Here’s the book! Yes, an actual book! It’s filled with recipes that are easy to make and good for the whole family!

You can follow her blog here. She’s so real, and a great resource for GF moms, as her most recent post is all about having a gluten-free pregnancy!

You can purchase her cookbook on Amazon here, unless you get to meet her in person at one of the many expos she is at.

Below are two random snippets from the book itself (all three winners will be receiving a copy of this book – THANK YOU PAM). I like that it’s NOT just a cookbook, but that it gives you real-life cooking suggestions – like freezing meals in advance and crockpot meals – something that is a necessity if you are an on-the-go celiac looking for easy meals and also money-saving solutions.

Yum! I want to make these so badly! Will try with an egg replacer soon!

Thanks again Pam! You rock, and best of luck with the cookbook!

You can gain your entry point for today by liking Pam from I’m A Celiac on Facebook!

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I didn’t really know about sprouting when I first received their product to review, but I’ve learned a lot since then. If you’re not familiar with the benefits of eating sprouted food (aka if you’re not a hippy like me), here’s what they list on the website (all from GoWayBetter.com)

Increased Vitamins and Minerals

Germination naturally increases vitamins and minerals.   In flaxseed, vitamins can increase 600% when compared to unsprouted flaxseed.  Beta carotene, biotin, choline and folic acid can also increase significantly.  The minerals present in flaxseed also naturally increase during the germination process.  All of these nutritional benefits are compounded when you factor in the enhanced bioavailability, because they are now available for your body to digest and assimilate.

Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from oxidative damage (damage due to oxygen) caused by unstable molecules commonly referred to as free radicals.  Research has shown that free radical damage may lead to cancer.  Antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, vitamins A, C, E and other substances such as lignans.  The method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods is referred to as Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, or ORAC.  Sprouted seeds can have double the ORAC value of un-sprouted seeds.

Increased Digestibility

All ungerminated seeds and grains contain “anti-nutrients” such as phytic acid, which prevent proper digestion.  The result is poor absorption of nutrients and incomplete digestion of proteins, which can irritate the intestines, resulting in inflammation and allergic reactions.  Germination releases enzymes specifically designed to start the seed on its way to becoming a plant.  As the seed begins to grow, phytic acid is reduced and the natural enzyme inhibitors are eliminated.

Increased Nutrient Absorption

Bioavailability, is the term used to describe the difference between what we ingest and the actual amount of “good” we receive from it.  As you now know, all seeds, grains and beans have enzyme inhibitors that protect them from being digested.  When these inhibitors are eliminated by sprouting, their nutrient’s become more bioavailable and are more easily assimilated and metabolized by the body.

Other facts about sprouting from GoWayBetter.com -

• Converts starch into simple sugars making them easy to digest
• Converts protein into amino acids which are vital for vibrant health
• Converts fat into fatty acids to help keep your cells happy
• Concentrate vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids
• Antioxidants and Vitamins can increase as much as 1000%
• Enzymes can increase as much as 800%
• The ratio of soluble to insoluble fiber is better
• Helps neutralize and remove waste from the body
• Contain anticancer substances
• Coenzymes are created to more effectively absorb Omega 3′s
• The SGS (that’s the good stuff!) in Broccoli seeds is up to 50 times higher than in mature broccoli
• Maximizes nutrient density and is readily bio-available
• Daikon Radish seeds contain high levels of anti-cancer glucoraphenin

Todays’ Celiac Disease Awareness Giveaway entry comes from Way Better Snacks! Be sure to like them on Facebook to enter to win.

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I adore Pretty Little Celiac (aka Rebecca – yes she’s a real person!) and what’s she’s doing for the GF community. I’m a part of her closed celiac support group and even me (yes, a blogger that often dispenses information) goes there to vent and ask questions. I love everyone there and am so happy she started it. Sometimes, we all just need a should to cry on or a friend to talk to – even if it’s virtual. PLC is one of the other GF bloggers that I follow everything she does. She’s a super rad person, and if you’re not familiar with her blog – get on it now! In her non-blog life, she’s also a personal trainer (and gym owner) and is an inspiration for me to stay in shape! Even after my new tub of GFDFEF cookie dough I just purchased…

She’s got a great shop with plenty of items that promote celiac awareness. My favorite are her handmade headbands! I wear mine all the time! Visit the Pretty Little Celiac shop to find amazing gluten-free accessories.

Right now they’re having a sale for mother’s day (sale valid the whole week I believe), so these are the sale prices, but even at full-price, these are a STEAL! Everyone should have a celiac-themed merchandise!

Rebecca was awesome and donated three items to our Celiac Awareness Month celebration! Enter using the Rafflecopter giveaway below for your chance to win! If you don’t win, make sure you pick up something from her store!

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For their great website, please visit WWW.FOODALLERGY.ORG,

Here’s a little bit more about FARE from their website:

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies, including all those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis. This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in 13 children in the United States – or roughly two in every classroom. FARE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was formed in 2012 as the result of a merger between the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network and the Food Allergy Initiative.

FARE’s mission is to ensure the safety and inclusion of individuals with food allergies while relentlessly seeking a cure.

FARE does this by:

• Providing evidence-based education and resources,
• Undertaking advocacy at all levels of government,
• Increasing awareness of food allergies as a serious public health issue, and
• Funding world-class research that advances treatment and understanding of the disease.

The FARE website is a great resource to anyone – including starting with the food allergy basics all the way to advocating for food allergy awareness.

Although having a “WHEAT ALLERGY” is different than celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (see why here), I still love supporting FARE and believe that the food intolerance and food allergy community need to be close!We all understand what it’s like to watch our food like a hawk, and always think about food – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Consider taking a moment to education yourself about food allergies if you’re not up to speed. Fight the good fight for food awareness in general with FARE.

We’ve added an option on the Rafflecopter to gain another entry into the contest by liking FARE on Facebook! You could win two of their “Say Farewell To Food Allergies” bracelets.
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I flew in a bit early to California  because – let’s face it – I need a vacation. Here’s me staying in Playa del Rey. Filmed my concession video for Blogger of the Year for the Foggy Awards on this very patio (see the video here). I dined at a few local spots like Fresh Brothers and Sauce on Hampton while I was there too! Hooray for easy GF eating!

My girlfriend drove me up from LA to Pasadena to set up my booth and get the blogger booth ready. The first day of the CDF Expo was all about the education and conference break-outs. The conference (Saturday) was awesome! I finally got to see Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. Peter Green speak about celiac disease! To see pics of some of the slides – search the hashtag #CDFExpo on Instagram and Twitter to follow our bloggers’ journey during the conference.

We set up our booth a few down from the Blogger’s Station. We were a total hit at the show (in my eyes at least!). Lucy from Lucy’s stopped by and told me how much she liked the shirts. Jilly Lagasse (aka one of the Lagasse sisters) was my VIP guest and left with a few shirts too! We were debuting a few new colors and styles – including the new Zest Bakery hooded sweatshirts!

Non-GFBF (GFBF actually – still need a new name) came out to help me sell so I could leave and see Dr. Murray and Dr. Green speak!

We started off our day with an amazing bag full of so many gluten-free items (including full sized samples). Here’s Chrissy from Glam without Gluten and Sarah from CanIEathere.com showing off the samples.

I was excited about the giant boxes of Honey Nut Chex! 

There were awesome vendors there – ranging from the big boys that we see at all of the major expos to some local favorites and smaller mom & pop shops. Way cool! You can see the list of vendors here.

Pamela’s Products was there showcasing new products and giving away fun swag!

Way Better Snacks was there and we can’t go very long without our own bag of the Sweet Chili flavor!

Beermosas (beer & OJ) with Peter from New Planet Beer!

Taste Guru (and our pal Andrew) giving great deals on their subscription boxes!

 Schar (I took home several boxes of the honey grahams)

The Lagasse Girls and their book The Gluten-Free Table

I cannot wait to read Gluten Is My Bitch! I adore April!

So this is a chocolate beet cupcake by Lisa & Mo. OMG. Dying.

Delightfully Free is a great cookbook (also refined sugar free as well as GFDF)

Giant Betty Crocker was there to show off their gluten-free mixes that are readily available in stores.

Check out the new packaging from XO Baking Co.!

One of my readers (and fellow awesome lady) Ariel stopped by rocking her hoodie! She also dropped off some awesome cupcakes for me. THANK YOU!

I was so happy to see that our shirts made it into some raffle baskets. I didn’t win any, but I sure hope you did!

Before I go, I wanted to give a special shout-out to the awesome bloggers that worked hard to spread the message (SERIOUSLY, GET TESTED FOR CELIAC) and to promote the conference and expo. Here’s the rundown of the awesome bloggers:

Sarah (CanIEatHere.com)

Chrissy (GlamWithoutGluten.com)

Brian (EastBayCeliac.com)

Kim (@GFKimAZ)

Alison (AGirlDefloured.com)

Andrea (RockinGlutenFree.com)

Kim (ThrivingGFCF.com)

Erica (that’s me!) (CeliacandtheBeast.com)

Sarah (CanIEatHere.com), Chrissy (GlamWithoutGluten.com), Brian (EastBayCeliac.com), Kim (@GFKimAZ), me, Alison (AGirlDefloured.com), Andrea (RockinGlutenFree.com)

Chrissy (GlamWithoutGluten), Annie (Anniesglutenfreegrub.com – by the time I got around to writing this she already had a recap up!), Katie (House-54.com), me

Alision (AGirlDefloured.com), Brian (EastBayCeliac.com), Chrissy (GlamWithoutGluten.com), Chandice (GlutenFreeFrenzy.com) and Andrea (RockinGlutenFree.com)

Alision (AGirlDefloured.com), Brian (EastBayCeliac.com), Sarah (CanIEatHere.com), Chrissy (GlamWithoutGluten.com), me

Kim (ThrivingGFCF.com) and me at the Schar community dinner at The Melting Pot

Finally, thank you to Janelle, Deborah, Marilyn, and the entire CDF team. You guys not only put on a great conference, amazing expo (an outstanding success open to the public for the first time ever), but took a chance on sponsoring a team of awesome bloggers for the first time. THANK YOU!

HOW TO WIN A GLUTEN FREE BOX OF GOODIES FROM THE CDF EXPO:

PRIZE: 

Enter to win a box of assorted gluten-free goodies from the CDF Conference & GF Expo – for US residents only

WINNER:

1 winner, picked randomly (via Rafflecopter) based on valid entries.

HOW IT WORKS:

Each person can be entered into this contest via Rafflecopter.

CONTEST ENDS:

Friday, May 18th 2013 at midnight EST

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You can visit Fresh Brother’s website here. They are across SoCal in multiple locations. They have a great GF menu that you can see here that includes wings, salads, and pizza. They are trained and received the GREAT kitchen training. I called the manager and he assured me that they have separate ingredients, prep area, and utensils for the GF pizza. I ordered the vegan cheese pizza and the farmer’s salad. I am avoiding dairy, so I opted for the Daiya cheese. I ordered pepperoni on my vegan GF pizza, but didn’t get any weird looks thankfully.

It was SO good! The crust was good – not the best I’ve had but similar to Sauce and True Foods (both Fox Restaurant Concepts here in Phoenix and in California). The cheese was surprisingly good – but like most vegan cheese I’ve had, it coats your teeth with that weird vegan cheese feeling. However, I didn’t puff up like a cow after eating all that cheese like normal cheese pizza (GF of course).

The salad was also really good too – peas, carrots, corn, etc. Awesome! It was WAY too much food for even two of us – but they have smaller sizes in both the salads AND the pizzas (they have personal GF pizza available).

I love this place! Man, if I had a Fresh Brothers near me with a manager like this one – I would be so happy. AND they deliver – seriously SoCal, get on this!

I’m also thankful for my wonderful girlfriend who brought me to all these great places in SoCal! MWAH!

We ordered bacon-wrapped yukon gold potatoes for the table to start. YUM. For the dinner, I went with the tiger shrimp fajitas with the spinach and sweet potato sides. EVERYTHING WAS SO DELICIOUS. I overate SO much. I could seriously eat that same meal for every other meal that I eat this trip. THe shrimp was perfect – cooked and seasoned perfectly. I want to go back right now just writing about it…

The service was excellent, topped off with the statement “of course, we’re in Venice” when I asked if he really understood what gluten-free meant. In fact, he was very patient with me – even after he explained to me that he understands gluten-free for my “gluten allergy” – when I asked if every item placed on our table is gluten-free. It was interesting, especially since my tablemate didn’t order GF – she wasn’t used to eating with me – and I warned her (like I always do) that I ask about everything, even when the staff sounds educated. It’s saved me in certain situations!

Now, the previous review on FMGF said that they give you a cookie at the end of the meal. Now, that’s not very different from other restaurants I’ve been to – but NOT a gluten-free cookie. I even told the guy “I can’t have it” and he said, “yes, you can.” I inquired how the cookies were made and he said that they purchase them from a gluten-free bakery off-site. SOLD. He brought me gluten-free cookies (okay, so they were more like bars, but they were cookie-like and that’s all that mattered).

You can find this on Find Me Gluten Free and read other reviews here.

Here’s the latest update on the 2013 Blogger of the Year Foggy Award!

It’s our month to be advocates and celebrate the life that was given to us (that may not have been the life that we chose). Speaking of celebration – sometimes we have to celebrate with amazing gluten-free cupcakes. And by sometimes, I mean – I want cupcakes every day.

This year, I was able to meet one of my favorite gluten-free people in the universe. You may know her as the gluten-free winner of Cupcake Wars (twice). You may know her as the owner of Crave Bake Shop in Lake O (Portland), Oregon. You may remember her from my review of Crave Bake Shop in our last Portland vacation to see Non-GFBF’s family.  Or, you may just know her as the beautiful Kyra Bussanich. And she rocks. I couldn’t think of a better person that could help us kick off this great month.

She recently added a new product line to her amazing shop – her dry mixes are available for the world! Now you can make award-winning cupcakes at home! And you don’t even have to go to culinary school to learn how to bake gluten-free – she’s done all the hard work for you! These mixes have their own Facebook page!

I am in love with everything Crave Bake Shop touches – and I couldn’t be happier that she’s come out with mixes for people like me – people who can’t bake or follow a recipe to save our lives. On my own, I could never replicate half of what Kyra and her team does, but with these mixes I can create cupcake that would impress any guest – even if they don’t know they are gluten-free!

Now, before I post any photos, know that when I bake with mixes, I do a lot of substitutions. I am trying to avoid dairy, so I use Earth Balance vegan spread and Pacific Foods hemp milk whenever I bake. I adore hemp milk, it’s so great to bake with because it’s thick like milk. I know it’s not the same properties of baking as milk, but since I refuse to buy dairy (mooooooo!) I’m using it! But, if you can still have dairy, I’m sure your cupcakes will look different than mine (and probably taste better too – and kudos if you can handle dairy!).

The chocolate cupcakes WERE SO GOOD! I can’t even tell you how rich they were – even with the dairy substitute.

For the snickerdoodle mix, I made cupcakes and then tried to make little donut holes (that are actually mini cupcakes) and putting powered sugar and icing on top! These are such a unique mix and such a great taste. When you have these, I promise you can’t be sad that you have to eat gluten-free. We couldn’t get enough of these.

The vanilla ones are just what they are – vanilla cake mix. These were the hardest to make dairy-free because they didn’t have the rich flavors of the chocolate or snickerdoodle – but these were the best to add flavorings and goodies too. I added Enjoy Life chocolate chips and frosting on top and gave them out as party favors at one of my birthday events!

That picture was from Chandice of Gluten Free Frenzy who snapped a pic of my cupcake – chocolate chips on the bottom and frostin on top!

All of these mixes are given a score of 5 wheat stalks.

That means that I will be buying them regularly. 5 wheat stalk means that I will totally be talking about these for a while (as if you couldn’t tell by me mentioning it every second I could to you guys). If you are at all doubting my rating, or want to just buy one mix – go with the Snickerdoodle. You will NOT be disappointed.

HOW DO I ORDER THESE MAGICAL BOX MIXES???

Email: info@cravebakeshop.com

Tell them that Celiac and the Beast sent ya!

BUT I WANT TO WIN THEM FOR MYSELF!

Well, you can win a box of these mixes along with other items throughout our Celiac Awareness Month celebration!

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1. I drank the kool-aid. I totally joined the club and signed up for a CDF annual membership this year with my local chapter. I feel like I really belong to a group of people that understand who I am. I really love my chapter, and I love that CDF supports their local chapter and provides them with endless education and information.

2. They’ve finally opened up their expo to the public! This year, CDF is adding a stand alone gluten-free EXPO on the Sunday after its education conference. I’ve never been able to go to their expo before – this is super exciting! I better see you all there SUNDAY from 10am-3pm! Get your tickets here.

3. We’ve got a great group of official bloggers.

That’s right, there’s an amazing group of bloggers that are helping out CDF this year and you should meet them all. Here’s who is on the VIP cool kids’ list so far:

• Alison – A Girl Defloured
• Chrissy – Glam without Gluten
• Kim – Gluten Free in Arizona
• Kim R. – Thriving GF
• Andrea – Rockin’ Gluten Free
• Brian – East Bay Celiac
• Sarah – Can I Eat Here
• And me! (but you know me…)

4. I’ll be there with Celiac and the Beast selling our new merchandise. I’m testing out some new products including new colors of hooded sweatshirts, long-sleeved shirts, baseball tee’s and reprints of all of my other shirts! Come be the first one to wear the new merch!

5. Get your smarts on!Saturday will host a myriad of education opportunities for celiac disease.

• Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. Peter Green will be there to talk about clinical research in the field of celiac disease.
• There will also be a session on breaking therapies beyond the gluten-free diet – with medical officers from Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Alba, Bioline Innovations, and ImmusanT.
• Gluten-free nutrition is a huge part of healing, and luckily there will be some RDs there to answer questions about your diet.

I promise you’ll learn something new! For example, according to CDF, here are some long-term conditions that can results from untreated celiac disease!

6. Gluten-free goodies! Duh! On top of all the amazing education components on Saturday, Sunday will provide a great opportunity for the public to sample the newest GF treats! For everyone attending the education event on Saturday, I’ll see you on Saturday at the expo too – just save me some goodies, okay?

“We realized that the current demand for Gluten-Free products expands far beyond the scope of our celiac community. We have over 100 exhibitors that are eager to provide samples of their GF goodies to the masses.” Explains CDF’s Development Director, Deborah Ceizler. Ms. Ceizler reminds us “for celiacs, a gluten-free diet is not an option. But there are millions of people who choose a gluten-free diet for a multitude of reasons. This EXPO is a great way for anyone interested in, or even just curious about, gluten-free foods to try them, get credible information and network.”

SO WHY AREN’T YOU SIGNED UP YET???? COME SEE ME ON MAY 4th and 5th IN PASADENA!