Gluten Free on the Road: Zoot Coffee in Camden and Hootin' Gluten Free Baked Goods

Hi friends!  I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post.  Life got a little overwhelming.  A family member passed away.  I was told that I had a lump in my breast (which turned out to be fine).  I had my first cold in two years and it was an intense nasal experience.  The feeling of being busy all of the time started to pile up and stress me out.  But recently, things have been falling back into place and settling down...and even looking up!  So Marching onward...and keeping it positive!

A few weeks ago, Andrew and I had a break from school during the same time.  I found a good deal at the Hartstone Inn in Camden, which was a HUGE treat for us.  Camden is one of our favorite places -- it's right near Belfast, which has an amazing health food co-op, and Rockland, which also has an amazing co-op and is home to Rock City Coffee and Yes Yes Books.  Camden is a little town by the water, with a state park for hiking, cute local stores for shopping, and great restaurants for eating. 

And oh, was there eating.  Our most memorable experience came by surprise.  We had been to Zoot Coffee before, but never paid much attention to their menu -- until this visit, when we saw that they were offering a vegan and gluten free quiche made with chickpeas, broccoli, and onions.  Just that alone was enough to make us skip out on the breakfast that the Inn was offering (whoops!) to get a taste of that glorious dish.  It was amazingly flavorful, generous with veggies, and was just as filling as a slice of quiche.  It's definitely on my list of recipes to try to figure out -- I searched online and found similar ones...but none that looked like the one we had at Zoots. 

Also on the menu at Zoots was this gluten-free almond apple cake.  Bitting into it was like bitting into a fluffy piece of almond heaven.  It was warmed up for us and went well with our quiche.  For being made with mostly ground almonds, it was surprisingly light, and had a really fine texture to it.

Then, came second breakfast:  On our way home that morning, we stopped by another fun co-op in Rockland called Good Tern.  There, Andrew and I split a Raspberry Streusel Bar from Hootin' Gluten Free Bakery.  Sugar free and kissed with honey, it was the perfect balance of the silky raspberry and crumbly oats.  I thought that if it had some almond butter, it would be the best nut+jelly "sandwich" ever.

Another treat that I got for myself to save for later on that night after dinner was some chocolate from Righteously Raw.

It was a truffle of sorts, with the raw chocolate hugging a goji berry puree that complemented each other in the best way possible.  I love high percentage raw chocolate, and this might be a new favorite of mine.  Check out their website and read about the ingredients -- I was pretty impressed by the high quality of everything that goes into their products.

It was such a rejuvenating experience in Camden...we came home refreshed and ready to tackle doctor's appointments (me) and loads of homework (Andrew).  We're so lucky here in Maine to have such lovely get-away places within a couple hour's drive!

Now that things have settled down, I hope to get back into posting more!  I have lots of food and yoga related things to share!