Gluten-free instant oatmeal is fairly new to the market.  Glutenfreeda has been making one for the last year or 2, which is the only other one I have tried.  It is so nice to have these on hand for traveling or busy mornings.   I was pleasantly surprised to hear that there was another – Simpli Instant Apricot Oatmeal – that was gluten-free.  I was immediately intrigued, as apricots are one of my all time favs!   

The best thing about this oatmeal is that it contains only 4 ingredients – oats, apricots, sugar & salt.  That is it.  No preservatives or unwanted/unneeded junk.  To make the oatmeal, just add 2/3 cups of boiling water to the oats, stir and let sit for 1 minute.  I chopped up some dried apricots to sprinkle over the top.  I loved this oatmeal!!!  It was creamy and wasn’t too sweet at all.  It kept me full all morning until lunch time.  The nutritional stats are decent: 170 calories, 2.5g fat, 4g fiber and 5g protein.  If you wanted to bulk this breakfast up, top the oatmeal with some nut butter or Greek yogurt. 

More about Simpli Gluten-Free:

RIGOROUS QUALITY MANAGEMENT FROM SEED TO STORE

At Simpli, we take extra care to make sure our oats are certified gluten free and never contaminated by contact with other grains. Our oats are sustainably grown and harvested in fields dedicated to oats, processed and packaged in facilities used exclusively for oats. This rigorous quality control allows us to deliver the highest quality gluten-free oat products.

There are some gluten-free recipes on the Simpli recipe page that caught my eye, the pancakes in particular.  Simpli Instant Apricot Oatmeal can be purchased straight from their website. 

The wonderful folks at Simpli have offered to give 5 of my readers each a box of Simpli Instant Apricot Oatmeal!  The giveaway will run from Monday January 3, 2011 through Friday January 7, 2011 at midnight.  To enter to win, please complete the following.  Leave a comment for each task completed.   Each comment will earn you one entry.  One prize person. 

1.  Visit the Simpli website and tell me which gluten-free recipe you would most like to try. 

2.  “Like” Simpli on Facebook. 

3.  “Like” Gluten-free is Life on Facebook.

4.  Follow me on Twitter.

This giveaway is open to US residents only. 

**Full disclosure: The samples & prizes are offered free of charge by Simpli.  The opinions expressed in this post are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.

Normal.  That is what we are looking for here.  Yes, the holidays were great, but I am ready for some good, old-fashioned routines around here.  I don’t deal well with change.  My body is all screwed up sleep-wise and my typical routine should help correct that. 

I found out last week from my doctor’s office that I am still anemic despite my eating as much iron-rich food as I could over the past 2 months.   My hemoglobin went from 11 to 11.3.  I have now purchased some iron supplements – Ferro-Sequels (they are even labeled “gluten-free”) and began taking them a few days ago.  With marathon training just starting, I can’t depend just on food to get my levels back up.  Oh, and I just found a coupon on their website for $2.00 off my next purchase! 

I am not ashamed to admit that my menu plan was kicked to the curb last week.  We had Mellow Mushroom at least once and may have had Pei Wei in there, too.  Another reason I can’t wait to get back in the swing of things. 

I finally took all of my decorations down today.  The only things left are the outside lights.  I should have taken them down when it was 55 degrees on Friday, but I didn’t even think about it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they were up until Spring.  I guess as long as they aren’t on, right?  They are in my lilac tree and bushes, so they aren’t really visible to the neighbors. 

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Sunday – Salmon & shrimp, baked potatoes/brown rice, steamed broccoli & carrots & salad

Monday – Grilled Italian chicken breast, baked sweet potatoes, zucchini and salad

Tuesday – Tacos, refried beans, corn & salad

Wednesday – Spaghetti & meatballs, green beans & salad

Thursday- BBQ pulled pork, cheesy potatoes, broccoli & salad

Friday – Mellow Mushroom GF pizza

Saturday – Breakfast for dinner (waffles or omelettes)

Baked Goods

Rice Krispy Treats for Jon

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I still need to hear from Jenna and Jennifer, 2 of the 3 winners of the thinkThin giveaway.  Please email me at kim@glutenfreeislife.com with your information. 

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Stop back by tomorrow for a brand new giveaway that will have 5 winners!

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Week in Review – Mini-edition

Check out my friend Erin’s top 10 GF posts

Stop by to wish Shirley of Gluten-Free Easily a Happy 2 Year Blogiversary! 

LaraBar introduces a new flavor…can you guess what it is? 

Recall of fresh greens – Little Bear Produce

Top 10 gluten-free specialty foods found in Columbus

Mrs. Richardson’s dessert toppings are gluten-free

Did you stay up to see the new year in?  I didn’t.  I gave it a good faith effort, but was sound asleep before 11:30.  Hannah and I did get in a few rounds of dancing on Just Dance 2.  What a fun game!  I am not really making any resolutions this year, but do have a couple of goals that I am working towards.  

1.  Take better care of my skin.  I have a bad habit of going to bed with my make up on and don’t use the best products for my skin type.  I have a friend that works for Clinique who has spent some time showing me what I should be doing.  The best part about Clinique is that my friend has taken the time to compile a list of their products that are gluten-free.  Additionally, if there is a product that isn’t on the list, she can easily call and get the information for me.  I have been using my new regimen for a little over a week now and my skin feels so much better! 

2.  Run The Flying Pig Marathon uninjured.  I have signed up for a local training program to help me reach my goal.  I am working towards following this plan and not getting any crazy ideas about doing more or running shorter runs faster just because I feel that I can at that point in time (a habit that clearly got my in trouble last year). 

***Image courtesy of The Flying Pig Marathon

Do you make resolutions?  If so, what are they for this year?

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Thanks to all who entered my thinkThin giveaway!!  Now the news you have all been waiting for….the winners!!

Jenna Drew

December 27th, 2010 at 11:43 am

Hi Kim! It’s like you read my mind! I had just found the thinkThin bars yesterday on Twitter after searching for a gluten free protein bar for my fiance! We’re getting married in June 2011. Neither one of us will be ‘thinkingThin’ weight-wise this year, but we’ll be thinking Thin financially until the wedding! I’m following both you and thinkThin (@GFJenna), and I just liked both pages! I’d love to share these bars with my hunny!

cindy

December 27th, 2010 at 4:53 pm

I am going to track my calories for a while to see why I am gaining weight after healing and beginning to absorb again.

Jennifer M

December 28th, 2010 at 9:47 am

ThinkThin twitter follower as jennem1.

Congrats Jenna, Cindy & Jennifer!!  Please email me your contact information ASAP – kim@glutenfreeislife.com

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Now I am off to get my 7 mile run in (55 degrees and rainy on January 1st in Ohio is odd) and make my black eyed peas.  Have a wonderful day!

I have seen this cake called many different things.  Betty Crocker calls it “Better Than Almost Anything Cake” and Allrecipes.com has many similar recipes called “Better Than Sex Cake”.  I don’t care what you call it, the cake is awesome!  How can you go wrong with chocolate, caramel & Heath Bars?  Not only was this cake delicious, but it was very easy to make, too.  I had all of the ingredients on-hand except for the caramel sauce.  When I was browsing the topping/dessert sauce section of the grocery store, I went about my business as I usually do – by reading labels.  I had not looked into which sauce I would buy before going to the store because I had been in a hurry.  I figured if worse came to worse, I could call from the store or use my Smartphone to research it.  Imagine my surprise when I was reading the label of the first jar I picked up and it said “gluten-free” right on the front!  Funny thing is that I had scoured the back of the label and was unsure, so turned it around and if it had been a snake it would have bit me!  I love products like this!  The sauce was made by Mrs. Richardson’s and was actually Butterscotch-Caramel as opposed to just caramel.  Sounded good to me, so I went with it. 

***I apologize for the photo quality – I had to take a picture while I could!

Chocolate Heath Crunch Cake

1 box Betty Crocker’s Gluten-Free Devil’s Food Cake (eggs, water & butter that the box calls for)

12 –17 oz Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel Sauce

1 cup Cool Whip

1/2 bag of crushed Heath Bars (sold by the bag near the chocolate chips)

Directions

1.  Bake cake according to directions on the package for an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 inch pan.

2.  Once cake has cooled slightly, but is still warm, poke holes with the handle of a wooden spoon about 1/2 inch apart across the cake.

3.  Pour butterscotch caramel sauce over the holes & top of the cake.  Once the sauce has absorbed, cool the cake for at least 2 hours.

4.  Top with Cool Whip and crushed Heath Bars.

5.  Serve and enjoy.  Makes 9 – 12 servings, depending on how big or small you make the pieces. 

This cake was a huge hit for dessert on Christmas day.  Not exactly traditional, but may become a tradition.  My step mom’s brother said “Skip baking cookies and just make this again!”.  LOL!  I guess it was good! 

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If you haven’t taken the time to enter my thinkThin giveaway yet, click here to get busy! 

I have always been a fan of thinkThin Bars for Jon.  Not only are they super portable, but they are gluten-free and do a great job of holding him over until he can get his next real meal.  Another bonus, they don’t get smashed in his hockey bag!  The protein bars are great sources of protein with approximately 20 grams of protein, depending on the variety.  The newest product from thinkThin are the Crunch Bars. 

*Image courtesy of thinkThin

The Crunch Bars come in three different flavors:

• Mixed Nuts – Ingredients: Peanuts, soy crisps (soy protein isolate, tapioca starch), almonds, chicory root extract, cashews, maltitol, brown rice syrup, honey, soy lecithin, natural flavors, salt. Contains peanuts and soy.
• Mixed Nuts & Chocolate – Ingredients: peanuts, soy crisps (soy protein isolate, tapioca starch), almonds, coating (maltitol, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, sodium caseinate, dairy oil, soy lecithin, natural flavors, salt), chicory root extract, cashews, maltitol, brown rice syrup, honey, soy lecithin, natural flavors, salt. Contains milk, peanuts and soy.
• Mixed Nuts & White Chocolate – Ingredients: Taste the nutty flavors of peanuts, almonds and cashews with a hint of honey and covered with delicious white chocolate for a sweet lower sugar treat for the whole family. With 70% less sugar and 80% more protein than leading fruit and nut bars, our crunch bar is a good source of fiber and a naturally delicious snack you can feel good about.

What I liked about the Crunch bars was that they still had a significant amount of protein in each bar.  Not as much as the thinkThin Protein Bars, but more than some of the other fruit & nut bars out there on the market.  Each Crunch bar has 10 grams of protein.  I have been trying to keep an eye on our sugar intake lately as well, and these bars have only 3-4 grams of sugar per bar, which is 70% less than some of the other bars.  Now, I am sure you are wondering how they taste and the answer is fantastic!  I love the crunch of the nuts and the chocolate or white chocolate adds a nice sweet finish to the bar without making it overly sweet. 

The new Crunch Bars can be purchased in stores across the US, on the thinkThin website or on Amazon.com.  Click here for coupons to use in your local stores. 

Giveaway Information

Three lucky winners will receive a 10-bar box of crunch, 10-bar box of protein and 3 of our bites boxes! All you have to do to enter to win is tell me how you are planning to “think thin” in 2011.  The contest will run until Thursday, December 30, 2010 at midnight. 

For additional entries, you may complete any or all of the following.  Please leave a comment for each one completed so that I can easily count entries.  ***Multiple entries increase your chance of winning, but you can only win once.  If your name comes up twice, I will choose the next person in line. 

1.  Follow me on Twitter.

2.  Follow thinkThin on Twitter.

3.  “Like” Gluten-free is Life on Facebook.

4.  “Like” thinkThin on Facebook.

Good luck to you all!! 

Thanks to Rachel at thinkThin for the Crunch bars and for partnering with me to offer this giveaway to my readers.  My bars were provided to me free of charge.  The opinions in this post are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.

364 Days Until Christmas are the words that just came out of Jon’s mouth.  Seriously?  He was joking, as both he & Hannah had a very nice holiday.  We had all kinds of awesome gluten-free food, including a new cake that I made from a recipe that I found on Live Gluten Freely.  We found a new recipe for Frosted Sugar Cookies that have to be some of the best I have ever tasted. 

The kids got some really fun stuff – Hannah got Just Dance 2 for the Wii and that is a serious workout!  Nothing like having fun and exercising at the same time! 

I think this smile says that someone had a nice Christmas. 

Our menu plan this week will consist of a lot of leftovers and pantry foods, as none of us seem to be able to tear ourselves away from our new toys.  I got a new laptop, which was much needed with as much writing as I do.  Additionally, we have over $150 in Mellow Mushroom gift cards and Jon seems to be addicted to their gluten-free pizza. 

Sunday – Grilled Chicken, baked potatoes, broccoli and salad

Monday – Salmon, basmati rice, asparagus & salad

Tuesday – Mexican pizzas, refried beans, corn & salad

Wednesday –Spaghetti and marinara sauce, eggplant, green beans and salad

Thursday – BBQ chicken breasts, cheesy potatoes, okra & salad

Friday – Pizza and salad

Saturday – Pork & sauerkraut – Happy New Year!

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Make sure to stop back by tomorrow for a new giveaway!! 

As a friend just pointed out on Facebook – there are only 2399 minutes until Christmas! ACK! I have been very productive this week and even ended up making some Chocolate Chip Cookies for the kids. I found that it is much more fun to make cookies because I want to as opposed to feeling obligated to by my own ridiculously crazy standards. Hannah and I went to see Santa yesterday and finished up the Christmas shopping. Now I just have to wrap every.single.present and clean. I am fortunate that my mom and step dad will be arriving today. I can foresee my mom and I having a wrapping party that may or may not include some wine. 😉

Before I sign off for my busy day, I do want to announce the winner of the Katz giveaway. Remember that while the giveaway has ended, you can still enter the raffle!! The drawing for this raffle will be on January 3rd, 2011. To enter for this raffle, please enter at the Katz website, not here on my site.

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 50
Result:
2

And the winner is….

Denise Frankljn
December 18th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I have never tried this product. I am intrigued!

Congrats Denise!!!! Please email me at kbouldin@insight.rr.com with your contact information so that I can pass it along to Katz.

Ian’s Natural Foods has a wonderful variety of gluten-free (and allergen-free) products on the market. One of the hardest things about starting the gluten-free diet is being a kid and having to start the gluten-free diet. Kids are naturally picky eaters (or many of them are), so finding foods to replace the old standbys can be tough. This is where Ian’s comes in. The products that Ian’s makes are geared towards kids’ taste buds.

Ian’s has a couple of new (or newer) products that I have just been able to sample. Cookie Buttons & Wafer Bites.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Buttons: You’ve never had cookies like Ian’s Wheat-Free/Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Buttons before! These bitty buttons are the perfect addition to your lunch box or soccer bag and come in individual bags that are all your own—and it’s a good thing because you won’t want to share! Plus, they are made without wheat or gluten. So even kids with food allergies can enjoy them! You’ll love the taste, and your mom will love the all-natural ingredients!

Wafer Bites: Perfect family snack or lunchtime treat. Wafers are covered in milk chocolate.

We were really excited to dig into these snacks. I opened the Cookie Buttons first and was immediately reminded of Cookie Crisp cereal! What a flashback! I loved the crunch!! Even Hannah, our non-gluten-free child, loved these!

I had high hopes for the Chocolate Covered Wafer Bites and I am sad to say that I was not impressed. Maybe it was the combination of chocolate & a wafer cookie? I don’t know. The wafer was flavorless and the chocolate had an odd aftertaste. I had several other people (both gluten-free and non-gluten-free) sample these to see what they thought of the bites. They all had pretty much the same opinion that I did.

Ian’s products can be found online at Glutenfree.com or in stores across the US. Have you tried either of these 2 products from Ian’s? What did you think?

***These products were supplied to me free of charge by Ian’s Natural Foods. The opinions stated in this post are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.

I am overwhelmed. Big surprise, huh? I haven’t wrapped a single Christmas gift and still have a few odds & ends to pick up. Hannah hasn’t seen Santa yet and it has been snowing the whole month of December and the poor child doesn’t have snow boots that fit. She does have some snazzy, sparkly boots from Justice, but they were obviously designed for looks, not comfort or keeping her little girl feet dry. I haven’t made a single cookie or piece of fudge. I put this enormous amount of pressure on myself to do way more than any human being could handle and then end up disappointed and frustrated when I can’t accomplish it all.

Am I really piling too much on my to-do list or am I not utilizing my time wisely? I honestly believe it is a little of both. How do I solve this and still end up feeling good about what I did accomplish? I have been thinking a lot about this. I have pondered many different scenarios. What is going to happen if I don’t make Christmas cookies or fudge? I can tell you one thing, Aaron won’t get mad that we have multiple different kinds of cookies stuffed in our extra freezer for the next 6 months. Will I miss my favorites? Yes, but I’ll have to accept the fact that it isn’t always possible to have everything that I want. I have what I need. I am going to give myself permission to not try to “do it all” over the next 2 weeks. I am going to concentrate on spending time with my family, wrapping presents and getting the things done that really need to be done, such as taking my daughter to see Santa and buying her some snow boots, not the things that would make me appear more Martha Stewart-like.

After I gave myself permission to knock a bunch of items off of the to-do list that is in my head, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt like I had given myself a gift – the gift of time. Time to do what I need to get done and a little left over to relax. It is true that I work well under pressure, but I don’t like how that makes me feel.

Fortunately I have a pumpkin pie in the freezer that I made at Thanksgiving time. My recipe makes 2 pies and there was no reason that we needed 2 at Thanksgiving, so in the freezer it went! For Christmas day dessert, I am using a new recipe that I found on Live Gluten Freely that uses the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Devil’s Food Cake. I will make sure to let you all know how that turns out. I am simplifying my meal plan this week and enjoying the ride.

Sunday – Holiday dinner with girlfriends

Monday – Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans and salad

Tuesday -Taco Tuesday

Wednesday-Burgers, baked potatoes, asparagus & salad

Thursday-Pizza and salad (and that pizza may just come from Mellow Mushroom 😉 )

Friday-Ham, brown rice, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli, salad, pumpkin pie

Saturday – Christmas dinner at my Dad’s house

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Sending out a big CONGRATS to Anna – Anna won my Gluten-free Holiday Giveaway Galore.

Want to enter a fun giveaway from Katz? Click here for more information.

Discounts being offered by Around the World Gourmet.

Gluten-free foods becoming more abundant in stores.

I was very excited to be contacted by Shmully of Katz Gluten Free a few weeks back to see if I was interested in sampling a couple of their new products. I almost jumped out of my chair! Of course I wanted to sample the Frosted Chocolate Cupcakes and the Vanilla Rugelach. In addition to the two new products, Shmully was kind enough to send me any 2 of their products that I chose. I opted for the Oat Challah Rolls and the Marble Cake.

**Images courtesy of Katz Gluten Free

The cupcakes disappeared so fast that I didn’t have a chance to snap a picture! They were quite possibly the best cupcakes ever!!! Chocolate cupcakes frosted with chocolate frosting dusted with sprinkles – YUM! Even my non-gluten-free daughter raved about these! I think that the price point is very reasonable at under $6 for 6 cupcakes. Great to keep in the freezer for school functions or to pack along for a picnic.

The Vanilla Rugelach did not disappoint. We are huge fans of the cinnamon and the chocolate varieties as well. These remind me a lot of the Polish pastries, kolache (I am sure I spelled that wrong 😉 ).

Want to order some Katz Gluten Free goodies? Now is the time to get those orders in – there is free shipping on all orders over $30! What a great time to stock up!

As they did over the summer, Katz will have a Grand Raffle which everyone is able to join! The Grand Prize will be a huge box, containing one of each product Katz has!! The drawing for this raffle will be on January 3rd, 2011, on KatzGlutenFree.com. To enter for this raffle, please enter at the Katz website, not here on my site. 🙂 I am going to do a giveaway below, but it is not for the Grand Raffle. To keep up with Katz, make sure to follow them on Facebook & Twitter.

Ready for some more fun now? Katz would also like to offer their scrumptious Sample Pack for my readers. How cool is that? All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me if you have tried any of Katz Gluten Free products before. If so, which one is your favorite? If you wish to do any of the following, you will earn one extra entry for each option completed and comment left. Leave a comment for each one you complete.

1. Follow me on Twitter.

2. “Like” Gluten-free is Life on Facebook.

3. Subscribe to Gluten-free is Life emails.

My giveaway will end on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at midnight. Good luck!!!

****Products were supplied to me free of charge. My opinions and comments are my own and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.