Top Ten Gluten-Free Meals and Snacks on the Road

When my dad was sick the past few months we did a LOT of traveling and eating on the road. As we all know when you eat on the go it can be expensive, (for gluten-free folks, especially) it can be hard to find, and it can be super frustrating when you have a variety of food sensitivies and/or allergies.

On our recent trips I have found quite a few options for eating gluten-free on the road! In no particular order here's my favorite top ten snacks and meals I eat when we're traveling:

1. boiled eggs -- you can either make boiled eggs or you can find them pre-made at many different gas stations and grocery stores. A single serving portion of a healthy, lean protein. 
2. fruit -- bananas and apples can generally be found at most gas stations and can ALWAYS be found in grocery stores on the road. Again they are automatically in single servings and travel well and have a healthy punch of fiber and natural fruit sugar. 
3. nuts/seeds -- super awesome protein and fiber all rolled into one delicious bite-sized, travel friendly package! Also can be found at most gas stations and grocery stores. Watch sodium counts though, as some are absolutely loaded with salt. My favorite? Roasted cashews. 
4. Go Picnik Gluten-Free Meals -- These meals have been an absolute LIFESAVER over the past few months. Not only have they saved me money by not eating out, but they are portion controlled, shelf-stable (no refrigeration required!), contain no high fructose corn syrup and contain healthy servings of protein, fiber, and fruit along with a piece of gluten-free chocolate! Make SURE when you are buying them to purchase the GLUTEN-FREE varieties! 
5. Glutino crackers with Sunbutter (or peanut butter) -- If the Go Picnik meals are out of your price range you can just take along a jar of sunbutter and a package of glutino crackers  -- still a bit pricey, but overall cheaper than the Go picnic meals and everybody loves "peanut butter" sandwiched crackers! Quick, easy, shelf-stable and relatively healthy! 
6. gluten-free beef jerky -- READ THE LABELS! Many varieties of beef jerky are NOT gluten-free, but quite a few ARE and they are becoming easier to find in gas stations and grocery stores. One brand in particular that I like is: Jack Links Beef Jerky.
7. Wendy's chili and a side salad or baked potato -- When I want a hot meal on the road Wendy's is one of my favorite places to go. I generally go for the simple and frugal options of a small chili and a baked potato. Wendy's also has many salads that are gluten-free and you have many of the grilled sandwich options without the bun. Check out the Wendy's gluten-free menu options for more information. 
8. Chick-Fil-A grilled chicken nuggets and waffle fries or a fruit -- My other favorite choice for a hot meal on the road! I generally have grilled chicken nuggets with a side salad and/or a fruit cup and their homemade lemonade. Chick-Fil-A also offers gluten-free FRIES because they cook their fries in a dedicated fryer. If you are unsure of the actual store policy make sure to check with a manager before you order (and check their gluten-free menu), but I've never had problems with cross-contamination at Chick-Fil-A. A definite winner for the gluten-free community! 
9. KIND Bars or Glenny's Fruit & Nut Bars -- It's now a rare trip when I don't see KIND bars or Glenny's Fruit & Nut bars in gas stations on our trips. KIND bars are generally about twice as much as the Glenny's bars, but I love both and always enjoy having them as an option when we're traveling. I've seen these most often in Sheetz gas stations and in the healthy/organic sections of grocery stores. 
10. McDonald's scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, and fruit smoothies -- Yep... McDonald's...the bane of the American industrialized food industry... but honestly (especially since I've been gluten-free) having the option of ordering scrambled eggs & sausage on my way to work has been a huge help more times than I care to mention. Is it healthy? NO. It's an option... and sometimes you just WANT an option. So take or leave it... know it's available and when you're dying to get breakfast on the road. And the smoothies rock (and you can ask them to leave out the yogurt if you are intolerant to dairy)... probably have more sugar than a coke... but there you go. Feel free to check McDonald's allergen statements frequently as products can change. 

Do you agree? Disagree? What are your favorite gluten-free GO TO foods when you're traveling? Share in the comments below! 

Slow Cookin' with Jenni of Spoonful at a Time

I don't know if you've met Jenni yet or not... but she's a new gluten-free blogger in the Triangle area of NC and I think the world of her. 

I had the opportunity to meet Jenni at this year's first Raleigh Gluten-Free Expo. She was representing Triumph Dining (and did a smashing job if I do say so myself, I believe her booth of Triumph Dining books was completely sold out by the end of the day!)

Jenni's keen sense of humor and wicked awesome sense of taste make her a true asset to the gluten-free food blogging community. Jenni loves to share recipes, share gluten-free traveling tips, and write product and restaurant reviews. 

I asked Jenni several months ago if she would like to review my cookbook on her blog and do a giveaway. I was completely thrilled when she agreed. And I truly could not have asked for a more honest and thoughtful reviewer! Jenni tried no less than SIX recipes from my book and shared her successes along with the recipes that didn't turn out quite so well for her... which I LOVED. I'm so glad she was honest in how the recipes worked and what she learned in the process. I really hope it will encourage lots of people to use their slow cookers more often and to see how versatile they can be!

And the best part? Now YOU have ANOTHER chance to win a signed copy of my book! Jenni is having a giveaway RIGHT NOW on her blog that you can enter! I hope you'll head over and enter her contest, tweet it up, and share it on facebook. And while you're at it... subscribe to Jenni's blog for awesome recipes, product reviews, and a great read. 

And after you've done all that make sure to read about each recipe Jenni tried over the past week!

1. Hearty Beef Stew

2. Hawaiian Chicken

3. Balsamic Almonds

4. Salsa Chicken

5. Homemade Barbecue Chicken

6. Maple Pumpkin Spiced Lattes

Jenni, thank you so much for spending so much time with my book and sharing about it on your awesome blog! 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Michael and I are enjoying the first real vacation we've had in several years. We're spending time with Michael's sister Lisa and her family in beautiful Fleming Island, Florida. 

It's gorgeous here. Comfortably warm, breezy days, and cool, crisp evenings have just been one of the wonderful things about this trip. Lisa's husband Todd has spent his entire career working in the grocery business and helps stores know the best foods to buy, the best organic items available, the best produce... and BONUS: he loves to cook. Todd gets gluten-free. The first morning we were here Todd decided to make pancakes and from the kitchen I heard, "Carrie, would you like some gluten-free pancakes?" 

Do you know you how rare it is to hear something like that when you're visiting friends or family? Even awesome friends & family? 

And not only did Todd have a gluten-free mix... Todd used a clean mixing bowl and utensils. Todd cleaned and scrubbed the griddle and spatula before he made my pancakes. I think I was seriously speechless for the first time in a LONG time. 

Then that evening Todd made a naturally gluten-free dinner of barbecued ribs (making sure the sauce was gluten-free), twice baked potatoes, coleslaw, and black-eyed peas. Talk about thinking things through and making sure your guests could eat well. I don't know if he and his wife will ever really understand what that means to me. 

So today I decided to make cupcakes. I needed to make dinner and cupcakes for my family. We may be world's apart in our politics, but when people care enough to feed you well, that's truly something special. 

Please keep in mind these delicious little cupcakes are still kind of a work in progress. I made them with the only gluten-free ingredients I had on hand, a boxed mix of Sof'ella Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Mix that I brought on vacation. This mix contains: white rice flour, navy bean flour (and amazingly has nearly NO beany aftertaste!), cornstarch, tapioca starch, natural flavor (no idea), baking powder, sea salt, baking soda. and xanthan gum. I think because the spices in the cupcake are so strong it masked any aftertaste from the bean flour in the mix. 

Because this mix is primarily for pancakes and waffles I decided to add a tiny bit more baking powder and baking soda to make sure the cupcakes rose as much as they should. 

If you try them with your own gluten-free flour mix, or your favorite gluten-free flours, please let me know what you think! 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

free of gluten, casein/dairy, and soy

created by Carrie of Gingerlemongirl.com

makes 18 cupcakes

printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups Sof'ella gluten-free all purpose baking mix 

1 cup sugar (actually used 3/4 cup splenda sugar blend for baking -- due to BIL Todd's dietary restrictions)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I LOVE pumpkin pie spice, cut back if you'd like!)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 (15 oz.) can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 eggs

3/4 cup extra-light olive oil (best kind for baking)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake papers. Spritz cupcake papers with nonstick cooking spray to prevent cupcakes from sticking
• In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. 
• In a smaller bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. 
• Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients thoroughly until you have a thick batter. 
• Scoop about 1/4 cup of thick batter into each cupcake paper. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. 
• Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. 

Directions for Homemade Spiced Frosting: 

• Add 1 cup coconut oil or spectrum palm shortening to a bowl and slowly mix in 1 pound of powdered sugar. Mixture will be very crumbly. Add 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice + 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg to the powdered sugar mixture and stir together well. 
• Slowly add water or milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting is the consistency you desire. 
• Frost cupcakes and serve. 

GIVEAWAY & Review : Celebrate Crock-tober with a brand new Crock-Pot!

It's that time of year. Crock-tober! When fall begins and you start wanting savory, comforting home-cooked meals. And one way to make those meals super easily is with your slow cooker! 

A few months ago a special friend helped me contact the folks at Crock-Pot because I hoped that they might be willing to work with me to provide some special giveaways for you, my dear readers! Especially since I used Crock-Pots extensively through the recipe testing for my new book. 

It wasn't actually because I loved the company at the time, it's simply that Crock-Pot was the brand of slow cookers I had in my kitchen... and after all that testing... I realized just how much I love these simple machines. The Crock-Pot brand is known for their high quality slow cookers and they like to call themselves, "The Original Slow Cooker." Which is fine by me considering I own 5 of them!  

My favorite size is actually a very simple, medium-sized 3.5 - 4 quart slow cooker. It works best for most of the items I make since I'm only cooking for two people (with the hopes of leftovers!)

Crock-Pot #1 - a 6-qt. Cook & Carry Slow Cooker
Retail Price: $39.99

After speaking with a Crock-Pot representative, they graciously offered to send me two slow cookers to test myself and review... ALONG WITH two brand new slow cookers to giveaway! I was thrilled at the offer... because you can never have TOO many slow cookers right?

The first one I tested was the 6 quart Cook & Carry manual slow cooker. A manual slow cooker is simply a slow cooker with a manual dial. It's very basic and the knob is the only thing you have to worry about setting. 

A few functions of this slow cooker include: 

• 6 quart capacity
• removable oval stoneware
• four convenient manual temperature settings
• the stoneware AND lid is dishwasher-safe (I really need a dishwasher!)
• several naturally gluten-free recipes are included in the instruction manual
• this model has a lid-mounted locking system for portability AND a gasket lid to keep the unit sealed to prevent spilling. 

This was my favorite of the two slow cookers.  One thing I REALLY loved about this new model is that the oval base of the slow cooker and the stoneware insert is wider than my old one. In my opinion, the wider the base of your slow cooker, the more versatile it can be. For instance I could make bread with this slow cooker because the base is wide enough to hold a small loaf pan. 

Another big plus? When the base is wider, you have MUCH more room to do big meals like roast a whole chicken or do a large beef or pork roast with plenty of room to spare for adding extra veggies or sauce, or if you want to make a big pot of soup, etc... 

I also loved the color of this slow cooker. I realize color has nothing to do with function... but when things are pretty it's not only nice to display in the kitchen but it's fun to take other places to show off! The red is a very metallic, deep red which went beautifully with my black kitchen appliances. (And doesn't food that is presented in a beautiful dish/carrier taste better anyway?) 

One more bonus: fantastic carrying handles! Big, wide handles so the slow cooker can be picked up easily and transported without worry of dropping it due to the handles being too small or getting too hot. My husband often complains about how small the handles are on a few of my smaller slow cookers, so he was very impressed his hands fit this model perfectly. 

***************

Crock-Pot #2 - 7-qt. Smart-Pot Slow Cooker
Retail Price: $49.99

Slow cooker number 2 that we are giving away and that I tried was a 7-quart Smart-Pot Slow Cooker (winners may receive EITHER a 6 or 7 quart version of this model). This slow cooker is a little bit larger than the Cook & Carry and functions a little bit differently. 

A few functions that this slow cooker includes are: 

• 6 or 7-quart capacity
• removable oval stoneware
• four convenient timer settings
• automatically shifts to warm when cooking is done
• stainless-steel finish
• dishwasher safe stoneware & lid
• several naturally gluten-free recipes are included in the instruction manual

This slow cooker is the largest one I have and it's perfect for roasting a large chicken, a Christmas ham, and making a loaf of gluten-free bread (with wiggle room!) It's also great for cooking a HUGE pot of pinto beans or green beans, or soup! This newer model also contains the wider base than my older slow cookers and of course the awesome digital time settings. My favorite thing about the digital time settings is having an indicator light telling you the machine is on!  There have been countless times I've forgotten to turn on my slow cooker and realized 4 hours later nothing was cooking!

This slow cooker doesn't have the cool carry and leak-proof features, but the digital timer is very nice. However if you make a lot of recipes from my cookbook, you'll have to remember to set your own timer because MOST of my recipes cook for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low... I feel the traditional 4/6 hour HIGH settings and 8/10 hour LOW settings are WAY too long for most slow cooker recipes... because newer slow cookers cook hotter than old ones due to government food safety regulations, you don't need to cook foods as long in nearly ANY newer slow cooker.

Both of these slow cookers worked really well in my opinion on both low, high, and warm settings. To top it all off, both of these models are really beautiful and will match a huge variety of kitchen counters and appliances!

Now for the good stuff! Do you want to win one of these beautiful and functional slow cookers? My giveaways are easy peasy... please read the details below and enter to win! Good Luck! 

*********************

THIS CONTEST IS NOW OVER! 

CONGRATULATIONS TO: 

KELLY W.
MICAELA M. 

The Giveaway:

• TWO Crock-Pot slow cookers are up for grabs through this giveaway. The brand new slow cookers are being provided by Crock-Pot.com. 
• This giveaway is limited to residents of the 48 contiguous United States aged 18 and older.
• One entry per person. There will be TWO winners. Winners do not get to choose which slow cooker they will receive. 
• Enter by leaving a comment on this post AND please include a way for me to contact you -- Your email address preferably.
• The giveaway begins October 22, 2012 and ends on October 26, 2012  at 11:00 pm eastern time.
• No purchase is necessary.  Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.  
• The winners will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email.  The winners will have 24 hours to respond.  If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

Disclaimer:  The brand new "Crock-Pot" slow cookers being given away will be provided by Crock-Pot.com. Crock-Pot.com also provided me with one of each of these slow cookers for testing & review purposes for free, but I was NOT paid to write a review and/or do a giveaway. The opinions in this post are solely my own. 

Having trouble seeing GLG on your Facebook Wall?

Love it or hate it... social media is one of the most popular tools of communication in this day and age. facebook is the way I communicate most effectively with my readers of Ginger Lemon Girl. While I also use twitter, facebook opens the doorway to ongoing communication in somewhat more organized manner (in my opinion) so therefore, it's what I tend to use most actively.

In the past year facebook has made major changes to "pages" for businesses, blogs, churches, etc... Any type of facebook page, no matter what the subject matter or whether it's for-profit or non-profit, or generally just sharing information like I do (other than promoting the book) -- is now required to PAY for their posts to be seen by all of their followers. Otherwise, only 10% of the people who "like" the page will actually see the postings shared. Facebook did this to find a really easy way to increase their revenue.

So basically if I want you to see really important information on my page, I have to pay facebook to make sure they show it to you on your wall or in your newsfeed. And unfortunately I don't have the funds to constantly promote my posts.

There is a way around this, but it will take a little effort on your part, here's basically what you will need to do: 

To keep RECEIVING ALL FACEBOOK POSTS, TIPS, and RECIPES FROM GLG, you have to open our page, hover the mouse on the "Like" button near the gear symbol. In the pop-up select "ADD TO INTEREST LISTS".

Then create an interest list - gluten-free, baking, etc on your personal facebook page. Then when you select that interest list you will see ALL of our posts. Here's a great post explaining how to create an interest list: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/03/how-to-facebook-interest-list/

Have questions or want to share a thought? Leave me a comment below!