Lunch at Noah's today

I've been pretty bad lately and buying my lunch almost every day.  I usually go to Noah's to buy my lunch.  Actually, its the Sunny Cafe inside Noah's on Bloor at Spadina. They have a self-serve buffet of healthy, organic, vegan, simple food and BEST OF ALL lists all of their ingredients for each dish. Its the only place I feel safe buying a soup. Usually there is always either gluten, dairy or both in commercial soups as well as a whole host of gross unidentifiable ingredients and preservatives. Did you ever have that Maggi stuff growing up? I used to douse my soup in it...mmm MSG. At Sunny Cafe you can get a spinach, pea, or lentil soup that has a handful of tasty ingredients that you can understand.

After all that talk about soup I didn't get one today - once in a while they do a barley soup and today was one of those days. So today I had steamed kale with their tofu based vegan cesar dressing, an eggplant and portabello mushroom stir-fry and a brown rice and spinach dish. Tastier than it sounds, I swear!

It was somebody's birthday at work today and our department always does a birthday cake.  I don't usually mind not eating the cake and just hanging out while others eat, but today I thought I'd treat myself to some gluten free cookies to eat along with everyone, conveniently purchased at Noah's on my way out of Sunny Cafe. Organic Works is my favourite gluten free brand. They aren't based in Toronto, but at least they are an Ontario company! The only downfall is that I have to buy a whole bag of cookies and will usually devour the whole bag in one sitting. Chocolate chip gluten free and vegan cookies are my favourite. Not that I care about them being vegan - just that they are dairy free for digestion reasons.  They also make amazing gluten free bread.  After spending ridiculous amounts of money on dry, crumbly, tasteless gluten free breads, I gave up on finding a suitable sandwich replacement... UNTIL I TRIED THEIR BREAD. My mom actually bought me their brown rice bread as a treat for last Easter and since then I've been hooked.  I have also tried their Chia Buckwheat bread which is just as good.  Then I discovered their cookies.  Their chocolate chip cookies almost taste like the real thing. I've also tried their cranberry lemon and double chocolate chip, also very good but I prefer the regular chocolate chip. I just noticed they have a shortbread one out now too, but I haven't tried it yet. You can find Organic Works products at Noah's and the Big Carrot.  I'm sure most organic/health food places will have it.

I'm being lazy tonight.  I'm going to take my dog for a walk to Broadview and Danforth to check out a new Shawarma place for dinner, Oea. They just opened today and are having some great grand opening deals. Mmm Chicken Shawarma plate. Not sure if there is hidden flour in any of the seasoning (Celiacs beware) but usually can tolerate yummy chicken shawarma and rice. Often the garlic sauce is mayonnaise based and tahini sauce is also gluten and dairy free. I'll let you know how it goes! It has tough competition.  Paramount just opened at Yonge and Dundas and is by far the best Arabic food restaurant in the city.  But that's a post for another day!