Pizza and Mallow Cups

Today we decided to eat out twice in Kalamazoo, once for lunch and once for dessert. Both times we adhered to a strict FODMAP eating plan. We remained gluten, dairy and soy free plus we avoided all onions and garlic. I started with a quick google search of gluten free restaurants in Kalamazoo and found Gluten Free Kalamazoo‘s list of places to eat in our area. There are thousands of sites like this online and if you happen to live in a large city like Chicago, the list is even bigger. Another easy way to find FODMAP friendly restaurants is to look for vegan friendly places. Most restaurants that are gluten free and vegan friendly can easily add meat to any vegan dish that is dairy and gluten free. Remember, however to ask about onions and garlic because they are hidden everywhere!

Blackowl

The Black Owl Cafe Pizza

This afternoon we had pizza from Black Owl Cafe and it was amazing. Their sauce has garlic and onion in it so we opted for chopped fresh tomato as a base instead. Like the good FODMAPers we are we ordered red and green peppers and ground beef. To top everything off we had plain goat and feta cheese which is allowed and, I might add, really very good on a pizza. The crust was super thin and very crispy and I honestly thought it was loaded with gluteny goodness, but it wasn’t. This crust was craveable and I will be shocked if Mr. MVP and I are not back at Black Owl Cafe within the month for more pizza.

If you live in the area, info on the Black Owl Cafe’s hours can be found here and their menu is located here.

The Cupcake Zoo

The Cupcake Zoo

Dessert is not something we take lightly at our house. If we are going to indulge in dessert we are all in, 100% no messing around, so when I read that The Cupcake Zoo had their desserts at The Wine Loft I was more than happy. This post really has nothing to do with The Wine Loft, except that they make The Cupcake Zoo available in Kalamazoo, when they usually would only be available in Otsego. The Cupcake Zoo has gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and nut free locally made desserts, so I was very excited. We tried the mallow cups and sugar cookies. The mallow cups were rich chocolate covered marshmallow and were gooey and yummy. I was surprised they were dairy free because usually only gritty pretend chocolate qualifies, but this tasted real and super official. The sugar cookie was soft and just a little sweet. This cookie was not bad by any stretch because it did not have the gluten free aftertaste, but for $2 and at one square inch in size it was completely not worth the price. I would love to try more of The Cupcake Zoo’s flavors.

(Just as a note, we were really sad because we paid $6 for the three desserts which is absolutely outrageous, but completely the fault of The Wine Loft. I would love to visit The Cupcake Zoo in Otsego, but their hours are a little hinky, so it will have to be a planned trip.)

If you live near Otsego and would like to visit The Cupcake Zoo their hours can be found here and their menus are here.

This morning we started with a list of about 14 restaurants and narrowed our choices down to two. I used Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Google along with outside blogs to do research on local businesses. We asked a lot of questions and were extremely thoughtful with our food choices, but in the end our time and exploration was well worth one hot, crispy pizza and two creamy, sticky mallow cups.

 

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