For the New-to-Gluten-Free-Lifestyle:

Great info for when you first go gluten-free.

Lots of in depth information for those who want all of the scientific info.

Another good one for learning how to live with Celiac Disease.

Great pancakes!

For the Person-Who-Loves-to-Cook:

For the best tasting desserts.

Lots of good basic recipes.

Great recipes for the slow cooker that happen to be gluten-free.

More great recipes for the slow cooker that happen to be gluten-free.

For the Person-Who-Has-Other-Food-Intolerances:

Lots of gluten-free recipes for those that also need to be dairy-free.

A great grain-free cookbook.

Another great grain-free cookbook for cupcakes.

For the Person-Who-Loves-Chocolate:

Brownies! Need I really say more.

Individual brownie mix packets! Even better.

Namaste makes a fabulous chocolate cake mix. It's so easy, too.

For the Person-Who-Money-Is-No-Object:

This high speed blender blends up almost anything. Check out the youtube videos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lillian is awesome! Lillian from Lillian’s Test Kitchen. Just have to say that.

Seriously!

She makes grain-free, dairy-free, cane sugar-free, and soy-free recipes for the first time on camera.

She also went to my dream school.

And, she’s a fellow actress.

OK, I haven’t done anything for over a decade, but I am still one at heart. And, if circumstances are right, I may go back to it, someday.

Anyway, not only did this super cool chick make my pumpkin muffins. She made them on camera, and put it up on her site.

Oh, and did I tell you, she says they are awesome. Oh, yeah!

My muffins are awesome! (Did that sound wrong?)

Now, she made a substitution of maple syrup for the agave nectar, but I must say, I think I need to try that. Been trying to limit agave lately. Or I should say, trying to make it so I use a variety of sweeteners. Variety! It’s the spice of life, you know.

Plus, she also tried it with maple cream on top as an icing. Um, I need to get me some of that maple cream. It sounds amazing!

Please take a look for yourself and how fabulous the amazing Lillian is.

And, while you’re here, leave a sweet comment for her. She does such a great job. Give her some love, would ya?

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to make the muffins the original way, you can go to my recipe – Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins.

If you want to make them Lillian’s way, please go to her original post, Pumpkin Muffin Time.

When I was a teenager, I had a step-mother. (Technically, she is my ex-step-mother, now, but we don’t need to get into that.)

Anyway, we had the typical teenager/step-mother relationship. In other words, not the best. There were many reasons for this that I also won’t get into here. But, the cool thing is she had my sister when I was 15. Something happened once that little kid came into the picture. Things relaxed a bit on both sides. And, we had a connection that was never going to go away. I think I started to see her as a human being, and she started to see me through the eyes of a woman who was now a mother, instead of just a girlfriend/wife to my dad. We weren’t just fighting for my father’s attention, anymore.

So, the reason I go into this story is this. Around that time, my step-mother and I had another thing we bonded through. Cookies! We both loved cookies. Loved making cookies. Eating cookies. Making more cookies. Eating more cookies.

We made a lot of the typical cookies together. Chocolate chip, snicker doodle, etc. But, she introduced me to No Bake, Oatmeal Cookies. I do not recall having had these before. And, once I had them, I was in heaven.

Have you ever had these things? They are great!

Well, when I was trying to come up with a cookie recipe for the April in the Raw event, I thought about these cookie. I couldn’t remember how they were made, but since they were no-bake, I figured they should work. Then I found a recipe on line and realized that no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks could these qualify as raw. Not even close.

But, I was still obsessed with the idea of making these again. But, since I am now gluten-free and dairy-free, I was going to need to do some tweaking. (You can also make this without peanut butter. I substituted sun butter in one batch that I made at my FIL’s. He tried them. Then his eyes got all wide. He’s allergic to peanut butter. I made them with sunbutter for him, but I forgot to tell him before he ate any. Oops. He’s ok. Just scared him a bit.)

So, anyway, I was very excited when I made these because they taste pretty close to the “real” version. At least from what I remember.

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Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, No-Bake Cookies

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 1/2 cup Hazelnut Milk (You could use any nut milk.)
• 1/2 cup Agave Nectar
• 1/2 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate Bar (I used Scharffen Berger. Regular dark chocolate bar should work fine.)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Stevia
• 4 tbsp Peanut Butter (You can use Sunbutter.)
• 3 cups Gluten-Free Oats

Directions:

1. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
2. Place Oats in a large bowl.
3. In a pan, melt Earth Balance, Hazelnut Milk, Agave Nectar, Chocolate, Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Stevia together. Boil for one minute.
4. Take off the burner and add the peanut butter and mix.
5. Add the mixture to the oats and stir until it’s all mixed together.
6. Form balls/globs ( I remember them being in globs.) about one inch in diameter and place onto the parchment covered cookie sheet.
7. Place in the fridge to set for a couple of hours, if you can wait that long.
8. Should make about 20 or so cookies. Depends on how big you make them. You don’t have to spread them out on the cookie sheet, so you should be able to fit them all on one.

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Do you like to bake cookies to bond? What cookies do you bake?

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

Pumpkin! Pumpkin everywhere. And not a bit of eat to eat.

Uh, let’s rephrase that. Pumpkin! Pumpkin everywhere. And so, so much of it to eat.

If you hadn’t noticed, Thanksgiving is almost upon us. And, therefore, the ubiquitous pumpkin recipes are coming out of the woodwork, so to speak. Maybe I should say out of the oven, or out of the kitchen.

In fact, I have already had a wonderful guest post by my friend Kim from Cook It Allergy Free about Crustless Pumpkin Streusel Pie. If you haven’t read about Uncle Norm and his aversion to pumpkin, you should. Oh, and make the pie while you’re at it.

So, since I like to think of myself as an independent, free-thinker, I am not following this pumpkin trend like a silly lemming.

OK, I am a silly lemming. I really dig pumpkin, too. So, I decided to try to adapt my oh-so-easy muffin recipe to pumpkin. It took a couple of tries, but I did it.

If you like pumpkin and muffins, this will be a nice addition to your baking arsenal. Just like my Gluten-Free Banana (Chocolate) Muffins and my Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins, it’s really easy. In fact, it’s oddly similar.

This recipe is killer, if I do say so myself. I’m good at this muffin thing. Maybe I will start calling myself the muffin girl. (I know I should say woman, but it doesn’t flow as well.)

[print_this]

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups Almond Flour (Honeyville)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Sea Salt
• 2 tbsps Pumpkin Pie Spice

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
• 3 Eggs
• ¼ cup Grapeseed Oil
• ½ cup Agave Nectar
• 1 cup Chopped Nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Get out all of the lumps.
3. Mix wet ingredients together in large bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredient bowl.
5. Put muffin papers in muffin tin. Divide the batter into the 12 muffin papers. (Makes 12 muffins.)
6. Bake for 22 – 24 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness.

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Just a little side note. I actually made my own pumpkin puree a while ago, and I had it to use for this recipe. But, I am sure the regular old canned stuff will work just fine. Just make sure to get the plain. If you get the pumpkin pie filling with all of the spices and sugar, you might be a bit overwhelmed.

DO you like muffins? What is your favorite flavor?

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

PPS – If you haven’t already – you can ‘like’ Glügle Gluten-Free on Facebook.

Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life eBook

The following was written by the amazing Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen. This post is for an ebook to help a wonderful cause that I was lucky enough to be able to participate in the beginning of this year. The event was started by Nicola of Gfree Mom. Two wonderful ladies that are helping a wonderful cause. Please read on and enjoy the story. Enjoy the cookbook. Please donate if you can. Thanks!

♥♥♥♥

One cold January, 20+ bloggers came together for 31 days to share 31 nourishing and detoxifying smoothie, juice, and soup recipes. The blogosphere buzzed with great new ways of upping the intake of fruit and vegetables to start the year off right.

Gfree Mom’s January D-tox event was so well received that these 20+ bloggers decided to write and publish an e-cookbook—capturing these fantastic recipes, tips and tricks in one place.

And so without further ado, we announce the release of Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life: A Collection of Smoothies, Juices, Soups and Tips for the Whole Family. Not only will this book provide you with inspiration to increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it also benefits others. All proceeds from this e-book go directly to MitoAction.

MitoAction and Their Mission.

MitoAction is a Boston-based nonprofit helping children and adults with mitochondrial disease navigate the complex journey of managing the disease. MitoAction’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone affected by mitochondrial disease through support, education, outreach, and advocacy initiatives. You may read more about MitoAction here.

What is Mitochondrial Disease?

Mitochondrial disease is a genetic, neurodegenerative disorder that occurs when the mitochondria fail to produce enough energy for cell or organ function. More common than cystic fibrosis, mitochondrial disease can develop in both children and adults and is often misdiagnosed. Mito symptoms are varied and progressive, and can include stroke, muscle pain, extreme fatigue, and organ failure. Mitochondrial disease is related to many other conditions, including autism, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

Download Your e-Cookbook Today!

To download your PDF e-cookbook Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life and support the efforts of MitoAction, click here. In this e-cookbook you will find:

> Tips like “How to Hide Greens” & “Smoothies and the Color Wheel”
> 9 Kid-Friendly and Beginner Smoothie Recipes
> 19 “Now I’m Feeling Braver” Smoothie and Juice Recipes
> A handful of soups, Detox Tips and More!
> Personal stories from, and hyperlinks, to each blogger’s website
> $10 suggested donation. Click Here to download.

A Dedication.

This is Gwen.

Diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease, Gwen was not able to eat and had to receive IV nutrition. She has spent as much of her young life in the hospital as out, and was the recipient of a multi-organ transplant, which included a new stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, and spleen.

Today, as always, she and her family are fighting to help her live a healthy life and allow her to do as many of the things young kids like to do as possible. Recently, Gwen was to be able to savor a bite of banana! As food bloggers, we live and breathe food, so we’d like to dedicate this book to Gwen.

Join the Effort.

If you would like to promote and sell this e-cookbook on your site, please feel free to do so. Use the content of this post freely (copy and images) and grab the badge below and link it to this url. And THANK YOU for your support!

While I love doing a post about the goings on in the gluten-free community every other week, it is going to have to come to a halt for a while. Like most of you, my off-line life is getting a bit crazy, and I need to spend my time there, right now. Hopefully, I can come back to it, but who knows what the future holds. I still plan to do my regular posts, though. Right now, they are much easier to write. Thanks for sticking with me.

Now, on to the news.

There are quite a few round-up posts out there since it is the beginning of the holidays. So, let get started with those.

1. Kelly form the Spunky Coconut has a round-up of Halloween theme posts. It is part of her Spunky Holiday series. If you are looking for some Halloween themed posts, this is a good place to start. Lots of great looking recipes. Lots of pumpkin recipes, if you hadn’t guessed.
2. Also, Stephanie from A Year of Slow Cooking has a round-up of her own Halloween themed posts. Lots of great ideas for the crockpot. (OK, I only linked up two posts, but it adds up to a lot of posts if you count all of the ones linked up within the ones I linked up.)
3. Next, let’s do some giveaways. Seems the season for giving is starting early. Well, it can never be too early as far as I’m concerned. Iris from The Daily Dietribe has three giveaways going right now. Get on over quick, because they are only open until Halloween. That’s just a couple of days away. The first giveaway is a quart of Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil. The second is NuNaturals Stevia. One 50 count box of packets and one 2oz. bottle of vanilla liquid stevia. The third giveaway is Kettle Cuisine Soups. So much to give away. Just hop on over to enter.
4. Kim at Cook IT Allergy Free has a review and giveaway of The Pure Kitchen from Hallie at Daily Bites. I’m really wanting this cookbook. Maybe I will have to enter. The giveaway is open until November 3rd, so get over and enter.
5. Alisa from Alisa Cooks and Go Dairy Free also has a giveaway of a $40 Whole Foods Gift Card and Almond Fresh and Ryza Non-Dairy Milks. I don’t know about you, but I could sure use that gift card with the holidays coming up. Plus, I just like almond milk.
6. Lastly, we have Shirley from gfe-gluten-free easily. Or gluten-free extreme as she is calling it. Extreme is for the extreme giveaway she has going. Seriously, if I listed everything she was giving away, I would still be writing this post over the weekend. You must go take a look and enter. You could stock your whole kitchen.
7. I found a couple of luscious sounding pumpkin recipes you might want to try. Sea at The Book of Yum has a delicious sounding Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe. Plus, she also has some great pictures of her pumpkins she grew. And, Baby Yum. Yep, she grew her, too.
8. And, Ali from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen has a lovely recipe for Grain-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes. Yummy, yummy! I love all of the pumpkin recipes coming out of the woodwork.
9. Kim from Cook IT Allergy Free has a lovely recipe for Grain-Free Apple Puff Pancakes. I love apples, especially this time of year. Can’t get enough of them. So, a puff pancake might just be another way to enjoy their delicious goodness.
10. Elana from Elana’s Pantry has a fabulous idea if you want to get you kids to eat less sugar at Halloween time, plus she has some fabulous recipes for some healthier easy treats.
11. And, lastly, we have Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free and her Gluten-Free Holiday coming up. She tells you all about it and all of the wonderful things she has planned over the next couple of months. The holidays are upon us, people. The holidays are here.

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

Blah!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Sorry, but that’s how I feel. No particular reason other than I am overwhelmed (as is just about every other person on this planet), and I really just want to sit and watch TV for about a week.

Do you ever get days like that? I don’t even HAVE TV anymore. We have Netflix, and we sometimes rent movies from Amazon. But, right now, I feel like calling up my cable provider and seeing if they can do an emergency delivery of mindless, boring, turn-your-brain-into-mush TV.

Do you think they could set it up in the next hour or so? But, I only want it for a couple of days.

Then, they have to take it back. Because, seriously, I can’t handle the cr@p that passes for programing on most channels.

Told you I was in a mood.

Maybe I shouldn’t write blog posts on these days?

But it does feel kind of fun putting a voice to this mood instead of just sucking it up and pretending it doesn’t exist.

Ahhhhhhhhh, anyway…

Sorry to be such a bummer.

At least I have a good “recipe.”

I put recipe in quotes (Yeah, you can go ahead and picture me doing air quotes. Roll your eyes. Get it over with. Ready to go on?) because it really isn’t a big-deal, I-created-something recipe.

It is an I-really-love-going-to-Chipotle-so-I’ve-been-obsessed-with-trying-to-make-a-homemade-version recipe. It’s really not that much cheaper to make your own. Kind of another reason why I like going to Chipotle. I can totally justify it.

“But, it doesn’t cost that much more.”

“It’s so quick and made from good stuff.”

“No, McDonalds does not own it like we thought.”

Guess there was a rumor going around that McDonalds owned it. Not true. They used to own a large portion of the stock, but they sold it awhile ago. In case you cared.

Anyway, since I couldn’t figure out what to write about in this post due to my blah mood, I decided to pull this one out.

I have been saving it for just such an occasion.

OK, truth be told. The reason I have saved it is because I took such great picture of it that I had to write about it at some point. So, the pictures have been waiting and waiting in the queue for just the right occasion (The right occasion being that I had nothing else that I could come up with to write about.)

So, take a look at my lovely pictures. (Seriously! I am not the greatest photographer, so I was really impressed with myself. *Blows on fingernails. Rubs them on shirt.*)

If you ever are in the mood to make a Chipotle Burrito Bowl at home, now you have and exact step by step instruction on how to do it.

Like you need one. I mean, come on. They show you how to do it right there in the store. Oh, I LOVE that place.

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Chipotle Burrito Bowl

Ingredients:

• Stephanie’s (from A Year of Slow Cooking) Carnitas (I triple the spice, but that’s me. We like it spicy!)
• Warmed Rice
• Warmed Canned Beans (Pinto or Black. Pick your favorite.)
• Salsa (Pick your favorite.)
• Guacamole (Pick you favorite. We use TJs.)
• Chipotle Tabasco (This is a must as far as we are concerned, but go with your taste.)

Directions:

1. Take your bowl.
2. Add some rice.
3. Add some beans.
4. Add some Carnitas.
5. Add some salsa.
6. Add some guacamole.
7. Top with Chipotle Tabasco.
8. Eat with a fork.

Notes:

1. You will notice I didn’t put measurements above. That is because you just layer this to the size of a Burrito Bowl that you want.
2. If you are not into pork, you are strange. Just kidding. I’m really not that into pork except with Carnitas. Anyway, you can use Stephanie’s recipe with other meats, too. I use with with a chicken breasts all of the time. Just add a bit more liquid. Or use chicken thighs, and you don’t have to add the extra liquid.

Sorry about the lame post. I will do my best to be in a better mood in two weeks. I have a feeling I will, since this mood usually only lasts a day or two. Each month. If you know what I mean. Sorry for TMI.

Have a great week! I’m off to watch some downloaded Real Housewives of Beverly Hills do some work.

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

As you may have noticed (or not), it has been two weeks since my last News You Can Use post. I found that trying to round up all of the information out there was taking a lot of time. There are a lot of blog posts to go through before I whittle it down to the few I present here. Seriously! A LOT!

Anyway, I have decided to change it to every other week. I hope it is still helpful.Off we go…

Recipes first!

1. Diane from The WHOLE Gang has a recipe for Sweet Italian Sausage. Um, why did it not occur to me to make my own sausage? She doesn’t use casing, so it is pretty gosh-darn easy. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO doing this. It will save money. I can make any version I want. And it will save me time peeling the casing from Max’s sausage at dinner. Win, win, win!
2. Alisa from Alisa Cooks has a fabulous recipe for Easy Potato Cajun Skillet. I do like me some cajun. And, I love it when everything is made in one dish. Easier clean up. Plus, you can change it up to your own tastes so easily.
3. Linda from The Gluten-Free Homemaker has a recipe for Coq au Vin. In the slow cooker!?! Did you know you can do that? It looks really easy. I always just assume anything with a French title must be hard.
4. Stephanie from A Year of Slow Cooking has a way to make Smoky, Country-Style, BBQ Ribs in the Slow Cooker. (I sense a theme.) She swears this sauce would make a tire taste good, so I think this might go on the must make list. Great tasting ribs without having to slave over the BBQ. Um, yes please!
5. Lillian from Lillian’s Test Kitchen made Raspberry Thumbprint Mini-Cakes. This is a recipe from AndreAnna over at Life as a Plate. Lillian makes them while being filmed and does a lovely job. I am assuming she did a lovely job since she can’t stop ooooooo-ing and ahhhhhhh-ing over them. Not too many ingredients, and they are paleo. “Thumbs”-up! Get it? Thumb? I crack myself up.
6. It is that time of year, again. The pumpkins are out. At least, on my porch. And, in my living room. And, in my kitchen. But, since I want some in my belly, I think I need to whip up a batch of Maggie’s (from She Let Them Eat Cake) Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Dairy-free, too. Mmmmmmm. So, yummy! So, yummy!
7. Hallie from Daily Bites has a recipe for Apple Chips. Another, why-didn’t-it-occur-to-me-to-make-my-own moment. It is so, super easy. And, I can use my organic apples (since apples are the #1 fruit that you should eat organic due to it’s pesticide absorption). It will still be way cheaper than the bag. Plus, I really don’t like the fact that they put sugar on the ones you get at the store. It’s FRUIT people. Plenty sweet.
8. Nancy from The Sensitive Pantry has a recipe for Mallomars. I remember these things from when I was a kid. My dad would go through them like crazy. But, I don’t remember them being called Mallomars. Because I always wondered what Mallomars were. Hmmm. I’m going to have to do some detective work on this one. While I do, go take a look. They are surprisingly easy to make. Who knew?
9. Of course, I could not forget the ever-wonderful Shirley from gfe-gluten-free easily. She always has so many good things up that it is hard to narrow down to just one or two. But I will try. So, the first one is her recipe for Chocolate Silk Pie. Two thirds of that title are the words chocolate and pie. ‘Nough said.
10. Speaking of chocolate. Now, we have Grain-Free Chocolate Cake with Honeyed Ricotta from Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. Um, I want to eat my computer, the picture looks so good. This is also a super-easy recipe to make. Think this is ging in my recipe box for the chocolate cake alone.
11. Well, we are done with recipes. Sorta. Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger has ended so that means there are lots of posts up where someone has adopted a blogger form the gluten-free community (Was that just totally redundant?) and made a recipe (or 2 or 3) of theirs. They share their experiences on their own blog. So, we have Sea from The Book of Yum (who started and runs Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger) and her adoption of Kim from Cook IT Allergy Free. Sea made, like, a bazillion recipes. But, her favorite seems to be the Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes. Sounds good to me. Plus, you need to look at this post just for the adorable pictures of Baby Yum. She is just so gosh-darn cute.
12. Next, is Alta from Tasty Eats at Home who adopted Lexie from Lexie’s Kitchen. She made a lot of great recipes, including Fried Green Tomatoes and Sausage Stuffed Squash. These look so good. These Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger posts are great. You get to learn so much.
13. We have one more adoption that I found. Once again, we have the lovely Shirley from gfe-gluten-free easily. And, she adopted… ME! I was adopted! I was adopted! Me, me, me! It was me! OK, it doesn’t happen often, so I have to revel. The post was so super sweet. I don’t what else to say except it made me blush and all teary-eye. Thank you, again, for your kind words. Oh, yeah. She made my Gluten-Free Apple Crumb Muffins. I have to say. I am good at the muffins.
14. If you are a lover of Chinese food, (I certainly am.) you are going to love the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten-Free being hosted by Iris of The Daily Dietribe. It’s all favorite Chinese dishes made gluten-free. Oh, yummy!
15. And, lastly, we have a very, very important post. The Halloween Candy List, Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free with all of the hard work done by Alison of Sure Foods Living. Thank you, so much, Alison. She does this every year, and we need to know what candy we can sneak out of our kids’ bag let our children eat.

***This giveaway is closed. Please scroll to the bottom for the winners.***

I am going to control everything my son eats for the rest of his life so he only eats healthy, nutritious food.

OK, now that I have picked myself up from the floor because I was laughing so hard I fell out of my chair, let’s continue.

I’m not that delusional. But, I do know that if you give your kids a good start by introducing them to vegetables, fruits and healthy food early on and limit junk to just occasional treats, you can build a great foundation that will stay with them for life.

I have numerous anecdotal stories of people I know that had bad foundations built when they were little, and it has been a major detriment to their health as they get older. But, I won’t go into that. I think we all know deep down that it’s true, and I don’t want to call anyone out.

But, I also have anecdotal evidence that it works the opposite way, too.

I think I have mentioned a few times that the Big Man was given a great foundation of healthy food when he was younger. He strayed from the path as a teenager (as we all do), but he found the light again when he got older. He doesn’t touch soda except the occasional root beer. And, when I say occasional, I mean once or twice a year. He loves his veggies, and really likes it when I cook healthy meals.

So, this has been our goal for Max.

I’m not dense. I know that he is going to go through a time where he wants nothing but junk. But, I am going to feed him as healthy as possible until then.

Gluten-Free cookies and cupcakes

This all leads to the Marvelous Foods Company. They sent a few samples of their snacks to me. (Yes, they were free.) Currently, they carry cookies and mini cupcakes. Both have a chocolate flavor, while the cookies have a ginger-ness to them. Each packet contains either two cookies or two cupcakes. They are small, so each packet is a snack size. And, each packet has two serving of fruits and vegetables in it. Really! If you look at the ingredients, you see avocados, carrots, bananas, spinach, kale, etc.

Plus, they are sweetened with honey, as well as some brown sugar. No high fructose corn syrup. And, all of the ingredients are pronounceable. Always good.

I really feel good giving these to Max. And, myself.

And, most importantly, we both tried them and liked them. I was pretty impressed with the taste. I mean, I like vegetables, but these actually tasted like a treat.

And, here’s the deal for you. The Marvelous Foods Company is going to do a giveaway. They will send a box of each to two winners. Each box has 9 pouches in it, and each pouch has two cookies/cupcakes. That’s a lot of treats. So, what do you say?

Just leave a comment below telling me your favorite vegetable. I will start, even though I won’t be entering the giveaway. Mine is brussel sprouts, right now. It changes. How about you? What is yours?

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, here is the ingredient list for the cookies and the cupcakes. Pretty good stuff.

For the cookies:

Bananas, Pure Honey, Carrots, Unrefined All Natural Brown Cane Sugar, Gluten Free Flour Mix( Buckwheat flour, Brown Rice Flour, Garbanzo Bean Flour), Non-hydrogenated Palm Oil, Natural  Vanilla, Non-hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Filtered Water, Annatto, Flax Seed Oil,  Tumeric( anti-immflamatory), Lime, Cinnamon, Baking soda, Cream of Tarter,  Arrowroot, Chamomile, Ginger, Green Tea.

For the muffins:

Pure Honey, Avocado, Unrefined All Natural Brown Cane Sugar, Gluten Free Flour Mix( Buckwheat flour, Brown Rice Flour, Garbanzo Bean Flour),Spinach, Kale,Bananas, Non-hydrogenated Palm Oil, Natural  Vanilla, Non-hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Filtered Water, Annatto, Flax Seed Oil, All Natural Cocoa,  Tumeric( anti-immflamatory), Lime, Cinnamon, Baking soda, Cream of Tarter,  Arrowroot, Chamomile, Ginger, Green Tea.

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

PPS – The giveaway for the Marvelous Food Company will end October 18th at 9pm PST  has ended.  Congratulations to Bonnie and Cara! I will have emailed the winners, and you will have 48 hours to get back to me. After which, if I have not heard back from you, another winner will be drawn.

Well, there goes the month of September. Autumn is upon us. Of course, we here wouldn’t know that by the weather, but, oh well. Tomorrow October starts. Also the start of the official holiday season. I love the holidays. I can’t wait to get going.

Speaking of getting going, let’s get the weekly round-up going. We have a lot. How about recipes first, again?

1. Today we will start with Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Quick Bread from Carol at Simply…Gluten-Free. This looks so yummy. I love lemon poppyseed anything. In fact, since muffin season is upon us again (Max and I made a chocolate version of my Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins yesterday.), I think I need to figure out a lemon poppyseed version of muffins.
2. Shirley from gfe – gluten-free easily has a lovely recipe for Homemade Hamburger Helper-Roni. This is so awesome. Totally reminds me of eating Rice-a-Roni. But it’s much better for you. I love how Shirley makes things that remind me of my childhood. But they are tastier, healthier versions. Total comfort food. But in a good way.
3. Do you like stew? I do. (Didn’t mean for that to rhyme.) Over at the Spunky Coconut, Lexie from Lexie’s Kitchen is doing a guest post with her Stew Seasoning. What a great idea to make it yourself, ahead of time, so you have it when you need it.
4. Have you heard of spoon bread? I hadn’t until I read Amy’s (of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free) recipe for Sweet Corn Spoon Bread.It looks so good, and I bet it will go great with some chili or something as the days get colder.
5. Linda from the Gluten-Free Homemaker has a recipe for Gluten-Free Applesauce Muffins. Yummy! She uses sorghum flour. Interesting. I haven’t used it before. I wonder how it tastes? You know I love muffins, so I think I will be giving this one a try soon.
6. Wendy from Celiacs in the House has a review and recipe with Kelp Noodles. I haven’t really heard of them before, but they sound like a great addition to a salad. She used them in a Kelp Noodle Asian Slaw. Hmmm. Another good one to try.
7. Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Croissants. Seriously!? Yep, that is what Alta from Tasty Eats at Home came up with for Daring Bakers. If you are grain-free and dairy-free, this sounds like it might be a good option. They remind me of crescent rolls. But I mean that in a good way. I am really interested in trying these, since we are trying to be as dairy-free and grain-free as we possibly can.
8. Zoe from Zoe’s Cup of Tea has a wonderful recipe up for Kedgeree. Don’t know what Kedgeree is? Never heard of it? Are you serious? Everyone who’s anyone has head of Kedgeree. OK, if you live in Britain, according to Zoe, you’ve heard of it. But, after reading the ingredients in Zoe’s version, I think this is on the must try, soon, list. Fish, curry, rice, eggs and cilantro. Yep! I’m there. Got it all, so I think, maybe, tomorrow.
9. Diane from The Whole Gang has a easy sounding Chicken Meatball Recipe and a great way to sneak in some veggies for the veggie-avoiders. To me, it just makes them sound all the better. I need to make more meatballs. I do love them so.
10. Nancy from The Sensitive Pantry has Blueberry Chili Hot Sauce. Sounds weird at first. But then, the more you think about it, the tastier it sounds. Now, if only I knew how to store chili peppers. Had bunch from my FIL, and they turned all moldy on me. Highly disappointing.
11. Now, on to other matters. Hallie from the Daily Bites gives a great way to store ginger. I love ginger. Really introduced to me by the Big Man. He LOVES ginger. But, I would love a way to store it. Hallie’s way even makes it easier to use when you need to grate some up. Love it!
12. Melissa from Gluten-Free for Good has a review of Wheat Belly. I guess it’s a new book making its way up the best seller list. After reading her review, I just might have to check this thing out.
13. The Sea Maiden from The Book of Yum went to Israel not too long ago. She has some wonderful insight on the Top 10 Yummiest Gluten-Free Foods in Israel. If you have any plans to go in the near future, you should check out what she has to say. She has quite a few posts about her adventures.
14. Lexie from Lexie’s Kitchen (yes, the one earlier) has a review and giveaway running on her own site for The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. Somehow, I missed this one. A little disappointing considering how much I love Asian food. Any Asian food, and I am there. But, now, of course, I have to watch everything. Harrumph! Anyway, it sounds like she liked the cookbook, and you can win one for yourself if you get over there and enter by October 3rd.
15. Alisa from Go Dairy Free and and Alisa Cooks does a wonderful guest post on Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom about the difference between cow’s milk and goat’s milk. Quite informative, I must say. But Alisa knows what she is talking about when it comes to dairy. I think she knows more than the farmers.
16. And, Melissa from Gluten-Free for Good (yes, the one form earlier) has post up about Farmers’ Food and Focus Groups. She knows some farmers that are really working hard to grow gluten-free oats. And they are doing a focus group of people to try their gluten-free oats. You can sign up and get a bag sent to you for free. They even pay the shipping. I have a recipe I am planning on making with these oats. I just need to test it one more time before I post it. A healthier version of a childhood favorite. I’m excited.
17. Lastly, we have me. Well, my post from last week. I made a Gluten-Free “Breaded” Fish and Tarter Sauce, plus a giveaway of 5 free product coupons each to 3 winners for Erewhon/Attune Foods. They have some great gluten-free cereals you can try. That’s getting 5 boxes of cereal for free. Nice!

I hope you have a great weekend.

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!^™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.