It has been several weeks since I last blogged. Life has been a whirlwind of things both good and bad from my first book coming out to a nasty respiratory virus battle for my two youngest children landing one of them in the hospital for a couple of days. On November 1st... however all the bad vibes were overtaken by joy when Whole Foods opened 15 minutes away from my house! YAYYYY!!!! Grand Opening day of any place like this is a recipe for chaos and I never go! So... there I was on opening day pushing my cart with three kids in tow because I was ELATED that my gluten-free dairy-free lifestyle just got easier and happier knowing the selections there would be glorious and bountiful!! (I think I heard angels singing in the background.)
It's hard... or should I rephrase "challenging" to find stores that have a good selection. Having three children attached to my hip not to mention a full time career, grocery shopping can be a daunting task. It can take forever to get what I need in between the "I want this and I want that's" leaking from the mouths of my 3 adorable babes. Having to go to 3 (sometimes 4) stores to get what's on my list makes it no less daunting.
As I was dodging what resembled human bullets with carts up and down the crowded, chaotic, isles of the store, I came to the end of an isle where there was a lady packing up her "demo" table. Being that it was grand opening day, there were demo's and tasty goodies being sampled all over the store making store traffic even more ridiculous to swerve through. As soon as this kind lady saw the kids, she sadly said, "awww, you JUST missed it!" To which I said, "missed what?"
She proceeded to tell me that they had just run out of cupcakes to which I gratefully said, "that's okay, we are gluten and dairy free anyway" Her face lit up (not the typical response I get when I say that) and she said, "WOW! Our cupcakes ARE gluten AND dairy free!" We ended up in a conversation and my standing in the way of traffic did not phase me a bit. After a few moments of hearing about her product I told her that I would definitely check it out on my next visit, and mentioned being an author of a health and wellness blog. As soon as she heard about the blog, she summoned for her assistant to fetch a box of this secret cake mix for me out of the cooler in their car. A few moments later he came back with a typical cake box that was frozen and handed it to me free of charge.
She explained her product in more detail, and I agreed to review the cupcakes on my blog, both of us were excited! I was the FIRST person to get her product... it had not even hit the shelves yet; how exciting to be the first one! I went home and made cupcakes that night... and with much delight they were amazing! They were so rich and chocolaty that I would have sworn it was devils food cake. I did not even frost them. I simply sprinkled a few dairy-free soy-free chocolate chips on the tops halfway through the baking. The brilliant packaging made for an effortless clean up because the batter is frozen until you are ready to use it. You simply thaw the batter which is conveniently and cleverly packaged in a pastry bag ready to whip out, just trim the end and pipe into cupcake pans. BRILLIANT I said! Impressed! All the way around.
The lesson in this story is this... sometimes, when we change our lifestyle for one reason or another we are reluctant to share what we have changed in fear of being thought of as weird, neurotic or overly cautious with what we eat. I know that when I first had to make this change I felt like a nuisance when I had to ask for the gluten free menus at restaurants, I hated feeling like a pain in the butt, like I am picky or like I was only asking to be "trendy". However I have quickly learned to accept my new lifestyle with pride, I have made positive changes to prolong my life and make my everyday better... there is certainly NO shame in that! Not to mention I got a free box of VERY yummy cupcakes!
A big thanks to Carolyn Shulevitz for creating this clever yummy cupcake batter for those of us who need the simple pleasures in life and don't always have time to slave in the kitchen with our busy lives! I appreciate your generosity in allowing me to be the first consumer ever to receive this product. I enjoyed every bite! :)
It's hard... or should I rephrase "challenging" to find stores that have a good selection. Having three children attached to my hip not to mention a full time career, grocery shopping can be a daunting task. It can take forever to get what I need in between the "I want this and I want that's" leaking from the mouths of my 3 adorable babes. Having to go to 3 (sometimes 4) stores to get what's on my list makes it no less daunting.
As I was dodging what resembled human bullets with carts up and down the crowded, chaotic, isles of the store, I came to the end of an isle where there was a lady packing up her "demo" table. Being that it was grand opening day, there were demo's and tasty goodies being sampled all over the store making store traffic even more ridiculous to swerve through. As soon as this kind lady saw the kids, she sadly said, "awww, you JUST missed it!" To which I said, "missed what?"
She proceeded to tell me that they had just run out of cupcakes to which I gratefully said, "that's okay, we are gluten and dairy free anyway" Her face lit up (not the typical response I get when I say that) and she said, "WOW! Our cupcakes ARE gluten AND dairy free!" We ended up in a conversation and my standing in the way of traffic did not phase me a bit. After a few moments of hearing about her product I told her that I would definitely check it out on my next visit, and mentioned being an author of a health and wellness blog. As soon as she heard about the blog, she summoned for her assistant to fetch a box of this secret cake mix for me out of the cooler in their car. A few moments later he came back with a typical cake box that was frozen and handed it to me free of charge.
She explained her product in more detail, and I agreed to review the cupcakes on my blog, both of us were excited! I was the FIRST person to get her product... it had not even hit the shelves yet; how exciting to be the first one! I went home and made cupcakes that night... and with much delight they were amazing! They were so rich and chocolaty that I would have sworn it was devils food cake. I did not even frost them. I simply sprinkled a few dairy-free soy-free chocolate chips on the tops halfway through the baking. The brilliant packaging made for an effortless clean up because the batter is frozen until you are ready to use it. You simply thaw the batter which is conveniently and cleverly packaged in a pastry bag ready to whip out, just trim the end and pipe into cupcake pans. BRILLIANT I said! Impressed! All the way around.
The lesson in this story is this... sometimes, when we change our lifestyle for one reason or another we are reluctant to share what we have changed in fear of being thought of as weird, neurotic or overly cautious with what we eat. I know that when I first had to make this change I felt like a nuisance when I had to ask for the gluten free menus at restaurants, I hated feeling like a pain in the butt, like I am picky or like I was only asking to be "trendy". However I have quickly learned to accept my new lifestyle with pride, I have made positive changes to prolong my life and make my everyday better... there is certainly NO shame in that! Not to mention I got a free box of VERY yummy cupcakes!
A big thanks to Carolyn Shulevitz for creating this clever yummy cupcake batter for those of us who need the simple pleasures in life and don't always have time to slave in the kitchen with our busy lives! I appreciate your generosity in allowing me to be the first consumer ever to receive this product. I enjoyed every bite! :)
Available at Whole Foods
Visit the website www.readysetcupcake
"like" them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Ready.Set.Cupcake
