Welcome to Raw Foods Thursdays! I’m writing from the beach, and I’ve had an incredible Fall Break so far. And while I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen this week, I have been frequenting my favorite raw foods truck called Raw and Juicy.

You can read about my last review of this amazing raw vegan cafe by the sea here.

But here’s a little raw taste.

Juice Board – What to chose???

Sipping their signature juice, the Raw and Juicy, while beach cruising is vacation at its finest.

This Acai Bowl with granola, bananas, and Acai juice has inspired me to finally make my own raw granola.

The Raw Veggie Sandwich with Kale Salad is always a favorite.

Yes, I’ve eaten at Raw and Juicy a lot this week!

Since I’m on a juice kick, so I thought I’d start this Raw Foods Thursday by linking up my Carrot Beet Power Juice.

But before we jump into this week, take a look at the delicious cookies and raw treats that were shared here at Raw Foods Thursdays last week!

Quick Raw Chocolate Fudge by Vegan Brains

Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies by Gabby of the veggie nook

Better Than Newton’s by Veggie V’s Vegan Adventure

Super Simple Date Cashew Butter Balls by Shannon of Enjoying Gluten-Free Life

Now it’s your turn to join in the fun!

Here’s how you can participate:

• Simply link up a raw foods recipe (see What Are Raw Foods Meals?), mention Raw Foods Thursdays, and link back to this post so your readers can join in the fun!
• Please link to the recipe, not to a blog’s home page, so we can all find your raw foods recipe.
• You may link up a recipe that you’ve made in the past. Just make sure to share something different each time you participate.
• Be sure to leave a comment letting us know who you are and what you’re sharing.
• Feel free to use the Raw Foods Thursdays blog badge created by the lovely, talented Heather Peters!

What are Raw Foods Meals?

• Plant-based meals that are not cooked.  Dehydrators may be used no higher than 118 degrees.  (The raw foods community has differing views on temperature, but the range is between 104 and 118 degrees.)
• Raw Ingredients: vegetables, fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, gluten-free sprouted grains, beans, and oils.

What isn’t raw?

• Anything cooked above 118.
• Anything processed.  If it comes from a can or a package that lists more than one ingredient, chances are it’s not raw!

So what do you have to share this week?

I love our trips to Asheville.  I love the mountains, the art, the pottery, the music, and the restaurants.  Okay, it’s mostly about the food for me, but I really do like everything else. I haven’t found another city as packed with environmentally conscious people as Asheville. The community believes in local food, and they are sensitive to the dietary restrictions of their city and its guests. Whether you are gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegetarian, or vegan, you are going to eat well in Asheville and feel good about it.

On our last trip to Asheville we stayed at Pinecrest Inn, a lovely bed and breakfast within walking distance of downtown.  I haven’t been overly excited about staying at bed and breakfasts in the past.  The bed part is usually just fine, but the breakfasts aren’t much of a treat when you are gluten intolerant, because you can’t enjoy the delicious country breakfasts that everyone else has to eat.  Plus, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I’m not going to waste a meal on scrambled eggs and a side of fruit when Posana has a 100% gluten free brunch menu just up the street.

But Janna and Stacy, the ladies of Pinecrest, blew me away.  Not only did they provide us with a beautiful, quiet, comfortable room, they went above and beyond to make sure that being gluten free didn’t take away from my bed and breakfast experience.

Every morning I knew where my place was at the table, because there was something different on the bread plate.  Sometimes it was a gluten-free blueberry muffin.

Another time it was a mini sweet bread from Dolci di Maria, a local Asheville gluten-free bakery.

That alone would have been enough for me, but the ladies of Pinecrest didn’t stop there.

On the morning that we had yogurt parfaits, they used Udi’s Gluten-Free Granola for everyone’s parfait, not just mine.

They made sure that the frittata was naturally gluten free and that I had Udi’s Gluten-Free Bread to go along with it.  Udi’s bread was even more delicious topped with South Carolina peach preserves homemade by Janna’s daughter, Aiken.  And a tomato fresh from the Farmer’s Market just topped it off perfectly.

On French toast morning, I wondered if I’d be eating eggs with a side of Udi’s toast, but Janna and Stacy created gluten-free French toast with Udi’s Gluten-Free Bread just for me, complete with fresh peaches.

Gluten-free breakfast every morning was a dream come true, but it didn’t stop there.

Each day, upon returning from our day’s adventures, I looked forward to afternoon dessert.  Dessert for the guests were in the dining room under a glass cake dome.  But dessert for me was in the refrigerator and promptly presented upon our arrival.

Gluten-Free Cupcakes by Dolci di Maria

Cupcakes and white wine?  When on vacation, yes!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownie by Dolci di Maria

Clearly, Pinecrest Inn gets a five star rating and two paws up from the Gluten-Free Cat on food alone.  But the actual accommodations were beautiful and comfortable, giving us the perfect weekend retreat.

We started our visit in the Thomas Wolf Suite.  Apparently there was a small leak in the closet of our beautiful room after a torrential downpour.

It was barely noticeable, but the innkeepers moved us to the Grace Room on our last evening in hopes of improving our stay.  I was actually quite thrilled, as during the booking process I couldn’t decide between the Grace and the Thomas Wolfe.  How perfect that I had the chance to experience both!

In the Grace Room we were greeted with a bottle of wine as an anniversary gift, a bouquet of fresh flowers, and a gluten-free chocolate carrot cake.  This cake was out of this world!

This amazing cake by World’s Best Carrot Cake was truly the world’s best carrot cake!  Gluten-free or not, it was so good that I must confess that the Husband only got a small piece.  And dinner was rather late that evening.

It was a treat to stay at Pinecrest Inn.  Not only is the inn beautiful, comfortable, and well maintained, the owners are friendly and determined to make sure that your experience is memorable.  I highly recommend a stay at Pinecrest for anyone looking for a getaway.

• Have you ever been to Pinecrest Inn?
• Have you had a positive bed and breakfast experience? Please share!
• How has an inn or BnB gone above and beyond for you?
• What other BnBs are gluten friendly?

After a full day of work, two flights, and an hour and a half drive in the dark, I was ready to retreat.  Thankfully, I arrived at the home of Shirley of gfe safely.  I would have to wait until morning to actually see the gorgeous countryside, the lake, the incredible mountain-style home with the screened-in back porch, and the towering trees.  All of that would feed my spirit in the days to come.

But I arrived to a welcoming group of pajama-clad food bloggers who were all tapping away at their iPads and laptops.   Immediately, laptops were closed, hugs went all around, and the refrigerator door opened.

“Oh, no, I’m not really hungry.”  I had missed dinner, but I had snacked and could wait until breakfast.

“But we had Johnna’s Vegan Pulled Pork for dinner, and we saved you some.”

Vegan Pulled Pork?  How can you turn that down, even at 11:00 p.m.?

It was astounding.  Not only was it a delicious late night snack, but it was so remarkably like eating pulled pork barbecue that it was hard to believe it was vegan.  Johnna was a genius.

Johnna of 52 Sweets (and various other 52 blogs) is a gluten-free vegetarian who started her blog by chronicling her quest to eat only one sweet treat every week for a year.  That lead to other 52 projects like 52 Donuts and 52 Foods on a Stick that you can read all about here. Johnna is so cool.

She is full of laughter, light, encouragement, and joy.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her and can’t wait to see her again!  Until then, I can make the recipes from her blog and enjoy chatting online.

As soon as I got home I went on a quest for the secret ingredient in Johnna’s Vegan Pulled Pork.  Jackfruit.  I couldn’t find it at Whole Foods.  But I finally found it at an International Market, and I’ll be keeping them in stock!

Does anyone else get this excited to find recipe ingredients?

The next day, I made Johnna’s Jackfruit BBQ for a pool party, and everyone loved it, meat eaters and vegetarians alike.  The jackfruit is very tender, much more so than pork, and it takes on the flavor of the barbecue sauce perfectly.

Spooned into a corn tortilla, it made delicious Vegan BBQ Tacos.

The hardest part about making this Vegan BBQ was finding the Jackfruit.  The rest was a snap.  Toss the ingredients in the slowcooker, wait, and shred.  You can find Johnna’s Jackfruit BBQ Recipe here.  Johnna and I must have been on the same wavelength last week as she also posted a recipe for Jackfruit Tacos that incorporates wild rice.  I’m trying that one next.

Other On Their Blogs, By Their Hands posts:

• Heavenly GF Angel Food Cake by Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Fondue by Kim of Cook It Allergy Free
• Brazilian Un-Cheese Biscuits by Shirley of Gluten-Free Easily

And there are still more to come!

Readers, dish!

• Have you found Johnna’s blogs?
• Have you ever tried Jackfruit?
• What missing ingredient have you had to hunt down?

My topic for 10 Days of Gluten-Free is one of my favorite activities…Eating Out Gluten Free!  For the next 10 days I will share 10 of my best tips for making the dining experience safe, healthy, and enjoyable, even when on a gluten-free diet.

Eating Out Tip #1 is…Do Your Homework.

If you walk into a restaurant cold, without any information about the establishment at all, and you have a terrible experience, well, it’s your own fault.

In this day and age, there is no excuse for ignorance.  Most of us have the World Wide Web as close as our hip pockets or the lipstick slots of our Vera Bradleys.  And if you don’t, within minutes you can find a computer to do a little research before heading out to dinner.

Most restaurants have their menus online, and many of them have gluten-free menus.  Check them out, choose three meal options that look safe and yummy, and be prepared with questions for your server when you arrive.  The answers to those questions will help you decide what to order.  If you don’t have access to the internet, make a phone call during non-serving hours.  Start with this question, “Is your restaurant able to serve gluten-free diners?”

One of the best restaurant finds I made was from a quick iPhone web search in the car about 60 miles outside of Asheville, North Carolina.  One hit told me that we couldn’t drive through Asheville without stopping at Posana for dinner.  Who knew that a restaurant where everything on the menu is naturally gluten-free just happened to be 6 hours into our road trip?  I spent the next 60 minutes wondering if we were headed toward gluten-free heaven.

We were.  If I hadn’t done my homework I would have missed out on this.

Do your homework.

At the end of 10 Days of Gluten Free, I’ll be giving away two $25 giftcards to P.F. Changs, one of the first chain restaurants to create a gluten-free menu.  You can enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below.  You can leave a second entry by letting me know that you followed Gluten-Free Cat on Twitter and “liked” Gluten-Free Cat’s Facebook page.

I’ll be back tomorrow with tip #2.  And don’t forget to visit these blogs today for even more gluten-free tips:

• Getting Started – Linda @ The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Resources – Wendy @ Celiacs in the House
• Traveling – Karen @ Gluten-Free Travel Blog
• Frugal Tips – Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal
• Cooking – Carrie @ Ginger Lemon Girl
• Baking – Jules @ Jules Gluten Free
• Kids – Lynn @ Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
• Lunch Boxes – Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva
• Shopping – Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry

Reader’s, dish!

• What resources do you use to research restaurants?
• Have you ordered from P.F. Chang’s gluten-free menu?
• What is your favorite gluten-free restaurant?