Quick and Easy Gluten Free Breakfasts!

June 6, 2015June 7, 2015Leave a comment

I thought I’d share a few simple, Gluten Free breakfast ideas that can be thrown together in about five minutes. 🙂

1) Half of an Udi’s Plain Bagel with Peanut Butter and Apple Butter along with 1/2 a banana, 4 cherries, 2 strawberries, and 8 grapes:2) Toasted Gluten Free Rudi’s Multigrain Bread with Mashed Avocado and a drizzle of honey!3) Cherries, Grapes, and Cantaloupe4) Cherries, Strawberries, and Grapes along with 1/2 cup of Cottage Cheese topped with Banana Slices5) Gluten Free Chex Honey Nut Granola sprinkled on a Blueberry Acai Fage yogurt with a Bai5 drink! (For the record. .. this is the simplest one on here, just grab the stuff at the grocery store, mix granola in the yogurt, and bam! You’re ready to go!!)I hope these suggestions give you some help the next time you need breakfast in a hurry! Let me know what your go to quick and easy Gluten Free breakfast is in the comments!

Have a Splendid Saturday y’all!!

Love,

Olivia

Tamari Gluten Free Soy Sauce

April 29, 2015April 30, 2015Leave a comment

I met the folks from Tamari at the GFAF Expo, and though I’d heard about their products before (I even had a bottle of their Gluten Free Soy Sauce in the cabinet) the product I was most excited to learn about was their Gluten Free Soy Sauce Travel Packs. These are perfect for going to your favorite Asian restaurant, using for lunches at school/ work, or when going to dinner at a friends!

You receive 20 Travel Packets per box, and can purchase them here. I’ve loved all the products I’ve tried so far from Tamari, and would definitely recommend them to y’all! 🙂

Have a lovely day, and check back here tomorrow for a new post!!

Love,

Olivia

Snackity Snacks

October 16, 2014March 29, 2015Leave a comment

Today we’re going to talk about some quick and easy Gluten Free snacks. Specifically I want to highlight things that would be easy to toss in your bag, eat on the go or have with you in case there’s no safe (gluten-free) food wherever you’re going. By the way, all of these opinions are my own. No one asked me to promote these products. I just really like them all. Without further ado, let’s get to it, shall we?

1) GoPicnic Boxes:
These have quite a few Gluten Free options for Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks. We’ve bought lunch varieties of them before and eaten different components as snacks. They’re great to keep in the car for a quick meal on the go or just a boost of energy during the day. The one pictured below is my current favorite. If you can’t find these at your local grocery store, try Amazon. We got them at Target.

2) Pamela’s Products Whenever Bars:
These are great. They aren’t dry and crumbly like most Gluten Free granola bars, and they’re decent sized. My personal favorite is the Blueberry Lemon flavor. Y’all can find them on Amazon or in your local Kroger store, which is where I find them. 😉

3) Pirate’s Booty, Aged White Cheddar:
This stuff is really great. I don’t know if y’all have tried it yet, but you should. SUCH a great snack! I buy it at Kroger, and sometimes can find it at Aldi, but you can find it on Amazon as well. 😀

4) Annie’s Gluten Free Bunny Cookies in Snickerdoodle:
Random tidbit, I’m obsessed with all things Snickerdoodle flavored–including these cookies from Annie’s Homegrown. They’re so delicious. They’re cute, and they’re Gluten Free. What more could you want? I’ve bought them from Target, but you can find them on Amazon as well.

5) GoGo SqueeZ Apple Cherry:
Okay, I understand that my snack choices are looking a wee bit like a 5 year old’s, but those kids know what they’re doing when it comes to snacks. I’m not kidding. This applesauce tastes like cherry pie, which is pretty cool. If you don’t like cherry pie, (which may hurt our friendship, but I’ll get over it) 😉 they have a bunch of other flavors. Find those here. I get them at Target, but if you don’t have a Target close . . . (and I am so sorry for you if that’s the case) you can find them on Amazon!

6) Larabar Mini Bars:
I personally love Larabars, but I usually only eat a whole one in place of a meal. So, what to do when you want a Larabarfor a snack? Buy the minis, obviously. Plus they’re adorable, which is a HUGE factor in snack choosing, right? I buy them at Target or Kroger. You can find them on Amazon too! 😉

7) Crunchmaster Grammy Crisps:
If y’all have read my blog for a while, you know I wrote a review on these. If you’re new here, I wrote a review on these y’all!! Find it here. 😉 I love them and think they’d be yummy with my next featured snack. I bought them at Ingles, but I am sure you could find them on Amazon . . . oh wait, you can. ‘Cause I found them for y’all. You’re welcome! 😉 I love these, and they’re great with cream cheese, or. . .

8) Justin’s Honey Almond Butter:
I’m in love with Almond Butter. Between it and Sunbutter, I could honestly have little to no use for Peanut Butter. This Almond Butter would be great on the snack above or on celery. Goodness, it’d be great alone. Find It on Amazon, or at Target.

Hope y’all have found some great snack ideas!

Happy snacking, y’all!
Love,
Olivia

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

September 25, 2014March 27, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve reached 1,000 unique page views in a week! Oh my goodness! ONE THOUSAND UNIQUE PAGE VIEWS!
Y’all! Little old me had an idea a little less than four months ago to share my experiences living Gluten Free.
Lazy old me procrastinated, and didn’t really put effort in until September 16th. But then I started blogging everyday, and Y’ALL started reading what I wrote! I’m so so thrilled, and want y’all to know that this is just the beginning!

So, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your love and support. I really couldn’t do this without all of you.

*****In honor of my first 1,000 unique page views, here’s the first post I ever wrote for Livie’s Gone Gluten Free on July 2nd of this year.

I love Dunkin’ Donuts.

Strange way to start a blog about gluten-free living, I know.

But, I do. Really.

Let’s get some perspective here:
When I was 10 years old, I had my very first Blueberry Cake Doughnut from the aforementioned gluten dealer. It was delicious, and a love affair was born.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year, I had suspected I had a gluten intolerance for awhile. I finally bit the bullet instead of another bagel and decided to eat gluten free. Early on my suspicions were confirmed; Gluten was NOT my friend. So I ditched that selfish witch for new friends like these: Lemon Cookies and Blueberry Waffles.

But something was still missing. I wanted my old friend the Blueberry Cake Doughnut back. I’m sure I could attempt to copycat the deliciousness of the Blueberry Cake Doughnut into a gluten free treat. But what if I’m in a hurry? Homemade doughnuts aren’t a quick food. Though delicious, the average homemade doughnut takes at least an hour to complete. Frankly, I’m a sucker for the convenience of the heavily accented Indian man telling me to “Come to window,” at my local gluten baked goods dealer. It takes all of three minutes to pull up, order, be told to “Come to window.” Pay and leave. What homemade doughnut gives you that level of convenience? NONE! So, now that I’ve thoroughly proven how lazy I am, let me explain why I have rekindled my love for the glutenous baked goods dealer.

Do you see that beautiful liquid on the far left? The one with the blueberry label? THAT my friends is crack in a cup. It’s literally the greatest thing I have ever drunk. And, to top it all off, IT TASTES JUST LIKE THE BLUEBERRY CAKE DOUGHNUT!!! Oh my goodness y’all! You need to go try it, now. It’s the bomb, and I see MANY more in my future. AND, in case it wasn’t great enough that it tastes delicious, the large at my local gluten dealer is 99 cents. Yes, you read that right. Just 99 cents.

It’s the best discovery I have made so far this summer, and their straws are adorable. Slightly reminiscent of this favorite store of mine.

Thank you Dunkin’ Donuts for your blueberry sweet tea! You scored some major points with this one.

Love,
Olivia

Gluten Free on the Road!

September 6, 2014March 27, 2015Leave a comment

Okay, so, eating Gluten Free isn’t necessarily always a picnic in your own town. There’s the constant label reading, the complicated ordering process at restaurants, and the constant trips to the store for obscure ingredients like tapioca starch to create basic things like pancakes. On a side note, until I started eating Gluten Free I had no idea that tapioca had forms other than this, which looks disgusting:

So, in short, traveling to a totally different city and eating Gluten Free can be a challenge.

Here are some basic tips I learned over a recent month-long trip to Colorado:
I’ll preface this by saying I was incredibly lucky to have access to a kitchen THE WHOLE TIME I was out in CO, therefore, these tips will be based on having that available.

1) If you get in after five in the evening, plan to eat out for dinner.
If you’re a superhuman and can get off a three hour flight and still make yourself a delicious, Gluten Free dinner afterwards, more power to ya! That’s not my style. Qdoba on the other hand? Far more my style. I got a Naked Burrito Bowl, which is basically a burrito minus the tortilla, served in a bowl. Pretty self-explanatory. Just make sure they use clean gloves, and ask if any toppings are not Gluten Free.

2) Go to the store. ASAP.
I got in to DIA at six in the evening, and after getting luggage, driving to the house I stayed at, grabbing and then eating dinner, and unpacking it was 10:30. Can you imagine trying to go grocery shopping at that point? I couldn’t. So, my first full day in Denver included a trip to Sprouts. Y’all! Why do we not have these in The South?!? It’s similar to Whole Foods, but cheaper, and with more local produce. It’s a great little store, and if you find yourself in the Denver area it’s totally worth a trip. Anyways, I grabbed some flours and xanthan gum as well as some Gluten Free bread, and I was in business.

3) Larabars are your best friend.
Or any Gluten Free bar for that matter. I stashed one in my purse in case I got hungry/had few Gluten Free options while eating out or shopping. And let me tell you, it may have been the best idea I had.

4) Use your phone.
If you have a smart phone, you’re never more than a few clicks away from a restaurant’s nutritional info. For example, I found out that Noodles and Company offered Gluten Free pasta on their website before I even walked into their restaurant. It’s worth researching any restaurant ahead of time to find out what your options are, or if you need to pack a Larabar. 😉

5) Try out new recipes.
You’re already outside of your comfort zone, you might as well have fun with it. Why not try new recipes while you’re in a new place? If nothing else, you can say “Oh yeah, I tried that out while I was in fill in this blank with a city.” It may not turn out all that great, but the memories will be fun.

6) Relax.
Do what you do at home. Read labels, interrogate waiters, cook. Don’t freak out about being away from home. You’re capable of eating Gluten Free there; you can do it while traveling. When in doubt; eat a Larabar. But don’t fill your trip up with anxiety over food.

Happy traveling!
Love,
Olivia