GF Quick and Easy

         As the summer months quickly approach the last thing you want to be doing is spending time over a hot stove. This is the perfect time to use fresh fruits and vegetables in their natural state. In today's GF Quick and Easy we'll be making a salad, best of all you'll only need 3 ingredients! Start of by cubing watermelon into bite size chunks, follow that up be slicing rounds of cucumber. If your cucumber slices are too big slice them in half, making them into half moon sizes. Season with fresh chopped cilantro and salt. There you go a quick and easy refreshing salad that will become a stable in the summer months.

Deals and Steals - C.B. Mixing Bowls

        Taking cooking classes in my spare time isn't just a hobby, it's so much more. I always seem to learn an interesting fact or tidbit that makes the cost of enrollment all worth while. While attending a cooking basics boot camp the chef instructor took a moment to talk about essential tools that every chef should have. As he went down the list I checked the items off in my mind. Then all of a sudden he said "mixing bowls... lots of them" and then I realized the closest thing I had to a mixing bowl was a cereal bowl.

      Determined not to fall in that trap I set out to find my own set of mixing bowls. I started looking online and came across Crate and Barrels 10 piece glass bowl set. Dishwasher and microwave safe, they come in varying sizes from 1 oz to 4.5 qts. They're sturdy, perfect to serve out of and they stack inside each other for added space saving benefits.  All that for only $29.95...SOLD! I've had my set for some time now and I don't know what I would do without them. I'm surprised how useful they've become time and time again. Thanks chef for the great advice!

If it's free, it's for me - Chick-fil-a

I wasn't born in the South but I may have been in a past lifetime. I have an obsession with barbecue sauce. I can't seem to get enough of it. One of my favorite places for "free" sauces and dressings is at Chick-fil-a. They offer a wide range of gluten free condiments. The service is excellent and the product is always top notch. See below for a listing of GF sauces or head over to their website for the complete list of GF foods.

• Barbecue Sauce
• Honey Mustard Sauce
• Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce
• Polynesian Sauce
• Buttermilk Ranch Sauce
• Chick-fil-A® Buffalo Sauce

Tools of the Trade - Fitness

            My sports sack I take to the gym is filled with all my essentials towel, water bottle, ipod shuffle and one of my favorite gym gadgets, my heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor is a great tool to have. I find that it keeps me focused by ensuring that I stay in the right heart rate zone and that translates to no slacking off. My heart rate monitor can also track laps, the duration of my workout, the calories I've burned and it's waterproof. If your fan of cardio (and I know you are) you'll love this tool. P.S. Best place to get one, eBay or Craigslist.

If your looking for a tool to assist with your general fitness I suggest the Fitbit Ultra. It's like a pedometer taken up a couple of notches. It tracks your steps, sleep patterns and is used in conjunction with the website for further capabilities. I haven't tried it yet but it looks interesting from the reviews I've read and the information I've seen. It you try one let me know what you think.

New Year's Resolution Update

              It's roughly been 3 months since I've started my New Years's Resolution of going "screen free" one night a week. It was a little hard in the beginning. I sometimes caught myself starting to watch television before realizing it was time to pull the plug. Now that 3 months have pasted my new weekly ritual has become habit and I no longer have to think about turning the t.v. (or laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc...) off. The benefits have been numerous and I've found some great ways to use my time such as

1. doing my finances
2. reading 
3. cooking
4. going to the gym
5. organizing myself

       I've been paying myself $3 for every night I go screen free and I'm glad to say I've accumulated $30. I'm not sure what I'll do with the money at the end of the year but I do know I plan to treat myself. Hope your resolutions are going well and I'll keep you updated with my progress and time goes on.

Diet Wisdom

         Having a little something sweet after dinner signals your brain that the meal has ended but how can you get your sugar fix without ruining the hard work that went into your meal. One way is to indulge in Wrigley Extra Dessert Delights Gum. A line of gum inspired by classic desserts. You can now indulge in apple pie, chocolate chip mint and strawberry shortcake gum. It's all the flavor minus the calories since each stick of gum is only 5 calories. My absolute favorite has to be Key Lime Pie. Go ahead and indulge your sweet tooth for once.

Gluten Free Reasons - Cold Stone

         Sweet treats can provide you with a sweet escape but what happens when desserts go wrong? Take a look at the Cold Stone Creamery's Brownie a La Cold Stone. A decadent dessert featuring vanilla ice cream, caramel, hot fudge and whipped cream all on top of a brownie. Once you get pasted the wow factor your left with a dessert packing 810 calories. Your 810 calories will get you 75 grams of sugar or roughly 19 teaspoons of sugar (talk about a sugar rush). If the sugar doesn't get to you the fat will. Your dessert will also includes 55 grams of fat, 40 of those being saturated fat. You'll find more saturated fat in this dessert than in 1 cup of mayonnaise (David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Eat This Not That! 2012, New York: Rodale Inc., 2011. Print). Opt out of this sweet treat and treat yourself to a much healthier dessert.