GFAF Expo

We are very excited to announce that we will be participants in the Gluten-free and Allergen-Free Atlanta Expo Author Team! We will have a table to display our book, and we are also looking forward to see all the new products available!

Tickets are available online here, and if you use the code AUTHATL, you get 35% off!!

A perfect salad for a summer cookout

Now that spring has finally arrived, what am I doing? Getting ready for summer, of course!

It is the perfect time to clean off the grill and make sure the gas tank is filled--and a nice side dish is also welcome.

This weekend, we worked on this salad. Good for a picnic or get together; the recipe is simple.

Cook some pasta. Ours is gluten-free.

Cut up vegetables. In our case it was radishes, cherry tomatoes, chopped snow peas, celery, red peppers and green onions.

Add some feta cheese. Pour on Italian dressing of your choice (Ken's is gluten-free). Toss and chill for at least four hours and serve.

This is perfect for a cookout. We had grilled pork tenderloin. Summer IS just around the corner!

A sunflower cake

Believe it or not, this sunflower chocolate cake is gluten-free!! Plus, it was SO easy to do. It was my daughter's Easter cake and I helped a little bit. It really isn't original. She found it on Pinterest.

For this pretty sunflower cake, any iced chocolate cake would do, even a bakery cake. You can get Easter chick peeps on sale now and this sunflower cake would make a beautiful centerpiece for spring and summer.

My instructions: Get some yellow chick peeps, chocolate chips and, of course make or buy a chocolate cake. On the finished cake, place the chocolate chips in the center in circles beginning with one chip in the center. You don't have to go to the edges with the chips. Line the outside edge with peeps. Use this cake for a beautiful centerpiece! Enjoy a rich chocolate treat and wash it down with milk, lemonade, and especially tea. If you are more of a chocolate fan than even me, try it with chocolate milk!

To get the rich chocolate/chocolate cake that my daughter and I made go to 

No Apologies Gluten-free.

Gluten & Allergen Free Expo May 17 & 18

I am so excited about the upcoming Gluten Free and Allergen Free Expo that will be in Atlanta on May 17 thru 18--less than a month away. Also, I am happy to be an official blogger for the Expo that will be held at the Cobb Galleria!

AND, I have the pleasure of offering you a 35 percent discount on GFAF Expo ticket! Just enter BLOGATL when ordering your tickets.

This Expo is sponsored by Udi's and Glutinos and there will be over 150 vendors participating. That means you will receive valuable coupons, samples and discounted products available for purchase.

In the changing world of gluten-free news, information and products, this is the place to be to learn more. You can even attend classes related to the gluten and allergen-free lifestyle!

Plus meet your favorite authors and bloggers!

BTW, some of the vendors include:

2B Whole
Aimee's Blue Ribbon Spices
Ancient Harvest
Ardenne Farms
Bakery on Main
Bard's
Bonne Maman
Canyon Oats Oatmeal
Chebe
Your Comfort for Life
cooksimple
Crunchmaster
Cybele's
Delight Gluten free
doTERRA
earth balance
ENER-G
Enjoy Life
Find me GF
Freedom Foods
generation rescue
GF Harvest
Gluten Intolerance Group
Gluten Free Cutie
Glutenfreeda
Glutino
gopicnic
Hail Merry
Hodgson Mill
home free
I heart keenwah
Ian's
Ingles
Juice Plus
Kay's Naturals
KIND Healthy Snacks
kinnikinnick Foods
Kitchen Craft Cookware
Fly by South
living now
local oven
Lovely Lady Products
lucy's
Coconut Bliss
Mayacamas
Moondance Heavenly Desserts
Nature's Path
Nerium International
Nogii
Norwex
Nostalgic Cookies
Nunn
Ombotanical
Rainbow
Raw Revolution
red apple lipstick
Rudi's
SafeRide America
San-J
Shar
Sevierly Good
Simply Gluten Free Magazine
Smart Flour Foods
Soyjoy
Sprouts Farmer's Market
Sugar & Spice
Swerve
Taste of Gluten Free
Gluten Free Marketing Group
Total Health Sciences
Virtuous Living
Way Better Snacks
Whole Body Wellness Concepts
Wildtree
Young Living Essential Oils

Easter Centerpiece

I am always wishing I had a beautiful (and easy) centerpiece for dinners and family get-togethers. This pretty centerpiece would be very easy to throw together in just a bit by buying a few things from a local box hardware store, or if you have some pretty plants you can "throw together," that would make it even better.

This arrangement has some ferns, a violet, and some violas along with bulb greenery. The best thing to do is just to arrange them in a basket.

One very wise plant specialist said that for all arrangements, you need a filler, a spiller, and a thriller. Just keep that in mind and you can throw together plants and then use them in the landscape or garden. After all, it is spring and time to think about putting out plants--but first, just use them as a centerpiece.

A new kitchen tool

Recently, I began looking for bun pans. I needed them to make gluten-free buns, because my grandson would almost never eat his gluten-free bun from the grocery store. It was not too surprising since they were usually a bit hard and were not a moist and tender as regular buns. Another motivating factor is that they were almost always three times the price of regular buns.

I finally realized that muffin rings would make great buns so I purchased two sets of four for approximately $12. And, I LOVE them!

After my dough is ready, I pour it into greased rings, then let them rise and bake them.

My grandson really likes them. It's the best kitchen tool I have found in quite a while.

Now if someone would just tell me how to get a reasonably priced hot dog bun pan, I would really appreciate it!

Spring Gardening: Late or on time?

We have had such a busy weekend! But thankfully, we began to plant our spring garden. Though it doesn't look like much yet, it is coming along.

The past few years we have planted earlier and earlier, but this year, things are different. Spring has been very slow in getting here. It has been getting a little warmer every week, but I must admit it has been an unusual year.

I am hoping there will be no more frosts though we may get some more cool weather this week. Even so, we planted some tomatoes, peppers, beans, and cucumbers. We also planted bok choy, kale, beets, carrots.

The green patch in the middle of the garden are strawberries that really were getting overgrown and needed some TLC, since there are ants there already and had some weeds, until this weekend. Thankfully, there are already some small green strawberries that look quite good, despite the weather.

It just goes to show that you can't depend on the weather every year to do the same thing. For the past few years, we have been more concerned about the rain (and sometimes drought). It will probably be different every few years all over, not just here in planting zone 7b.

The rain should be coming today and we should have pretty good weather, especially for the traditional planting day, Good Friday, coming up this weekend.

Our story in our local newspaper

Our story about dealing with gluten allergies is in our local paper today. They did a great job telling our story, about our struggle to come up with gluten-free recipes everyone would like.

Our book is on sale at Amazon.com and we are very proud of it. It is on sale now for $14.30 for the print version and $9.99 for the Kindle version. Check out the article on the Newnan Times-Herald and the book on Amazon. Incidentally, they are giving away a free copy!

Peeps and jellybeans

Last week I attended a luncheon given by the veteran Master Gardeners in our county for the new class of trainees. It was a celebration of making it through the class and passing all the exams. 

The veterans sure did make us feel welcome, not only because of all the good food they served us, but the decorations were really lovely.

One thing I wanted to show off was this beautiful arrangement with peeps, jelly beans and bright yellow tulips. This was so pretty. I could not have imagined the table without it and I think I may just have to borrow the idea for my table for Easter. I just had to snap a photo to share.

It looks like a larger jar with an inside vase that holds the flowers and jelly beans and peeps all around on the inside area. I just really loved it and appreciated the person who made this section of the table so pretty. Great job! And thanks for the great idea!!

Gluten-free cookbook

Looking for a great new gluten free cookbook that will allow you to have your favorite comfort foods? Our cookbook is available now in print as well as on Kindle. Check it out on Amazon.com! Click on the picture below.