Cook Simple

Cook Simple was another great company we were introduced to that offers healthy, quick, and cost effective meals for individuals who are gluten free. Not everyone has time to cook every meal, right?

A lot of time we tell gluten free families about some of our recipes and they just say, "Oh, no. I don't have time for that!" Well this is perfect for those families or even if you enjoy cooking from scratch, there are always days where you want something quick and easy, but you still want to be healthy.

Cook Simple offers 8 different flavors: White Bean Chili, New Orleans Jambalaya, Tamale Pie, Cowboy Chili, Tibetan Dal, Skillet Lasagna, Punjabi Curry, and Cranberry Wild Rice. All meals are gluten free, and some are dairy free or vegan. 

The meals are family sized, averaging around $5 a box, and serve 4 people. They are all simple to make, and ready in under 30 minutes. 

You can find Cook Simple in a variety of stores and on their website. They also have a great recipe variations on their website for their products. For more tips and resources take a look at the Cook Simple Community, it is like a mini-Pinterest for health food!

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Pamela's

To say I was excited when we discovered the Pamela's booth is really an understatement (see video). Pamela's Whenever Bars have been my favorite snack bars for awhile, thanks to my awesome mother who discovered them. I wasn't kidding when I said I keep multiple boxes on hand at a time of these things.

After writing that, I feel like I could be a good candidate for Hoarders...

 

My grocery store normally carries the oat cranberry almond and oat raisin walnut spice, so that's usually what I stick to. However, the amazing individuals at the Pamela's booth loaded me up with the chocolate and blueberry flavors, and I honestly couldn't tell you which of the four I like the best. So, try them all. They are gluten free and dairy free, and great for you. 

If snack bars aren't your thing, fear not, Pamela's makes cookies.

And a lot of cookies at that. 

I'd have to say the ginger snaps are my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong. 

As you can see, Pamela's makes a little bit of everything. I will one day have tried all the products, but for now, I can tell you their scone mix, brownie mix, cookie mix, cookies, and whenever bars are all equally delicious. 

You can visit their website here for a detailed list of products, and they also have some great recipes on their website. 

Happy eating. 

Go Picnic

One of my favorite things about the GF Expo was learning about products I never knew existed. One of the most unique booth's we discovered was GoPicnic. 

I have so much to say about how genius this company is, I don't know where to start. 

Basically, GoPicnic offers ready-to-eat meals, for a variety of dietary needs, with wholesome ingredients, and no need for refrigeration. They have over a dozen gluten free options, as well as kosher, vegan, and vegetarian options. 

All meals have less than 500 calories, and are balanced with protein, healthy fats, and fiber. 

Most meals range from $4-$6, but are less expensive if you buy them in bulk. 

They are sold on GoPicnic's website, Target, Amazon, and some local grocery stores. If you are in LA, Pam Mac D's sells them in Burbank (my favorite gluten free market).

They offer almost everything under the sun on their website - meal subscriptions, variety packs, snack packs, and even custom meals. They also have promotions, sales, and special offers galore.

I hope every mom out there considers GoPicnic for their child's snacks or lunches, and that GoPicnic makes life a little easier for those who don't have time to cook every meal. 

Visit GoPicnic's website here

Lastly, they are running a Groupon for a limited time. $40 worth of meals for $19! I just put my order in for 8 vegan/gluten free meals, and it was only $25. 

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Bakery on Main

Another line of breakfast and snack products we loved was Bakery on Main. They have an incredible line of gluten free granola products, snack bars, and oatmeal. 

Check out what Whitney had to say here!

Bakery on Main started in a bakery in Connecticut on, you guessed it, Main St when the owner Michael Smulders decided to make something his customers with food allergies could eat. Now they have all these fantastic options!

Truebar is a great dairy free, gluten free, non GMO, and omega rich snack bar available in six different flavors. We have not  had a chance to try these yet, but we are hoping to have a taste soon!

This was our personal favorite granola, though we had a hard time deciding

These snack bars are dairy free, wheat free, and made with flax and chia seeds 

How interesting are their oatmeal flavors? Strawberry shortcake, apple pie, and blueberry scone? Each one is just as delicious as the next. 

Delicious granola packed with fiber

Visit Bakery on Main's website here 

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Red Apple Lipstick

We must admit that we were not aware of gluten free makeup before the GF Expo. That all changed when we met the amazing couple behind Red Apple, Jay and Andrea Harper. Red Apple is an amazing line of makeup that is gluten free and paraben free. 

Red Apple has an extensive line of lip glosses, lip stick, eye shadows, and lip balm. 

While at the expo, we had the chance to sample quite a few colors! 

Bailey ended up with the Hot Mess and Mahaley got the Amor Caliente... for now. There are so many great products there is way more to come!

This lovely company was generous enough to send us home with lip glosses and lip balm of our own. We must say, the Rallye balm is something else. Their lip gloss feels incredible on my lips, and I already notice a decrease in how chapped my lips normally are- just from using it for a week.

 There are colors for everyone, and they have many promotional offers on their website. 

Lastly, they are about to come out with a mascara, which is some of the best news we've heard in awhile. We cannot wait to try it and let you know what we think (though I'm pretty sure we can tell you in advance we will be obsessed with it)

Red Apple is unlike any other line of beauty products I've ever been introduced to, and I hope you love them as much as we do. 

You can visit their site here

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Holy Crap Cereal

To kick off the Gluten Free Expo reviews, it makes sense to start with our new favorite breakfast cereal from Holy Crap. 

Holy Crap is a non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, and organic breakfast cereal.

One of the things I love about Holy Crap is how easy it is. You just mix 2 TBSP of whichever type of cereal  you choose, and mix it with 4 TBSP of your choice of milk or water. It can also be combined with yogurt.

2 TBSP? Yes, read about it here when the chia seeds have fully hydrated they are the consistency of tapioca. (keep that in mind if you are munching on chia seeds or throwing them in your oatmeal or yogurt. Be sure to hydrate, those chia seeds will need their hydration from somewhere and you don't want them to dehydrate you while looking for it! 

The ingredients are ridiculously healthy. The three main ingredients are some of the oldest perfect foods known to humans. Holy Crap breakfast cereal contains all natural ingredients: no GMO, USDA organic certified, Kosher certified, chia, hulled hemp hearts, organic buckwheat, cranberries, raisins, apple bits, and cinnamon. Skinny B has the chia, buckwheat and hemp hearts as well but without the fruit or cinnamon. It also contains 50% more chia. The cereal is wheat free, gluten free, lactose free and, in the case of Skinny B, sugar free. 

The key ingredient of Holy Crap is Chia. Chia typically contains 20% protein, 34% oil, and 25% dietary fibre. It is also the highest Omega-3 nutrient source found in nature with perfectly balanced Omega 3, 6, 9 profiles and ratios. This recently revived oil seed crop is considered a perfect food because it‘s one of the few vegetarian sources of complete protein.

The next most abundant ingredient is Hulled Hemp Seed which is low in carbohydrates, contains more protein than milk, meat or eggs and is suitable for those unable to digest gluten, sugar, milk, nuts and meat.

The last main ingredient, buckwheat, is also one of the best sources of high quality protein in the plant kingdom.

Holy Crap also has 2 other products available. Skinny B, Mary Jane, and Wild Chia.

Skinny B is the Holy Crap cereal but without the dried fruit and it has 50% more chia than the Holy Crap cereal. 

Mary Jane is 100% organic non GMO hulled hemp seeds. The hemp seeds are perfect for sprinkling on salads, adding to your cooking, or even eating  them right out of the bag as a snack!

Visit Holy Crap's website here and check out the different recipes they suggest here. There are really great smoothie recipes, breakfast recipes, and pretty much recipes for anything!

Thank you again Holy Crap for providing us a delicious breakfast over the weekend. Nutrients wise, it really doesn't get better than this, and it is so easy to take anywhere with you. 

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OMG Blend Winner!

Ok Helen Mirren, help a sister out! Drum roll please........

The winner of the 3 day OMG Blense is....

Catherine!

Just in case you missed it, you can check out Bailey's review of the cleanse here. (Lets hope Catherine doesn't have a weird banana-phobia like cray cray Bailey!)

Even if you didn't win, you should still totally give it a try! We have some suggestions for a successful cleanse.

5 Happy Cleanser Tips

1. Pick a cleanse buddy to do it with. Regardless of how good or bad any cleanse is, its great to have some support. Maybe it is just to share how much you like it, someone who is not experiencing it it probably gonna look at you like you are crazy if you are raving about how great "not eating real food is" (poor poor souls, just don't get it). It is also great for when you are having a weak moment and want nothing more but a big pizza all to yourself. Plus there is peer pressure. You can't let them win and finish while you give up! Throw in some healthy competition, and have a buddy, it makes it much more fun and a little bit easier!

2. Prepare yourself for this. Don't go cold turkey! We are guessing that most people who can't handle a cleanse and give up before experiencing the benefits were not ready to start. Having pizza, tater-tots and a few beers the night  before a cleanse... probably not setting yourself up for success. Most cleanses provide suggestions for how to prepare. Maybe it is eat only veggies, or  maybe just raw foods, maybe it is as simple as eating vegetarian for a few days before you begin. Whatever it is they suggest, they probably know what they are talking about, so listen.

3. Do yourself a favor and plan your cleanse at a good time. If you have a birthday party on Sunday, you probably don't want to start it Saturday.  Think about what you have going on and plan for it. This will also help get you excited for it! If this is your first cleanse and you are doubting yourself, make this your 3 day Super Bowl. Just don't watch the commercials, they might subliminally message you to eat at Applebee's.

4. Plan your grocery shopping around your cleanse. If you don't live alone this will be more of a challenge, but if you have already planned your cleanse, don't buy any more food. The last think you will want when you wake up on day two is to decide if you want to stick to the cleanse or eat those cookies or cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We are all weak and pathetic when it comes to sugary treats, just eliminate the temptation.

5. Don't binge eat as soon as you wake up cleanse free. Most likely if you made it that far you will feel pretty great and won't want to. But, old habits die hard. Most likely you will order something big then realize you only want to eat a little  bit of it. But there is also the chance that you won't listen to your body, eat a big bowl of chili and immediately regret it after the damage has been done. Don't be that guy, its no fun. Remember you started a cleanse for a reason, it probably wasn't just because you were bored and too lazy to cook for a few days. You most likely wanted to make a change or have a fresh start. Stick with it!

Ok, now, go check out what you get with an OMG Blense!

Congrats Catherine, We hope you enjoy! Be sure to email us so we can hook you up!

We have one more word of advice before you start your cleanse! Avoid Pinterest! There will be so many amazing cookies, pies, 5 tiered cakes, cake pops that look like your favorite TV characters, salads pastas, pizza, even the tricks to get toddlers to eat their veggies will make you salivate, just don't do it. Its for your own good!

If you didn't win, let us know what type of giveaway you would like to see in the future so you can try again!

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