Gluten Free Expo Review

So we are back from the expo and we had such an amazing time. You probably noticed we were excited about it, and for good reason! There was more fun, food, and amazing people than we could have imagined.

While we were there we were lucky enough to meet some of our old favorite brands, plus we were introduced to quite a few new brands. 

As far as brands we knew of go, it was awesome to check out some of their new products that are about to come out. 

Bob's Red Mill has something new coming your way.

Bailey has a pretty great GF pie crust recipe, but that doesn't mean a handy and delicious Bob's Red Mill pie crust isn't appreciated!

The wonderful people at Bob's Red Mill were sweet enough to share some with us to use in an upcoming video! We are so excited to make this! 

We also discovered a new bread. Not just sandwich bread, but all types of bread! Hoagies, hotdog and hamburger buns, baguettes and more. Local Oven, you are the best. 

Not only were all of these gluten free, but you could not tell. At all, seriously, you can't tell, its amazing!

It was so much more than food! We were able to try out some of the gluten free makeup from Red Apple Lipstick! The Red Apple Lipstick was so great, we can not wait to get some more!

We also got to meet some pretty amazing people while we were there! 

Everyone at Holy Crap was amazing! 

Carol from Simply Gluten Free Magazine.

We got to meet Kathy Smart while we were there!

And a GF Beauty queen :)

We also got to meet Erica of Celiac and the Beast! 

It's pretty cool finally meeting people you have been tweeting and obsessively liking their Instagram photos!

Here's a highlight reel of our favorite finds. 

We will be talking about a lot of them individually over the next few weeks. There is just so much to say about so many of these great companies!

We hope to bring you guys some really interesting and cool finds over the next few weeks. It's really amazing how many up and coming products there are in the gluten free market. We feel very lucky that we got to experience some first hand last weekend. 

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Quick Gluten Free Pancakes!

Lets Talk Pancakes!

We love pancakes and have many, many recipes for gluten free options, but when I finally gave Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix a try I was pretty excited to add another option to the list!

We know you can have super fast gluten-free pancakes that you pop in the toaster or microwave.

Did you know that if you have just a few ingredients you can have awesome homemade pancakes without having to get creative too!

Thanks to Bob's Red Mill you can have "homemade" pancakes anywhere, anytime!

To prove to you how easy it is, I made these to take on a camping trip!

I pre-mixed the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix with an egg, vegetable oil, and hemp milk!

The part I thought was genius was putting it in this squeeze bottle for the tip.  However, I forgot about the pressure change when going up into the mountains. About a third of the mix popped out when I opened it up! Oops!

I was still able to make 5 yummy pancakes!

Yum! They are also really really delicious! I shared with a few people while camping and they all loved them!

There ya have it!  It's like Bisquick but way better and gluten free!

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Planning a Fun Gluten Free Halloween

I'd like to first say that Halloween is not just for kids! I know I love to get dressed up and feel like a kid again. Give me 3 halloween parties in a week. I will wear three different costumes and I will commit and get creative, no slutty nurse, librarian, police officer, etc. for me. (But, If you are gonna go the slutty route, I can't say anything else about it (: )

Whether you are throwing a Halloween party or getting treats ready for the neighborhood kiddos, making it fun is obvious, but you can also make it gluten free!

First, some easy ways to make it fun! It is the little things that go a long way. Even if you are not having a big party, you can make the treats you are handing out fun and special. 

While looking for fun products to use at my halloween party I discovered the Bakers Confections. They had so many options to add some flair to your baking, or just make the holiday a bit more fun!

If you have enough time during the week to do some baking, go ahead and pick up some fun sprinkles! 

They are an easy way to add some character to your desserts. Think about it, plain dessert or a dessert with little ghosts or colorful sprinkles on it. Which one are you gonna pick up at the party.

I know I'd grab the cupcake with the most sprinkles! 

There is also a good chance you are not going to have time make cupcakes, let alone put on cute frosting. You can still look like you put in more effort and prink out cute wrappers. This way, those candy bars you pick up can be quickly wrapped and they look better than the regular candy. (I would recommend doing this for in your home, not for in the basket kids will be digging into.)

You can also just use cute party spoons, straws, plates, cups and napkins. If someone is eating off a Boo Spoon, they are sure to get into the spirit. 

Halloween is also pretty easy to make gluten free! There are lots of options and you don't have to make your own treats. A simple Pinterest search will give you hundreds to choose from! You can also always use our halloween recipe for gluten free witch fingers!

I also think these Frankenstein marshmallow pops from Just a Taste are adorable!

Just to make life easy for  you and those poor kiddos trick-or-treating who can not have gluten, here are a few options without being the lame house on the block that gives out carrot sticks. Here is a list of gluten free candy.

Because there are so many food allergies, obviously you are not expected to have something for every kid that comes knocking on your door. But, maybe avoid peanuts. In my opinion this will work in  your favor. Buy a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, then say "Ooops. I don't want a poor kid with peanut allergies getting these! I better eat these myself!" then you can get something else for them and enjoy the peanut butter cups! (just make sure you don't get seasonal fun shaped Reese's they are not gluten free :( I found that out the hard way.


Have a safe and happy halloween!

If you are in southern California make sure you enter to win a 3 day cleanse from OMG Blends! Winner will be announced on Friday!

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Gluten Free Girl Scout Cookie

Today, I get to share something very exciting with you all. There is going to be a new Gluten Free Girl Scout Cookie! How do I know this, you ask? Well, my mom has worked for the Girl Scouts for more than half of my life, and once in awhile, I get in on the good stuff before it happens. The Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookie just happens to be one of them. 

And, I know what you're thinking. Yes, I was a Girl Scout, for as long as I could be. 

Here you have it - the GF Girl Scout Cookie. It should be available for the 2014 round of cookie sales. Get your wallet ready, after all, they freeze really well :)

So good. 

There are a lot of really awesome things happening with the Girl Scouts in the next few years, many of which, my mom has been partially responsible for. Proud daughter moment. 

I know 2014 seems like a long wait, but I promise, it's worth it. 

(I also have to ask that these pictures not be reposted)

Hey SoCal readers! Don't forget to enter to win a 3 day cleanse from OMG Blends!

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OMG Blends Review and GIVEAWAY!!

I decided I wanted to give a new a different juice cleanse a try. I didn't want to lose weight, but needed to have a re-start after eating a whole bunch of not so healthy things in large amount. You know how it is. Some people come over for football Sunday and leave 3 different flavors of ice-cream in the freezer you can't just let it collect freezer burn. No, you need to have a bowl each night till its gone.

Well, I decided to try OMG Blends for this re-start because it includes soup! I LOVE SOUP! I'm not a fan of cold weather, but I love me some soup! Since cold weather is soup weather to me I thought this would be the perfect fall cleanse.

Ok. Now, before I get into the review I have a confession to make. I am probably the worst person to review this because.... BANANAS! So you may be aware that I have a serious issue with banana's, like I HATE them. Well, when I chose my blends I chose the ones that didn't have bananas in them. Well, I found out the hard way that most of the blends I picked did have bananas as one of the ingredients. So I actually didn't drink the banana ones after I realized they were in there. I instead had other people try them and let me know what they thought. But, boy of boy did I eat that soup!

I chose to do the 3 day starter blense. Here is how it works. Pick 6 blends and 3 soups. They have quite a few options to choose from. 

They have three different plans you can choose from. They are all pretty much the same, they just mix up when you have the blends or soups.

I chose to do plan # 1

Breakfast: Drink a Blend
Mid-Morning Snack: Healthy Snack
Lunch: Well rounded 350-500 calorie lunch with a protein

Mid-Day Snack: Souperblend
Dinner: Drink a Blend
Before Bed: Healthy Snack

So, here is what happened!

Monday Morning.
I woke up and found these two big coolers on the front porch. At first I thought I would get to keep them and I was pumped for a new lunch box. I was wrong, OMG Blends actually comes to pick them up the next day. That makes sense though, the cleanse is really affordable, so I'm sure if you got free coolers it wouldn't be.

One was full of the Blends.

The other full of soup!

It was like a juicy rainbow! Yay. I was pretty excited to see how big the soup was!

Breakfast: I got to work around 8:00 and was ready for my breakfast blend! Goji Berry, Chia Spice, Almond Milk and Brown Rice Protein! Look how happy and excited I am to try it!

And then I took a sip. I had an instant panic in my mouth. What was wrong, it sounded so perfect?

I found my answer pretty quickly. Bananas. Whoops. Should have looked into that. Well I couldn't have anymore. I passed it on to a coworker who really enjoyed it!

The banana shock took away my appetite so I waited till about 10:30 and had some carrots, celery and Trader Joe's Edamame Hummus.

When It came time for lunch I was pretty excited for my soup in the afternoon that I got some soup for lunch too. I grabbed the Minestrone because it had beans to get in my protein. 

When I got home from work around 6:00 I was pretty hungry so I cooked up the soup and it was a lot! I started with the tomato basil, which is the current seasonal soup.

It was really good and actually really filling. I ended up not being super hungry before bed, but I did eat half an avocado to snack a bit before bed since I did not try the night time blend.

Tuesday Morning

Breakfast: I had learned my lesson from the previous morning and I was pretty hungry when I woke up, so I double checked the ingredients. 

The iheartomg has blueberries, pecans, cinnamon, almond milk and brown rice protein. This was my absolute favorite. The next time I do this cleanse I will order one of these for each day.

Lunch: I was much happier after drinking this one!  I also was really, really full.  I skipped my mid-morning snack and got some soup and lentil chips for lunch

I picked the same soup. I figured soup it up on the juice and soup cleanse! Why not?

Mid-Day Snack: When I got home I had my souperblend! This time I had the kabocha, fuji apple, red pepper flake soup.

This was really good too! When they suggested I try it was a bit skeptical, but it ended up being my favorite of the three soups. 

Bedtime Snack: Later that night, I was hungry (Cuz I didn't drink the juice) So I cut up and apple and dipped it in almond butter.

Wednesday Morning

I had one more banana-less blend so I grabbed that first thing in the morning! I was feeling really great, too. I have noticed that when I do a cleanse, day 3 is always my favorite. I also have not gone past day 3, so that could have something to do with it. But, whatever the reason I felt great!

This one was cold pressed coffee, cacao, hazelnuts, and brown rice protein.

I drank this one on my way to work and it had a nice zing to it! 

I was a bad cleanse and skipped the mid morning snack again. It was a busy day and even though I had my carrots and celery all chopped up and ready to go, I just didn't feel hungry and by the time it was lunch time I decided to get my 350-500 calorie meal in.

I was a bit souped out so I went to Veggie Grill and grabbed the All Hail Kale salad with tempeh. Their website says it is 270 calories for the salad and 270 calories for the tempeh. A bit over, but I skipped the mid-morning snack so I figured whatevs.

when I got home I had my last souperblend! This was the carrot ginger soup.

This was pretty great too! It was so filling, I didn't even have a bedtime snack.

Well there you have it. I would definitely recommend this cleanse to someone who likes bananas. That was the only thing I did not like about it and that is because I'm a freak. The soups were my favorite part of this! Sometimes when cleansing you just want something warm, so this was perfect! I also really liked how this included a meal a day as well as healthy snacks. I would use it again to re-start and get set on a healthy path. To me it isn't so much a cleanse, but a guide to how I should be eating everyday. Healthy and balanced.

This is the perfect cleanse to do before the holidays hit! I know I'll be needing it before and probably after Thanksgiving!

Well, who wants to give OMG Blends a try?!?! I really enjoyed this and would love for someone else to give it a try (preferably someone without a weird banana phobia). We are "souper" excited  (haha I'm hilarious) to offer a free 3 day OMG Blendse to one of our readers! 

Here is how you can enter!

If you live in Southern California let us know in the comments below letting us know why you want to try the OMG blense. Unfortunately, OMG only delivers to SoCal right now, but who knows, maybe one day they will be in your area! 

We will be picking the winner on November 1st! Good Luck!

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We leave tomorrow!

Oh my, where did the time go? 

Mahaley just got back in town, but we are hopping on a plane and leaving tomorrow!

It is time for the GFAF Expo in Dallas.

Of course we waited till the very last minute to get a hotel room reserved and  make a plan. But, hey better late than never!

Check out our video to get an idea of what you will be seeing from the expo.

Be sure to check out the GFAF Expo website and let us know what brands you want to learn more about. We will do our best to learn as much about them as possible and hopefully bring home some samples to give away! Maybe. If we don't eat them all on the plane ride back. 

Also if you are going to be at the expo, we think there needs to be a GF happy hour. So lets make that happen!

Thanks for watching! 

Chopped Kale Salad

Chopped Kale Salad

This is a recipe I made with some left over goodies from my Farm Fresh Box a few months ago. It turned out great and was super refreshing. I think it can be adjusted a bit if you are looking for more of a fall salad too. 

Ingredients: 

4 cups of chopped Kale

1 green pepper

3 celery stalks

1 cup baby carrots

3-4 sweet gypsy peppers 

1/2 green onion 

1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbs red wine vinegar

1/2 avocado

1tbs honey

Figs 

 Sliced Almonds

A food processor will be your best friend with this recipe. I did everything with the food processor for this one. I was feeling kinda lazy and didn't want to put in any effort. Obviously chopping was out of the question. I suppose if you really wanted to you could chop everything up into tiny pieces and that would work just fine. I'm giving you the lazy instructions.

Put your kale in the food processor a little bit at a time so you can chop it up without it getting too fine. About a cup at a time will work. When it is all done, take it out and set it aside in a large bowl.

Throw your carrots, celery and green pepper into the food processor and chop for a few seconds. Again, make sure the pieces are not too small.

Add the carrot mixture to the kale and take out any big pieces or leave them in there for special crunch later on. 

Chop your gypsy peppers by themselves so they do not get too small, then add to your mixing bowl.

Same thing with your green onion, chop a bit then add to the mix. At this point your salad just needs to be tossed up and it is time to make the dressing.

I used red wine vinegar, but if you are thinking of making a fall salad, go ahead and mix it up with apple cider vinegar and an orange instead of a lemon. Get creative. You can also just use this dressing, its delicious.

Go ahead and dump all the ingredients into your food processor and let it rip.

You will want the dressing to be a little bit creamy. Just make sure all the avocado has broken down and you are all set. Pour on your dressing and mix throughout. You can top the salad with sliced almonds and whatever fruit you feel like. I had left over figs from my tree, but a sliced apple would have worked just as well.

Enjoy!

Here is the full recipe all in one place!

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