This past weekend I was honored to be one of the official bloggers for a second year in a row at the Gluten Free and Allergen Free Expo in Phoenix. Being in a community of people who celebrate healthy living, gluten-free and dairy-free eating and who just enjoy the companies of others who do, I always get freshly inspired to make new recipes, to inspire others myself and to write and connect with you all even when my schedule is crazy.
I decided this year to do something a little different. Instead of a walk through play-by-play, that already played out on my social media, I wanted to highlight my Top 5 Favorite Vendors of the weekend. A few old, that I've been a fan of along my gluten-free journey, and a few new, who I was pleasantly surprised by. Below my review on each... (note that none of this post is endorsed, in any way, by any of these companies. This is purely my personal opinion.) My Top 5 Favorite VendorsAnd #1 Goes To....Beanfield's offers delicious gluten-free, corn-free, bean and rice based chips in a variety of flavors. The sea salt flavor is my favorite and is delicious by itself or with your favorite salsa. I personally pair them with fresh avocado and Trader Joe's Peach Salsa. Mompops was new to me! And although their products are not yet available on the West Coast (bummer!) they should be coming here soon and offer 100% fruit pops with just 2-3 ingredients per bar. They were serving up a mango flavor and a coffee variety at the show and the company reps were some of the most charming and friendly people at the entire show! Wildtree offers gluten free bread (YUMMY, gluten free bread) that is also YEAST free. Enough said. Yummy. Yeast Free. Buy some now. Neal's Yard was promoting various products including teas, but their beauty products stuck out to me. All created with essential oils their deodorant and face masks caught my eye and may be popping up on my beauty reviews soon. Jovial Pasta. I've never eaten a pasta that tastes LESS gluten-free than this one. In a lot of brown-rice pastas you get that heavier texture and that after taste. Gluten-free foodies, you know what I mean. And rarely do I find a pasta with such fresh, pure taste. They offer a variety, from lasagna noodles to penne, spaghetti and egg noodles (my absolute FAVORITE), so you can mix it up. When I'm tolerating grains well, this is one of my top go to dinner party pasta. Overall, an amazing show again this year! There were so many more people this year, and so many amazing food, beauty and home vendors. Make sure to check it out if and when it comes to a city near you. Did I mention ours was within walking distance to an H&M? So I just had to... Until next time my lovelies...
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Weekends. Weekends are bliss. This is a fact I totally started to take for granted having worked from home for the past two years. I started my new position last week and it puts me in the magazine offices five days a week. Love my job, love running a magazine, writing, editing, managing is just in me. But the on-the-freeway-before-dark and leaving my fur babies has been a big adjustment. I believe God puts changes into our life so that we need him. Me personally, I believe its so I cling to him. After what we went through over Christmas and the physical pain I am still dealing with with my pelvic issues, I know this new venture is a struggle, but when I look to Him every morning, noon and night (and all the moments in between), I can see my blessings and it makes it easier. Which is why I now savor, not squander, my day of rest. This past weekend was wonderful. You know those weekends that feel really long and totally satisfying. Like a long, warm hug, or a deep, comfy bed you just want to roll around in and never leave? It was one of those weekends. And I am so thankful that it was because it was much needed. Over Christmas we hosted multiple parties and I think almost every family we have was hosted in our home, and though I adore every single one of them, a weekend with my darling Mr. Charming was so badly needed. We started the Whole 30 up again, and Mr. Charming does SO well eating well. Doing Paleo, I'm awesome at it. But take away my grain-free baked goods and honey and I'm a crazy woman. At least this time around there's no bad headache. Hallelujah. From time to time we visit our dream home developer and walk through the models. Even though we love where God has us, we like to dream and it helps us stay focused on our goals on rough days. We are looking forward to this weekend, we will be grooming the doggies, as they are starting to lose their winter undercoat ALL OVER THE HOUSE. Well Princeton is, little Charlie doesn't shed at all. Love schnauzers!
I will be an official blogger on Saturday at the Gluten & Allergen Free Expo. I'm excited to visit my favorite booths and hopefully see some new companies. For Christmas, Mr. Charming got us tickets to see Whitney Cummings at the Improv. I miss her show and am excited to see some awesome comedy. The rest of the weekend I hope to catch up on the blog, worship, read and savoring... every... moment. I also have FIVE FREE tickets to give away! Excitement much? GUYS! One of my FAVORITE expo's from last year RETURNS again to the Valley of the Sun in less than two weeks! I am excited to announce I am again one of the official bloggers and will be blogging about the amazing vendors I find as well as reviewing the best of the best gluten-free and allergen-free products. This years expo is Saturday January 17th from 10am-4pm. My favorite part about attending last year was some of the amazing women and men I met. The girls from Red Apple Lipstick were dolls and I fell in love with their gluten-free glosses. The guys at Beanfields were awesome and provided me with a delicious crunchy snack while I walked around, taking it all in. The cookbook authors were fun to meet and I'm excited to see everything going on this year. I will also be doing live social media posts from the event, keeping you up to date with all the sights and tastes as I experience them live! As well as early-bird promo codes for early purchase. So if you are interested in attending, contact me and let me know!
To win a FREE ticket, send me a recipe of your favorite gluten-free and dairy-free meal (photos not required, but pretty ones always help!) And if I choose to feature your recipe you will be the proud owner of one of the golden tickets! Like I said I have FIVE to give away! Use my CONTACT page to send me your favorite original recipes and make sure I get your email address to notify you if you win! Looking forward to seeing you all there!
I am in the midst of my conference season. Almost every weekend this month I am in a different city attending food allergy and food intolerance conferences or blog marketing conferences, and I can tell you... girl gets tired.
Due to my awesome hormonal imbalances, having to eat too many grains while traveling and being on my feet for 12+ hours all weekend, I am feeling run down and exhausted. It's important, that whether you are traveling often, overworked, or just stressed in general (and who doesn't have some of that going on, like, always?) to detox and reset for healing. Instead of telling you to drink green juice for days, (and that totally can be beneficial) this post is more about a full reset. A gentle, mind and body, head to toe, routine to implement for just three days to see how you feel*. Many of these steps I incorporate regularly to help me feel happier, healthier and more balanced overall. It also helps if you detox digitally as well. If you're unable to completely leave your phone and computer, at least check them minimally, and shut all devices off at least one hour before going to sleep. Day One
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Welcome! My name is Mandi & I hope you stay in this happy little space a while. I'm a Christian, a wife to my Mr. Charming, mama to baby Greyson, healthy food-lover, traveler, professional journalist and Personal Nutritionist who hopes to inspire others with my story...
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October 2017
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