Well hello there

 Hi folks! I am back, again! I am trying to revamp this blog. I'll try to post at least once a week. Tune back for this week's post!

Well hello again

Hi, folks out there in blog land. Since my last post, I have had an adorable little girl, Allie. She's about 3.5 months old and is just a delight. Sure, there are hard parts, like my 20-hour per week work schedule, plus I am finishing up my last semester of my MSN which has 2 classes and 1 clinical, and my in-laws are moving to Maine! Phew. Lots going on.

BUT, I'm still kicking ass and taking names. I won't let anything get in my way. I will be done with school in August! Then I sit for the boards and I'll be an Adult Gero Primary Care Nurse Practitioner!

And of course, I still eat gluten-free. My daughter will be starting solid foods soon so I look forward to that! I hope she didn't inherit my hubby's lactose intolerance or my non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

These days you can find me on FB and Instagram a lot more than here. Or you can always send me an e-mail :)

Look for a post about the upcoming Nourished Festival, the NEW Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo! They now incorporate Paleo, keto and plant-based diets! So I am going as I usually do and will be GIVING AWAY TICKETS so check back! 

Cheers!
-Kate

News to share

Hey, Blogger world. I have been insanely busy with my new job, working as an RN in primary care, and with school, and...

It's time for the annual Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo!

Hey folks. It's that time again. Next weekend (wow I am posting late!) is the annual Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. It's July 21-22, 10 am- 3 pm both days. Tickets are $15 per adult for one day and $25 per adult for both days. However, I STILL have free tickets to give away, so make sure you hit me up!

You can get more info by heading over HERE. There are classes, over 100 exhibitors, including our sponsors Enjoy Life, BFREE, Smart Flour, and, one of my favorites, Canyon Bakehouse!


I hope to see ya'll there on Saturday! I can't go Sunday because I'll be at the FOO FIGHTERS in FENWAY!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July, America. Okay, that's all the American pride I can muster with what is going on these days. ANYWAY, we are having some folks over to celebrate our independence. I found some great gluten-free recipes on Pinterest to try out today.

• Vegan Avocado Caprese Pasta Salad from Emilie Eats. This looks so awesome and I am excited to share it, especially with my vegan m-i-l. I did buy some mozzarella too for on the side. I used Tinkyada organic brown rice spirals, which I get at my local Shaw's. This will be my first time making gluten free pasta in many years. I hope it works out well. It sure tastes good! 
• the recipe is found here on this link

• one word of advice, cook the pasta so its AL DENTE. 
• Herbed Potato Salad w/o mayo from The Tasty Bite. I am stoked for this! It is SO yummy (b/c, of course, I tried it already)! It reminds me of my family recipe of German potato salad. 
• The recipe is from The Tasty Bite, whom I LOVE. Here is the link 

I'll get back to you about how it all turned out! We are doing the traditional burgers, hot dogs, and I have vegan "burgers" from my veg folks (Dr. Praeger's black bean patties) . Keep an eye out on Instagram too. 

ALSO, keep an eye out for the yearly blog post about the Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo, which is coming up July 21-22 in Worcester, MA. 

Mental health

I trust you, folks. I'm an open book at times. I posted this elsewhere.

The other day I felt an urge I haven't felt in a long time. It was the urge to cut. I quickly suppressed it, addressed what was wrong, and looked at the tattoos that cover some of the old spots. I had the urge to get a tattoo instead, but I didn't. I recalled why I like tats and how they became a replacement almost for the act of self-mutilation. I ran my fingers over the ink and reminded myself of how far I've come. (1 tat says hope faith love).

I'm fine, by the way. I've been feeling more energy fatigue and grief lately. Some of it is the loss of my grandmother, the giving up of my cat Pippin, and the loss of famous strangers I looked up to. Some of is the normal day-to-day stress. I've been feeling fractured and having a hard time keeping the cracks together.

I'm writing this post because I AM okay. I did "get better". But the reality of mental illness is that whatever the demons are, PTSD, depression, schizophrenia, etc, they do not go away. They are merely suppressed or dealt with or handled. Every. Single. Day. Mental illness doesn't GO AWAY. I know we all know that.

I'm writing this because of the shit in my life, and despite the greatness in it, I still battle with my demons. I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD, fibromyalgia, and chronic pain. I'm a sexual assault survivor, an orphan, a poor "white trash" kid, someone who had an abortion, who tried to commit suicide at least 2 times in my life. I have secrets only a few of you know. I'm also a bisexual cis White woman with LOTS of love and support, with 2 Bachelors degrees and nearing a completed Masters.

My point here is that I have demons too. I take meds for them, antidepressants and supplements. I exercise, meditate, color. I have good and bad days. Despite all my support and love I have moments where I feel alone, scared, angry, etc. Mental illness is a real thing. Its a COMMON thing. We all need to wake up and face this reality. Mental health IS health. I say this as a survivor and an RN.

Write to your political officials. Speak out. Shout. March of you want. Do something about it. We need to be taken seriously! And if you're struggling, if your illness allows you, reach out. I'm alive because I did reach out all those years ago (Dec. 2006 I think). If you're worried about someone, call/text/email/visit them. Support each other!
Love you ☆Ment

Apathy and lack of time

Yes, this blogsite still exists but it's pretty defunct. I don't have the time, nor the care honestly, to keep it maintained. I post mostly on Instagram (here) and FB (here). I am busy with grad school (Master's in Nursing), clinical, and the day-to-day stuff of living.

I'll be at the GFAF Expo again this year, in Worcester, July 21-22. Check out the details here (GFAF Expo Worcester. You can buy tickets or you can wait until I get discounted ones! Check back for those tickets as I will post them here and FB (maybe IG if I can figure it out).

Come see me on Instagram (@cynikalkat) and FB!

Cheers
Kate

Not food related but about MOVIES

New movies in 2018. It is going to be an EPIC year for movies. The ones I want to see are, in chronological order: 

• Peter Rabbit! 
• Black Panther
• Red Sparrow.
• A Wrinkle in Time
• isle of Dogs 
• X-men: The New Mutants (WITH Maisie Wiliams aka ARYA STARK!) 
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Untitled "Star Wars" Han Solo film
• Deadpool 2
• Ocean's Eight
• Incredibles 2
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Hotel Transylvania 3
• Robin Hood
• X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2 X-MEN MOVIES IN 1 YEAR!!!!!) 
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Yes, Queen.)
• Mary Poppins Returns.

maybe:

• Pacific Rim: Uprising
• Apparently Hollywood is rebooting Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina; The Danish Girl) 
• The Jungle Book 
• Aquaman

Movies to watch in 2018

Chronic pain sucks

Chronic pain sucks. This is a venting blog post. You are warned.

Sometimes the treatments for pain/disease/etc make things worse or have weird side effects. I have a lower back problem. Well, several of them. One or two vertebrae slip (called spondylolisthesis). Same ones have osteoarthritis, which is actually protective in my case. One disc is torn (annular tear), which causes really terrible nerve pain (radiculopathy) that goes down my spine, into my buttocks, across my groin, and down my legs. All in all, a tough break. I have done just about everything short of surgery. Last week I had the 2nd radiofrequency ablation from L3 to S1 done. Saturday a new pain, on the outside of my left foot, started and has gotten worse.

Sometimes I feel like a fraud. This is why: I went to Boston Comic Con yesterday with my hubby and friends and had a great time. We met Stan Lee after waiting in line for an hour, It was wonderful nonetheless. I probably should have agreed to get a scooter, wheelchair, or at least go forward when the folks who asked us to queue for Stan Lee asked about ADA and people who can't stand in line for long periods of time. I should have done that. I didn't. I did wear comfortable boots though. I did take lots of Tylenol and sat down as often as I could. We had an excellent time, did lots of walking (limping in my case) and bought some cool stuff. I suffered, not in silence (my poor friends). I did pay for having fun though, and that's the catch.

I woke up early this morning, as planned, for school and got ready despite the pain. I limped around the house, got a shower, got dressed, made coffee and breakfast and etc. Went out to the car, got sprayed by the damn sprinkler, which meant I had to go back inside and change because I was SOAKED, of course. Changed, went back out to the car, all ready to go, pushed in the clutch while starting the car (I drive a stick shift) and bam, the searing pain got worse and brought me to tears. Nope, can't drive my car. This lead me to a mini breakdown and back inside the house where TJ listened and comforted me. Thankfully, I can take his car (automatic) to school, which is 2 hours away in Boston (that's another story). I called my spine and pain doc's office and left an urgent message for them to call me and/or get me in ASAP. I won't go to the E.R. because I know there isn't anything they can do for me.

Going back a paragraph, paying for having fun is a sad part of having chronic pain. On one hand, I want to be pain-free, and on the other, I want to have fun with my loved ones. It's a delicate balance that anyone with chronic pain/disease deals with every day. As I said, sometimes I feel like a fraud because I can have many good days or many bad days, and they aren't even, fair, or even correlated with each other. It's miserable and it sucks but it's a part of life I have accepted and just deal with. It's hard for people on the outside who don't have a chronic illness to understand how I can go from being great, full of energy, relatively pain-free, and having a grand time, to being crippled the next day and unable to drive, for example. I consider myself lucky though. I could have it SO much worse. I count my blessings every day and try not to get down about it, which can be challenging too because depression is a part of the territory.

What's the point of this post? Mostly to vent and complain. Partly to make people understand that this is how it is with chronic illness. I am a pretty healthy person with chronic illness/pain too! I have mostly good days, but many setbacks also. One of my daily goals is to get through the day because the next day will be better. I try to be positive, to look forward, to keep going. I have so much more life in me, years to come, adventures to find, experiences to live, etc etc. But some days...some days are shit.

x

Special post: GF & AF Expo

Today's special post is about the Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo that I attended as a blogger on July 23rd in Worcester. This was my 3rd year attending and it was great as usual. There were about 100 booths, split between Gluten Free that may have nuts and GF without nuts, which is great. Each table has a little allergy card with boxes that can be ticked off for certain allergens, like Dairy and etc. There was lots of food, snacks, and fun times all around.

My Top 5 Favorite Things at GFAF EXPO 17 were:

1. Bfree's Pita bread
https://us.bfreefoods.com/product/pita-bread-2/


2. Flax milk yogurt from Good Karma Foods
http://goodkarmafoods.com/products/

3. ONION RINGS (Maybe this should be #1)
http://eatveggiefries.com/products/veggie-rings/

4. Seed butters from 88 Acres.
https://88acres.com/collections/seed-butters

5. GoVeggie's new vegan cream cheeses
http://www.goveggiefoods.com/products

Monthly blog posts and upcoming GF & AF Expo

Hi, everyone! I have a new strategy about this blog. As I am in graduate school and driving a lot (school is in Boston, 1.5-2 hours away), I do not have a lot of free time, and even less time to write here. With that in mind, I am going to try to do monthly blog posts. The plan is to write myself notes, snippets, etc and then put that all together and write a post. Hopefully, you will stick around for this!

The Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly (GF &AF) Expo is coming to the DCU Center in Worcester, Ma July 22-23rd. I will be attending the 22nd with a friend who is also gluten-free. I am very much looking forward to the expo; it is always a wonderful, tasty experience. For more information and to buy tickets, check out the website: GF AF EXPO

 I wanted to mention that I am trying to cut down, and eventually give up, sugar again. It is a lot easier this time around than it was last year. Perhaps I have more motivation this time. Regardless, I still eat chocolate, though I try to just eat a handful of chocolate chips once a day, usually in the evening. My favorite chocolate chips are Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels, which are dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free (check the out here Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels). Enjoy Life even makes snack packs now, in Dark Chocolate Morsels and Mini Chips (see baking chocolate snack packs). Sometimes I have a handful of these Morsels and a spoonful of peanut butter.

However, today, oh today I discovered Hail Merry's Dark Chocolate Espresso cups at one of my local health food stores, Organic Market (OM) in Dennis. My oh my these are lovely, and they are GF, dairy free, NON-GMO and made with maple syrup, not sugar.  They are nothing like peanut butter cups, which is what I expected, but they are soft, not hard, and smooth, not chewy. You can find out more information on Hail Merry's site. I hope you can find them near you and experience the yumminess.


Stay tuned for my monthly blog post, although THIS month there will be another post after the Expo. Remember that you can find me on social media:

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook

Cheers!

Today I made some gluten free dutch oven bread...

I recently had a hankering for good ole gluten free bread from scratch, so I dug around the internet for a good Dutch oven recipe. Gluten free Dutch oven bread is what I went with. It turned out well, but make sure to use a LOT of flour. I actually had to make it twice because I messed up by using TABLESPOONS instead of TEASPOONS for salt. DO NOT do that! I started over and wound up with a pretty good dough. It was VERY sticky though so definitely use a lot of flour.

For the 1st batch, I used brown rice flour and tapioca, then had to use Trader Joe's pink bag of all-purpose gluten free bread for the 2nd batch. I like the TJ's pink bag as it's easy peasy but I do prefer to make my own gf flour mix.

Also, you NEED a dutch oven for this recipe. If you don't have one, get one. It is SO worth it. Mine was a gift and I do not use it as much as I should.

It has to cool so I haven't had any yet, except for some of the scraps, which I liked. And the house smells like bread. :)

Hello hello February

Yes, I know it has been AWHILE. I am well into the second semester of graduate nursing school and thus have little time. But, I wanted to stop in and say hi. I hope I still have some followers.

What's new? Not much, just graduate school and planning my handfasting in May (yes, this May).
Nothing really new on the gluten-free front.
February is a drag, as usual, but it will pass, eventually.

You can see more of my life on social media, such as
Instagram
Twitter

I recently made some delicious gluten-free pulled pork and roasted cauliflower. (see Instagram pic here. The recipes come from:
1. cauliflower from Extremely Good Parenting

I LOST the link for the pulled pork...I will find it!

Otherwise, just drinking tea, reading books, and surviving the winter. Lots of Spotify listening going on. Mostly Birdy and Ed Sheeran these days.

Cheers!

1st year, 2nd week venting

So I am 3/4 done with the 2nd week of graduate school at MGH IHP for Direct Entry Nursing. I am stressed out. Today I am not doing well. Yesterday I wasn't either. Yesterday I was depressed. Today I am frustrated.

I was accepted a week before the program started. I accepted on 9/6 and classes started 9/12. A lot of my classmates were accepted MONTHS ago. They had months to prep for this. To buy their books, get scrubs, get MGH IHP patches (for scrubs & lab coat), read everything, do their EHR training, find a place closer to school. I have not. I am trying to play catch-up but it's not easy.

In August I figured that I wasn't getting accepted so I moved on. TJ and I signed a lease for a new place on the Cape, closer to his work. This place is perfect for us: 2 bedroom, central air, newer appliances, just us, just us..oh, did I mention, JUST US?! Same rent price as where we are currently, though we pay separate for utilities. Perfect.

Then the unthinkable (but wonderful) happened; MGH IHP had a spot for me. Then the whirlwind happened. We went on vacation also, got engaged while we were there. I came back and started school. It has been chaos. The schedule is nuts. Driving from the Cape is crazy. I'm grateful because I am staying at a friend-of-a-friends in Winthrop, which cuts my commute time down immensely. That is only temporary though. But I have had several people offer their spare rooms/couches, which is awesome.

I am being grateful. I got the chance to go to my DREAM school. But damn if the Universe isn't making it HARD for me.

I cannot afford to move to Boston and have the place on the Cape. TJ and I agreed we were not giving it up, at least not for now.

AND the commuting is exacerbating the pain in my body. My back, hips, and legs are aching so bad. I keep having muscle cramps in my right calf.

But this is awesome. This is an amazing experience and I will kick it's ass. Eventually.

Waitlisted no more!

Dreams do come true, but with a price. Earlier this year I applied to Mass General Hospital Institute for Health Professions in Boston for a Direct Entry Masters of Nursing program. I also applied to Regis College for the same program. Sadly I was wait-listed to both of the programs. By the time August came around I had pretty much resigned myself to not going to grad school this year. So plan B was to retake a Pharmacology Calculations class at the local community college and apply for their Associates in Nursing which would allow me to sit for the NCLEX which is the RN test. And suddenly in early August I found myself with a new job as a medical assistant at a clinic in Hyannis. I didn't tell them about being waitlisted because I had resigned myself to not being called to go to graduate school.

And then last Friday happened. I was on my way home from work taking the backroads because Route 6 was a nightmare and I received a phone call from 617 number, which I knew was Boston, and I expected that it was Mass General Hospital calling me back regarding a question I had about genetic profiles. No, instead it was Brian calling from the admissions department at MGH IHP to let me know that they had a spot for me this semester starting on September 12th. We were coming up on the Labor Day weekend and he gave me until Tuesday to make the decision.

 I was completely flabbergasted and unprepared and spent the entire weekend freaking out. If your friends with me on Facebook or friends with me beyond that you know that I spent the entire weekend just losing my mind about the fact that my dream had come true. MGH ihp has been my dream school, their masters in nursing program has been my dream program for 4 years. Everything I have done in terms of school at the community college has been to get into one of these programs. This news completely changed my life.

Here I am now a couple of days away from starting the program and I am freaking out. This college does practically everything online. Because I got taken off the waitlist right before the beginning of the semester I have orientation that I have to do online ,plus orientation to my specific program and orientation to this learning environment we use which is similar to Blackboard online. Plus I have to get all my health information together and sign all the forms and go through all these modules and go through this checklist. Plus wait on financial aid before I can even buy the $900 books that I need. On top of that because I live on the Cape and I'm not moving to Boston, although we're moving to Yarmouth in a month, I have to figure out how and when I'm commuting, if I'm staying with friends during the times that I need to have early classes and late clinicals. They sure as hell don't make it easy for someone who just got taken off the waitlist. Needless to say I'm completely overwhelmed but I'm getting through it and I will get through it just like I'm going to get through this program! 😄 sure I might be stressed out and I might not have time for anybody else but my loved ones are very well aware of that and are very supportive of what I'm doing. Thank Goddess.

So if any of you have suggestions for anything that will help me along this path I would greatly appreciate it. Feel free to say hi or drop me some love mail.

Love love love
Kate

Some BIG news

Well hello there. Another long stretch of days have gone by, but this time I have NEWS, good news.

Friday I got THE call from my dream school. I have been accepted into the Direct Entry Master's of Nursing program at Mass General Hospital's Institute for Health Professionals. I will officially accept tomorrow and classes start the 12th. Holy crap.

Wow. My dreams are coming true. All the efforts I have put forth in the last 4 years are being acknowledged. Holy fucking wow.

I am still somewhat in shock. This weekend has been a whirlwind of emotions, decisions, and celebrations. Thank goddess today is a national holiday here, as I need all the time off I can get. Besides this big news, I am suffering through a fibro flare and back-pain flare. TS Hermine isn't helping with this pain but other things help.

Sadly this news means I will very likely not have time to update this blog. I will when I can. I don't yet know what my schedule will be. I am sadly resigning from both my jobs and will be spending less time with my loved ones, BUT this is a huge step in my career. I am thrilled and elated.

On that note, you can always keep in touch on Facebook , Instagram, or good ole' fashion email tildesk at gmail dot com. You can find some of my old stuff on Deviantart also.

Cheers friends!

Very late but here is the Post-GFAF Expo blog!

Hello again lovelies. Today is my day off and I actually have time to write a blog entry! I haev a new job, which is great. I have been working 3 jobs, which is not. And I am working on some health stuff. BUT...here you go. :)

So the Gluten Free & Allergen Friendly Expo was a few weeks ago in Worcester, MA, at the DCU Center. I went on Sunday as it was the easiest day to take off of work (I work 3 jobs, 6 days a week right now). This time I remembered to bring some of my blogger cards! The drive was nice, albeit hot (ac is broken in my car, $400 fix), and I listened to Twenty One Pilots the whole way. The DCU Center Exhibit hall was packed, like it was last year, though I heard Saturday was THE day to be there. It was still very busy with lots of people, which is great.

There were a few of the same vendors from last year, like Udi's, Sunbutter, glutino, Enjoy Life, and a few others. Then there were a bunch of new vendors, like BFree (maybe they were there last year), Bixby & Co candy, curate, Kevita, Nantucket Pasta Goddess, and many, many more! Here are a few of my favorites:

(in no numerical value order I swear)

1. Nantucket Pasta Goddess. Wowie! She makes authentic Italian gluten-free pasta, like ravioli, and she is local to me (I live on the Cape). She had samples of 3 raviolis: Butternut squash, Mushroom goat cheese, and Lemon ricotta. Oh my, these are heavenly! And Liliana is very nice. :) These are available ON-LINE and at some retailers, including one near me. I just need to remember to go!
website
Facebook
Twitter

2. Peace of Mind Baking Co. makes fabulous gluten-free and vegan baked goods, such as whoopie pies (which were sold out), muffins, cookies, and pizza crust. Nancy and company are in North Conway, NH. I had 2 of their muffins and took their info to pass on back here on the Cape. The muffins were Pumpkin Chocolate chip and Banana Chocolate Chip, which were both delicious and SO much better than the most common gluten free muffins, made by a very popular company I won't name. If you are looking for great gluten-free and vegan muffins, see if you can get these.

Website
Facebook

3. Bfree Foods has a lot of products and they are all gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy free, including wraps, bagels, rolls, and loaves of bread. I took home samples of the Multi-grain wrap and the quinoa and Chia seed wrap. I love using the wraps for sandwiches or just a plain old quesadilla, which I had for lunch today. I have seen some of their products at my local grocery stores also.
Website
Fb
Twitter
Instagram

4. Sin City Swiss Rolls. Holy cow. I haven't had a swiss roll in over 9 years. This guy happens to be from my home state of OH and he has the most delectable gluten-free swiss rolls. I had to buy a pack and they were AMAZING. They are on Facebook, but I couldn't find it. The email is sincityswissrolls@gmail.com. YOU NEED THESE!

So here are some pictures.

right side 

stoked! 

left side

My Etsy shop, post-colonoscopy and some odds & ends

Did you know that I have an Etsy shop? Well, I do! I make wampum shell pendants from locally collected wampum shells. Please check it out at https://www.etsy.com/shop/CapeCodDragonShells?ref=hdr_shop_menu. I added a few new pendants today. Please feel free to share all over the internet as well.

Otherwise, I am doing well. I'm recovering from my annual colonoscopy yesterday. Yes, I am young (33), but I have Lynch Syndrome, aka hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer/HNPCC. It's an inherited disorder associated with an increase in the risk of colorectal cancers, as well as cancers of the stomach, small intestine, gallbladder, liver, upper urinary tract, brain, skin, ovaries and endometrium, and throw some occasional colon polyps in the mix too. It's a whole barrel of fun (sarcasm font!) but it is easily dealt with by keeping on track with colonoscopies, upper endoscopies, PAP smears, endometrial biopsies, urine screenings, and a slew of lab tests. If you want to know more about Lynch Syndrome there are LOADS of websites, but I like this one overall: http://lynchcancers.com/. If you have a family history of colon cancer, please get tested. It can save your life!

So, I did the colonoscopy prep (Suprep) as usual and it sucked as it always does. I had lots of water, juice, popsicles, lollipops, hard candy, and tea w/o milk, even though I use dairy-free milks. I took a Udi's Gluten Free blueberry muffin with me JUST IN CASE the center did not have any AGAIN, which they didn't. SO glad i brought my own. Ridiculous. I went for my appointment, had a huge kerflufflle to deal with, but I did get the procedure done and I am a-okay this round. I came home, took a 4 hour nap, made some Rice Ramen and finished season 3 of Bitten on Netflix (on Syfy here).

In the evening I found myself CRAVING mashed potatoes, so TJ and I went to the store and got some, along with a nice organic, grass-fed steak. I approached the steak with caution as I had not cooked grass-fed beef at home. A Google search led me to one of my favorite blogs, Primally Inspired, and her easy-to-follow guide, found HERE. I made some pre-spiralized butternut squash noodles and it was all fantastic. The steak was perfect.

See? Tasty!

Today I slept in, made myself a yummy breakfast of gluten-free waffles, a hard-boiled egg, strawberries, and my favorite breakfast sausages.  (My favorite sausages are Applegate's GF Natural Chicken & Maple sausages, link is HERE.). I added some new items to my Etsy Shop (see the 1st paragraph of this blog post) and am now considering lunch with a bearded dragon on my lap.

The internet gave me some great new books to download, mostly freebies, which I have shared on Pinterest today: follow me on Pinterest.

Oh, the Rice Ramen I mentioned is made by Lotus Foods. I had Buckwheat Mushroom for the first time and it was just what I needed. Link for that is HERE.

Don't forget you can find me on Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram.

Love, love, love, Kate

Some sweet treats, Brazilian cheese bread, and reminder about GF & AF expo!

Hi folks! It's been a bit, again, and I'm sorry...life, you know? But the semester is over and I am back to just working 2 jobs. (how do professional bloggers DO THIS?!).

Here are a few products I tried in the last month or so.

• Mom's Organic Munchies are DELICIOUS. They are gluten free, free of refined sugar, and paleo friendly! I have found them at Whole Food Stores and some local alternative grocery stores. The Skinny Mint cookies are a healthier alternative to Thin Mints (I know some of you are Thin Mint addicts). Moms Munchies products

• Last week I made a simple gluten-free Indian meal out of Tasty Bite's Channa Masala, Wildwood's Baked Tofu, Royal Thai (which IS gluten free according to the packaging), jasmine rice, and mixed veggies. Oh so good and easy peasy.

            Tasty Bite Channa Masala
           Wildwood Foods organic-sprouted baked tofu royal thai

• I found 2 flavors of the Brazi Bites brazilian cheese breads at a local Brazilian market, for wicked cheap! I had only tried the Original, and loved it, so when I saw Garlic Asiago and Nitrate-free Bacon I had to try them. These are yummy, gluten-free, Non-GMO, little balls of scrumptious, cheesy bread, and they are SO worth it. They're super easy to make too. No defrosting required! I like to pair them with just about any home-cooked meal, especially spaghetti and meatballs.

           Find them at http://www.brazibites.com/products/. The site has a Store Locater and links to                  buy them on-line. If you're gluten-free and miss Brazilian cheese bread, find these and give                  them a try.

Also, I'm going to take this moment to remind you about the Gluten Free & Allergen Free Expo that is coming up in Worcester, MA, on July 23-24th. Here is the website for more info:  http://gfafexpo.com/locations/worcester-ma-2016/#when-where

I still have 5 FREE TICKETS to give away! Please contact me if you are interested! And there are still 20% off tickets (use code ADVANCE through 7/22). I will be attending the Sunday day only but I hope to see some readers there!

Anyway....love, love, love
Kate

Cook's Organics Sweet Dreams Foot Cream is amazing!

But don't take that from just me (channeling LeVar Burton here). Head over to the website HERE and check out 1 of my favorite products ever, Cook's Organics Sweet Dream Foot Cream. This stuff is absolutely fabulous and I try very hard to not go without it.

Why do I love it? Well, first off you need to know that I work at a local health food store (the Orleans Whole Food Store). Cookie is a local who I *believe* started selling this stuff at the Wellfleet Farmers Market. One of my coworkers suggested it be brought into the shop. This same person convinced me to try it out so I picked up a sample size (these) and gave it a whirl.

The packaging isn't showy or over-the-top. Instead it comes with this little card that tells the consumer what some of the benefits are, such as "reduce leg/foot cramps; reduce workout recovery time; sleep like a champ", gives you Cook's website and lists the ingredients on the back. The product itself comes in a little white tub.

So what IS this stuff? Well, it's a magnesium foot cream. The other ingredients include coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax and aloe. It smells a bit like coconut oil and beeswax and is a white, creamy substance.

But this stuff is fantabulous. (yes, I know, this isn't a real word). I use it every night to help alleviate insomnia, which I have suffered from for YEARS, muscle cramps and spasms in my calves, and overall muscle relaxation. Believe me, it helps. And if I forget to use it, I know; my body reminds me. I recommend it to EVERYONE that I can.

Do you suffer from insomnia? Try this.

How about Restless Leg Syndrome and/or leg cramps? Please try this! I do NOT have leg cramps at night if I use this cream.

Fibromyalgia? Yep ,you need this. Trust me.

Are you a runner/jogger/exercise enthusiast who is always looking for something to help your body? Try this! Seriously, TRY this.

Where do you get it? The website for one: http://www.sweetdreamsfootcream.com/shop/. The Orleans Whole Food Store in Orleans, MA, carries it. (other places might too, but I am not sure).

AND right now, until Monday the 11th, you can get 40% off with BIG40 coupon code.
One more time, you can find this product here:
http://www.sweetdreamsfootcream.com/shop/sweet-dreams-foot-cream-trial-size-3-pack

OR the larger size here:
http://www.sweetdreamsfootcream.com/shop/sweet-dreams-foot-cream-4-oz

I cannot express how much this stuff has helped me. You should try it for yourself.


**I am in NO way compensated for this blog entry. I genuinely love this stuff and want everyone to use it.**