BFree Foods Review

About a week ago, a 12 pound box from BFree Foods arrived at my house, and ever since my family and I have been trying a variety of tasty allergen free products! 🙂 You see, BFree Foods doesn’t just make products free from Gluten, their products are also free from: Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, Nuts and Soy. Which makes the entire line of BFree products free from major allergens, as well as vegan.

Let me start by showing you all the products the folks at BFree Foods were nice enough to send me!

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This included:

1 Pack of Quinoa and Chia Seed Wraps

1 Pack of Multigrain Wraps

2 Packages of Soft White Rolls

2 Packages of Brown Seeded Rolls 

2 Packages of Multi Seed Bagels

2 Packages of Plain Bagels

2 Loaves of Soft White Sandwich Bread

2 Loaves of Brown Seeded Sandwich Bread

Upon suggestion of BFree Foods PR Agent, I put the products I wasn’t immediately going to try in my freezer, resulting in this:

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With all these yummies, I’ve spent about a week trying products, and still have yet to try the Multi Seed Bagels, Soft White Sandwich Bread, and Multigrain Wraps, so reviews for those will come later. 😉

Let’s talk about the Quinoa and Chia Seed Wraps first! This is one of the first things I tried as I was SO excited that when I took them out of the box they were soft and pliable. I decided to one out for a breakfast burrito, and here’s the result:

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I used eggs, cheese, bell peppers, onions, and ham as my filling, and it was super tasty with the slightly nutty flavor these wraps add. The texture is perfect. I was a touch worried that the quinoa or chia seeds would result in an odd, gritty texture, but quickly learned that didn’t cause any problems. And, you get all this great flavor with only 110 calories per wrap. 🙂 Other ways I’ve used/ plan to use these wraps: Quesadillas, Personal Pizza, Burritos, Migas, and maybe even this recipe for Italian Enchiladas.

Next up, we’ve got the plain bagels, which I’m pretty sure we’ve used solely for breakfasts. Again, texture is great. They’re soft, and lack any pesky crumbling. They’re fine plain, as well as toasted, and we’ve topped them with everything from PB&J:

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to Eggs, Ham, and Cheese for a Breakfast Bagel Sandwich!

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Next up we have: Brown Seeded Sandwich Bread! This bread is awesome, and really different from other Gluten Free breads I’ve tried. To start with, the slices are much longer and thinner, as the cut their loaves of bread lengthwise opposed to horizontally. The only flaw I’ve found is that because the slices are so long, they don’t fit in the toaster unless you cut them in half. However, if that’s the only issue it has, I’d say it’s a win. It’s really yummy, and I used it for quite a few sandwiches. Such as this PB&J:

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(Yes, our Christmas tree is still up. It’s just so pretty! Ha.)

Onto the rolls. . .

These may be my family’s favorite thing they sent. In fact, we ate the first few so quickly, I didn’t even get pictures of them (they’ll be in my second BFree Foods post) They’re great with soup, awesome as mini sandwiches, and would probably work really well as hamburger buns.

I believe that’s all for now! Check back soon for the second part of this post!

Thanks to BFree Foods for providing these products for me to try. As usual, in spite of the fact that I received these products for free, all opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone.

Have an awesome day!

Love,

Olivia

Tony Roma’s Gluten Free Ribs and Pulled Pork (a review)

Okay y’all, let me start off by saying that I am SO very sorry for my unplanned leave of absence. I have a good excuse . . . promise! I moved, and then Comcast was all: “What? We can’t get you internet until August 9th.” Which was good in the sense that it gave me some time to pack, but bad because it kept me from blogging.

So, you may be wondering, “Where’d ya move to?” And I have your answer right here:Rome, GA-13Just in case the picture isn’t loading for y’all . . . I moved back to Rome, GA! I’m super excited to have a new place to tackle Gluten Free living, and am looking forward to re-acclimating to life here in Rome after a few years away. Enough moving stuff! Let’s get to our review, shall we?

Rupari Foods distributes Tony Roma’s Gluten Free Ribs and Pulled Pork, and sent me some products to try and review for y’all! 😀

Here’s what I received:

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Their World Famous Baby Back Pork Ribs, and Signature Pulled Pork. Both of which are free from both gluten and high fructose corn syrup.

Let’s begin our review with the ribs . . .

There were 12 ribs in the rack of ribs. Preparation was super simple, just put them in the oven on a foil lined baking sheet, and brush with sauce a few times throughout the cooking:

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After removing from the oven, all you have to do is split into servings, and enjoy!

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They were really moist, almost to the point of falling off the bone, which makes an already messy eating process messier. Oh well! They make sinks for a reason, right? The mess factor is one thing that’s kind of classic when eating ribs anyways, so it was to be expected.

As for the flavor, the sauce is a bit on the ketchupy side, which was not my favorite. In my opinion, there just wasn’t enough dimension to the flavor, and it could’ve used a bit more spice. However, if you’re not a fan of spicy barbecue, these might just be what you’ve been looking for.

The pulled pork was my favorite by far. As with the ribs, preparation was quite simple. Remove from package, heat on stovetop. So easy that I almost made Ava (see photo below) cook it. 😉

IMG_4491Anyways, after it’s heated clear through, you can eat it plain, or put it on a bun/ toast and make a Pulled Pork Sandwich. I toasted two pieces of my favorite Gluten Free bread, and made a sandwich:

IMG_4676The flavor is awesome, it had the smoky/spicy component I missed from the ribs, and was just over all really yummy. The sauce is really good, flavorful but not overpowering. I liked that I could still taste the meat, not just sauce . . . a common flaw in preprepared barbecue.

As for the texture, it was a bit on the mushy side for me. But, I accidentally let it go a minute or two longer than directed, so it may have been my error . . . not the product’s.

I was very impressed by the quality of Tony Roma’s products, and while I’m unsure about the ribs, I’d definitely buy the pulled pork in the future.

I hope y’all found this review helpful. As usual, all opinions expressed within this article are mine and mine alone, regardless of how nice it was to get the products for free.

I hope y’all are having a wonderful week, and promise to see y’all back here sooner rather than later!

Love,

Olivia

A quick PSA!

Y’all!  Gigi’s has Gluten Free Cupcakes!

I realize I may be late to the party on this, but I just thought I’d let you know. We’ve tried a few different flavors over the past couple weeks, and I thought I’d share them with you! 🙂

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Here’s what the Knoxville Store says about their Gluten Free products:

“Gigi’s Cupcakes Knoxville has gluten-free fans covered. Every day we bake three different gluten-free cupcakes. Our gluten-free cupcakes varieties include Wedding Cake, Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip, Birthday Surprise, White Midnight Magic, Peanut Butter Cup, Lemon Dream Supreme, Chocolate Salted Caramel, Strawberry Shortcake and Miss Princess. And, we make the most delicious flourless Triple Chocolate Torte you’ve ever put in your mouth! So, come see us at Gigi’s Cupcakes of Knoxville.”

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Additionally, here’s what Gigi’s says about their Gluten Free Cupcakes!

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That’s all for today folks!

Tell me what your favorite Gluten Free Cupcakes are in the comments!

Have a tremendous Thursday day y’all!

Love,

Olivia

NoGii . . . a review!

After my post on protein popsicles, nogii offered to send me some products to review, which I gladly agreed to! Here’s what they sent me: IMG_3829

Onto the reviews . . . 🙂

I’m going to group the review by the type of bar today:

Paleo Bars:

These remind me of Larabars. Minimal ingredients, great flavor, and fantastic for on the go. I’ve had them for breakfast a couple times this week, and they’re all super tasty! My favorite was the Nuts About Berries. It tastes awesome, and the flavors are really well balanced!

Protein D’Lites:

This was awesome. They make a fantastic snack, and are perfect for if you need a quick jolt of protein. Plus, they’re really tasty!

High Protein Bars:

These are awesome as meal substitutes. In fact, I went to Rome yesterday and had one for lunch while we were running errands and picking strawberries. The Chocolate Coconut one is tastiest in my opinion, but the Chocolate Mint one is fantastic too. Especially, when made into Chocolate Mint Protein cookies . . . like this:

IMG_3940Which I’ll share the recipe for . . . tomorrow! So check back in for that!

Overall:

All the nogii bars I got to try were really tasty, and I would definitely purchase them to have on hand for a quick breakfast or snack!

Have y’all tried nogii bars? What is your favorite flavor? Let me know in the comments!!

Have an awesome day y’all!!

Love,

Olivia

Bare Belly Organics . . . a review!

As promised the other day . . . I give you the: Bare Belly Organics Review!

Bare Belly Organics is a company out of Kennesaw, GA that makes gluten free mineral sunscreen, lip balm, and various skincare products. All without any of the nine chemicals approved by the FDA as effective sunscreens that are also endocrine disruptors and can cause a plethora of unsavory side effects.

Their sunscreen is available in multiple forms: cream, face sticks, and body sticks. As well as a line of baby sunscreen. They have other products such as lotion, bug repellent, and lip balms.

The sweet ladies who own the company gave me a few products to try and review for y’all at the GFAF Expo, but all opinions expressed throughout this post are mine alone:

Their sunscreen looks a bit different once applied then your average sunscreen, and to show y’all how to apply it properly . . .  I made a short little video for y’all:

Here are my thoughts on everything I tried:

The sunscreen is absolutely fantastic. It has a pleasant scent, and no weird sticky feeling once applied. Additionally, it has really great protection. I’m so pale that my mama jokingly calls me Casper on a regular basis, and even after an afternoon spent outside, I’m not burnt at all. I just reapplied the sunscreen every two hours, and Voila! No lobster skin.

Now, because of the fact that their products are chemical-free, they may soften if exposed to heat, but thankfully, it shouldn’t impede the effectiveness of the product!

Onto the next portion of our three part review:

The face stick is fantastic. It works really well, and I’ve worn it under my makeup for the past week as an extra layer of protection for my skin. It doesn’t even feel like I’m wearing sunscreen, which is a huge perk! 🙂 It also has a pleasant odor, because of essential oils added in to the formula.

Last but not least, let us discuss the lip balm!

I received the vanilla in my products to review, and purchased an orange one while at the expo. After testing both of them over the past couple weeks, I can tell you that they’re amazing. I may even be swayed away from my love of eos for Bare Belly Organics lip balm. It is that awesome. Smooth and moisturizing. I honestly don’t have any complaints.

Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with everything I had the chance to try from Bare Belly Organics, and look forward to trying more of their products in the future! I’d totally recommend them to y’all, and will purchase products from the company in the future.

Have a Stupendous Saturday y’all!!

Love,

Olivia

Nona Lim . . . a review!

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As promised yesterday . . . today will be a review for Nona Lim broth and noodles!

Nona Lim’s goal is to make simply delicious, convenient whole foods. They use clean, responsibly sourced ingredients to ensure that the very best tasting products end up on your table. Best of all, their products are made from scratch in using real ingredients.

They encourage you to be creative with their products, and add in your favorite veggies. I added in some spinach, fresh cilantro, two baby portobello mushrooms, some coconut oil, rice vinegar, and a splash of soy sauce. Which resulted in this:

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Preparation was super simple. All you have to do is blanch the Laksa Noodles and add them into the Miso Ramen Broth along with your other ingredients, then heat everything together until it’s all uniformly hot.

The texture of the Laksa Noodles was good. They didn’t get mushy during cooking, or anything of the sort. I even left it all together to store overnight, and they still weren’t mushy.

The noodles and miso broth were really tasty overall. I really enjoyed the combination I created with the broth and veggies, and the noodles complemented it all really well.

Overall, I was very impressed with everything I tried from Nona Lim, and am hoping to find more of their products in a store near me soon. 🙂

Have an awesome day y’all!!

Love,

Olivia

Ardenne Farm Cinnamon Crunch Muffins

While I was walking around the GFAF Expo, I was offered a free Ardenne Farm product to review for y’all. I said yes, because I’m always looking for new Gluten Free products to review for y’all. So, without further ado . . . a review of Ardenne Farm Cinnamon Crunch Muffins!!
IMG_3576I made them Vegan by using 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of eggs, vanilla almond milk, and coconut oil instead of butter. You can see those items in the picture below, as well as the crumb topping (white package) and the muffin mix (clear package):

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After I pulled them out of the oven, I put them on a cooling rack for a couple minutes. And they turned out quite pretty if you ask me! 🙂

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As for the taste of the muffins, they were delicious. They had great flavor, and the crumb topping added additional emphasis to the cinnamon flavor. Texturally, they were moist and fluffy, with the crumb topping adding a nice crunch.

I got the chance to sample a few other Ardenne Farm products at the expo, including their Sugar Cookie, and Oatmeal Cookie Mixes which were both very tasty.

  • All of their mixes are vegan, and contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
  • Their products are all Certified Gluten Free, and are tested to ensure they contain less than 10ppm of gluten.
  • All of their products made in a tree nut and peanut free facility.

Overall, I’ve really liked everything I’ve tried from Ardenne Farm, and would totally recommend their products to y’all!

Have a great day!!

Love,

Olivia

Gluten Free Find at Ingles!

I don’t usually shop at Ingles . . . mostly because I tend to find better deals on Gluten Free Items at other stores, but last night after Bible Study we had a quick errand to run, and stopped into Ingles to pick up the couple things on our list.
While I was there I happened to stumble upon these:

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If y’all know anything about Ingles, you know that Laura Lynn is their store brand, which usually makes things a bit cheaper. For example, these were $2.99 for 10! Which isn’t bad. They smell like fresh waffle comes when their cooking, which is kind of fun. I think their tasty, and may do a review later this week. But, I just wanted y’all to know these were available, because it was news to me. 🙂

Have a Tremendous Thursday y’all!!
Love,
Olivia

Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins . . . a review!

Today I’ll be reviewing the Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin Mix. I picked this muffin mix up at our local Big Lots for $3.80, but you can find it on Amazon too, if you want to pay almost $8 for it. 🙂

Flavor:
Fantastic. They’re sweet without being overly sweet, and they have awesome blueberry flavor. There’s no weird “Gluten Free” flavor, in fact . . . they taste just like I remember their glutinous ones tasting. Ten out of ten stars for flavor!!

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Texture:
Quite fluffy. So many Gluten Free baked goods end up quite dense or dry. These muffins turned out light and airy with just the right amount of moisture. Ten out of ten stars for texture.

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Quantity:
Contrary to the pictures, the mix yields twelve muffins, which is nice. We had them for breakfast three times the week I made them, and they stayed tasty over that three day period. Ten out of ten stars for that!!

Overall:
These mix makes delicious muffins, with decent prices, and an airy texture. I would totally recommend them! 😉

Have a great day y’all!!
Love,
Olivia

The Great Chicken Strip Challenge!

Today, two brands are going to battle!! Who will be crowned the winner? Stay tuned to find out . . .

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Today we’re matching up two of the Gluten Free Chicken Strip brands to determine which will come out a winner!  ; )
In the left corner we have . . .  Perdue Simply Smart Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Breast Tenders, and . . .
In the right corner we have . . . Tyson Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Strips!
The two opponents will be judged in three categories: Portion, Flavor and Texture. They’ll be scored separately on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best, 1 being the worst), then they’ll be scored comparatively for judging purposes. We’ll begin with the Tyson Chicken Strips . . .
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Portion:
Disappointing. We paid around $6 for the bag, and we received six chicken strips, and a chicken “nubbin”, because there is no way this thing could be dubbed a “strip”. Only two of the strips were average sized; the rest were itty bitty midget strips.  Out of 5 points, these receive a 2 for portion, because the bag COULD have been empty, and that would’ve been the worst. Right?
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Flavor:
Not bad. They were kind of peppery, which was tasty. Other than that, there wasn’t much flavor. I kind of wish they’d been a bit spicier. 3/5 points for flavor.

Texture:
Unimpressive. Even after following the directions, they still didn’t crisp up. In fact, the breading had a slightly mushy quality to it with no real crispyness. 2/5 for flavor.

Onto the Perdue Chicken Tenders!!

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Portion:
15 chicken strips for about the same price. I think this is great, because I’m all for companies that give you more for your money! 🙂 Also, almost all of them were average  or reasonable-sized chicken strips, so that’s a win. 5/5 Points for portion.
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Flavor:
These are really tasty; there’s nothing bland about them. They’re very simply flavorful! Points for the flavor . . . 4/5, as I think they could have used a bit more spice to help the chicken flavor stand out.

Texture:
Perfect. They’re crispy and crunchy without being dry. No mushiness. Just crispy chicken strips. 5/5 for Texture.

Now . . .  onto the overall results! I created this nifty little table to show the scores in each category and to judge them comparatively! So, go ahead and check it out:

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As you can see, the Perdue Gluten Free Chicken Tenders had far better scores . . . making them today’s standout winner!! 😀

Have y’all tried either of these products? Which ones are your favorite?  Please tell me in the comments below!!

Hope you’ve had a Wonderful Wednesday!!!
Love,
Olivia