Quick Review: WOW Baking Products

As my mom was walking the aisles of our local Target's new grocery section, she spotted some gluten free bagged cookies. The next time we went to the store, I picked up the WOW Baking Chocolate Chip cookies. I may have opened the bag while still shopping, just to try them. Oh my gosh, they were so good! Super moist, not too crumbly, good texture.... I was hooked. I must admit that I had to limit myself to two of the cookies each day. They are quite small (maybe an inch and a half diameter?). The bag lasted me a while, probably a month or so. Throughout the month, the cookies never went stale and I kept them in my pantry. Once I ran out, I came across a bag of the Peanut Butter cookies at my local Ross for around $4.00 so I thought I'd try them as well. They tasted great, but were pretty crumbly. I'd like to think that it could be from being dropped or something. There were still a good amount of full cookies in the bag, but many were broken in pieces.

 (Images from WOW Baking site)

(I forgot to take pictures of my bags!)

Either way, it is great for traveling or when you need a quick treat. I think that this would be a great product for children to have in their backpacks on days when there is a school party or event. They don't have to be left out and they will still have a great dessert. I have packed a bag in my purse for social events at school so that it wouldn't be obvious that there was NOTHING for me to eat. :) 

Check out your local grocery stores and Target to buy this great product!

xoxo
Jade

First Week Completed!

So last Monday, while most people were enjoying the day off for Labor Day, I was starting my first day at Texas A&M University! This past week has been amazing! I absolutely love everything about my new school. The campus is extremely huge, but I have enjoyed biking to my classes, taking the bus, and even walking across campus. I spend most of my free time in Evan's Library. It is my favorite place to relax and study.

I'm taking 15 hours this semester and all my my classes relate to children and special education. For the first time in a very long time, my classes interest me. I enjoy all that I'm learning. It is a great feeling knowing that you are on the right track and doing the right thing when all you've done is question yourself before. I know this is my thing and I am so excited for all that is to come. My Monday and Wednesday courses are about Understanding the Special Population and Educational Psychology! Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Family Involvement & Empowerment and Child Development. Fridays, I have a lab for my Understanding Special Populations course and then I have Teaching with Technology.

I haven't had time to explore all the gluten free options on campus, but that will be my next adventure. For now, I am working on getting used to campus and all my courses, while also finding which organizations I want to join. I'm obviously going to join the Gluten Free Aggies club so I can meet other students and also get details on some gluten free options on campus. I have been mostly eating at home (if possible) or packing a lunch and throwing it in my backpack. I have a busy week of meetings, classes, assignments, and a few informationals, so I will definitely be packing a lunch most of this week.

Just wanted to catch up, I hope to post again soon about what's happening & maybe some product reviews/recipes.

xoxo
Jade

Ninety-two, Can you imagine?!

For the past two years, my great aunt, Aunt Doris, has lived with us! She is crazy, funny, ornery, and keeps us on our toes at all times. She cannot remember anything to save her life, but between my mother and I, we keep her on a schedule as much as possible; however, she does her own thing some times and we make do with it. Today is her 92nd birthday! Hooray! I am so glad that she made it to 92! Each year, we set a new goal for her: just make it to the next birthday without falling or having hospital stays. It keeps her going and gives her something to look forward to. Plus, she's stingy and wants to be the oldest one in her family. To be the oldest one, she needs to make it to 93. :) We joke all day, every day, and we both love pestering each other. She's a joy to be around 99% of the time and the other 1% of the time, she is confused and mad because she has mixed things up or doesn't remember something that she wants to remember.

 I decorate the house every year, for her birthday.

We only put one candle on the cake... If we would've

put ninety-two candles on there, the house would've caught on fire. :)

Today we celebrated her. She didn't remember getting presents this morning or even opening them, and that is okay. We reminded her of her gifts and I joked with her "The good thing about not being able to remember anything is that gifts are just as exciting the second time you open them as they were the first time you opened them." She laughed and laughed. My mom brought her home some fried chicken from KFC (fried chicken is her favorite). After dinner, I brought out the gluten free, Black Forest cake that I made her for her birthday and it was delicious! It is my favorite cake. 

 She wasn't too sure if she wanted to share!

SERIOUSLY. BEST. CAKE. EVER.

The cake does not look as appetizing as it tasted... but

that is because our BREAKER FLIPPED ON THE FRIDGE!

Seriously, how does this happen?!!! Luckily my brother caught it in time.

The cake was still okay, but the icing had started to soften a bit, which 

caused it to slide off the cake some! It still tasted delicious though!

AND... Aunt Doris didn't mind, or notice. :) 

It is so easy to make too!

• Gluten Free Chocolate cake mix (I used HEB brand)
• Cherry pie filling (mine was homemade)
• Cool Whip Icing (usually a mixture of cool whip and powdered sugar, but I use cream cheese icing in place of the powdered sugar)

Cheers to you Aunt Doris! Cheers to another year! 

xoxo

Jade

Friday Ramblings

This summer I am working as a nanny, which I absolutely LOVE. I have worked as a nanny for the past three years and it is the most enjoyable and exhausting job that I've had. Today, my energy level is a whopping zero; however, I'll have the weekend to recuperate. 

Last weekend was exhausting, yet so much fun! Friday, after getting off, I packed up my car and left for Denton. I was so excited to spend the weekend at my best friends house for some much needed girl time. We rented from redbox, watched movies, and just relaxed. 

Saturday, after we woke up, Amy had the whole day planned out (or so it seemed). We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A and I ordered the naked nuggets (aka grilled nuggets) with fries. We then spent the day shopping at the mall & later went to the town's "square" (I don't know if that's what it is really called, but everyone calls it that). It had all kinds of shops. There were candy stores, comic shops, cute boutiques, a bookstore, and some bars and restaurants. It was so fun just going into all the different shops and looking around. For dinner, Amy took me to Mellow Mushroom because she had recently learned that they serve delicious gluten free pizza. I ordered a plain cheese pizza and added pepperoni to save some money, rather than getting a specialty pizza. My pizza was around $15 with tax. Not too bad. I only ate two slices so the leftovers fed me for a couple days. 

 The Gluten free menu had a great variety of pizza! All the gluten free pizzas were medium (12inch) and were priced around $20-$24. 

Sunday we drove to Frisco and did more shopping! Definitely my kind of weekend... shopping, shopping, and more shopping. :) We met up with Kelsey, another bestfriend, and ate at In-N-Out Burger. I ordered a cheeseburger animal style and protein style. We shared fries. In-N-Out is definitely one of my favorites and always has been. I so wish we had one close to us!

Animal style means grilled onions and their secret sauce (sort of like thousand island). Protein style means no bun. Instead they wrap it up in lettuce. 

Monday was spent in the allergists office (in Denton) for my yearly update checkup appointment. Let me tell you, this was my very favorite appointment because I have wanted to quit and be done with allergy shots since the day I started. Now don't get me wrong. Allergy shots have helped me tremendously. I no longer have constant allergy problems and I have not been sick in over a year! Huge improvements for me. The doctor FINALLY told me that I would never have to come see him again. I just have to do one more year of shots and I'll be done in June 2015! One year of shots might seem like a big deal to others but to me it's not. That's only 12 months and 48 shots to go (I get 4 shots, once a month). I will be counting down the shots as each month passes! Now with good news always seems to come bad news. I asked my shot nurse why my injections weren't hurting at this appointment but they hurt terribly when I get them at my College Station doctors office. I found out that at my allergist they add numbing medicine and it isn't included in my serum, like I always thought it was, so when I get them in College Station, there isn't anything to ease the pain. I tell everyone I know how awesome and beneficial these shots have been for me and my health, but I also tell them how painful they are. Just imagine the worst shot you've received, and multiply it by ten and include a terrible burning, achy feeling to it. Now I know why I've been in pain with them for the last year and I will continue to be in pain with them for another year. One year. I can make it one more year! I've been doing it for 3.5 years already. After my appointment, I drove back to College Station and went back to nannying Tuesday morning. 

I nannied all week and am excited for a relaxing weekend at home with my family!

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends? Shop? Go out? Travel? Relax?  

xoxo, 

Jade 

Be brave. Follow your heart.

As the New Year approached, I spent more and more time thinking about starting a blog. I love reading blogs and learning various things from the bloggers. I spoke with so many family members and friends about starting a blog and they all encouraged me to do it; however, I spent entirely too many hours pondering the idea of what I wanted my blog to encompass.

Do I want to write about living gluten free? What about college life, changing my major, and teaching? I love crafting, should I write about the various crafts and projects that I do? What if I make it about my health and how I have been able to overcome various health issues? 

I soon realized that there is just so much that I could talk about and if I kept spending all my time trying to decide what the best 'topic' is to encompass my blog, I knew I wouldn't ever get to start writing.... So I'm doing it. I want to have a blog that is about me and my life. I hope that it helps and guides all different people who are searching for various answers. I want a blog that does talk about my various struggles and living gluten free. I plan to share my recipes. I want my story out there for the world to see and learn from. I hope that people are able to understand that living gluten free isn't terrible; however, it is quite wonderful. I am so thankful that after having stomach problems for as long as I can remember, I am finally healthy and know what the culprit was to my problems.

I hope that you'll stick around and get to know me.

xoxo,
Jade