Reviews Archives - Strength and Sunshine

How-To Stay Productive & Organized On The Go

September 10, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 24 Comments

Always on the go with a to-do list a mile long, papers to write, emails to send, notes to jot down? Don’t fret! You can stay productive & organized on the go so you don’t fall behind in your busy and fast-paced life!

The hectic school season has officially begun and is in full-force! It’s always a struggle to find your footing in a new year and get back in the “productive” routine that tends to fall to the wayside during those blissful summer months. The school season affects all of us (even if you’re many years post-grad). From September to May the “hustle” is real (I know I feel it!) I’m always looking for the best way to stay on top of school work, blogging, internships, and normal day-to-day tasks that just have to get done. Somehow I always seem to find a way to keep things under control, but who am I kidding. I still look for new ways and try new things each year that may just be easier and make things more manageable with, you know, less stress!

I love having my physical “productive” and “organization” habits and tools, but as the busy season progresses, I tend to neglect the paper planners, folders, etc. I’m always online (even though I don’t want to be), and transitioning all my work and important tasks to the virtual world just makes sense. I may not always have my paper planner, but I always have my phone, especially when on the go! Thankfully there is an easy and FREE way to keep my productivity and organization habits anywhere I go and at any time. That’s where Amazon Underground comes in handy!Read More

Summer Kale Salad

July 13, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 130 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone and I’m excited to share them with you!
#NaturallyClean #CollectiveBias

A simple summer salad you can whip up in no time. By massaging the kale, you can turn anyone in to a kale lover, along with giving them the fresh nutrition of summer veggies all flavored with simple lemon juice!

Have you heard of Target’s new Clorox Green Works line of all natural, plant-based cleaning products? I hadn’t, but I’m glad I do now! Specifically the Green Works Pump ‘N Clean product! As you know, I must be super vigilant about the cleanliness of my kitchen. Counter tops, pots, pans, plates, cutlery. It all needs to be free of cross contamination from allergens and gluten. Living in a house where not everyone is gluten-free, you have to clean up all the time, before you cook, during cooking, and afterwards.

Because I have to do so much cleaning, that happens around food, I want a natural product without harsh chemicals, fumes, or residue. Something that’s safe to use around food, but still gets the job done* (do not use for cleaning up after raw meat/fish). That’s exactly what I get with the new Pump ‘N Clean! As-you-go clean up, safe, and with one pump of the hand! That’s really nice to, since things can get very messy as I’m creating in the kitchen, but now I can simple pump some cleaner on a sponge or rag and whip! So quick, so easy!Read More

Power Monday #67 How To Keep The Newness Of The New Year

January 26, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 67 Comments

January is almost over! That means the first month of the new year is ready to be closed in the books. Things are about to get real. This is the time to either continue on with that great motivation and all those intentions you started with a few weeks ago or let them slowly fade and fall back into old habits. As you know, I set out full force and already accomplished a big chunk of the things I listed for myself this year. However, I am not finished since my wishes for the year are about growth and I will never be done with them all.

My motivation to keep working on the things left and the progress I still want to make is still there and I plan to keep it there through the rest of the year and beyond. That feeling of “newness” and endless possibility is wonderful and I don’t want to lose that. Here are my tips on keeping the “newness” of the new year ALL year ‘round!Read More

Why You Can Get Fit At Home

January 13, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 97 Comments

It’s no secret that I am a huge proponent of working out at home. I believe 110% that you do not need a gym, studio, boutique fitness class, or box membership to be fit and stay active. A lot of times people feel like they have to belong somewhere in order for them to feel they are living an active lifestyle. They feel like if they can tell someone that they belong to some gym, then they are automatically in-shape. Half the time though, something may come up and you can’t utilize your membership or god-forbid, the gym is closed!

Well, I’m here to tell you that is not the case! You can absolutely be fit and athlete right in your own home! Everything I do is right at home (with the exception of having gym access when I’m, at college). I’ve gotten to my state of fitness all on my own. Just look at what I’ve achieved!

So what are some great no-gym options? The possibilities are endless depending on what you have and invest in, but no matter what, there are options for everyone!Read More

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

December 30, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 119 Comments

Soft , slightly sweet, gluten-free, vegan apple gingerbread muffins. Warm from the oven as a breakfast, snack, or healthy dessert, these muffins will shock you not only by their deliciousness, but by their unique ingredients as well.

As I said yesterday, I am still truckin’ forward with everything Christmas. I was late to the game with being able to enjoy all things gingerbread and baking so I’m just getting around to it now (and living it up for sure!). I’ll be posting gingerbread stuff through the year. Why? Because I bet you’ll appreciate the festive flavor when you least expect it. It’s simply a cheery and joyful word, gingerbread. Just the sound of it puts a smile on my face.

I wasn’t going to post these today though. I had another killer recipe to share, but this post is part of a 3-part series and since gingerbread was involved, I decided to share it first to play along at least a little with the season! What is this “series” about you ask? How about flours that are grain-free? No, not nut flours or coconut flour or bean flours. I’m taking veggie and fruit flours! I am very honored to introduce you to Anti-Grain flours!

I recived samles of Anti-Grain’s apple, squash, and sweet potato flour back in September, but wasn’t able to properly try them out until I was home with a good kitchen! I was so excited to finally do some testing and I am very please with the yummy results! I have a recipe for each of the flours, starting with these muffins!

Anti-Grain started as a Kickstarter campaign and that’s how I found them. I then contacted Jerry (he and his wife founded the project) and asked about them. They happily sent me samples which was the nicest thing! I love Kickstarter campaigns and always find the coolest new foodie things like my beloved banana flour and coffee bars!

As I’ve been conversing with Jerry the last few months, he happily agreed to do a little Q and A for this post! I’m sure you’re curious about his project, I know I was! So now I would like to introduce you to Jerry…

Q1: Who are you and what is Anti-Grain Foods?

Anti-Grain Foods is a brand new company run by a soon-to-be husband and wife couple, Jerry & Amanda. By day, Jerry is an innovation consultant at a Boulder, CO agency that frequently works on product development projects with both natural food clients and major CPG companies. Amanda is currently pursuing her doctorate in Physical Therapy and was a former Microbiology Technician at a food plant. We both have a passion for wellness and believe that food is the largest component of living well. We started Anti-Grain after being frustrated that so many of the ‘solutions’ in the grain and gluten-free space have been achieved by taking things OUT of our food–including the parts that are good for us. We wanted products that fit into our lifestyle, that added both nutrition and flavor to our food, and could help us achieve better balance in the things we make and eat.

Apple Gingerbread Muffins | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 #glutenfree #vegan #gingerbread #muffins #apple #baking

Q2: Why grain-free and how do you do it?

Cooking and especially Baking is something that brings people together. It’s something we do for others more so than we do ourselves. Anti-Grain is much more than just grain-free. We create products to be as inclusive as possible, so that when someone who is gluten-free sits in front of their birthday cake with their Paleo friend and their cousin with a nut allergy, everyone can enjoy the experience together.

Anti-Grain promises to provide the most vibrant alternatives for all types of grain-haters–with a strong belief that we all have a reason to hate grains. We started from scratch—with the flour—because we saw the potential to change the perception of flour altogether; to be less of a necessary evil, something to strictly hold flavors together, or as something to try to replicate the taste and texture of the all-purpose flour foods many of us grew up with; but as a flavor ingredient in its own right: something that can act as a contributing member of the flavor profile in modern home cooking and baking.

Q3: Are you testing other veggies and fruits to expand the line?

We experimented with all sorts of vegetables and fruits before arriving at our current 3 varieties and take tremendous pride in the end result. While we aren’t experimenting with any more varieties, we are continuing to improve the three we have: we will be introducing 1lb packages in mid 2015 and are finding ways to boost the macronutrient content of our flours (focusing on fiber and protein) without compromising our values of being single ingredient flours. Plus some super top secret stuff for down the line.

Q4: Where can I get my hands on some of these flours? Will they ever be in conventional grocery stores?

We will have our flours available for sale on our website, www.anti-grain.com, beginning in January 2015 and plan to make them available on Amazon shortly after that. While conventional grocery stores might be a long ways away, we do hope to enter a few natural stores in the Rocky mountain region in early 2015 to start.

Q5: What’s your favorite Anti-Grain recipe?

So far, my (Jerry’s) favorite are the Dark chocolate blondie bars made with squash flour and apple flour. They come out super chewy and satisfy every sweet craving. While Amanda LOVES the squash flour and chicharron encrusted chicken tenders—we probably make those every other week!

Q6: What was the biggest grain-free flop?

The first time we tried to make noodles using our sweet potato flour was quite a disaster. We made them a more traditional Italian style fashion and they looked like they were going to turn out great, until they hit the water that is and pretty much dissolved. We posted about it on our blog and were able to refine to them both durable and delicious!

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

Author: Rebecca Pytell
Yield: 8 1x
Category: Breakfast, Snacks, Dessert, Baking
Cuisine: American

Scale

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Gluten-Free Oat Flour
1/4 Cup Buckwheat Flour
1/4 Cup Apple Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Ginger
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Cloves
1/2 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 TB Blackstrap Molasses
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
Sprinkle of Gluten-Free Rolled Oats (for topping, optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk together. Then add the wet ingredients and whisk again until you get a thick and sticky batter.
Line a medium muffin tin with 8 liners. Scoop about 2 1/2 tablespoons of batter into each liner. Top each with a sprinkle of rolled oats if you wish.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

O boy, these were good! My first taste of gingerbread of the season and with this new apple flour. Total winner! I can’t wait to share the two other recipes I have with Anti-Grain flours. One is completely “anti-grain” too, hi paleo people! So this foodie is giving Anti-Grain flours a two-thumbs up! So fun and creative!