Tag Archives: gluten-free

Giveaway, Gluten Free, Review, Vegan

Jamberry Nails Review and Giveaway

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Jamberry Nails

 

http://maggiesgottajam.jamberrynails.net/

https://www.facebook.com/maggiesgottajam

 

Everywhere I look I see pictures of Jamberry Nails… manicure pics, pedicure pics, women and children of all ages wearing Jamberry Nails. I had to find out what all the excitement was about. During my research I found out that Jamberry Nails are gluten-free, latex-free, non-toxic and contain no harmful chemicals. Which is ahh-mazing! I just knew I had to try some. I found a Jamberry Nails Independent Consultant  and she offered to send me some samples to try so I could write a blog review and host a giveaway. 

 

 Here are a few things I love —

What I like about Jamberry Nails
Jamberry Nails

 

I watched so many YouTube videos on how to apply the nail wraps that I was a little intimidated when I got them.  I was so excited to try them, but I just knew I was gonna mess them up, so I just kept on watching videos, and getting more and more anxious about the application. Well I wasted a lot of time and energy because putting on the Jamberry Nails was a piece of cake… nothing to be anxious about at all. Of course like with anything you do a little practice makes you better.  

 

Jamberry Nails Samples
Jamberry Nails Sample Sheet with 2 Accent Nail sheets.

 

My first nail took a bit of time because I was getting used to the process, but after that I kept getting better and better at it. Honestly it is easier than painting your nails. I always made a mess with the polish on my cuticles and then of course I had to smudge at the very least one nail while waiting for them to dry.  There is no drying time or chipping with these wraps. YAY!

Jamberry Nails
I finished my first Jamberry Nails Mani.

I could have done all my fingers with the one design or chosen one accent nail on each hand. But I like being different and I couldn’t make my mind up on just one accent nail, so I though “Why choose just one!” That is the beauty of Jamberry Nails – you can mix and match all you want.

Jamberry Nails Pedi
Jamberry Nails Pedi

My toes were getting a little jealous so I decided to give myself a pedicure too. The toes were a little more difficult because I had to cut them to fit each toe, but I will save the wraps when I remove them from my toenails and use them as a template for next time.

 

    Here is the official  video on application and removal.

 

 

Jamberry Nails B3G1 offer

 

Webtastic Jamberry Nails
I just gave myself a Webtastic Jamberry Nails Halloween Manicure. Love it!

Christmas is just around the corner. I know I am already trying to come up with fun and unique gift ideas, and women and girls of all ages love expressing themselves by doing their nails, and would enjoy getting some Jamberry Nails and creating their own unique mani and pedi’s. 

 

Check out all the Holiday Nail Wraps — There are Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Winter themes.

 

A Jamberry Juniors section with smaller sized wraps to fit kids or small nails.

 

Maybe you are just looking for a classic French Tip — Jamberry has an array of French Tips 

 

There is something for everyone  with over 300 wraps to choose from.

 

 

The Giveaway

I am so excited about this giveaway!

 The giveaway is for the Sister’s Style Exclusive Jamberry Nail Wrap — “Check It Out”.

(This exclusive wrap is NO longer available for purchase!)

Enter the Giveaway on GottaChop.com for the Exclusive Jamberry wrap -- "Check It Out"

Check It Out Jamberry Nail Wrap Giveaway

 

 

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Gluten Free, Review

Gluten-Free Dining Cards Review

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Gluten-Free Dining Cards 

BY

Gluten Free Cards

Going out to eat at a restaurant can be challenging when you are gluten-free.  When you are shopping at the grocery store for food you can look for items that are marked gluten-free right on the package. You don’t always have that luxury at your favorite restaurants. Or maybe you are eating a new ethnic cuisine that you are not familiar with. You are not sure what ingredients are in a specific dish. Gluten can pop up when you least expect it. For example I love Chinese food, and sometimes it is hard to communicate to a Chinese speaking waitress that I need to know if gluten is in a certain dish. The Triumph Dining gluten-free dining cards are translated into the languages of that particular cuisine . So at a Chinese restaurant I would take my Chinese cuisine card and give it to my waitress. On the back side of the card it is translated into Chinese, the card can even be taken to the Chef so the Chef and the kitchen staff can read and understand what I can and cannot have. It even teaches about cross-contamination, which could easily happen in a restaurant that cooks gluten containing  foods.

 

Triumph Dining

 

The Triumph Dining gluten-free dining cards are laminated. Which is good in a restaurant where you could get them wet or get food on them, and they are scored so they fold up easily and fit right in your wallet or pocket.

 

Things I Love About My Gluten-Free Dining Cards

 

  • They are laminated and scored

  • Portable – fits easily in wallet or pocket

  • Customized for each cuisine 

  • Translated into 10 languages

  • Helps with language barriers

  • Covers cross-contamination

 

Purchase your own set of dining cards from the 

Triumph Dining website by clicking here.

 

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Dairy Free, Dessert, Gluten Free, Paleo, recipe, Review, Snack

Freedom Super Foods Organic Raw Cacao Powder Review + Recipe

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Freedom Super Foods Organic Raw Cacao Powder

Raw – Organic – Kosher – Cold Pressed

 

  • Produced in a FDA approved facility that is free of the 8 major allergens
  • Non fermented beans
  • Antioxidant rich superfood
  • Magnesium, Potassium, Iron, Copper & other nutrients 
  • Highly alkalizing 
  • Sourced from small sustainable family farms
  • 60 Day no questions asked guarantee

 

I couldn’t wait to open up my bag of raw cacao powder from Freedom Super Foods. Inside the bag was this beautiful fine, silky smooth chocolate powder. Yum… It smelled heavenly!

Organic Raw Cacao Powder

 

I had to taste it right out of the bag. I didn’t know what to expect since it was unsweetened and raw cacao powder. It wasn’t bad. It had a nice dark chocolaty rich flavor.

I thought to myself “I need to make some brownies!”

When you order your bag of raw cacao powder you will also get an e-book with some recipes in it. There is a brownie recipe included but it has gluten in it. I needed a Paleo recipe for brownies, so I researched online and tested a few recipes and came up with my own super moist and chocolaty Paleo gluten-free brownie recipe. I hope you love these brownies as much as I do. I really love the flavor the raw cacao powder gives the brownies plus I feel good about all the nutrients, flavonoids and antioxidants that are  in the cacao powder.

freedom super foods
image from freedomsuperfoods.com

FreedomSuperFoods.com

To purchase your own bag of Freedom Super Foods Organic Raw Cacao Powder on Amazon click here.

 

Cacao
image from freedomsuperfoods.com

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Giveaway, Gluten Free, Vegan

NEVO Lived In Powder Potion Review & Giveaway

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You know when you just washed your hair and it is so clean you can’t style it or get it to cooperate with what you are trying to do.  Well now you can apply some NEVO to get that second day texture to your hair. NEVO is vegan and gluten-free.

 To enter this giveaway use the rafflecopter below.

 

NEVO Lived-In Powder Potion Review & Giveaway

NEVO Lived In Powder Potion

Sponsored by:

NEVO and Beauty Care Choices

Hosted by:

Deliciously Savvy

Co-Hosted By:

Holiday Contest and Sweeps

&

Michigan Saving and More

I received this product in exchange for a review and I LOVED it!

Read My Review HERE

Lived-In Powder Potion is a lightweight fine powder that transforms into a lightweight, velvety pomade product. Something like this has NEVER been seen before on the market. There is no grainy grittiness left in the hair like seen typically with powder volumizer products. Has a medium hold and builds the foundation for styles. Instantaneously creates second-day texture.

Pravana Nevo Care products are 100% vegan and gluten free. 100% biodegradable packaging. 5% of all Nevo product sales is donated to City of Hope for the fight against cancer.

NEVO Lived-In Powder Potion can be found here:

www.beautycarechoices.com/pravana/nevo-lived-in-powder-potion.

;

NEVO Lived In Powder Potion#beautycarechoices

1 LUCKY winner will receive their own bottle of NEVO Lived In Powder Potion

Giveaway Dates: 12AM EST on 9/04 through 12AM EST on 9/20.

Giveaway is Continental US only and must be 18 years old to enter.

Continue reading NEVO Lived In Powder Potion Review & Giveaway →

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Gluten Free, Review, Thoughts, Vegan

Keomi Skincare Organic Handmade Soap Review

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Keomi Skincare

Organic All Natural Handmade Soap

I was given the opportunity to try a sample of Keomi Skincare’s Green Tea Goddess Handmade soap for a review. Keomi Skincare soaps are all natural and have no chemical preservatives, they are vegan and cruelty free. Keomi Skincare uses only the highest quality ingredients available and their products are backed with a 100% guarantee.

keomi skincare
These are the ingredients of the Green Tea Goddess soap that were printed on the wrapper of the bar I received.

Organic Handmade Luxury Soap for Men and Women

I was sent the Green Tea Goddess handmade soap to review.  It has a wonderful fresh green scent that can be enjoyed by either men or women. It did not have a sweet or floral scent that men would not want to use. The Green Tea Goddess soap is scented with oils of clary sage, orange and clove, so it has a fresh green fragrance. Keomi Skincare Organic Natural Handmade soaps are cold-pressed and use pure aromatherapy grade essential oils with a base that is a blend of over 10 USDA certified organic vegetable, fruit and seed oils.

green tea goddess
This is a sample size bar that I received for review. This is not what the full-sized bar looks like.

I first tried the soap by washing my hands in the sink. I wanted to see how the soap lathered and how it felt on the skin. There was a natural, rich, luxurious lather because the soaps are super-fatted leaving my hands feeling supple and moisturized.

Later that day I took a shower and used my Keomi Skincare soap as bath soap and washed my entire body. Again I got a luxurious lather from the soap.  I felt so clean and fresh afterward. My skin did not feel dry and tight, nor was the soap irritating to my sensitive skin. Instead I was left feeling moisturized and with a subtle fragrance on my skin. I do not like strong fragrances as they give me a headache, so I was pleased with the light scent that was left on my skin.

I really enjoyed my Keomi Skincare soap and would love to try the other soaps that they offer.

Click here for my Amazon.com review of Keomi Skincare.

 

 

Keomi Skincare was nice enough to offer me and my readers a coupon for 5% off any of their soaps or sets. The coupon is good until October 31, 2014

 

Use Coupon Code 25P7X5OW 

full size Green Tea Goddess
Here is a full sized bar of the Green Tea Goddess soap.

ORGANIC – ALL NATURAL – HANDMADE SOAP GIFT SET – Pure Aromatherapy Grade – 3 Full Size Bars

 

ORGANIC – ALL NATURAL – HANDMADE SOAP GIFT SET – Pure Aromatherapy Grade – 4 Full Size Bars – Wrapped

in Handmade Decorative Paper – Comes in Elegant Embossed Gift Box

 

Organic All Natural Luxury Handmade Soap – 1 Full Size Bar Wrapped in Homemade Decorative Paper 

 

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Dairy Free, Dessert, Gluten Free, Paleo, recipe, Snack, vegetarian

Gotta Chop Paleo Almond Butter Cups Recipe

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If you are like me, you love a yummy chocolaty treat every once in awhile, and boy do I love almond butter cups! They are so creamy and chocolaty and just melt in your mouth.  Before I went Paleo I used to be addicted to peanut butter cups. They were definitely a weakness of mine. I couldn’t stop until I ate almost the whole bag. I paid for that with skyrocketing blood sugar soars up into the 400’s mg/dl. I would feel so sick and be so sleepy I would be in bed the rest of the day trying to recover. High blood sugar is so hard on our bodies, read more here

Well, I finally found a solution– My Gotta Chop Paleo Almond Butter Cups!.  Eating a Paleo diet has definitely saved my life, and probably my FEET.  Being diabetic, nerve damage and poor blood circulation from high blood sugar is one of the reasons so many diabetics loose their feet and legs.  I don’t want to be one of those people, so I decided to take control of my life again and start eating a clean healthy diet.

The reason that I made almond butter cups instead of peanut butter cups is because peanuts are not a Paleo friendly food.  Peanuts are not nuts, but they are legumes and they contain phytic acid, lectin, and aflatoxins. Also, so many people have peanut allergies and problems with digesting them.

The Gotta Chop Paleo Almond Butter Cups Recipe contains organic and more healthy ingredients than those over-processed store bought candies with all their needless chemicals and they taste great too.

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Snack, vegetarian

Gotta Chop Hummus

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Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo, Salad, Snack, vegetarian

Guacamole Pico de Gallo Recipe

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It is Tuesday afternoon and I need a little pick me up.  I am feeling a bit snacky, so I search the kitchen for something to make.  I found an avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeño, and some organic blue corn chips, so I thought why don’t I make a little guacamole pico de gallo…yum!

Guacamole Pico de Gallo recipe —

I chopped up my onion, tomato, avocado, and a little jalapeño and added them to a bowl.  I added some sea salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, a dash of cayenne pepper, and a little drizzle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and gently mixed everything together.

I grabbed my bowl of guacamole pico de gallo and my chips and a good book and headed outside to find a nice shady spot to sit and read and enjoy my yummy snack I just whipped up.  What a beautiful day it is outside, and it just got better with my healthy little snack.  Hope you enjoy your day too, and try some guacamole pico de gallo too, you will be glad you did.

chip with guac pico de gallo

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Gardening, Gluten Free, Paleo, Thoughts

Gluten-Free and Loving It

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As I am walking around the yard I think to myself how long it’s been since I have had the energy to even go outside, much less walk around.  It is unbelievable how much my life has changed since I started eating organic clean whole foods and cut GLUTEN completely out of my diet, I am gluten-free and loving it!  I am eating a low-carb, high-fat LCHF mostly Paleo diet trying to get my diabetes under control, and so far it’s working.

I tested my blood sugar level and it was 127 mg/dl.  Now that may not sound like a perfect number, but it is truly a miracle for me.  For example, I looked at my calendar where I track my blood sugar readings, and on February 16, 2014 my numbers where as follows– my first reading of the day after fasting all night was 231 mg/dl, then the rest of day it only got worse– 334,476,434,492,431, and finally 343 mg/dl.  I felt terrible ALL the time.  I don’t ever want to go back there again!

I love how I am feeling now, my mood is so much more calm and positive, and I am starting get energy and an actual desire to get out of bed, even get out of the house in the day time.  It has been years since I have even gone out in the sun, and now I know how important getting a little sunlight is so my body can make its own vitamin D.

I love flowers with all their beautiful colors and fragrances, they just make me happy.  I especially love finding wildflowers. I have noticed that now I enjoy walking around the yard taking pictures,  picking blackberries, or even doing some light yard work or gardening.  Oh yeah, and a big bonus, I am actually loosing weight.  I love the new me.  Here is a little slide-show of my recent photos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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Dairy Free, Dessert, Gluten Free, Paleo, Snack

Dark Chocolate Bark with Coconut and Pecans

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It was a beautiful stormy day here in Florida today.   I love listening to the distant thunder and watching the storm clouds roll in.  Since I would be inside today I thought why don’t I try out a new recipe.  I found an organic 85% cacao bar in the pantry, so I thought I would make some dark chocolate bark.  I melted my cacao bar in a bowl and added some finely shredded unsweetened coconut and some ground up pecans from the fridge.  I then spread the mixture thinly on some parchment paper and dusted the top with a little more coconut and pecans.  I placed the parchment paper on a plate for stability and put it in the fridge to cool until hardened.  When the bark  chilled and was hard enough I broke it into pieces and put in a small glass bowl…so cute and yummy.  I think next time I will add a little coconut sugar to sweeten it up a bit, 85% cacao can be kinda bitter.  When picking out your cacao bar be sure to read the label, almost every bar I looked at in the store contained soy, or soy lecithin!

Dark Chocolate Bark
Dark Chocolate Bark
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Alternative Medicine, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo, Thoughts

Hippocrates Said It Best

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Hippocrates said it best — “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

That quote from Hippocrates keeps popping up everywhere I look nowadays. I thought to myself… is the universe trying to tell me something? The answer to that question is yes! The more I embark on this journey of totally changing my lifestyle it becomes more clear to me. Food has become so abundant, so easily accessible, so instant, that I never missed a meal or opportunity to indulge. Food was not being “my medicine” it was being my entertainment, my pleasure, my vice. I was on a downward spiral of obesity, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and just overall poor health. I was miserable!

Well now I am following the wise words of “the father of western medicine,” Hippocrates, and healing my body with the food I eat. I am losing weight, gaining energy, and getting a new zest for life. I was so addicted to processed foods, sugar and gluten that I thought I would never be able to break free. But an amazing thing happened once I rid myself of those toxins… I no longer craved them! It is ridiculous the amount of toxic ingredients that are in the over-processed foods we eat. I honestly don’t know how the FDA allows such things in our foods. Even our healthy fruits and vegetables are a risk to eat now with all the genetic modifications being done to the seeds. Our bodies were not designed to eat these GMO’s. Choose organic when possible to avoid ingesting copious amounts of pesticides and GM foods. Eliminate processed foods with all their chemicals. I have also eliminated gluten, soy, and dairy. I eat an organic whole food Paleo diet now, this is what works for me now, but as I stated earlier, this is a journey and who knows what the future holds… but now I am listening to my body.

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Dairy Free, Dessert, Gluten Free, Paleo, Snack

It’s Cookie Time…

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My favorite time of day… cookie time!  Well I got my sister to whip up another batch of her  yummy Paleo friendly cookies from her secret recipe.  This time I helped and even  added a few of my favorite ingredients to the mix.  I added some unsweetened finely shredded coconut and I chopped up some of my Dark Chocolate Enjoy Life Bar to make little chocolate chips in my cookies.  They smell so good just coming out of the oven, hot and fresh — yum yum!

Cookies

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