Queen of Hearts makes both savory and sweet pies. We stopped by the stand a couple of weeks ago and picked up some pies (which, in the interest of full disclosure, she gave us for free). On the savory side, Queen of Hearts makes a Black Bean & Pepper Jack Cheese pie and a Curried Lentil and Veggie pie. On the sweet side, Queen of Hearts makes a Hazelnut & Apricot pie, a Mixed Berry pie, and a Nutella pie. We tried everything but the Nutella pie.

The pies come packaged in twos. Each pie is an individual meal, and all of them are basically vegetarian. The instructions for cooking are quite simple. You can start from frozen or thawed, but basically you bake them in an oven at 375 degrees F until the crust is golden brown. We ate both the savory pies with some sauteed veggies, but they would also probably be great with a side salad.

Considering we’re talking about pies here, the most important consideration is going to be the crust. The Queen of Hearts crust is really excellent and amazing! It’s the exact kind of crisp and flavor a person wants from a pie crust. We were both really enamored of them, especially because so many gluten-free crusts are so disappointing.

We both also agreed that we liked the savory pies more than the dessert pies. The Curried Lentil and Veggie pie is filled with sweet potatoes, onion, coconut milk, lentils, kale, ginger and spices. Like most curries, we found that the flavor and experience was better with some yogurt on the side to offset the curry. It would probably also be really nice with a chutney. If you’re a curry fan, then these are a real treat.

Our favorite pie was the Black Bean & Pepper Jack Cheese pie. Besides the two ingredients in the name, these pies have tomatoes, green chiles, onion, spices, and pepper flakes. Besides broccoli, we added some yogurt here, too (instead of sour cream), and some avocado. These pies have a great flavor and are the perfect level of spicy.

As mentioned earlier, we thought that the dessert pies were just OK. Pictured above is the Mixed Berry pie paired with vanilla ice cream from Portland’s own Fifty Licks. This pie is made with blueberries and marionberries. The Hazelnut & Apricot pies are filled with hazelnut frangipane and apricot preserves, which incidentally contained corn syrup, which we found a little confusing, considering that Queen of Hearts obviously tries to use healthy ingredients in their pies. The dessert pies were a bit bland. This might be one of those cases where the crust is kind of taking the edge off of the ingredients. We both found ourselves wishing that the pies were more tart, or maybe more sweet.

Our final verdict: We really enjoyed the savory pies and think that if you’re looking for something new, interesting, and gluten-free to take home and bake one night, you should give Queen of Hearts a try. Sweet pies are really subjective, so I’d be really interested to hear from any of our readers who have tried Queen of Hearts. Let us know in the comments!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free
Times we have visited: 2 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: not certain

Queen of Hearts Baking Company
www.queenofheartspdx.com
See locations above / 503.421.6842

Here is the start of a fine Saturday morning. Compared to New Cascadia’s cart, which is a stone’s throw down the sidewalk, Petunia’s is more about the sweet goodies. In the case this morning were brownies, muffins, cookies, pound cake, bundt cake, pie, cupcakes, cakes, and donuts.

Letting the camera do the talking…

We also got a box full of items. Here they are, item by item:

Candy Girl Cookie - This is sort of like a fortified chocolate chip cookie. It has other various items in it, the most noticeable of which is raisins. I really like these cookies. They are crunchy/chewy in the right places. The added adult cookie ingredients supply extra interest. In fact, as of now, Petunia’s has my vote for the best gluten-free cookie in Portland.

Lemon Blueberry Poundcake – Because of the density and texture, it’s more like a slice of muffin with some glaze on top than pound cake. I really like the flavors, though.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Power Bar – This is something like a rice crispy bar with chocolate, dried cranberries, almonds, and coconut. This item was not our favorite, but I don’t think that we’re really the intended audience. So if you’re a fan of this sort of treat, don’t listen to anything I have to say about it.

Raspberry Lemon Glazed Cake Donut – Both of us were disappointed by this item. I found the donut to be too thick, both in texture and in size. With donuts, I’m looking for that unmistakable it-must-be-bad-for-you cake donut flavor. These had a little of that, but to me they seemed overcomplicated. (Side note – Looking for donuts? We featured gluten-free donuts a long time ago, but they weren’t also vegan.)

Bumble Berry Pie – We both loved this pie. The pie had the exact right everything: flavor, texture, crumb, crust, sour, sweet. Delicious! Awesome! Amazing.

Carrot Zucchini Muffin – Will you look at this muffin? Looks good, huh? This muffin was like a love letter to muffins. It was delicious. Besides the pie, this was our favorite item from Petunia’s. It was light, airy, crumbly, and not too sweet. I’m kind of a fan of zucchini muffins, and this was easily the best one I’ve had in years.

I forgot to mention that the people at the stand were all really friendly and helpful, on both times we visited. Besides the difficultly of preparing good baked goods without gluten, Petunia’s also delivers them without animal products. I’m really hoping that they follow the lead of New Cascadia Traditional Bakery and Crave Bake Shop and open a retail operation somewhere. Maybe in the NorthEast, within walking distance from our house?

We want to know: Have you had any of Petunia’s other pies? Any other favorite stands at the Farmers Market? Let us know in the comments.

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Facility
Times we have visited: 2 (so we feel good about our score.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

When I moved back to Portland, I wasn’t much of a beer fan. I know, no one admits that. But it didn’t take very many dinners out with friends to be converted from no beer, to some beer, to being a genuine fan of beer. Our beer options in Portland are fantastic, and I was slowly learning to love the various flavors. Then I found out I was gluten intolerant. Then I found out I may be celiac.

I’ve been gluten free for long enough that I can’t really remember what the beautiful Portland beer (that I was just starting to appreciate) tasted like.

I’ve seen gluten free beers around town, and tried a couple. It was nice to have the option, but I was never terribly impressed. One day I decided to compare them, so I did an internet search and pulled together a couple GF options. My brother and I (both gluten free) had an informal tasting, for our own information. But due to our novice knowledge of this strange and wonderful beverage, we really only succeeded in selecting our favorites. After conversations with several gluten free friends, and after discovering a couple other gluten free beers, I decided I wanted to do a more thorough investigation. I’m including my findings here, but I highly encourage you to try this at home! Both for the sake of the knowledge it will provide you, and because it’s just plain fun. And your friends will think it’s the best idea you ever had.

Because of my inexperience with beer in general, I brought in a posse of beer-loving, non-gluten-free friends and experts to consult on this important experiment. Here’s what we came up with (in the order we sampled them)! (Editor’s note: They sampled the beers from light to dark, so they end up being listed in roughly that order.)

1) Estrella Damm Daura
This pale, smooth beer has hints of apple. A mild, gentle flavor, with a bitter finish. Not bad, but it didn’t hit the top two list of anyone in the party. Also, I understand it’s made with barley, and has the gluten removed to under 6ccs. Not sure how that works for someone who is extremely sensitive, but it sounds like a risk that might not be worth it for the mild taste. I recommend hitting a hard cider instead if you want this sort of flavor.

2) Green’s Triple Blond
This one was much more complex than the Estrella, and didn’t have the bitter aftertaste. It was sweet, fruity, and smelled of apple. One of the tasters thought it had hints of vodka, but that could be from the high alcohol content. It was almost reminiscent of a sparkling wine. I really liked it, and I’m not usually a fan of the paler beers.

3) St. Peters Sorgham
Certainly the best bottle in class (lighter beers). I realize that doesn’t say anything about what’s inside, but hey! The beer itself is bitter, with layers of different flavors. Sawdust and peanut shell were both mentioned. We all agreed it has a strong wood flavor and it smells vaguely of tobacco, good cigars. I wasn’t crazy about it, but others enjoyed it. Someone else finished off my taster.

4) New Grist
Sweet and light, and reminiscent of a hard cider, only not as flavorful. It’s a little like drinking juice, understated, with a mild flavor. I didn’t mind it, but I don’t think I’d seek it out. The consensus was a resounding “meh.”

5) Redbridge
This light, golden beer has more color than any of the previous selection, but it wasn’t our favorite. It has a citrus start, and a smoky, caramely finish. Its smell was described as olive oil and acetone (the main ingredient in finger nail polish remover… yumm?). No one finished their taster.

6) Bards
A smoky smell and a heavier flavor. Tasted like caramelized molasses with hints of tobacco. Wasn’t my favorite, but certainly not bad.

7) Deschutes Gluten Free
While not yet available in bottled form (although I have heard rumblings that they are hoping to start bottling eventually… fingers crossed for sooner, rather than later), I wanted to include this in the test anyway. I’ve had the beer in the Deschutes Brewery and Public House on NW 11th and Davis, and I love it, and when I called to find out how to get it “to go,” they assured me that they could fill any size receptacle (that seals), so I went in with my Mason jar and got a pint and a half. A little spendy, but I really think it might be worth it.

The Deschutes was our pick for the Pale Ale lover. It had the 3rd best head, a bitter–lets call it tangy–smell, and had hints of grapefruit and bergamot in the flavor. I have a vague recollection of tasting apricot when I had it with a burger at the restaurant, but no one could find that flavor when we did the tasting, so maybe the complexity is affected by food. Either way, it’s an absolutely lovely beer, and those in our party who love IPA were all impressed. Get yourself a jar (or if you can drink that much, a growler, they sell them at Deschutes) and pick some up, or just go down there and enjoy a great meal. They’re not paying me to say this… it really is just that good.

8) Green’s Amber Ale
This one has the second best head, a creamy white that sets off the amber of the beer itself. Even compared with gluten filled amber ales, this one got a very enthusiastic thumbs up. It’s tangy, with strong apple and gentle coffee flavors. Mild hints of caramel that linger and a malty twinge. A lovely, complex, flavorful choice. And, as with all three of the Green’s options, it comes in a 16.9oz bottle, so there’s more to share! There was no disputing it’s spot on the top three list.

9) Green’s Dubbel Dark
This one takes the award for best head, which apparently the Belgians (from whom this fine beverage comes to us) scrape off. We did not. It’s sweet and dark, caramely and beautiful. Dark beer people loved this one, and I’m assured it’s as good as the gluten filled options for the person looking for a barley wine substitute. I can’t say enough good things about this beer; it’s hands down my favorite. My friend Lexie determined “it’s like a beer cappuccino!”

All of these options, with the exception of the Deschutes, can be found at various locations around our lovely city. I picked them all up at Beermongers on SE Division, which I love, because they have all of these beers, and because they’re friendly, and it’s on my way home.

For more information on these beers, check out their websites, or the links below. The above are only the opinions of a panel of six judges, with varying tastes, so who knows what you’ll discover!

Further Reading

Gluten Free Beer Festival, compiled by a group in the UK. Not all of these options are available here in the States, but it’s fun to read, and they have ratings and explanations that might be helpful for others who are new to the beer scene!

For more information on the gluten free Deschutes brew, check out these sites, far more knowledgeable than I: Review one. Review two.

The only instructions they include with these amounts to: “Grill them.” Here are the ingredients: Water, Curry Powder (Turmeric, White Pepper, Ginger, Mustard Powder), Garlic, Sugar, Salt, Coriander, Dessicated Coconut, Citric Acid, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cayenne Pepper, Onion Powder, Cumin, Cilantro, Sodium Lactate (for PH control). As can usually be expected with Trader Joe’s products, this all looks pretty straight-forward (except for the last ingredient) – until you notice how high on this list the salt appears.

Of course, I didn’t notice this fact until it was too late. I do a lot of complaining about the salt content in Trader Joe’s products, but these are really off the charts. A serving size of 4 oz of chicken has 850mg (!!!!) of sodium. That’s ridiculous. It’s like eating a salt lick. Really.

Which we didn’t realize until I had served up the curry chicken tenders. I served them up with some broccoli, squash, and yogurt on the side. I love curry with yogurt. Another thing that goes great with curries is dried cranberries. You should try it sometime. Unfortunately, this dish just plain did not work. Mostly because of the salt I just mentioned. We also both felt that this dish is a little heavy on the cardamom. I really love cardamom, but in a curry I don’t usually want it to be the main flavor. It wasn’t inedible. But it wasn’t something we would want to eat again. We ended up with a bunch of leftover chicken from this, sitting in the fridge.

I would love to take the credit for this amazing idea, but actually Sienna came up with it. Why not try the curried chicken in a sandwich? So here you have it. Gluten-free bread, mayonnaise, pieces of lettuce, red onion, and slices of the curried chicken tenders. This, my friends, is a good sandwich! Did I mention that the chicken comes out amazingly tender? It does. Must be like, practically brined. But we both totally recommend this for sandwiches.

We decided to wait for an event so that we wouldn’t end up eating these all by ourselves. Luckily my friend Noah had a birthday party coming up. So we were able to make cupcakes for the party and also have a larger group of taste testers. Our friend Noah has some other food allergies, so we had to check out the ingredients with Crave. At the time of this testing, the base ingredients for the mixes were: millet flour, tapioca flour, rice flour, potato starch, sugar, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

If you’ve ever made a cake from a mix, then you’ll be familiar with how these work. They come as bagged powders to which you add wet ingredients such as oil, water, eggs, and butter. Follow the directions and apply the mixer as needed, bake, and voila! You have cupcakes ready to frost.

The Chai Spice cupcake mix calls for a half cup of butter, buttermilk, and two eggs. To make these dairy free, it’s recommended to use Spectrum organic veggie shortening in place of the butter, and rice milk in place of the buttermilk. The instructions on the Chai Spice cupcakes were very clear, and included the sort of procedures that your mom always tells you to do when making a cake. For instance, at the end of the Chai Spice mix, you add part of the dry, part of the wet, mix, then repeat until you get through the rest of the dry and wet ingredients.

When you’re done mixing, you plop the batter into paper cups and bake them. These were easy as pie. To frost them, I used a basic cream cheese frosting from a Betty Crocker cook book. The mixes make 12 regular-sized cupcakes.

Next up, the chocolate gluten-free cupcake mix. This mix calls for one egg, 1/4 vegetable oil, vanilla extract, hot water, and whole milk. To make these dairy-free, they recommend using soy milk or hemp milk, but warn that rice milk is going to be too thin. I thought that the inclusion of hot water was unusual. The instructions for these were much shorter, as well. Basically it’s mix everything but the hot water. Then add the hot water and blend until the batter is the consistency of warm chocolate sauce.

I think that I made a mistake while putting these together. While the instructions said to fill the cups 2/3 full, I had extra batter and filled them all up. This ended up being a tactical error. For one thing, the cakes took a little longer to cook than the instructions called for. Also, the cupcakes ended up having muffin tops.

Despite the muffin tops, these cupcakes were AMAZING. Something about them (maybe it’s the hot water) makes the texture of these cupcakes almost silky smooth, like angel food cake. They need no frosting. I simply dusted them with powdered sugar.

So how did they do at the party? They were a success. These cupcakes are amazing. Everybody at the party loved them. I’ve never made anything like the chocolate cupcakes at home. They’re really unique. We’re rooting for Crave Bake Shop to get these mixes available for the public soon. They’re awesome.