Renew Life Probiotic Not Kind to Gluten Sensitive

This may be a probiotic but it'll kill the stomachs of those with gluten intolerance. Why would you op to make a probiotic gummy with wheat? There's just no reason for it. But Renew Life with their Ultimate Flora Probiotic and their 2 million live cultures per serving chose to add one deadly ingredient to GFers: wheat.

And that does a stomach bad.

DQ says Don't Lie about no Date

Got nothing and nobody on V-Day?

A DQ--yes that is Dairy Queen--press release quoted some stats that men lie about having no date for Valentine's Day more than women--1/4 vs 1/6.

So DQ has an item on the menu for the lonely or who just like to date themselves. The Singles Blizzard Treat has salted caramel truffles, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and peanut butter topping blended with signature DQ soft serve.

And if you really have to be a couple this Feb 14th, DQ has its iconic Red Spoon in a custom jewelry box.

The Red Velvet Spoon Case looks like a traditional necklace box, covered in red fabric that opens to reveal the iconic Dairy Queen Red Spoon resting on white satiny fabric. It’s unexpected, amusing and the perfect utensil for sharing DQ’s Red Velvet Blizzard Cupid Cake. All net proceeds from the purchase of the Red Spoon Case will go to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

 

There's also the made to order DQ Cupid Cake: soft serve blended with red velvet pieces. It’s perfectly sized for two, and custom messages can be added.

Both the Cupid Cake and Red Velvet Spoon Case can be ordered online at DQCakes.com starting Feb. 1. Cupid Cakes are $9.99 and Red Velvet Spoon Cases are $4.99 plus shipping.

Endangered Species Chocolate: Dark Chocolate with Caramel an Sea Salt

Fairtrade International certified, Non-GMO Project Verified and gluten-free, Endangered Species Chocolate's Dark Chocolate with Caramel an Sea Salt debuts in stores nationwide.

You can locate your local retailers at this link.

10% of profits are donated to ESC's conservation partners each year.
 
Spotlighting the American Bald Eagle on the wrapper, this rich dark chocolate surrounds handcrafted, organic caramel with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. Each "Eagle bar" wrapper tells how Endangered Species Act protections have helped American Bald Eagle populations make a remarkable recovery.

The Eagle bar is currently available on Amazon.com in bulk (packs of 12), and will be available in Kroger and other natural food stores across the U.S. in early February 2016. More information is available on ESC’s website, www.chocolatebar.com. 

Curtis Stone + Mike Lata Dinner For #MoreFarmers

Chef Curtis Stone will host Chef Mike Lata (FIG Restaurant and The Ordinary, Charleston) at Maude Restaurant in Beverly Hills for a one-night-only special guest-chef fundraiser dinner to benefit the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) on Saturday, February 27, 2016. The 12-course dinner will feature six dishes from each chef, inspired by potatoes - February's headlining ingredient at Maude. This inaugural guest chef dinner at Maude serves as the first in a series that Chef Stone will host throughout 2016 to benefit NYFC. Tickets for this #MoreFarmers dinner are available now through Maude's reservation system for $375 per seat, which includes wine pairing. 

The National Young Farmers Coalition's goal is to help the next generation of farmers to enter the field by adding 25,000 new farmers to American agriculture by 2022. Currently, only six percent of farmers are under the age of 35. The organization was founded in 2010 by a group of young farmers who realized that they and their peers were facing huge challenges: difficulty securing loans, lack of access to affordable farmland, and student debt. They decided to build a national coalition of farmers, ranchers, and consumers to represent and mobilize the next generation of farmers.

After learning the facts about the future of the farming industry, Chef Curtis Stone was inspired to dedicate time and resources to raise awareness and funds for NYFC. Through this 2016 guest-chef dinner series, he will host some of the industry's leading chefs who share his sense of urgency in ensuring that our farmers of the future can thrive.

"Fig Restaurant has become one of my favorite restaurants in the country, and I'm so grateful to Mike for coming out to cook with me at Maude," said Chef Stone. "As chefs, the challenges and risks that farmers face will also impact our livelihood. But as citizens, these issues will have a significant impact on the future of our food system if we can't help enact change that will lead to resources for them, now."

Two thirds of all farmland will transition ownership over the next 25 years, and without a new generation of farmers to take over ownership and management of America's family farms, farmland will likely be sold to investors and developers, consolidated and managed by large corporations, or fall out of production altogether. As a result, consumers will have fewer choices about the food they buy, and how it is grown, and our food system as a whole will be more vulnerable. The next generation is interested in farming, but there are a number of barriers that stand in their way.

The February 27th dinner will focus on one of the crucial issues that has kept future farmers and ranchers from entering agriculture: student loan debt. Graduating from college with debt, future farmers are finding that they either cannot afford to farm while paying down their loans, or that they are prevented from leveraging capital to start and grow a farming business.

Fortunately, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was created in 2007 to help people enter professions that provide a public good, but offer salaries too limited to manage student loan debt. Currently, this program covers teachers, nurses, doctors, public interest attorneys, government employees and non-profit professionals. The National Young Farmers Coalition is asking Congress to pass legislation that adds farming to the list of professions covered by the program.

"A shortage of farmers is one of the most serious threats facing America's food system today. There are thousands of young people seeking out farming as a career, but they face real barriers," said NYFC Executive Director and Co-Founder, Lindsey Lusher Shute. "We are very excited that Chef Curtis Stone and his guest chefs are joining us to elevate the importance of these issues." 

To learn more about the National Young Farmers Coalition and their efforts to ensure that we have #MoreFarmers, go to www.YoungFarmers.org.

JW Marriot Gluten Free

During the Connected Car Expo at the JW Marriott LA Live, I saw that there were no salads or gluten free options for their boxed lunches. I requested one, and the serving manager was very accomodating.

I got a sandwich along with an apple. That's pretty it.

Pretty plain and pretty crumbly, not all gluten free meals have to be like this.

Ralph's Tailgate Event

Through the years of shopping--and believe me, I do shop a lot--I've gotten a few Ralph's Tailgate event tickets, earned through the purchase of participating items, mostly through the use of coupons. I always tossed them out, thinking it wasn't of interest to me.

At a recent Grand Opening of my local Ralphs store, I earned one of these again. And I went.

And it was fantastic. This year you can purchase $25 worth of participating products or pay $40 at the door ( minus $5 if you show them the Ralphs app on your phone). What you get is unlimited food and drinks from major companies such as Farmer Johns, Foster Farms, Coca Cola, Coors, etc. Procter and Gamble gives away samples with fan opportunities and freebies available as well. You can load up your bags with all the free food and take it with you. No one bats an eye. (On my first go, two ladies stood by the cupcake table commenting on how much a person took. Underscore: hung out at the cupcake table all day.

I even saw a homeless woman who probably searches for receipts on the ground--and I don't blame her--for those tickets. It's a great deal.

Hint: UCLA games at the Rose Bowl get far less people than that for the USC games. A shuttle takes you from near the Memorial Park Gold Line station to the Rose Bowl. I found a great parking space a couple of blocks away from the station and was able to take the shuttle back and forth so I could grab more stuff. They do run out of food more quickly at UCLA games but the time I went, they opened early and it was pretty empty when I arrived.

It's a great deal, and there are freebie opportunities outside of the tailgate. There are a bunch of tailgate events going on, some private, some first come, first serve, and some other booths you can walk up to. If you're at the Ralph's tailgate, I suggest bringing bags, And some of the companies like State Farm and Toyota will give you a bag for their free swag. Look for the Test Drive opportunities outside as well.

For Ralph's, there are In and Out priviliges.

Foster Farms is one of the sponsors. On the product checklist, it says "Select varieties." Calling the 800 call center yielded no help. But whole chickens and tray-ed chicken parts did generate points toward getting a ticket!!

Last one this year is for the UCLA-USC game.

It's a deal.

John Kelly Chocolates

I'm a fan of candy. Most anything candy. I can eat a whole bag by myself in less than half an hour without problem.

I appreciate good food but favor quantity over quality--with exceptions, of course.

John Kelly recently invited journalists to their small factory in Hollywood to showcase their Halloween offerings which included their Pumpkin Spice Truffle Fudge. It looked yummy in the factory. And I'm not saying it wasn't tasty at home.

But there's one thing I don't like about so -called high end chocolates: the utter bitterness of it. I want sweet. Maybe not to the point of "So sweet it hurts" but I don't get in to bitterness in chocolates. And with the chocolates that were included in the press gift bag, much of the chocolate was bitter.

The shaped skull for Halloween was incredibly hard to bite into. And it wasn't as tasty, sorry to say, as those chocolate rabbits you get during Easter. But it probably cost 10x the price.

Clearance holiday candy. That's what I'm about.