Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe and Sweet & Simple Gluten-Free Baking Giveaway

Chrystal Carver, author of Sweet & Simple Gluten-Free Baking: Irresistible classics in 10 ingredients or less?, sent me her new cookbook, and she will be sending the lucky winner of my giveaway a signed copy as well.  Update - the giveaway is now over.

I made the chocolate shortbread tarts, seen on the cover of the book, shortly after it arrived.  My girls loved them, and I will be using the chocolate ganache portion of the recipe as my go-to ganache recipe from now on.  It was so easy to make, and would be great with cupcakes or fresh fruit.  

Brazi Bites Giveaway

I was first introduced to Brazi Bites at the Gluten-Free Living Conference in Orlando this past April.  I have always been a fan of Brazilian cheese bread, and I had heard great things about Brazi Bites, so I was excited to see that they were one of the vendors.   

After sampling all three types of Brazi Bites at the conference, I headed to the Whole Foods on Turkey Lake Road to purchase some.  I ended up buying three bags of the original Brazi Bites, even though I also enjoyed the cheese bread snacks with bacon.  If you are a fan of jalapenos, I am sure you will love the Brazi Bites with fire-roasted jalapenos.  

What I love about Brazi Bites, is that they go straight from the freezer to the oven, and take just 20 minutes to cook.  

They were the perfect side dish to go with our Palm Sunday Frittata, and cucumber & tomato salad.  My husband, daughters, and in-laws all really enjoyed them. I love how they are a little bit crispy on the outside, and nice and soft on the inside.  Everyone rubbed them around in the dressing from our tomato salad.  

You can check out the Brazi Bites store locator here.  In Orlando, they are available in the freezer section at the Whole Foods on Turkey Lake Road.  

The Original Brazi Bites contain tapioca starch, eggs, milk, parmesan cheese, safflower oil and/or soybean oil, cheddar cheese, water and salt.  You can read more about Brazi Bites on their website here.

So, would you like to win three bags of Brazi Bites (one of each flavor)?

How it works:   

Each person can be entered into this contest 9 different ways via Rafflecopter.   

One winner will be picked randomly, via Rafflecopter, based on valid entries. 

This giveaway is only open to people living in the continental United States.   

The winner will appear here when the giveaway ends and will be contacted by me.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  Winner -- Martha E

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The opinions contained within this review are entirely my own.

Cuisine Cube Review & Giveaway

I was so excited to receive the March 2014 Cuisine Cube in the mail.  Who doesn't like to receive packages, especially when they are full of gluten free goodies?

So how does Cuisine Cube work?

You can order a monthly subscription for $29.99 a month.  Shipping is free and you can cancel at any time.  A Cuisine Cube will arrive at your door each month filled with gluten free breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert items.  You can order a subscription for yourself, or give the gift of hand-picked, foodie-tested gluten free groceries to a friend or family member.  

I love the handy one page sheet that came in the box.  On one side, it has information about the all the products contained in the Cuisine Cube.  

On the flip side, it shows pictures of each item.  

I am really excited to try the GalloLea Barbecue Pizza Mix, especially after reading a great review from Shauna Ahern on her blog glutenfreegirl.com.  

The March Cuisine Cube also included Oven Baked Organics Pancake Mix, Saffron Road Lemongrass Basil Simmer Sauce, Euforia Triple Delight Cake, Zero Grano Crackers, and Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Sunflower Butter Cups.  

We sampled three of the items for lunch the day after we received our Cuisine Cube.  

The Zero Grano Crackers were a huge hit with my whole family and are the best gluten free crackers I have ever eaten.  In some ways, they remind me of a Saltine, but they were way better!  I especially loved the slight hint of rosemary they had.  I will definitely be buying this product in the future.  One great feature of Cuisine Cube is that you can visit the Stock Up page on their website to purchase more of the products you love.  

My family enjoyed the Sun Cups, but the Euforia Triple Delight Cake was the dessert we were all wishing we had more of.  The taste and texture of this cake were just amazing!  

Cuisine Cubes are a great way to try a variety of new and different gluten free products.  You can visit their website here.  

So would you like to win the May Cuisine Cube?

How it works:

Each person can be entered into this giveaway 5 times via Rafflecopter.  

One winner will be picked randomly, via Rafflecopter, based on valid entries.

The giveaway is only open to people living in the continental United States.

The winner will appear here when the giveaway ends and will be contacted by me.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  Winner = Jacklyn Novak

I was given my Cuisine Cube to review, but the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.  

Discount Code -- If you would like to order a Cuisine Cube, you can use the discount code GFINORLANDO5 to receive $5 off.  The code is good until May 31, 2014.  

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NuGo Dark Review & Giveaway

Update - the giveaway is now over

About a week ago, my father-in-law told me about the NuGo Dark bars that he had been eating.  Because of his recommendation, I decided to buy one when I was at The Fresh Market.  On the packaging, it says that they contain 10g of non-GMO protein and are certified gluten free, vegan, and pareve. I was really surprised how much I liked the NuGo Dark Mocha Chocolate bar that I had purchased, because I am usually not a fan of dark chocolate.  It had a great taste and I loved the texture of the non-GMO soy crisps.  I posted a picture of the NuGo Dark Mocha Chocolate bar that I had purchased on my Gluten Free in Orlando Facebook page, and asked if anyone had tried them.  After someone mentioned that there was a chocolate pretzel with sea salt bar, I knew I had to try it.

At Whole Foods, I bought the other bars in the NuGo Dark line - Chocolate Pretzel with Sea Salt, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cup, and Mint Chocolate Chip.  My two personal favorites are the chocolate chocolate chip and the chocolate pretzel with sea salt, which is amazing!  It's the perfect blend of salty, sweet, and crunchy!  I have been looking for healthier alternatives for my daughters for school this year, so I asked them if they would like to take one to school.  I cut them in half so they could have part of a bar for snack, and part for a lunch treat because they are about 200 calories each.  I have enjoyed them before my morning workout, as a snack after my workout to get me through to lunch, and as a lunch treat.

Not only do I love the taste of NuGo Dark, but they also happen to be made in a little town called Oakmont, that is about 10 minutes away from where I lived in Pittsburgh. It's great to be buying a product from our hometown!

I love this statement from NuGo's website - Our decadent NuGo Dark bars use real cacao dark chocolate to enrobe our bars. Cacao is a natural source of flavonol antioxidants which help neutralize free radicals and protect your body from cell damage while tasting delicious. Real Dark Chocolate uses all the properties of the cocoa bean, including natural chocolate and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is important because it can reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure; vegetable fat alternatives used by other companies do not carry these health benefits. Our dark chocolate protein bars prove: Delicious has a dark side. 

NuGo is very passionate about dark chocolate food labeling.  They are petitioning the United States Food & Drug Administration on change.org.  

"The FDA has not set a standard of identity for dark chocolate even though there are FDA standards for milk chocolate and white chocolate. Consumers are being deceived into thinking they are eating healthy dark chocolate, while actually consuming fake chocolate made from vegetable fats (usually palm oil). Without a standard of identity, companies can label a product ‘dark chocolate’ on the front of a package without using real dark chocolate ingredients!"  You can check out and sign their petition here.  

We also recently purchased some of the NuGo Slim bars at Whole Foods.  With only 2 or 3 grams of sugar, these bars pack a protein punch with a whopping 15 to 17 grams of protein, and 7 grams of fiber.  They are certified gluten free, and contain no maltitol or artificial sweeteners. 

January 8, 2014

NuGo recently sent me their newest NuGo Dark bars to try.  My husband ate the chocolate coconut, because I don't eat coconut.  He liked it, but he said it wasn't his favorite NuGo dark bar.  This week, I tried the spicy chocolate with chili peppers, which might be my new favorite NuGo bar.  I loved its spicy kick, and the slight hint of cinnamon.  I will definitely be looking for this bar at local stores.  

So, would you like to win one mixed box (12 bars) of NuGo Dark?

How it works:   

Each person can be entered into this contest 14 times via Rafflecopter.   

One winner will be picked randomly, via Rafflecopter, based on valid entries. 

This giveaway is only open to people living in the continental United States.   

The winner will appear here when the giveaway ends and will be contacted by me.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  Winner -- Amber Bowman

The opinions contained within this review are entirely my own.  I did not receive any free product from NuGo Nutrition until the January 8th update, and I approached them about sponsoring a giveaway. 

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