Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Recipes

Namaste Review and Giveaway!

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Yay! The lovely Sally from Namaste Foods (Cool name, huh?) was so kind and sent me some baking mixes to try and review!

Sugar free Waffle and Pancake Mix, Sugar free Muffin Mix, and some fantastic recipe cards!

Sally was so generous and helpful! She sent me a hand-written note and various papers with sticknotes that shared her thoughts about the company which specializes in Gluten-free baking. Sally (and I) encourage you to visit the FAQ section of their website to learn more about how the company is trying to make gluten-free foods more accessible to those with Celiacs Disease.

Namaste is a small company based out of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Is it a coincidence that my little cousin who has Celiacs lives very close by? Anyway, according to the company, The word “Namaste” (pronounced “Naa-Maa-Stay”) is an ancient Sanskrit word with no literal translation. They say it means, “The Spirit within me honors and respects the Spirit within you.” The word “Spirit” in this context has no particular religious connotation. You could substitute the word “Heart” or “Soul” if you like. The essence of the phrase is simply that the best part of me wishes you well. And we do wish you well. In seeking to offer you delicious allergen-free foods, we nourish the body. In nourishing the body, we hope to help nourish the mind and the spirit so you can enjoy optimum health.

First, I decided to try the waffle and pancake mix because I had been craving pancakes the last couple weeks.

Sizzling on my cast-iron skillet

What can be better than a big stack of piping hot, fresh pancakes?
My pretty plate with cherries
Ha! Forget the Pretty! I'm smothering mine in homemade applesauce!

The pancakes were super easy to make. Just add some water, a tad bit of oil, and an egg (or egg substitute). Stir and Voila! I made some plain (for my picky little brother), some blueberry, and some cinnamon blueberry. The package makes two batches, and the picture shown above is just one batch (That is a whole lotta pancakes!)

But how did they taste? When my dad, the harsh food critic, says the pancakes are really good; then the pancakes must be good! And in my opinion, they definitely are! I couldn’t even tell that they were gluten-free! Great Job, Namaste!

Next up, the muffins.

Close up and smeared with butter

I had been craving poppyseed muffins lately, so I decided to go with my craving and stir some poppyseed to the mix. The mix was once again easy to make with the same oil, water, egg requirements. They add fresh vanilla bean to the mix, so I can see little black specks of the vanilla, how sweet is that? It made 12 muffins (six of which I made lemon poppyseed, and the other six almond poppyseed. This was so by adding orange juice and lemon peel to one batch, and almond extract to another).

How did they taste? My mom and I both liked them. It was a denser muffin and reminded me a lot of brown rice mochi because it had a kind of sticky inside. I loved it smeared with almond butter, and it was perfect to pack for breakfast the next day (which I spent on the airplane). They did not crumble in the little plastic bag I brought them in, nor did they crumble while I sat on the plane.

Verdict: Namaste is such a great company! It is perfect for those with celiacs disease, but still incredulously yummy for those who do not have gluten allergies. My dad couldn’t even tell that they were gluten free!

And to show how they can be even more kind and generous, they offered to give away a Namaste package to one lucky reader! (Within the United States, please, due to shipping costs. Sorry!) The giveaway would contain a Namaste Tote with perhaps a pasta mix and a baking mix, coupons, literature and assorted goodies.

To win this wonderful assortment, there are multiple ways to win:

  1. Blog about this giveaway, and link back here to tell me you did so.
  2. Follow me on Google Reader, and comment here to tell me you did so. (If you already follow me, then comment as well, and you will get an entry!)
  3. Tweet, facebook, or do whatever else (sorry I’m don’t know all of the social networkings out there!) about this giveaway, and comment back here to tell me you did so.
  4. Lastly, leave a comment here telling me about your favorite pancake, waffle, or muffin add-in. (Mine has to be blueberries right now!)

Each of the above will give you one entry into the contest. So, if you do all four bullet points, you will be entered four times! The giveaway will end one week from now, and I will post the winner’s name (and email him/her), so that they can receive their reward! Good Luck!

Once again, thanks so much, Namaste, for allowing me to do this!

P.S. Don’t forget to send in a Picture or blog about your favorite food for the Food Lovin‘ Post! August is almost up!

Summer Nights with Cucumber Salad

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Hello Hello! First off, I want to remind you all to send in a picture, or blog about your favorite food for the Food Lovinโ€™ Post! Donโ€™t Forget! August is almost coming to an end, and I know that every single one of you have a favorite food!!

Last night in Iowa was the most beautiful night Iโ€™ve been in for a while! It was about 75 degrees, and there was a nice, cool breeze in the air. There was some Wild Alaskan Salmon on the grill, and I made some cool and refreshing summer salads with the organic vegetables a friend kindly gave me the night before.

The smell of the night calmed me as I sat on the front porch with my family eating supper.

Breathe inโ€ฆBreathe outโ€ฆ. Smell the night air, and enjoy the food that the earth has kindly given up for me. And enjoy my family as I relax, talk, and eat.

I made a perfect summer salad out of the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes my friend gave me. This was my Grandmaโ€™s recipe, and was a favorite to make. My dad was also extremely happy when he saw I was making this salad. It is very cleansing because the cucumbers soak in vinegar. I remember drinking the left over juices with my grandma, and laughing as we watched each other cringe as the vinegar burned our throats.

Cleansing Cucumber Salad

~This cucumber salad is great for a summer picnic, and good for those who have sore throats. The recipe is raw, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and of course, sugar-free!

Ingredients

  • 2 medium cucumbers (can be easily adjusted to serve more or fewer people)
  • 15 (more or less) cherry tomatoes
  • Yellow onion
  • ยผ cup vinegar
  • ยผ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1-2 Tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar
  • ยฝ teaspoon salt
  • ยผ teaspoon black pepper

First, thoroughly wash all of the vegetables, and scrub the skins of the cucumber. Then, thinly slice the cucumbers into rounds. Next, thinly slice about 2 or 3 rounds of the yellow onion, and cut the rounds into quarters. Then, place the sliced vegetables and cherry tomatoes into the serving bowl. Add the vinegars and salt and pepper, and use your hands or salad tongs to thoroughly coat the vegetables (make sure you donโ€™t add too much balsamic vinegar because it doesnโ€™t look as good to have brown cucumbers!).

Either serve the salad right away, or cover with plastic wrap and let it sit a couple hours before serving, The loner it sits in the vinegar, the more tangy the cucumbers will become; so if you donโ€™t love a strong vinegar taste, donโ€™t let it sit too long.

Dinner Idea for this salad:

Yes, this was my dinner I enjoyed on the front porch. The cucumber salad was served with grilled salmon topped with capers, wild rice, and another spinach salad I made the night before.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What is your favorite summer-time meal? What about you most ideal meal-time setting? On the beach, in the mountains?

I’m Ba-ack!

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Don’t worry, I didn’t have too much fun while I was away from you guys…just driving…

My family and I drove from Florida to Iowa which is about 3 days full of driving. Ugh!!!! My butt is so sore from sitting!

Anyway, I just thought I’d pop in for a little bit to let you know I’m still here. I just haven’t had a chance to sit down at the computer yet (And I don’t really want to sit anymore!)

Ok. On our way up from Florida, we stopped in Georgia for a couple days for my sister to play in a tennis tournament. We stayed at a place called the Wyndham, and let me tell you it has the BEST Breakfast buffet EVER!!! I was in heaven ๐Ÿ™‚ It’s usually $16 (AH!), but since my sis was in the tournament, they gave us a discount (phew!)

The minute I stepped into the room full of food, I was in aw! My family kept telling me to calm down because I was just so excited to try all the yummy delicacies!

Let me take you down memory lane…

The Continental half of the dining room was the first thing to meet my eyes, and a waiter in a black and white tux stood before us smiling, “Good morning, how many people will be joining us today?”

“Five”, we responded.

As he escorted us to the table, I couldn’t help but smile. I felt like a child staring at all the unopened gifts on Christmas morning.

Once we were seated, he took our drink orders, and I ran to the plates. Fruits of all shapes and sizes were laying before, nestled in between decorative greens. A poster of the human body was color-coded to reveal which foods were best for what part of the body: Muscles, Brain, Nerves, Bones.

With my plate in hand, I slowly walked down the aisle, and contemplated what foods I should try first. Yellow watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, grapefruit, apples, and a banana smoothie beautifully poured into a champaign glass and topped off with a slice of fresh lime. Oh my.

After I passed on the donuts, pastries, and dried cereal, my eyes met up with another line of fruit: plums, pineapple, kiwi, cherries, and raspberries just to name a few. Then a beautiful arrangement of lox and capers met my eyes. ‘I’ve never tried lox before,” I thought as I placed a few slices on my plate.

I almost dropped my plate with the next thing I saw: a full hot oatmeal bar! Any imaginable dried fruit laid perfectly still in white porcelain bowls: dates, cranberries, figs, mango, papaya. And nuts: flax, almonds, walnuts, pecans… Quickly, I grabbed a bowl and filled my oatmeal to the rim with figs, flax, nuts, and blueberries.

After setting my plate down at my table, I wondered over to the Hot Section. The usual shiny silver containers sat there, hiding their treasures within. I looked through the silver containers to find the usual bacon, breakfast potatoes, biscuits and gravy, and sausage. But something was missing. Where were the eggs?

Ah-ha! I whipped around and stood in front of a man wearing an impressively-tall chef’s hat. In front of him, three skillets stood ready to be put to work.

“What kind of eggs do you want? Or what do you want in your omelet?” The friendly man in the white hat asked. I ordered a veggie omelet with spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and peppers. Quickly, he sauteed in the veggies in oil, and then ladled pre-whisked eggs into the skillet. As it cooked, he prodded the eggs with a spatula until he felt like they were ready. Once ready, he flicked the omelet into the air. As the eggs and veggies soared, the chef stood ready to catch them. Bingo! They landed perfectly onto the skillet and cooked thoroughly the rest of the way.

I thanked the man for his good-dead, and complimented him on his handiwork as I spooned fresh guacamole and pico de gallo onto the omelet. Happlily, I walked passed the fresh whipped cream, butter and syrup waiting to be spooned onto freshly-made belgium waffles, and took a seat next to my family.

I slowly devoured my breakfast, enjoying every minute of it. I decided it was the best omelet I’d ever had, and decided that I really loved “fig newton” oatmeal. I also decided that I didn’t like raw salmon much, and vowed to stick to my cooked fish. Another thing I figured out was that I loved a certain yellow fruit that looked like kiwi on the inside, but didn’t taste like it. What was this sweet, yellow delicacy?

Plate upon plate, I went back for seconds, thirds, and fourths. I needed to try a little bit of everything. Satisfied, I smiled and declared it was the best breakfast I’d ever had.


Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What was the best breakfast you’ve ever had? Also, how do you eat healthy at a hotel breakfast buffet or on the road?

Crunchmaster Review

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Robin, from Crunchmaster, was oh so generous to send me a HUGE box of crackers to try an review! Thank you, Robin!

The Multi-Seed Crackers come in Original, Roasted Garlic, Rosemary & Olive Oil and Sweet Onion. Here are the stats for the original flavor:

I Love these ingredients! ย What other cracker have you seen has these kinds of exotic grains like quinoa and amaranth? Plus, these are all gluten-free!

Note: The flavored multi-seed crackers each contain a small amount of sugar in them, about 1 gram per serving. They also contain dairy. But other than that, they are same as the orignal with a few extra seasonings.

My Reviews of Multi-Seed Crackers

  • Original: These were actually my favorite of the multi-seeds. Call me boring, but I liked the flavor of the seeds alone (with just a hint of salt). They were earthy, crunchy, and nutty!
  • Rosemary and Olive Oil: I was so excited to try these, but they ended up being my least-favorite ๐Ÿ™ ย I love rosemary, but I didn’t taste the rosemary flavor at all in the powdery coating. I wish that there were little specks of the herb cooked into the actual cracker instead of powdered on the top.
  • Roasted Garlic: This was good, but it tasted like the original crackers with a garlic-y aftertaste. Which is fine, but I would have preferred a more strong garlic flavor.
  • Sweet Onion: This was fine, too. It had a light onion flavor, but they were a bit sweet for me. (Well, my tastes are a bit different than the average person’s sweet tooth. hehe)

They also sell a sea salt Multi-Grain cracker. It contains Brown Rice Flour, Whole Grain Yellow Corn, Potato Starch, Safflower oil, Oat Fiber, Evaporated Cane Juice, Sesame Seeds, Flax Seeds, Millet, Sea Salt, Quinoa Seeds. It has 120 calories per 16 crackers, and two grams of sugar.

I liked these Multi-Grain crackers. They went really well with salsa because they had that extra corn flavor in it. It had a lighter taste than the Multi-seeds.

Baked Rice Crispers

Ingredients of Salt and Pepper: Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Whole Grain Yellow Corn Flour, Yellow Corn Masa, Safflower Oil, Evaporated Cane Juice, Sea Salt, Toasted Dehydrated Onion Powder, Salt & Pepper Seasoning (Sea Salt, Black Pepper Powder, Coconut Oil, Extractives of Black Pepper), Garlic Powder, Torula Yeast.

The Stats for you label-readers (don’t worry, I’m one of them…hehe…)

Calories 120 Sodium 230 mg
Total Fat 3 g Potassium 0 mg
Saturated 0 g Total Carbs 22 g
Polyunsaturated 0 g Dietary Fiber 1 g
Monounsaturated 0 g Sugars 2 g
Trans 0 g Protein 2 g
Cholesterol 0 mg

This is for 37 chips salt and pepper chips. That’s right, 37! I love the fact that the serving size is so large! The other flavors are about the same, only with different flavors added. Note: the other flavors have dairy products in them.

My Reviews of Mr. Krisper’s Baked Rice Krispers:

  • Sour Cream and Onion: These were the first ones I tried because I used to be a big fan of sour cream and onion chips. OH my gosh! The love is back! My picky little brother even said, “Oh my gosh, these are good!” They taste just like regular sour cream and onion chips, but they don’t have that greasy flavor and are very light.
  • Sea Salt and Pepper: My mom and I loved these (my lil bro and sis didn’t, but that’s just because they don’t like black pepper. pshh). I actually added a bit more salt and pepper to it because I love a strong salt and pepper flavor.
  • Nacho: Again, wow. They taste a bit like cheesey chips, only light and not greasy. My sister really enjoyed them-she even ate them during breakfast one morning!
  • Barbeque: Good, but not really a smoky barbecue flavor. I’d rather call them hot sauce chips instead because they got some heat!

Overall: I love Crunchmaster’s products! The multi-seeds are really good with dips like hummus and salsa. They would also go beautifully at a party with a plate of fancy cheeses (for you dairy-eaters).

The Mr. Krispers excited me the most, though, because they taste just like potato chips without the greasy-ness. You should defiently reach for these when you get a potato-chip craving!

Thanks so much Crunchmaster!

(P.S. if you want to give their product a go, you can get a coupon for $1 off by going to their website. Click the link above)

Pancakes and Peanut Butter.

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Hey Guys! This is a super short post today because I want you to check out my first guest post on Lauren’s blog, Whole Wheat or Bust. Check it out! I talk about some sugar-substitutes and a yummy sugar-free recipe at the end ๐Ÿ™‚

But here are some of my eats the past couple days…I’ll give recipes to some of them later. If I don’t and you want the recipe, just yell at me!

Protein Berry Soft Serve
Afternoon came and I wanted pancakes( and peanut butter of course), so I whipped out a batch in 5 minutes(without a mix!)you guys are totally getting the recipe.
Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Mondo Salad
Sausage, veggies, and noodles

So… What do you think?

I’m Lucky!

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Not just because I won a blogger giveaway, but because the giveaway was to One Lucky Duck!!! Thank you, Lauren! I am so pumped!

I am also excited to announce that I received 2 coupons from the wonderful people of Woodstock Farms to try their products for free and do a product review. What should I try, guys?

I have a few product reviews coming up (and a giveaway!), so stay tuned!

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but it is blisteringly hot down here. Yesterday we had a 105* heat index, and today 107*. But that doesn’t stop me from charging onto the tennis court for a couple hours! No sir-y, I have been sweatin’ up a storm this past couple days.

This summer weather calls for a summer dinner!

Burgers, potato wedges, watermelon (blindingly red), and a fresh salad

Alex’s 10 Minute Burgers

  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Worcester Sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Mix all ingredients together by hand. My burgers are very onion-ey, that’s what makes them good! Roll them into balls about 1.5 inches thick. Then, place them on a pan (I used a cast-iron skillet) and smash them down to patty size. Cook for about 2 minutes each side. I didn’t really count, but I just kept an eye on them to see when the bottoms turned nice and brown. Serve with your favorite condiments! (Mine are pickles, avocado, tomato, spinach, and mustard! I like mine bun-less…oh yeah….)

Healthified Potato Wedges

  • 3 or 4 potatoes (or sweet potatoes)
  • olive oil spray (or fingers ๐Ÿ™‚ )
  • salt
  • pepper

Preheat oven to 425*. Scrub potatoes thoroughly because we are keeping the skins on. Slice potatoes into wedges. Try to slice evenly so that they will cook evenly. Soak the potatoes in water for 10 minutes so that they will be crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. Pat the potatoes dry with a paper towel. Spray the cookie sheet with olive oil (or spread it around with your fingers) and lay the potatoes flat on their sides. Spray with more olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper (and other spices if you wish. garlic, chili powder, rosemary, whateva!) Bake for 10-15 minutes each side or until they look pretty like my picture below.

Yup! So go make some summer food!

I actually think I am breaking my summer food demand tonight and making pancakes and eggs…Oh well! You know how good breakfast tastes for dinner, right?

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

I have a couple, so stick with me, please:

What should I go get with my Woodstock Coupons? What about my One Lucky Duck gift card?

What is your favorite summer meal? I know that in my family, if we have watermelon and corn on the cob, we are happy!