at a Mexican restaurant
twice.
They were very good withgluten-free.
They use corn tortillas fortheir tacos already.
I obviously asked for no tomatotoo on that one.
So that's the kind of I waslike this is a really weird
question.
I know I'm in a Mexicanrestaurant, but I need stuff
(10:33):
without tomatoes in it.
Um, and they kind of got achuckle out of that, and so I
was really safe the rest of thetime eating in the restaurants.
In the Gaylord, texan, we alsowent to the Texan station too,
which also was veryaccommodating for us.
Now we did adventure out onetime to a local restaurant, and
this one I'm super excited totell you about.
So it was called Across thePond, somewhere close to
(10:58):
Grapevine, texas.
I can't quite remember exactlywhere we were, and it was like a
British type of pub stylerestaurant, and everything in
the restaurant that was friedwas gluten-free.
I had gluten-free onion rings,I had gluten-free chicken strips
, and my chicken strips camewith British chips, so I had
gluten-free fries too.
(11:19):
It was just so wonderful toeven eat out and have
gluten-free onion rings.
So the last time I hadgluten-free onion rings, I made
them from scratch myself, andthey were delicious, but it was
wonderful not to have to make ityourself.
So we use the Find MeGluten-Free app to find the
place.
They also had gluten-free beerand gluten-free cider.
(11:40):
The story goes.
We asked the story about therestaurant and why that was
celiac safe.
Apparently, I think it was therestaurant owners like a son or
nephew, I believe it was,somebody in the family had
celiac and they wanted to, youknow, come up with a restaurant
that was safe for that person.
So I thought that was awonderful backstory behind it.
(12:00):
And then when we had our triphome, we kind of reversed it.
We actually stopped in Memphison the way home for dinner and
we ate at this wonderfulrestaurant and I had again a
steak dinner, if you at thiswonderful restaurant, and I had
again a steak dinner.
If you haven't figured out, Ilove, I actually love steak.
And I asked this time I'm likeyou know, hey, I can't have
(12:22):
tomatoes, and it was a goodthing.
I asked because the asparagusthat was going to be on my plate
is usually drizzled with atomato type of drizzle sauce.
So again, make sure you'rechecking for every single thing
that you cannot eat, because ifI hadn't mentioned something,
then my asparagus side dishwould have had tomato on it and
I wouldn't have maybe known ituntil I ate it.
(12:44):
So again, double check whatyou're going to be eating and
all your food sensitivities.
And then we landed in Nashvillefor sleeping and then drove the
way home, oh, and then all theway home the next day from
Nashville to back to Ohio.
We took a different route homeand it was actually a great
(13:05):
accident because we were tryingto find a place to eat.
It was a bit more of a ruralroute and we weren't sure if
we're going to be able to find aplace to eat.
But we used the Find MeGluten-Free app again and found
this place that had allgluten-free baked goods and it
was an olive oil company but italso had baked goods in it,
which was kind of an oddcombination.
(13:25):
So we went in the store andthey had the most wonderful
olive oil section I've ever seenin my entire life.
I've never seen anything likethis except for on TV, on like
food show network type of styleof shows you couldn't like
sample the olive oils.
You could sample the infusedolive oils.
They had balsamic vinaigrettestoo and it was just absolutely
(13:49):
wonderful.
And we got some baked goods totake with us on the road and I
got some olive oil to use.
I'm going to be using itactually this weekend after
recording this podcast episodewith my focaccia bread recipe
that's on our website.
Make sure you go grab that attheglutenfreeengineercom if you
haven't yet.
It's absolutely delicious andvery easy.
So we're going to be using itthis weekend to celebrate our
(14:14):
wedding anniversary because Iwant to make focaccia bread as
part of the meal, and using itto dip our focaccia bread in all
of this infused olive oil.
It's got like oregano basilthyme it's so delicious.
So, anyway, when you're doing aroad trip like this part of it,
you know kind of go with yourpersonality.
Of course you know plan aheadas much as possible is a good
(14:37):
idea, but you can also do somewinging it, like we did as well,
especially if you have appslike Find Me Gluten Free to
really help you find thoseplaces that are celiac safe if
needed, very gluten intolerantfriendly if needed, or just
simply gluten free if you don'tneed to be super strict.
That is really the best thing.
That really helped us.
(14:58):
I think my husband said that hewas in that almost more than
anything else the whole trip andalways have those snacks with
you in case you do get stucksomeplace that you can't find
anything safe.
Bring those substantial snackswith you and just really enjoy
yourself.
And then that bonus tip Ipromised I've already alluded to
(15:19):
it already is that we want tomake sure that you pack a safe
set of snacks with you, makesure they're filling, so that
you can pivot when plans need tochange and when you can't find
something safe that isgluten-free.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
(15:41):
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
(16:02):
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not provide amedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode this podcast is based onmy personal experiences and
isn't medical advice.
Have you ever wondered if youcan really take a long road trip
and stay safely gluten-free thewhole way?
Well, I just actually did thata few weeks ago when I attended
podcast movement for our podcastthat we have, and we were
(00:22):
driving from Ohio to Dallas,texas, my husband and I and I'm
here to share all the lessons,surprises and little wins along
the way, from finding safesnacks at truck stops to
navigating restaurants surprisesI've got plenty of stories and
tips to help you plan your owngluten-free adventure.
And stay tuned for the end,where I'll share one thing I
(00:43):
learned that made a differenceall the difference on the road.
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
(01:06):
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between to rebuild
a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
Welcome back to the show.
Today we're talking about roadtrips and how we can stay safe
(01:28):
gluten-free and I have otherfood issues too.
So how can we deal with that aswell?
And our road trip my husbandand I went on was from Ohio to
Dallas, texas, and it's about a17-hour drive without stops.
So how did we do it and how didwe manage to stay gluten-free
the whole time?
That's what we're going to talkabout in this episode and some
tips around it.
(01:49):
And I was able to staycompletely gluten-free, but I
did have a few mishaps and we'lltalk about that too.
So if you've listened to any ofmy travel trip episode tips,
then that's kind of a tonguetwister.
Then you probably already knowthat I love to pack snacks for
the road trip or the airplaneflight or however we're getting
(02:10):
there, and one of my favoritesnacks is Simple Mills granola
type style bars.
I kind of don't really considerthem granola bars because
they're grain free, so theydon't have oats in them, but
they're kind of it's like asnack bar like that, and they
really fill me up because theyhave a lot of protein in them
for a snack bar like that theyhave.
They're made for the almondflour and they're just really
(02:31):
tasty and I really enjoy eatingthem.
So when you're planning a trip,find that snack that's going to
be fulfilling and that youreally enjoy too.
That helps make your trip a lotmore fun when you're bringing
snacks with you that you enjoyas well as make you feel good
and fill you up.
Now you also can use placeslike we use Love's truck stops.
(02:52):
So if you know of a clean, nicetruck stop that is your
favorite, you can stop there foradditional snacks on the way.
I love to go to the Love's truckstops because we found they had
string cheeses, they had meatsticks, they had actually
options that were gluten-freeand refrigerated and cold.
On this trip we completelyforgot to bring our cooler with
(03:14):
us.
It wasn't packed, thankfully.
It wasn't like sitting at homerotting, but we completely
forgot to bring a cooler so wecould bring cold snacks too.
So make sure you pack ahead andbring that cooler if that's
what you're wanting to bring.
But places like Love's TruckStops you can find like
refrigerated cheese sticks.
We also found hard-boiled eggsthere, fruit cups.
(03:34):
So they have some really good,you know nice, fresh, cleaner
options to eat in the Love'sTruck Stops.
And then we also use the FindMe Gluten-Free app the whole way
there back and while we werethere, because we used it to
scout for restaurants and weused it to find places that were
gluten-free.
Now, one of the things that didhappen is we drove to Memphis on
(03:59):
the first day for the first legof the trip.
That's about 10 hours, butabout seven hours is Nashville.
So we decided to stop there forlike a late lunches type of
meal.
We found a dedicatedgluten-free spot.
It looked like it was going tobe so fun and yummy and
delicious.
And guess what happened?
The whole restaurant was closed.
(04:20):
It had been closed for a whilebut nobody had updated Google
Maps, nobody had updated Find MeGluten-Free that this
restaurant had basically failedand closed.
So that was a bit of adisappointment.
But we pivoted.
We decided to just eat more ofour snacks we had and get all
the way to Memphis so that wecan have a really nice sit down
meal in Memphis.
(04:41):
And then, when we were inMemphis, we looked up some of
the best barbecue places.
We used the Find Me Gluten-Freeapp to find the safest of those
.
And we actually found thisreally wonderful restaurant in
the basement of this building.
You wouldn't even know therestaurant was there if you
weren't either local or used anapp kind of like Find Me
Gluten-Free for it, and it wassome of the best barbecue we've
(05:03):
ever had and everything wasgluten-free except for the beer
and anything fried, buteverything else was safe for us
to eat and it was actuallysoy-free as well, which was a
great bonus for us.
And then when we were in Memphis, we stayed there the next day
too.
We just decided to make alittle bit of a side road trip
there, so we stayed a whole daythe next day.
(05:25):
So we just used a hotelrestaurant breakfast.
For breakfast, it had somesimple things there, and then
for lunch we went adventuringout to a place we could walk to
that had also gluten-free items.
We found this again with theFind Me Gluten-Free app.
They were really great aboutbeing very careful with our food
.
I didn't get sick.
So that Find Me Gluten-Free appis really kind of golden.
(05:48):
And note, if you are a listener, we do have a $5 off of your
subscription for if you want touse the paid version.
We for a very long time usedthe free version of the Find Me
Gluten-Free app and it workedokay, but I will honestly say
that the paid version does addsome benefits that can really
help you on your gluten-freejourney, especially if you're
celiac.
You can see those benefits ontheir website.
(06:11):
And then for dinner we went tothis fancy restaurant.
We decided to splurge a littlebit and we went to this fancy
restaurant on Beale Street Ifyou're familiar with Memphis or
the blues, you've probably heardof Beale Street and it was
absolutely delicious.
They were really sureeverything was gluten-free.
They were very well rated forbeing gluten-free.
(06:31):
However, one thing I didn'tthink of doing was asking them
about my other sensitivity,which was tomato.
I did ask them about gluten andsoy, because those have been a
staple of my life as far as likenot being able to have them the
soy for about two or threeyears and then the gluten for
like 12 or so.
I've kind of lost track there,but I recently found out I can't
(06:54):
have tomatoes.
Well, I got a steak and mashedpotatoes, not thinking at all
there would be anything tomatorelated on the dish.
You can probably imagine thatyou wouldn't think so either.
Well, my steak came out withthis red wine tomato reduction
sauce on it and I looked at itand thought, well, that might be
just red wine.
And I started eating.
(07:14):
I was like, oh, I think thishas tomato in it.
Well, this is where I made themistake.
I kept my mouth shut, I didn'tsay anything, I didn't like
return the dish because tomatoesactually really bother me,
digestive wise, and the next dayand it makes me really tired
about an hour or two after I'veeaten it for about an hour or so
.
So it's not nearly as big of adeal as soy or gluten, but it
(07:36):
still kind of bothers me.
But I went ahead and ate it.
You know it tasted okay to mebecause I'm not that big of a
fan of tomatoes to begin with.
Probably a good reason for that.
So that was one thing that Ishould have said.
You know, hey, I can't eattomatoes.
And the rest of the trip Idefinitely said that every
restaurant I went to, you know,make sure this doesn't have any
(07:57):
tomatoes in it too.
So make sure you're advocatingfor yourself.
It's just not something Ithought of.
So don't assume and that's thelesson here you know something
else that you're sensitive to oreven gluten, and you don't
think there's gluten in the dish, make sure you speak up, no
matter what.
I didn't have any issues withgluten at this restaurant, but
the tomatoes were really, reallygave me a hard time the next
(08:22):
day, but definitely not likegluten does.
So make sure you stand up foryourself and take that dish back
if you have to, if you're surethat it's got something on it
that you can't eat.
That's what the restaurant'sthere for.
And then we next drove fromMemphis to, technically, great
Rhine, texas, which is on theother side of Dallas.
We were staying at the GaylordTexan because that's where the
conference was, and first thingwe did once we settled in was I
(08:45):
went to each of the restaurantsthere to figure out which ones I
could safely eat gluten-free.
The Find Me Gluten Free appdidn't have quite as much
information on the restaurantsthat were in-house, just because
those just aren't restaurantsthat the public tends to go to,
so they're not rated as often asones that you know you can just
drive by and go to.
And they had an Italianrestaurant in there which I was
(09:08):
super excited about, and theFind Me Gluten-Free app said
that they could do gluten-freefine, so I talked to the
restaurant staff before evendedicating myself to going to
that restaurant.
So I asked them the questionsthat you should ask if you
especially if you're celiac orvery sensitive I double checked
that they didn't cook thegluten-free pasta in gluten
(09:28):
water, that it was separatelycooked.
They also said that they hadlike a gluten-free garlic type
of bread and that it would takethem longer to get that out to
the table than it would thegluten bread, because they take
extra care and extra specialattention to the gluten-free
stuff.
So when you are eating out,make sure you double check those
(09:49):
questions.
And yes, I did make surethere's no tomatoes in my dish.
This time I got an Alfredo,which has been my go-to for
Italian type things, now thatI've realized I can't have
tomatoes.
So make sure you're doublechecking.
You know the water.
If you're eating at a pastarestaurant, the bread is it
toasted in the same area thatgluten bread is toasted?
So there's just some things youwant to look for.
(10:12):
And then the rest of the trip.
In there and in the Gaylord weate at a Mexican restaurant
twice.
They were very good withgluten-free.
They use corn tortillas fortheir tacos already.
I obviously asked for no tomatotoo on that one.
So that's the kind of I waslike this is a really weird
question.
I know I'm in a Mexicanrestaurant, but I need stuff
(10:33):
without tomatoes in it.
Um, and they kind of got achuckle out of that, and so I
was really safe the rest of thetime eating in the restaurants.
In the Gaylord, texan, we alsowent to the Texan station too,
which also was veryaccommodating for us.
Now we did adventure out onetime to a local restaurant, and
this one I'm super excited totell you about.
So it was called Across thePond, somewhere close to
(10:58):
Grapevine, texas.
I can't quite remember exactlywhere we were, and it was like a
British type of pub stylerestaurant, and everything in
the restaurant that was friedwas gluten-free.
I had gluten-free onion rings,I had gluten-free chicken strips
, and my chicken strips camewith British chips, so I had
gluten-free fries too.
(11:19):
It was just so wonderful toeven eat out and have
gluten-free onion rings.
So the last time I hadgluten-free onion rings, I made
them from scratch myself, andthey were delicious, but it was
wonderful not to have to make ityourself.
So we use the Find MeGluten-Free app to find the
place.
They also had gluten-free beerand gluten-free cider.
(11:40):
The story goes.
We asked the story about therestaurant and why that was
celiac safe.
Apparently, I think it was therestaurant owners like a son or
nephew, I believe it was,somebody in the family had
celiac and they wanted to, youknow, come up with a restaurant
that was safe for that person.
So I thought that was awonderful backstory behind it.
(12:00):
And then when we had our triphome, we kind of reversed it.
We actually stopped in Memphison the way home for dinner and
we ate at this wonderfulrestaurant and I had again a
steak dinner, if you at thiswonderful restaurant, and I had
again a steak dinner.
If you haven't figured out, Ilove, I actually love steak.
And I asked this time I'm likeyou know, hey, I can't have
(12:22):
tomatoes, and it was a goodthing.
I asked because the asparagusthat was going to be on my plate
is usually drizzled with atomato type of drizzle sauce.
So again, make sure you'rechecking for every single thing
that you cannot eat, because ifI hadn't mentioned something,
then my asparagus side dishwould have had tomato on it and
I wouldn't have maybe known ituntil I ate it.
(12:44):
So again, double check whatyou're going to be eating and
all your food sensitivities.
And then we landed in Nashvillefor sleeping and then drove the
way home, oh, and then all theway home the next day from
Nashville to back to Ohio.
We took a different route homeand it was actually a great
(13:05):
accident because we were tryingto find a place to eat.
It was a bit more of a ruralroute and we weren't sure if
we're going to be able to find aplace to eat.
But we used the Find MeGluten-Free app again and found
this place that had allgluten-free baked goods and it
was an olive oil company but italso had baked goods in it,
which was kind of an oddcombination.
(13:25):
So we went in the store andthey had the most wonderful
olive oil section I've ever seenin my entire life.
I've never seen anything likethis except for on TV, on like
food show network type of styleof shows you couldn't like
sample the olive oils.
You could sample the infusedolive oils.
They had balsamic vinaigrettestoo and it was just absolutely
(13:49):
wonderful.
And we got some baked goods totake with us on the road and I
got some olive oil to use.
I'm going to be using itactually this weekend after
recording this podcast episodewith my focaccia bread recipe
that's on our website.
Make sure you go grab that attheglutenfreeengineercom if you
haven't yet.
It's absolutely delicious andvery easy.
So we're going to be using itthis weekend to celebrate our
(14:14):
wedding anniversary because Iwant to make focaccia bread as
part of the meal, and using itto dip our focaccia bread in all
of this infused olive oil.
It's got like oregano basilthyme it's so delicious.
So, anyway, when you're doing aroad trip like this part of it,
you know kind of go with yourpersonality.
Of course you know plan aheadas much as possible is a good
(14:37):
idea, but you can also do somewinging it, like we did as well,
especially if you have appslike Find Me Gluten Free to
really help you find thoseplaces that are celiac safe if
needed, very gluten intolerantfriendly if needed, or just
simply gluten free if you don'tneed to be super strict.
That is really the best thing.
That really helped us.
(14:58):
I think my husband said that hewas in that almost more than
anything else the whole trip andalways have those snacks with
you in case you do get stucksomeplace that you can't find
anything safe.
Bring those substantial snackswith you and just really enjoy
yourself.
And then that bonus tip Ipromised I've already alluded to
(15:19):
it already is that we want tomake sure that you pack a safe
set of snacks with you, makesure they're filling, so that
you can pivot when plans need tochange and when you can't find
something safe that isgluten-free.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
(15:41):
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
(16:02):
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not provide amedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
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