Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix- FAIL

To my lovely readers:

Please do not make the same mistake I did. I know it may be easy to do, and some of you may have already done it, but for those who haven't: Stay away from Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix.

Egh!

I've had some bad gluten-free products- and this is definitely a contender for one of the worst. On my transition to a more Paleo style of eating, I've been "cleaning" my cupboards- or, eating all the grains that are sitting around in order to rid my pantry of them.


One of these products was an unopened bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix- so I thought, wouldn't it be nice to serve pancakes in bed to my honey! It was my special weekend plan, and I was up early to make them.


Their description of the product is "Produces perfect, very light, and fluffy pancakes everyone will enjoy". Well...

I followed the recipe exactly- 1 1/2 cups mix with one egg, coconut milk as my choice of milk, and avocado oil. I whipped it vigorously, and oiled my pan.

What happened next was pretty mundane- the batter turned into pancakes....they were INCREDIBLY thick if you just poured as you would "normal" pancake mix (completed pancakes about an inch thick), so I started thinning them out by smoothing the tops over as they hit the pan.

They definitely looked like pancakes, so I topped them with banana chunks, and maple syrup...

In I went to the bedroom, and presented breakfast in bed!

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end well.

As soon as I bit into my first pancake, I felt an overwhelming sense to drink every liquid I have in my fridge.
DRY AS DUST.

Egh. They were so dry, so dense, and so...blegh that I couldn't do it. I have a really hard time wasting stuff- including food- so I'm not one to throw out food. I normally just deal, and eat it and never make it again.
Not these.

These were awful. I can't say it enough- SO dry. In fact, a piece of this dusty pancake landed somewhere in the back of my throat and got stuck so I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dislodge it from where it had landed.

I told my boyfriend he didn't have to eat it, and he was thankful. Out of the bedroom came the plates, and into the garbage went the pancakes, and the remainder of the mix.

Sorry, Bob's Red Mill---this one's a failure.

Superfood Superpower Nut Bars (Paleo Version of the Oat Bar)

I've been doing a lot of reading on the Paleo way of eating, and I think I might give it a try! In the meantime, I've been trying to eat up all the non-Paleo foods in my house (I hate wasting things), and have been buying a whole lot more veggies, fruit, and meat at the grocery store!

Because I'm OBSESSED with my new oat bars, I decided to play around with the recipe to try to make a Paleo version! They turned out great! Give them a try if you're trying to eliminate ALL grains.

If you're also looking to eliminate the maple syrup, I would suggest adding an additional banana to the mix- keep the apple sauce the same- OR use the equivalent amount of canned pumpkin in place of the maple syrup.

Here's the new recipe:

Paleo Fruit and Nut Bars:

¼ cup Goji Berries
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup black chia seeds
2 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
½ cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup hemp hearts
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup chopped pecans

1 small mashed banana

½ cup unsweetened apple sauce

¼ cup maple syrup (or if you don't want to use this- try the equivalent of canned pumpkin!)

Here's a close up! Look at all that Paleo goodness!

Spicy Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Here's a dinner idea that is not only delicious, but healthy! They're also low-carb- no grains here!
Spicy Turkey Lettuce Wraps

You will need:
lean ground turkey
1 head iceberg lettuce
2 organic carrots, shredded
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp (or more!) diced fresh ginger
1/2 red pepper, diced

sriracha sauce to taste
pepper to taste
1 tbsp gluten-free tamari sauce

Fry turkey, onion, and ginger over medium heat until the turkey is no longer pink.
Add tamari, red pepper, pepper, and sriracha and continue to fry for 3-4 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine fried mix, carrots, cilantro, and cucumber.

Wrap with iceberg lettuce leaf.
Add more sriracha sauce, if desired!

Mentos...

This is a sad post.

To be honest, I don't know anyone other than me that buys Mentos, but they are one of my favourite candies to indulge in.

Until now.

Mentos have gluten, guys.
"Wheat glucose syrup"

What the heck, Mentos? Why do you need wheat? Change this! It can't be that difficult.

Superfood Superpower Oat Bars

Tonight I created a recipe for an oat bar filled with healthy seeds, needs, and superfoods! Think protein,  healthy fats, and the added benefits of raw cacao, chia, and goji. Your body will love you.

Absolutely delicious- I hope you enjoy!

You will need:

½ cup roasted pecans, finely chopped

¼ cup goji berries

½ cup raw hemp hearts

2 tbsp raw cacao bits

2 tbsp black chia seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cup rolled oats

1 small mashed banana

½ cup unsweetened apple sauce

¼ cup maple syrup

Roast chopped pecans in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.

Add all ingredients into a bowl, and stir thoroughly.

Line a glass roasting dish with tin foil, pressing into the edges of the pan.

Press mixture into pan--trying to keep even throughout.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan.

Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Devil's Food Cupcakes.

OH
MY
GOD.


I made these cupcakes for a celebration I'm attending tomorrow, and I don't know if they will make it.
I bought a Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix a while back and never ended up using it for its intended purpose. Tonight I pulled it out, hesitantly (as I always am with new GF products). Wow

These cupcakes make me cheat a little on other allergies--it requires 3 eggs to bake---but since my egg reactions are so minor, I cheated on this one. Make your own decisions on whether or not you can do this. You know your body!

I followed the recipe on the back, with the following exception:

Instead of 1 cup WATER- I used unsweetened almond milk!

That's the only difference I made! I baked them at 325F(+) for 23 minutes exactly.

I topped them with a classic buttercream icing- again substituting almond milk for milk/cream. Delish!

I'm not kidding when I say this mix is amazing. Pretty sure I (unintentially) closed my eyes the entire time I ate my cupcake. I was that happy.

PS. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of my completed work for you all to see. I decorated the cupcakes with a tiffany blue icing and they were beautiful AND delicious. I served them to people at this celebration, and one woman came up to me and said "Is this ACTUALLY gluten-free? Because, gluten-free stuff is not this good".

Others, who had no idea the cupcake was gluten-free, complimented me on how delicious they were.

Body Awareness

Something I've mentioned through this process of becoming gluten (and allergy) free is my increased body awareness. Since gluten is a common ingredient in processed food--my intake of these processed foods and deep fried foods has decreased to barely any.

This post applies to everyone, whether they are gluten free or not, because it's about the changes in your body when you cut out processed and deep fried foods. Now, I haven't cut them out completely--I haven't even made a conscious decision to limit them...I've simply cut out my allergins, and processed foods are pretty much a main contributor of allergins into my body!

A few days ago I went out for lunch with a few of my girlfriends. I ordered a bunless chicken club sandwich (going bunless is always a great option- often you end up with a dressed up chicken breast for a fraction of what they charge for the entree), with 1/2 fries, and 1/2 salad. It had been AGES since I'd had french fries...and I decided I wanted to indulge (but my conscious only allowed me to order 1/2...).

The fries were delicious. Salty, greasy, comforting...I could have had a million of them. In the moment it was pure pleasure.

But here's the thing.

After, I felt awful. I noticed a change about 30 minutes after I had eaten. I felt sluggish, heavy, tired, lethargic...egh, just gross. I wanted to lay on my couch and nap for the rest of the day. ALL from a 1/2 order of french fries.

It's really unbelievable how my body was able to almost immediately tell me that I had given it something bad. It was upset with me, and just wanted to shut down for the rest of the day. My french fries had immediately told my body to be lazy.

I've found that eating healthier really does make you feel better...but you don't notice it until you've eaten junk. It's a more severe reaction- so you notice it more.

It's so obvious to me why weight gain is a vicious cycle. You would have to fight your every instinct to push against those awful calories and unhealthy fats...The junk food just wants you to sit down, be lazy, and eat more junk.

I think the only way to stop it is to start eating healthy. You eat junk- you feel like junk.
Start with the first step- eating healthy- instead of trying to fight against the current.