Michigan, Popcorn, and Elana

Hey everyone!

1) I loooove Michigan. Seriously, love. Clean, green, and pure. Law school precludes me from doing too much exploring (um, hello it’s Friday night and I’m reading Torts), but from what I’ve gathered thus far, MI is fabulous. Love it.

Ah, the "mitten" state. Good times.

2) Speaking of the fact that it’s Friday night and I am stuck in my room reading page after page of Trespass to Chattels, popcorn has been a life saver. Really though. USDA organic, gluten-free, and lightly salted. Pairs surprisingly well with my late night mug of coffee and makes reading more fun. (Ha, sort of).

Like you're in a movie theatre, but you're not.

3) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whether you can tolerate gluten or not, Elana\’s Pantry is where it’s at. Woman is fierce. And her food, divine. Do yourself a favor and check out her website and fantastic recipes (the flourless chocolate cupcakes are my fav!) And she has a great cookbook out too!

Have you ever been to MI? Do you love popcorn? (It’s an addiction on my end, really). Have you been to Elana’s site before?

P & L,
Mem

Waffles!

One thing I cannot live without is waffles! Oh my goodness, those babies are incorporated in many of my meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Love ‘em. While there are many fabulous frozen brands out there, one of my favorite brands being Van\’s, you can have so much more fun (not to mention save a lot of money) on making your own.

I made a big batch this morning (12) to put in the freezer and last me all through my busy week. My favorite mix right now is Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Pancake and Waffle Mix with Flaxseed. It’s wheat, dairy, and other common allergies free, but is still full of hearty whole grain sorghum (cereal crop grown for food) and brown rice. Not to forget 450mg of  heart healthy omega-3 oils too. The recipe is simple and you can get really creative with it as well. I always add a splash of pure vanilla extract, berries, or dark cocoa powder (or all three ).

Store em’ in your freezer and slather them with some almond butter, greek yogurt, or pure maple syrup. Mmmm.

Love waffles too? Any great recipes?

P & L,

Mem

Not even afraid to admit this…

I have a newfound favorite snack food…

You’ve heard about celebs that are into it, and now I am too. Baby food is where it’s at. Specifically, Ella\’s Kitchen Organic Baby Food. Seriously, call me crazy, but the products are packaged as cute as can be, and the products pack a surprisingly serious punch even for adults, but especially for the cute lil’ babes their intended for.

My absolute favorite so far is the sweet potato, pumpkin, apples, and blueberries squeeze pouch. So much better than a shot of espresso or stale cup of coffee when I’m study wee into the night. There isn’t many allergy-friendly, late-night, I-can’t-believe-I’m-still-up-studying snacks out there, and these all fit the bill.

Absolutely nothing else added except what’s in the name – sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apples, + blueberries. Just 100% organic fruit and veg with nothing to dilute its goodness, not even water.

You all remember how I feel about sweet potatoes and pumpkin , and the apples and blueberries make it just that much better. They have so many awesome looking goodies. These are definitely being fed to my future babies (loooong way off), but for now I’m going to enjoy them

Check out their site – super cute. They even have recipes!

So what do you think? Will you try them? Or should they be left in the sandbox?

P & L,

Mem

Law School!

Hi Everyone!

Forgive me for the lack of posting…between finishing up my full-time job and getting ready for law school (I’m finally here!), I ran out of any extra time to blog. I’ll be updating more often, hopefully three times a week or so at least.

Michigan definitely isn’t PA, but I’ve found a lot of great organic and gluten-free purchases thus far. Sadly, MI isn’t on the gluten-free bandwagon yet. Very pretty and pure here.

Speaking of pure, I have however found many new and delicious flavors of my all-time favorite,the Pure Bar. New packaging, new flavors (um wild blueberry, what?), all delish. Please try them!!

I have many fantastic allergy-friendly waffle, pizza, and sorbet (lemon, chocolate, raspberry!) recipes coming your way soon!

P & L,

Mem

Love Me Some Cupcakes

Honestly, who doesn’t love a good cupcake? They are tiny little morsels, but powerful and filling enough to satisfy one’s cake cravings and one look at a well-decorated cupcake with creamy, rich frosting just makes you smile. See below.

Some A-mazing vegan cuppycakes from a sweet little bakery for my birthday party earlier this year.

Okay, so I can’t really make magic like the above happen in my kitchen, but I can make a mean flourless chocolate cupcake that require no frosting due to their decadence. I’ve shared this recipe with friends (with or without food allergies) and they all agree that they are out of this world fantastic. I wish I had some pictures, but the last batch was devoured - shout out to my girl Courtney who provided these insanely-cute little chocolate gems for dessert at a dinner party my friends and I had the other evening.

A chocolately-delicious do:

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips 73% cacao (really up to you, but I’m a dark chocoholic)
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 agave nectar

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp.  cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Place 12 paper baking cups in a muffin pan. Put the chocolate in a double boiler, or medium bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir until completely melted, stir in oil. Set aside to cool. In large bowl, cream the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and thick, gently stir agave. Fold in the melted chocolate and remaining ingredients.

Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes.

You’re welcome

P & L,

Mem

GF beer and pizza just go together

Happy Summer! My super adorable friend Sam (who also has a gluten allergy!) and I celebrated the coming of summer yesterday with a pizza party! It’s great having a close friend with similar allergies because I’m usually the one eating something different from everyone else, so it’s wonderful to share a super yummy meal with someone who eats what you do! 

We devoured a thin crust pizza topped with fresh mozzarella, homemade tomato sauce (kudos to Sam’s momma!), and sliced tomato. Sam picked up the gf, organic thin crust pizza dough from Jules in Doylestown, but they have several locations. It was fantastic. I have a cute little pizza stone that made magic happen in the oven. 

While that did it’s thing in the oven, we had some organic baby spinach leaves topped with cherry tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, sugar snap peas, and soy nuts. We dressed our salad in toasted sesame oil because we are both addicted. 

Fresh.

Once our pizza was out of the oven and cooled down (longest ten minutes of my life!), we poured ourselves some gf, all natural beer (we split two bottles of Redbridge and a bottle of Sprecher -> fire-brewed, African-style, btw). Those were obviously delicious. 

Redbridge you make me happy.

My fav girl looking fly and happy.

Our pizza didn’t disappoint us either… 

Okay, so perhaps not the prettiest pizza pie you've ever seen, but it was delish.

Super thin and super crispy.

Did I mention all this fabulousness happened on my deck with the sun on our backs? Yes, it was perfection. Have you ever had these gf beers? Do you notice any taste-difference from regular brews? And talk to me about pizza! You love? 

P & L, 

Mem

My First Guest Post! :)

Check out my guest post on the blog, Fooducate. I talk a little bit about my allergy history and about my favorite breakfast. Hello, strawberry-avocado-omelet!

Fooducate was founded by Hemi Weingarten, a  father of three in the San Francisco Bay area who has a passion to teach others on how to make healthier choices when it comes to food purchases. Deemed a  ”personal grocery advisor,” Fooducate is,

 ” published daily (more or less), you’ll find tips and tricks to help make you a better shopper of nutritious food. Topics include nutrition fact labels, hard to pronounce ingredient names, “health claims”, and other marketing tricks to watch out for at the supermarket.”

It’s a fantastic blog and wonderful learning tool, with great information for anyone who eats! Check it out! Thanks for letting me share, Hemi!

P & L,

Mem

Got Milk?

Study after study shows that downing dairy (some form of it) after a tough workout can help replenish exhausted muscles and significantly aid exercise recovery. I love working out, but can’t do regular dairy. But, no worries to my allergy buddies who can’t stomach cow’s milk either - according to research, any dairy beverage with some protein (think soy or goat’s), will have the same muscle-building rewards  

I happen to be head over heels for Bolthouse Farms Protein Beverages, specifically, the Perfectly Protein Vanilla Chai Tea flavor. No preservatives and nothing artificial, along with being gluten-free, this baby is a smooth blend of soy protein, brewed green tea, and chai spices all naturally sweetened with a subtle hint of vanilla. It’s got a nice dose of protein (10 grams!) and filled with nutrients like Vitamin C, B6 and B12, iron, zinc, magnesium, 18 amino acids. Not to mention 37 grams of isoflavonoids per serving. BAM. 

It’s crazy delicious .  One bottle is two servings though, so keep that in mind while you are drinking it in all its chai-glory. 

Protein + Delicious = Yum.

Yay. 

P & L, 

Mem

Chips and Dip, please.

I found another amazing allergy-friendly bag of greatness. Snyder’s of Hanover brand has introduced, Eatsmart Naturals. A new line of all-natural, Kosher certified snacks that are gluten-free (excluding the MultiGrain Sunflower Chips) and all natural. All Eatsmart Naturals items are made with expeller pressed sunflower oil. I got my hands on the MultiGrain Tortilla Chips  with a touch of sea salt. They were fantastic.

I whipped out some goat cheese cream cheese, a la Trader Joes, and topped that with some Full Circle Organic Salsa and went to town.

Snacktastic.

 Have you tried these yet?

P & L,

Mem

5 Amazing Recipes for Fresh Apricots from Rodale.com

I don’t know about you, but I loooove apricots in any form…dried (sulfite-free, of course!); fresh in their small, velvety skin self; pureed; juice-style; in a smoothie addition; whatever. There’s just something about those beautifully orange colored fruity-jems that make me smile. Perhaps it’s because they are chock full of  beta-carotene and fiber? Seriously though, they are little gems in fruit form.

Tart in flavor, but smooth and sweet. Best described as a cross between a peach and a plum.

Anyway, below are two delicious recipes I am going to try ASAP, kudos to Rodale -

1) ”Mango-Apricot Smoothie Add a little sunshine to your morning with this smoothie, or simply pair apricots with Greek yogurt and honey for an even quicker wake-me-up treat that can serve double-duty as a simply elegant dessert.”

2) “Curried Lentil and Apricot Salad with Arugula Top an apricot-adorned main-dish salad with your choice of vegetarian-friendly lentils or succulent slices of filet mignon.”

Are you loving apricots as much as me these days?  Any recipes?

P & L,

Mem