Be Free For Me Blog

This week’s Win-It-Wednesday on BeFreeForMe.com is sponsored by Sahale Crunchers, the newest gluten-free product made by Sahale Snacks – a company that makes some of my favorite gluten-free snacks.

And although the new Crunchers can be eaten as a crunchy snack… they are so very much more. These snacks are versatile. They are perfect by-the-handful, but also as a secret ingredient that can pack a flavorful and crunchy punch to any cup of yogurt, cereal, veggies, pasta and recipes too.

Almonds are one of my go-to snacks when I need a burst of protein to get me through the day, that’s why I was excited when I discovered these lightly salted sliced almonds that are combined with awesome spices and fruit combinations.

These snacks kick my love of almonds up a few notches!

Sahale Crunchers come in three (3) amazing flavors: Almonds, with Cherry, Apples + Maple – which is perfect blended with vanilla yogurt or sprinkled over French Toast; Almonds with Cranberries, Sesame Seeds + Honey – a perfect combo that is phenomenal used as a crunchy topping on gluten-free muffins right before baking or sprinkled on my gluten-free oatmeal; and Almonds with Parmesan Cheese & Herbs – can you say ‘yum’ as a crunching flavorful salad topping?

Sahale products are all made in a gluten-free facility too.

All the flavors and the mouthwatering possibilities that await them are the reasons why I am super excited to announce that Sahale Crunchers are this week’s WIN-It-Wednesday on BeFreeForMe.com.

Two lucky winners will each win a prize pack of Sahale Crunchers. The prize pack consists of three bags of Sahale Crunchers (one of each flavor), recipe cards, a recipe stand, a bowl and spoon.

How can you win?

Easy!

Reply to this blog and let us know which of the three flavors of the new Sahale Crunchers sounds the best to you. And if you’d like, also share how you plan on eating them (maybe to add a crunch to your famous gluten-free coffee cake? Toss over the top of your baked green bean casserole? Or maybe even simply eaten by the glorious handful?)

One luck winner will be randomly chosen from the entries received before Tuesday, 08/14/12 at 11:59 PM EST and a second winner will be randomly chosen from all entries received between Wednesday, 08/15/12 – 12:00 AM EST and Tuesday 08/21/12 –  12:00 midnight EST.

Make sure you enter twice to win!

Good luck, enjoy crunch time…

And as always,
Be Free!

Like Sahale on Facebook for more recipe ideas, promotions and fun!

Follow Sahale on Twitter for instant updates and more!

Want to buy Sahale Crunchers now? Check out these links on Amazon.com:
Sahale Snacks Crunchers, Cherries, Apples + Maple, 4-Ounce
Sahale Snacks Crunchers, Cranberries, Sesame Seeds + Honey, 4-Ounce
Sahale Snacks Crunchers, Parmesan Cheese + Herbs, 4-Ounce

Rushing back to the office one day last week, I caught a glimpse of some wording on a beat up tattered sign on the side of a country road right at my town’s edge.

Blueberries. Pick Your Own.

OPEN.

And at that time, all the hurries and hassles of getting back to the office went out to the wild blue yonder.  I realized that the contentment of being a little girl and blueberry picking on a hot summer day with my mom and two sisters in southeastern Massachusetts (read more about that in this blog post) could be renewed from a memory to a reality.

And just like that, out of the blue, my day went from fanatic to fantastic.

Before I knew it I was out in the blueberry field, picking and plopping, picking and plopping, one glorious berry at a time into my bucket while dreaming of a yummy, quick & easy gluten-free dessert to make for dinner that night.

After all, a girl does need to be rewarded for her efforts once in awhile. =)

While waiting my turn to pay for my bounty (by the way it was an “honor-system” pay system. How honestly cool is that?) I realized I was rested, relaxed, and had accomplished a ton. Well, not exactly a ton – but 2 whole pounds of blueberries.

My dessert creation ended up being a Gluten-Free Blueberry Crumble adapted from a recipe I found in my recipe box from years and years ago.

The result: A wonderful ending to an out-of-the-blue absolutely perfect fantastic day.

Enjoy!

Out-of-the-Blue Gluten-Free Blueberry Crumble
Best made with fresh picked blueberries… serve topped with fresh whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

Crumble Crust and Top:
1 cup plain, unsalted almonds
2 cups gluten-free flour blend (like Jule’s Gluten-Free Blend, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour Blend or
King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour )
½ cup, plus 1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup of chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pints fresh blueberries – washed, dried and stemmed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the almonds on a cookie sheet and place in the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes to roast. During the cooking time, toss to turn the nuts.

Remove nuts from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

Place the roasted almonds in a food processor or blender. Process the nuts until finely ground (about 10 seconds) being careful not to process too much (or you’ll end up with Almond Butter!)

In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds, gluten-free flour, sugar and the cinnamon. Cut in the chilled butter pieces until crumbly using two forks and / or your fingers.

Using you fingers, press half of the crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of an 8 to 9” tart or pie plate. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Next, very carefully blend in the blueberries, taking care not to smoosh the berries. Evenly spoon the blueberry mixture into the crust.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining crumbles. Bake in the 450 degree F preheated oven for about 25 minutes, watching very carefully the last 5 minutes of cooking time since the edges will brown quickly!

Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

I love Reese Peanut Butter Cups. I love York Peppermint Patties. And merging these two flavors together into one awesome, organic, gluten-free and nut-free Sun Cup is pure bliss. Pure high-quality dark chocolate, minty and nut-free perfection.

These rich and creamy Reese-Peanut-Butter-Cup-Like candies are made with Sunflower Butter, instead of Peanut Butter – so they are nut-free (peanut & tree nut) as well as gluten-free too (their facilities are nut and gluten free). They are also organic. Gotta love Sun Cups!

These minty melt in your mouth marvels (say that 5 times fast!) are this week’s Friday Favorite on BeFreeForMe.com since they are rich, creamy and free of nuts and gluten. Congratulations Sun Cups!

Where to buy the Mint Sun Cups? Check out the following links:
Sun Cups Dark Chocolate Mint

Sun Cups – Dark Chocolate

Sun Cups – Milk Chocolate

Sun Cups Milk Chocolate, Caramel Swirl Cups

This week’s Friday Favorite on BeFreeForMe.com goes to a much loved gluten-free barbeque sauce that adds a kick of flavor to grill favorites.

Weber’s Original Real Molasses BBQ Sauce is an all time favorite. I love this BBQ sauce since it has NO corn syrup, and is packed with real molasses and all natural ingredients.

This gluten-free BBQ sauce is a great way to add a little spice to chicken, beef, pork or veggies. It’s so easy and so tasty.

No corn syrup, no gluten and packed with real molasses and tons of flavor are the reasons why BeFreeForMe is fired up to award this week’s Friday Favorite to Weber’s Real Molasses BBQ Sauce. Congrats!

This week’s Win-It-Wednesday is sponsored by a product I LOVE! Garden Lites Souffles.

If you’ve already tried these soufflés, you can understand my love for them; and if you haven’t tried them yet, you must.

Garden Lites Souffles are perfection both for the taste buds, your health and your waist line. Packed with tons of vegetables, egg whites and just the right amount of spices, these soufflés have only all natural ingredients and microwave in just minutes. They come in 9 flavors – including the flavors I have loved for years –  Broccoli, Roasted Vegetable, Zucchini, Spinach, Cauliflower, Butternut Squash and the newest flavors –  Carrot Raisin, Pizza and Southwestern.  These gluten & nut-free soufflés are pockets of scrumptious veggies puffed to perfection.

Watching your points? No worries! These soufflés are 4 or 5 Weight Watcher Point Plus points per soufflé. =)

I love having one of these all natural soufflés for lunch with a small tossed salad. They are filling, healthy and contribute to a tasty lunch that I can feel good about eating. My favorite is the Roasted Vegetable Souffle; and paired with my tossed salad it’s like having a garden party right on my lunch table.

I also love that each Garden Lites soufflé offers up two whole servings of vegetables. What a delicious way to eat your veggies!

All these healthy, delicious, low-calorie and low-fat reasons are why I am so thrilled that Garden Lites is this week’s Win-It-Wednesday sponsor on BeFreeForMe.com.

And check out these prizes! A total of two (2) BeFreeForMe members will be selected to win a Garden Lite Tote Bag packed with 9 … Yes! nine…  (one of each flavor) of the Garden Lite Souffles. One winner will be randomly selected from the entries received before Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST, and one more winners will be randomly selected to win from the entries received between Wednesday, August 1 and Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 11:59 PM. SO – make sure you enter to win two times!

How can you win?
Easy?

Reply to this blog and let us know what flavor of the Garden Lite Souffle sounds the best to you.
Good luck, find delicious ways to eat those veggies =) … and as always,
Be Free!

P.S. Want to buy? Click here to find a store near you. Also, keep in touch and follow Garden Lite on Facebook!

Water, water, water! It never seems that I can get enough. I know I should be drinking more of it… but sometimes plain old water is just so… boring.

That’s why I was so excited when I found True Lemon – crystallized real lemon that can be sprinkled in water any time, anywhere. A sprinkle here and a sprinkle there, and like crystallized fairy dust I was magically consuming, effortlessly, the amount of water I should be on a daily basis.

But this is only the beginning of my true love affair with True Lemon.

Although True Lemon is a perfect addition to water, it is also great in recipes and other drinks too. True Lemon is great sprinkled on vegetables on the grill, iced teas, grilled salmon and salads. The ideas to use True Lemon are endless. True Lemon is a fantastic way to get real lemon taste with no mess and no hassle.

Want another bonus use? Sprinkle True Lemon on cut apples, avocados and other fruit to stop browning!

True Lemon is 100% natural and has no calories, no gluten, no artificial ingredients or sweeteners, no preservatives and no sodium.

Along with True Lemon make sure you check out all the other great flavors: True Lime (love this in my salsa!) and True Orange (love it sprinkled on my oatmeal!).

All of these true love reasons are why this week’s Friday Favorite honor goes to True Lemon! Thanks for sprinkling me with love and …. Congrats!

Check out these links on Amazon.com and get FREE Super-Saver Shipping:
True Lemon Kit (Great for on-the-go: Single serve packets – one box each of True Lemon, True Lime and True Orange)
Shakers Kit (Great for cooking and baking: Two Shakers – One each of True Lemon and True Lime)

Question:

Shelley: I love the summer since there are so many seasonal fresh fruits and they are  my favorite on-the-go snack! Do you have any other interesting ways to incorporate them into my gluten-free diet?

Answer:
Cheers to you for reaching for a piece of fruit for a healthy gluten-free snack while on the run! Summertime is the season for fresh, local fruits and with a little know-how and recipe ideas, it is easy to incorporate summer’s fresh bounty into breakfast, lunch, dinner & dessert – as well as snack time.

Smooth Moves: Fruit smoothies are easy, quick and most important – portable, which makes them a perfect breakfast for those that eat on the run. Start with a base of cow’s milk, almond milk, soy milk or yogurt; combine in a blender with fresh berries, ground flax and honey – blend and enjoy! Smoothies are also a great way to get kid’s excited about breakfast. Really rushed in the morning? Combine all the smoothie ingredients in the blender the night before so you can just “blend and go” in the morning!

Need some smoothie recipe ideas? Check these out:
Very-Berry Breakfast Shake
Melon-Lemon Smoothie

Learn to do the Salsa: Most people only think of the sweet flavors of fruits and lend them only to desserts. But surprisingly, fruit is perfect paired with spicy and savory herbs and spices, which can perfectly balances the natural sugars that are plentiful in most summer fruits. Chopped cilantro gives a tropical flair to this Mango Salsa over Swordfish dish or try this sweet, savory and delicious Grilled Chicken with Rosemary Pear Salsa with a Citrus Zest.

“Nice Cubes”: Toss some grapes, cherries, strawberries or blueberries into a plastic bag and freeze. These frozen little fruits make perfect edible ice cubes for summer drinks.

Fruity Sippers: Add some fruit slices in a large pitcher of water and keep in your refrigerator all summer long. Your whole family will love the fruit infused taste. Check out this Fruit Infusion Pitcher that makes drinking water all summer healthy and easy!

Jam It: Make some homemade quick and easy jam. Add some blueberries, raspberries, or sliced strawberries and peaches in a blender, and pulse until the texture is spreadable. Enjoy on your favorite gluten-free whole grain bread, along with a hard-boiled egg for a perfect breakfast.

Salad Mix-Ins: Get tired of boring salads? Add in some fruit and kick your salads up a notch! Halved grapes go perfect in chicken salad, sliced strawberries are great toppers for a spinach salad, and mangos sliced thinly and tossed with arugula create a sweet, yet tangy salad creation. The goal is thinking beyond the traditional salad bowl and getting yourself out of the habit of adding just vegetables to salads!

Dessert on the Grill: Try grilling sliced peaches, mangos, bananas or pineapple. The natural sugars in the fruit caramelize to create a perfectly natural sweet treat. An added bonus – Grilled fruit is also a no-guilt / no-gluten after dinner treat! Need some recipe ideas and tips on how to grill fruit?  Check out this article: http://befreeforme.com/ViewArticle.aspx?Term=fruit&ArticleID=51

Ask Shelley Case is a feature of BeFreeForMe.com. It is published the second Tuesday of each month. Shelley Case, RD is a Consulting Dietitian, Speaker and Author of Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide. Visit Shelley and get more gluten-free tips & info at: GlutenFreeDiet.ca

Yay! It’s Friday again! This week seemed extra long and Friday couldn’t seem to get here fast enough. But finally the end of the week has arrived and it’s once again time for the Friday Favorite on BeFreeForMe.com.

This week’s Friday Favorite is another sweet treat.  Cybele’s Free-To-Eat Cookies. These cookies are not only gluten-free and vegan – but also free of the top 8 allergens – Dairy, Eggs, Wheat, Soy, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish and Shellfish. They come in three flavors: Chocolate Chunk, Chocolate Chip, and my favorite, Oatmeal Raisin.

O.K. – I know by now many of you are also thinking that these cookies must be free of flavor too. But, a-ha, you are wrong my friends. These cookies are soft (like, really, really soft… which I love), moist, full of raisins, chocolate chips & chunks and all the other fixins’. They’re a really treat for those on a gluten-free diet, celiac disease, or with food allergies.

But the true taste test is that the non gluten-free and food allergic peeps gobbled them up quick too.

These cookies may be free of many things, but they mean business when it comes to being a cookie that doesn’t make you a prisoner to celiac disease and food allergies. Cheers to you Cybele’s Free-To-Eat Cookies!

All these tasty reasons are why I am so very thrilled to award Cybele’s Free-To-Eat Cookies this week’s Friday Favorite on BeFreeForMe.com. Congrats!

P.S. It seems these cookies are just making their way onto supermarket shelves. Be patience. It will be worth the wait once they arrive!

One of my all-time favorite go-to’s during the summer months is Marconi Infused Olive Oils, the sponsor of this week’s WIN-It-Wednesday on BeFreeForMe.com.
Marconi Italian Herb Dipping Oil is the perfect complement to a tossed salad, grilled meats and vegetables and roasted potatoes. My list on how I use this dipping oil just gets longer and longer with ever recipe that I whip-up.

But what is my favorite way to enjoy Marconi Italian Herb Dipping Oil? Dipping my favorite gluten-free bread that is warmed ever so slightly in a shallow dish brimming with this herb oil. Dippity doo da! Who needs a fancy-pants Italian Restaurant when you can enjoy delicious gluten-free bread dipping right at home?

Being an all-time fan makes it a pleasure for me to randomly select 4 (yes… FOUR!) lucky BeFreeForMe members to receive a FREE product coupon for any one Marconi Oil item of their choice at their local grocer (up to a $20 value!).

Two winners will be randomly selected from the entries received before Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST, and two more winners will be randomly selected to win from the entries received between Wednesday, July 18 and Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 11:59 PM. SO – make sure you enter to win two times!

How can you win?
Easy?

Reply to this blog and tell us how you would use the Marconi Italian Herb Dipping Oil. Are you a purist and would just use it for dipping? On pasta? On eggs? Share your fancy!

Good luck, remember it’s o.k. to be a little dippy… and as always,
Be Free!

For years I’ve been craving Strawberry Shortcake. The little foamy yellow cake cup. The sliced sweet strawberries. The freshly whipped cream.

But being gluten-free makes the traditional Strawberry Shortcake come up, well, short.

Not being able to enjoy that little foamy cake cup saturated with the juices of the sweet strawberries makes this favorite dessert not the same at all.

But who needs traditional shortcake when you can layer all the yummy ingredients in a tall trifle bowl?

The result is free-form Strawberry Shortcake that is full of fresh strawberries, blueberries, gluten-free cake sweetened with just enough strawberry juices, and fresh whipped cream. It’s a visibly appealing dessert that will have your family and friends oohing and aahing… and not even knowing it’s gluten-free.

Strawberry Tall-Cake
1 package gluten-free vanilla cake mix
The Berries: 1 quart fresh strawberries and 1 pint fresh blueberries
3½  tablespoons sugar, separated
3 tablespoons water
1 quart whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Prepare the cake according to package directions (I used Bob’s Red Mill Vanilla Gluten-Free Cake Mix for this recipe and photo, but you can use any brand). Once done let cool completely.

When the cake is baking, wash and hull strawberries (leaving one perfect large strawberry aside for garnish). Slice the strawberries into slices and place into a large bowl.  Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the water, and blend. Wash and stem the blueberries and set aside.

Pour the whipping cream into a large bowl, add the last 1½ tablespoon of sugar and the vanilla extract. Beat with an electric blender until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Rip apart the cake into 2-2 ½” chunks. Place several chunks of cake in the bottom of the trifle dish. Top with the strawberry slices, a sprinkle of blueberries and then some whipped cream. Repeat process until the layers reach the top of the trifle dish. End with a layer of whipped cream and top with a sprinkle of blueberries and that one one large perfect strawberry.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Serves 8-12.