Just Wondering Who's From Minnesota

[linds]

Just wandering who is all from Minnesota. I live in northern MN in a small town and feel like no one arround is like me.

Hope to hear from all you minnesotans!!

[RiceAddict]

I actually live in Northern Iowa but spend a great deal of time in MN, mostly Rochester area. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

A

[mn farm gal]

Hi to the Minnesotan's! I have lived in central Minnesota all my life. Just started the Celica diet in July, and still learning it seems like a ssloooww learning process. I have a hard time trying new things, it seems that I eat pretty much the same things. Glad to hear from you all!

[LisaJ]

Hi Everyone! I live in Minneapolis and just started (again) the gluten free diet about a month ago. I was diagnosed with Celiac when I was 2 years old, and then unfortunately a doctor that didn't know much about Celiac told me I did not have it after I had a normal biopsy (I had been on a gluten free diet for 15 years at the time). He told me "you just have IBS". So after being pretty sick for the past few years and things just kept getting worse, I finally got tested again, and yes, I do have Celiac - UGH! I am finally starting to feel better though. Anybody know any good restaurants to go to? I have been scared to go out to eat!!

[Jennas-auntie]

We are from MN-I recommend checking out the Northland Celiac page Open Original Shared Link

They have a listing of gluten free shopping places and also a section on the restaurants you can go to where they will know about it/have menus for you. They have added more in even the past few months. They also had a booth this year at the State Fair that a lot of us Minnesotans checked out that listed places you could go at the fair to get gluten-free items/food. So that's been useful. Oh, and check out the Bittersweet Bakery-yum-they are totally gluten-free, and will also do birthday cakes/wedding cakes etc.

Best wishes!

[LisaJ]

THANK YOU Jennas-auntie!

[aabel]

  LisaJ said:

THANK YOU Jennas-auntie!

[aabel]

Hello all you Minnesotans. I am from central Minnesota and also resommend checking out the twincitiesrock.org. It has some get started information for you newbies and also for any children with celiac. There are more of us 'silly-aks' than you think.

Amy

[Cheri A]

Hi... I live in a southern 'burb of Minneapolis. I'll have to check out that rock site.

Lisa, glad that you are back on track and starting to feel better now. We don't really eat out very much. The one place that we have had good luck at is Outback Steakhouse. We have tried other restaurants, but she always complains that her tummy hurts after wards.

[Rook's Mommy]

Minnesotan here. I am from the twin cities area. I am also very new to the board. This will be my 5th day gluten-free. I am doing this for my ds who is breastfeeding. He has the intolerance. But I am finding that I feel amazingly better myself. Glad to know I am not alone

[mn farm gal]

Welcome to ALL!!! This board is wonderful.

[Jennas-auntie]

  mn farm gal said:

Welcome to ALL!!! This board is wonderful.

Say, has anyone been to Cooqi yet? It is a new all gluten free bakery in St. Paul (MN). I haven't been there, just wondering what people thought. Here's their site: Open Original Shared Link

[TestyTommy]

Hi everyone! My name is Tom and I live in downtown Minneapolis.

Thanks for the link to Cooqi. A friend of mine told me about this store last week. (The owner is apparently a friend of a friend). I tried to find it last weekend, but let's just say that my friend is 'directionally challenged'. I drove around St. Paul for an hour and a half and couldn't find it!

Now that I have an address, I'll go check it out this week. Is anyone curious about any particular item?

[Jennas-auntie]

  TestyTommy said:

Hi everyone! My name is Tom and I live in downtown Minneapolis.

Thanks for the link to Cooqi. A friend of mine told me about this store last week. (The owner is apparently a friend of a friend). I tried to find it last weekend, but let's just say that my friend is 'directionally challenged'. I drove around St. Paul for an hour and a half and couldn't find it!

Now that I have an address, I'll go check it out this week. Is anyone curious about any particular item?

Hm, open to whatever might be good I guess-maybe if they have a specialty or something they say people really like? Maybe what are general prices like there too? Sounds like an interesting place though.

[LisaJ]

  TestyTommy said:

Hi everyone! My name is Tom and I live in downtown Minneapolis.

Thanks for the link to Cooqi. A friend of mine told me about this store last week. (The owner is apparently a friend of a friend). I tried to find it last weekend, but let's just say that my friend is 'directionally challenged'. I drove around St. Paul for an hour and a half and couldn't find it!

Now that I have an address, I'll go check it out this week. Is anyone curious about any particular item?

Hi Tom -

I have been to Cooqi a couple of times - it is hard to find! It still has a sign on the building that it is an embroidery shop. Their multigrain bread if fabulous - I definitely recommend it! It's about $5.50 for one loaf, but it's worth it. I always call and reserve bread before I go because they usually run out right away. I have also tried their carrot cake and cookies - all very good.

Hope you have better luck finding it this time!

[Cheri A]

I was going to call them to ask about whether any of their goodies are egg-free. If they aren't, then my dd can't eat them.

[TestyTommy]

I checked out Cooqi yesterday. It's on the corner of Marshall and Cretin, right across from Town & Country golf course. It's very easy to get to once you know where it is. (My friend had told me it was near Selby & Dale, which is why I couldn't find it when I looked once before. It's about 4 miles from there!)

The items are limited by most bakery standards, but quite amazing for those of us looking for gluten-free food. All of the items are gluten free, and most are dairy free and soy free. All the items in the display case were labeled with ingredients, so you can check them out yourself. The pizza dough and 2 kinds of bread are also egg free.

I bought a double chocolate cookie, a brownie, a loaf of bread and a pizza dough. I don't remember the individual prices, but the total was $15.00 I think the bread and pizza were about $5.00 each, and the cookie and brownie were $2-3.00 each. Pretty typical bakery prices, I think. (Although it's been a long time since I've been to a bakery!!!)

The brownie didn't even make it to my car (less than a block away). Spectacular! The cookie was also very good. A little thin for my liking, but nice and chewy. (There were 4 kinds of cookies -- chocolate chip, double chocolate, some kind of plain/sugar-type cookie and another that I can't remember).

The bread that I bought was called (I think) 'The Works' bread. Absolutely delicious! Firm and chewy, and it had a bunch of seeds on the outside (which I like, though others may not). I ended up eating about half the loaf by the end of the day. All the other gluten-free breads I've tried are just plain nasty. But this was actually good bread, whether it's gluten-free or not. It's a good sized loaf, and I think it was $5.95, so that's pretty cheap for gluten-free bread. The other bread they had was a honey-something bread, which is comparable to a honey-wheat kind of bread. I'll try that out, too, but I absolutely love this 'Works' bread. (I want to make some stew this weekend so I can dip it in some gravy).

I haven't tried the pizza dough yet.

I give Cooqi two enthusiastic thumbs up. I plan to make it a weekly stop, especially since it's only 10 minutes from where I live. I think I'll try to stick to a loaf or two of bread, though. Much as I loved the brownie & cookie, the spare tire around my waist doesn't need the extra calories!

[Jennas-auntie]

  TestyTommy said:

I checked out Cooqi yesterday. It's on the corner of Marshall and Cretin, right across from Town & Country golf course. It's very easy to get to once you know where it is. (My friend had told me it was near Selby & Dale, which is why I couldn't find it when I looked once before. It's about 4 miles from there!)

The items are limited by most bakery standards, but quite amazing for those of us looking for gluten-free food. All of the items are gluten free, and most are dairy free and soy free. All the items in the display case were labeled with ingredients, so you can check them out yourself. The pizza dough and 2 kinds of bread are also egg free.

I bought a double chocolate cookie, a brownie, a loaf of bread and a pizza dough. I don't remember the individual prices, but the total was $15.00 I think the bread and pizza were about $5.00 each, and the cookie and brownie were $2-3.00 each. Pretty typical bakery prices, I think. (Although it's been a long time since I've been to a bakery!!!)

The brownie didn't even make it to my car (less than a block away). Spectacular! The cookie was also very good. A little thin for my liking, but nice and chewy. (There were 4 kinds of cookies -- chocolate chip, double chocolate, some kind of plain/sugar-type cookie and another that I can't remember).

The bread that I bought was called (I think) 'The Works' bread. Absolutely delicious! Firm and chewy, and it had a bunch of seeds on the outside (which I like, though others may not). I ended up eating about half the loaf by the end of the day. All the other gluten-free breads I've tried are just plain nasty. But this was actually good bread, whether it's gluten-free or not. It's a good sized loaf, and I think it was $5.95, so that's pretty cheap for gluten-free bread. The other bread they had was a honey-something bread, which is comparable to a honey-wheat kind of bread. I'll try that out, too, but I absolutely love this 'Works' bread. (I want to make some stew this weekend so I can dip it in some gravy).

I haven't tried the pizza dough yet.

I give Cooqi two enthusiastic thumbs up. I plan to make it a weekly stop, especially since it's only 10 minutes from where I live. I think I'll try to stick to a loaf or two of bread, though. Much as I loved the brownie & cookie, the spare tire around my waist doesn't need the extra calories!

Thanks for the review!!

[kbtoyssni]

I live just north of St Paul.

[mndude]

I live in minneapolis. The wedge coop at lyndale s. and franklin has the best peanut butter cookies I've ever had. $1.19 each but worth it . They also have a deli with glutin free items . I will try a glutin free sandwich next time I am there and review it here.

[TestyTommy]

I've been making a twice a week pilgrimmage to Cooqui for the past few weeks, and I thought I'd give an update. Today I got some focaccia that was absolutely great. Most of the bread has a non-breadlike consistency (ie, it's good, but no one would mistake it for wheat bread). The focaccia was chewy and tasty, and you probably couldn't tell it from a wheat based focaccia.

I also had a couple chocolate chip cookies that were still warm from the oven. Cooqui's cookies are definitely their best product.

Cookies are $1.50.

Focaccia was $6.25

Prices foe the breads went up. Most are in the $7.00 range now.

PS: Dang, it's cold!

[mndude]

Wedge deli sandwich rocks. $6.00 for sandwich and choice of fruit. They toast the bread in a toaster oven and it makes the bread taste LIKE REAL BREAD. I'm going to get a taoster oven for all my rice bread. Oh the joy of someone else making my food. Its been years.

[flagbabyds]

i don't live in MN but i spend my summers at concordia language villages. my camp is at marine on st criox location and the cooks always go out and find me gluten free food, from where i don't know.

[mndude]

  flagbabyds said:

i don't live in MN but i spend my summers at concordia language villages. my camp is at marine on st criox location and the cooks always go out and find me gluten free food, from where i don't know.

Thats great that they would do that for you. Sometimes people are amazing.

[LisaJ]

  TestyTommy said:

I've been making a twice a week pilgrimmage to Cooqui for the past few weeks, and I thought I'd give an update. Today I got some focaccia that was absolutely great. Most of the bread has a non-breadlike consistency (ie, it's good, but no one would mistake it for wheat bread). The focaccia was chewy and tasty, and you probably couldn't tell it from a wheat based focaccia.

I also had a couple chocolate chip cookies that were still warm from the oven. Cooqui's cookies are definitely their best product.

Cookies are $1.50.

Focaccia was $6.25

Prices foe the breads went up. Most are in the $7.00 range now.

PS: Dang, it's cold!

Just wondering if you still need to reserve things from Cooqi . . . I haven't been there in about a month. Last time I went they were still out of almost everything, and I was calling to reserve bread ahead of time. Hopefully they have hired more help??