Images of gluten-free meals and snacks.

I was reminiscing about the blogging days of yesteryear this week, including how IGE got started. NINE (!) years ago I was a newlyish-married 20-something with a job that was nice and paid the bills, but wasn’t super fulfilling. Around the same time, blogging started to become a “thing” and I found that being able to peek into other women’s lives who were around my same age and stage in life to be fascinating (I sound like a creep, but hopefully you know what I mean.) Anyway, I figured, if they could do it, I could to – and thus a blog was born.

The first blogger I remember following – truly the one that got me hooked and excited about the possibility of blogging myself – was an RD named Cristen who blogged for Self.com. Anyone remember Eat Like Me? Cristen’s short, daily posts filled with un-styled snapshots of what she’d eaten that day, plus updates on her weekends, wedding planning, and eventually kids, was something I looked forward to reading every single day. Man, blogging was different back then!

Well, today I’m channeling the good ol’ days with a “What I Ate in a Day” post, sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods. If you weren’t aware, May is Celiac Awareness month (here’s a post I wrote about living with Celiac Disease last May) and Enjoy Life Foods is a brand we rely heavily on at my house to live “normal” feeling lives on account of my Celiac Disease and Lincoln’s dairy allergy. Enjoy Life’s products are not only certified gluten-free, but allergy friendly and free from wheat, dairy, soy, sulfites, lupin, fish, crustaceans, peanuts, tree nuts, casein, egg, sesame, mustard, and shellfish. You may be thinking, uhhh, what’s left to make food from? PLENTY. From their chewy bars, to soft baked cookies, baking chocolates, and lentil chips (<< OMG) I have yet to find a product of theirs that I don’t love.

Enjoy Life is celebrating their new, updated teal packaging as a nod to the food allergy community (think Teal Pumpkin Project for Halloween, etc) and to celebrate, they’re offering 15% off online orders through June 8, 2018. Click here to shop then use code: ENJOYIGE at checkout to get the discount. (Minimum order of $10 applies.)

In the meantime, here’s an un-styled, un-edited look into what a typical day of eating looks like for me and my boys – ages 4 and 1 at the time of this writing. It’s what I (and my kids) ate in a day!

 

Breakfast

I rarely make breakfast for myself before getting Lincoln off to school, unless I’ve made overnight oats, so around 10am I brown a couple slices of sugar-free bacon then saute a giant fistful of baby spinach (maybe 2oz?) in some of the grease, and pair it with a piece of buttered toast. Less then 10 minutes, and boom – breakfast! Normally I’d tack on a couple fried eggs but we were fresh out. Could have sworn I just bought a dozen…

The boys ate earlier in the morning before school. Both had a large square of Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal Breakfast Bars (which do not contain lemon as Cam’s face indicates – ha!) plus a Greek yogurt for Cam, and 2 sausage links for Lincoln.

I drank my feelings after Cam was “done” in the form of an 8oz mug of black coffee. I gave up creamer while going through Jacqueline Smith’s Go Sugar Free Course years ago and have never looked back.

 

Snack #1

Cam and I head to the grocery store while Lincoln’s at school and he has a near breakdown after I toss a package of cheese sticks into the cart – guess he’s still hungry! I hate being the Mom who opens food at the store before paying, but, well, here we are.

Every day I bring a “special surprise”, as Lincoln calls it, for him to nibble on while we drive home from school. Today’s treat is Enjoy Life’s Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Chewy Bars. I love how portable these bars are, and of course that they’re gluten and dairy free so we can both have one.

I ate a lot of date-based bars when I was first diagnosed with Celiac Disease, but found them to be too sweet over time. These bars are soft, chewy, and taste just like a lemon poppy seed blueberry muffin, without the massive sugar rush.

4 thumbs up from me and my little man!

 

Lunch

I assemble lunches for the boys and myself when we get home – plates are up around 12:15pm. Today I’m dining on a mozzarella cheese stick, vegetables leftover from a Mother’s Day crudite platter, and turkey slices wrapped around hummus, sliced pickles, and tons of mustard. Oh my gosh, the combo of mustard and hummus tastes SO good! #pregnantAF

I also dip roughly 500 gluten-free pretzel sticks in hummus.

Cameron’s got turkey slathered with hummus that’s been rolled and sliced, a small peanut butter sandwich, cucumbers, and strawberries (all served individually otherwise he’ll either stuff everything into his mouth at once, or throw everything onto the floor, so no photograph!) while Lincoln gets a turkey and salami sandwich, carrots/cucumbers, a few massive strawberries, gluten-free pretzels, and a dill pickle.

Lincoln doesn’t like cucumbers but I keep having him try them, and a variety of other vegetables for that matter. Got one bite out of a slice today. He didn’t used to like carrots and now requests them for snacks. Point being, you never know when they’ll turn!

 

Snack #2

I graze on more leftover vegetables during the afternoon…

plus another cheese stick and a sliced apple which I split with Lincoln.

Big guy is HUNGRY today and also requests a bowl of carrots plus a piece of buttered toast (his new obsession,) as well as blueberries and raspberries when he sees Cam eating them for his snack.

This little guy could eat raspberries and blueberries all day long and be one happy camper! At nearly 19 months, I still slice his blueberries in half but he’s graduated to eating raspberries whole…and usually off the tips of his fingers. ;)

 

Dinner

We’re outside all afternoon but head in around 5pm so I can make a quick, 20 minute taco dinner. The boys actually get taco bowls, which are much easier for them to eat. Lincoln’s got rice, taco meat seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning, crushed blue corn tortilla chips, guacamole (avocado mashed with fresh garlic, lime juice, and salt,) and my homemade Secret-Ingredient Restaurant-Style Salsa.

Cam’s got the same, minus the tortilla chips, plus sliced olives. The boys GOBBLE these up – praise the Lord!

I make myself a giant Taco Salad – mixed greens, taco meat, sliced peppers, sliced olives, crushed tortilla chips, guacamole, and salsa which I drown with my all-time favorite Ranch dressing. I practically lick the bowl clean. LOVE this meal!

 

Dessert

Summertime means dessert is popsicles. I usually make homemade popsicles out of whatever we have in the fridge and freezer, but we’ve been burning through them so quickly that I broke down and bought a box. Lincoln enjoys a tangerine popsicle in the heat of the evening while Cam threw his raspberry popsicle into the grass out of frustration with I’m not sure what. Actually, I do – he’s getting 8 teeth in all at once. I’d be mad too. Poor guy!!

Mama gets to enjoy her dessert after the kids go to bed. Forget working for the weekend – I’m working for a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two of Enjoy Life’s Chocolate Chip Soft Baked Cookies! These cookies might be my favorite product the company offers. They’re dense, soft, and chewy-gooey. Perfection.

Two of them, plus a scoop of ice cream, make for the most perfect mini ice cream sandwich. A great way to end the day!