Friday, March 18, 2016

Sunny Bridge Farms Natural Foods & Cafe

Sunny Bridge Farms Natural Foods & Cafe


As you can probably tell, I love to eat out.  But a passion of mine is also cooking.  You guessed it, it’s all gluten free.  One of the recurring issues at restaurants is the same at home.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell what ingredients are gluten free.  At least at home, I don’t have to worry about cross contamination, as long as I check out my ingredients before I buy them.  This usually consists of a lot of googling.  Sometimes it’s still unclear without contacting the manufacturer or finding someone who has.  With that being said, I found a great place in McMurray that carries a lot of gluten free options.  They are well labeled products to weed out any confusion.  It’s Sunny Bridge Farms Natural Food & Cafe. 


Now I like to cook... A lot!  And a good portion of my meals are naturally gluten free, like scallops, shrimp, and steak.  Sometimes I crave the things that would normally have gluten in them, like pizza, lasagna, and bread.


Sunny Bridge Farms is a health foods store with a cafe.  I haven’t eaten at the cafe because when I was there, they were closing soon, and I don’t like to order food at the end of someone’s shift.  I guess that’s the once restaurant worker in me.  I did find a great selection of ingredients.  I found my favorite gluten free flour mix, Better Batter.  It’s a little bit expensive, but it makes the best pasta.  I made wonderful noodles for my homemade chicken noodle soup.  My mom couldn’t even tell that they were gluten free.  I’ve made great ravioli’s and pierogie out of this mix, too. 



Another great ingredient I found was vanilla powder.  Instead of using an alcohol based vanilla in your baked goods, you can use this powder.  The most annoying thing I found was not knowing what the alcohol was derived from.  Is it gluten free or not?  Most don’t tell you.  Now you have a better option.  I haven't tried it in ice cream yet, but the next time I make homemade ice cream, I'm using this vanilla.




There was so many more things I wanted to try, but I just ran out of time & money.  Gluten free surely isn’t cheap, but with it becoming more mainstream, the price is finally starting to come down.

Sunny Bridge farms has a rewards program that is free to sign up for. Check them out if you love to cook or just need specialty health food items.

http://sunnybridgenaturalfoods.com/

130 Gallery Dr
McMurray, PA 15317
724-942-5800