The day I arrived in Salt Lake was a great day.  My niece, Sarah, was super excited when she and her sister got to go with my sister-in-law to pick me up from the airport.  It’s always a great feeling when kids are excited to see you.  They moved in September, after living 10 minutes away from me for over 2 years.  As you can imagine, it was a little rough on us all.

After spending a little quality time with the girls, I headed out to Alta ski resort with my friend Tim and his son Robby.  I had had one previous skiing experience.  When I was 15, my step-grandpa took me once down the bunny slope then left me alone.  Alone, in the snow, on a mountain, when I was 15?  I spent the rest of the day drinking hot chocolate with my older brother.

Cassandra at Alta

I’m quite a bit more outgoing and adventurous now, so I decided to give skiing another shot.  I had no idea how to even stand on the skis.  I fell twice on the way to the ski lift, but I figured out what I was doing.  We had time for three runs: I made myself fall twice on the first one (I couldn’t turn fast enough, and was afraid of hitting the rocks), but didn’t fall at all the second or third time, and went a whole lot faster.  All in all, I think I did a rather excellent job.  I think it’s the Zumba (and the kickboxing, and racquetball, and spin, and weightlifting…).

After my first run

Skiing made us hungry, so we headed in to downtown Salt Lake City to Biaggi’s.  The thought of Italian was just too appealing for me.

Tim and I are both gluten-free, and Robby decided to order off the gluten-free menu so that we could all share.

Robby got the Grilled Chicken Parmesan, which was covered in marinara sauce, served with gf spaghetti and garlic Alfredo sauce.  You can tell you’re getting the gf spaghetti because they use the green Tinkyada spinach spaghetti.

The chicken and the sauces were excellent.  I found the pasta to be a little overcooked (I prefer mine al dente), but that may have had to do with the sheer number of people there for how early it was in the evening.  Everyone wanted to eat before the Jazz game.

Tim ordered the Grilled Chicken Pietro, a “grilled chicken breast topped with a homemade sauce of balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, rosemary, garlic and a touch of honey. Served with sautéed portabello mushrooms and seasonal vegetables.”

I can honestly say I’ve never had chicken like this before.  The sauce was a little sweet and a little tangy and vinegar-y.  It was an excellent combination of flavors.  The veggies were cooked just right, in my opinion, a little soft but with a hint of crispness.

I ordered the Chicken Piemontese.  After reading the description, I really had no choice.  “Grilled chicken breast stuffed with imported Italian ham and smoked provolone and Gouda cheeses. Topped with a lemon-basil butter sauce and served with sautéed asparagus and roasted herb potatoes.”

Ummm, yes, please.

The asparagus was just right, the potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, the sauce was excellent, and there was prosciutto and heavenly Gouda and provolone inside my chicken.   I am definitely a fan of this dish.  In fact, I had a hard time deciding whether I liked this one or the Pietro more.  The Gouda and provolone won me over.

I liked it so much, that I was afraid my brother would steal my leftovers.  I hid them in the back of the fridge and promptly finished them off at 6am. 

No Italian meal is complete without dessert, and Biaggi’s did not disappoint.  Their creme brulee was excellent, giving us just the right amount of smooth filling and crunchy sugar topping to satiate our collective sweet tooth.

Biaggi’s has a number of locations scattered about in 12 states.  What has your Biaggi’s experience been like?

I first met some of the great ladies from Sweet Cake Bake Shop at the GFAF Expo in Dallas, back in October.  I’m pretty sure I had sampled about everything they offered over the two days, and was so impressed, I had immediately called my sister-in-law to let her know about it.

You see, Melissa, while not gluten-free herself, now has Celiac Disease popping up all around her family: an aunt, a cousin, another sister-in-law, all of whom live in the Salt Lake area.  She has visited Sweet Cake Bake Shop a few times, getting treats for her family members.

Yesterday, while the two of us were out shopping, I felt an urge for some chocolate.  Do you ever get that urge?  Well, I do, and it was coming on pretty strong.  In a completely un-Cassandra-like fashion, I reached for some Junior Mints in the check out line.  Melissa, seeing my movement, said “I was going to suggest we go to that bakery.”

You would not believe how fast that candy was back on the shelf.  Not only did Melissa laugh, but so did the checker.

I was so excited to go there.  I make pretty awesome treats myself (not to brag, just stating a generally-accepted opinion), but it is the fact that I can go somewhere else and there are excellent, SAFE treats for me to eat that makes this so special.  Plus, they are pretty. 

Lemon cupcake with lemon frosting

I had the hardest time deciding what to get.  Luckily for me, they had little samples of the cookies and bars.  So tasty.  But that left me free to get cupcakes.

And I did.

I bought three.  Even though I generally try not to eat a bunch of sweets, I usually fail at it.  That’s why I eat a lot of spinach and spend a lot of time at the gym — so I can indulge my sweet tooth. 

I bought a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chip buttercream frosting and a caramel apple cupcake from their day old stuff.  There was only a very slight difference between the day old and the freshly baked.  If I had not known to look for it (or had I not been myself), I probably would not have noticed at all.

Chocolate with chocolate chip buttercream frosting

The cupcakes were soft and moist, with an excellent flavor and texture.  As you can see, they don’t just stick with the standard flavors.  And boy, were these great flavors.  The lemon one didn’t seem too sweet (it was definitely plenty sweet), but the other too had that nearly-shocking, addictive, bakery-sweet frosting.

I ate half of each of them on the way home.

Then Melissa caught me finishing up the caramel apple one while I was making enchiladas.  What can I say?  I have no shame.

Caramel apple cupcake!!

Sweet Cake Bake Shop does not advertise the words “gluten-free” on the shop front, though the whole bakery is gluten-free.  The majority of their business is actually not gluten-free customers.  That’s a really good business plan, in my opinion.  The gluten-free community is generally very good about sharing their good finds (my blog, for example), but the general population has a tendency to shy away from anything with the words “gluten-free” attached to it.

Their website, however, definitely makes it known that they are gluten-free.  You can find the shop itself in Kaysville, Utah, or you can order online.

I intend to go back on Tuesday, before I head to Idaho.  They currently sell bread on Tuesdays and Fridays.

I’m hoping for one of those Whoopie Pies Melissa told me about.

Sweet Cake Bake Shop
237 West 200 North
Kaysville, Utah  84037