50's Prime Time Café - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Last Saturday, we had dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

50's Prime Time Cafe, a table service restaurant, serves up classic American comfort food, and is themed like Mom's kitchen, so your server treats you like family, and you better mind your manners, or you could be in for a scolding.  We were seated at a TV table, so we were able to watch black-and-white clips from popular TV shows from the mid-1950's.

Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show - Disney's Polynesian Village Resort

For three years in a row, we spent New Year's Eve at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort.  This year, or should I say last year now that it is 2016, we decided to try the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.

We bought Category 1 seats, hoping to have the best possible view of the stage, which is outdoors.  Disney's website does note that the "show may be cancelled due to severe or inclement weather."

Pasta with Sausage, Smashed Peas, and Ricotta Cheese

Last night, I tried a new pasta recipe for dinner.  I was a bit nervous about this one, because my family tends to be a bit picky about ricotta, preferring it in desserts over savory dishes, and I was worried that my daughters would not like me mixing peas in with their pasta.  They prefer to eat their peas in a bowl, separate from the rest of their food.

Well, it turns out that I had nothing to worry about.  My husband and daughters loved my latest pasta creation, and my girls even raved about how great the leftovers were for lunch.  It is not super pretty to look at, but it tasted great, and that is what is most important when I am cooking for my family.

Sanaa's Gluten Free Vegan Naan Recipe

Sanaa, which is located at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village, is one of our favorite table service restaurants at Disney World for lunch and dinner.  In 2014, a pastry chef at Sanaa developed a recipe for gluten free naan, which is an Indian-style flatbread.  The recipe used Cup4Cup original flour blend, which contains dairy.  My entire family loved Sanaa's gluten free naan, which I thought was the best gluten free bread option in Orlando.  You can view the recipe here.



Last year, when Disney introduced allergy-friendly menus, Sanaa changed their naan recipe to make it more allergy friendly.  The new gluten-friendly vegan naan was made with Bob's Red Mill all-purpose baking flour, which made it accessible to more people with special diets, but the texture and taste were disappointing compared to the original recipe.  Thankfully, the chefs at Sanaa are now serving a new and improved gluten-friendly vegan naan made with Cup4Cup Wholesome Flour Blend.  It is safe for people with gluten/wheat, milk, egg, soy, fish/shellfish, and peanut/tree nut allergies.

Best of 2015 - My Favorite Gluten Free Products

For the last three years, I have put together a list of my favorite gluten free products.  In 2013, Cup4Cup original flour blend topped my list, and it still remains my favorite all-purpose gluten free flour.  My Best of 2014 list features favorites like Sweet Note bagels, Le Veneziane pasta, Trader Joe's pumpkin pancake mix, and Williams-Sonoma gingerbread spice quick bread mix.  This year, my top two gluten free products are Cappello's pasta and Luce's OMG Flatbread mix.  

For several years, I have wanted to try Cappello's gluten and grain free pasta, and I finally had the chance this past summer.  My family loved the gnocchi and the fettuccine, but Cappello's tops my list because of their lasagna sheets, which I have used to make beef ravioli and mafalda noodles, two of the best dinners I made in 2015.  Cappello's is not sold in any local stores, but they recently changed their online prices to include shipping.  Ordering online is still pricey, but it is cheaper than eating pasta at a restaurant, and it is worth the occasional splurge.

Sanaa Lunch - Kidani Village at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas

This review was updated 5/10/16

Yesterday, my daughters and I had lunch at Sanaa at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas with my friend Sarah from Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free at WDW.  Sanaa is a table service restaurant featuring African cooking with Indian flavors, and great views of the animals on the savanna outside.

Sanaa is one of my family's favorite restaurants at Disney World for lunch and dinner, and is featured in the following blog posts: My Favorite Table Service Restaurants at Disney,  Best Disney Restaurants without a Park Pass, Best of 2014 - Disney, and two posts in my series The Best Thing I Ever Ate at Disney - Gluten Free Appetizers and Gluten Free Desserts.

Gluten Free Fried Smelts

Both my husband and I have Italian Catholic grandmothers, so we were raised with the tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve.  Growing up, I always had several fish dishes to choose from, while Mitch's family had at least seven for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Both of our grandmothers made fried smelts, a dish we have not had since our last Christmas in Pittsburgh, ten years ago.  This year, while having dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant on Christmas Eve, we decided that we needed to revive some of our family Christmas Eve traditions, like the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  While we brainstormed all the fish dishes we could cook next year, we decided that we needed to make fried smelts, so we bought some smelts at Lombardi's Seafood in Winter Park on Saturday.

Sanaa Christmas Dinner - Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas

Sanaa, which is located in Kidani Village at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, is one of my favorite table service restaurants at Walt Disney World for both lunch and dinner.

We usually have Christmas breakfast at Disney World, and dinner at home, but this year, we changed things up a bit and had breakfast at home, and dinner at Disney.  Sanaa was very busy when we arrived at 3:30, and I had to wait 10 minutes just to check in.  Walk-ins were not being accepted, so if you want to have dinner at Disney World on Christmas day, make sure you have advance dining reservations.  

The Bald Strawberry Cake Cafe - Melbourne

The Bald Strawberry Cake Cafe is now closed.  The restaurant is still open.  

The Bald Strawberry, a 100% gluten free restaurant in Melbourne, Florida, recently opened The Bald Strawberry Cake Cafe in the same shopping plaza as their gourmet waffle cafe.  You can read my review of The Bald Strawberry here.

At the Cake Cafe, you can buy a variety of baked goods, mixes to take home, fresh organic coffee, and gluten free pasta.

Portobello Country Italian Trattoria - Disney Springs

Last Friday, my daughters and I had lunch at Portobello Country Italian Trattoria in Disney Springs.  We have never dined at this restaurant before, because of mixed reviews on TripAdvisor, and we tend to have very high standards when it comes to Italian food, our favorite cuisine to cook at home.

After a member of my private Facebook group Gluten Free in Orlando raved about her meal at Portobello, I finally decided to give it a try.  Portobello is not Disney-owned and operated, so they do not have an allergy-friendly menu.  When I told our server that I had celiac, she did not offer to bring out a chef, but I asked to see one to discuss gluten free options.  Our server had told me that there were salad options, and the chef mentioned that most pasta dishes can be made gluten free with the use of gluten free penne, because their sauces are gluten free.  When I asked what brand they used, I was told Bonta d'Italia, which is Schar.