Van's Gluten Free Blissfully Berry Cereal | Review

      Van's has a new cereal! Blissfully Berry. It's like the fruit version

of Cherrio's. This cereal is crunchy, sweet, blissfully berry, certified gluten free, kosher, has a full serving of whole grains, high in fiber, (5g per serving), egg free, dairy free, corn free, 0g trans fat per serving, no artificial flavors, and cholesterol free!

This is going to be a definite pantry staple for me. It tastes so good with Silk's Coconut Milk, the sweetness of the cereal sweetens the milk a little.  It also tastes good mixed with muesli. Tomorrow I'm gonna have it mixed with yogurt.

(source) 

Ingredients:
Van's Gluten Free Whole Grain Blend (Brown Rice, Oat, Millet, Quinoa and Amaranth Flours), Cane Sugar, Oat Fiber, Inulin, Invert Cane Sugar, Salt, Fruit and Vegetable Juice for Color, Calcium Carbonate, Strawberry Powder, Natural Flavors, Mixed Tocopherols for Freshness. [Mixed Vitamin E compounds.]

I Watched The First 15 Minutes of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Movie... Review?

Saturday night Syfy had schedueled to play City of Bones. I've never seen this movie, however I'm a HUGE fan of the books, okay that's an understatement... I've seen the trailer, checked out the soundtrack, all of it. I'm a huge, huge lover of this series.

And it's killing me to say I am trying so hard to like it and I can't.
During the 15 minutes that I saw it all I was thinking was 'It didn't start this way in the book.' 'Her hair isn't red enough.' 'Shouldn't Jace be...well... buffer?' (I'm not hating on Jamie once so ever, I promise. I do like him.) 'He should've been in that scene.' 'When did everyone get accents? New York people don't have English accents!' 'She shouldn't know that till later in the book.' 'What's with Jace's hap-hazard Runes? Where's all the faded scars?' 'She shouldn't know that till later.' 'Since when did these Rune's become a suspense story?' 'Isabelle is supposed to be drunk during that'-Here's the thing... I get it. Cassandra Clare didn't have any of the rights during the making of the movie. I'm assuming that means she wasn't really on the set and having says in things like John Green (I'm assuming he has rights to his movies.). I'm not upset with Cassandra Clare so much as I am of the people in charge of making the movie.

When you make a movie based off of a book that has such a huge fanbase, you better be darn careful about how you portray it on screen. We notice these things.

This is my understanding. My Mom is a huge Pride & Prejudice fan, read the books watched the original movie, loves Jane Austen. Wanting to take part in this, when the new Pride & Prejudice movie came out, not having read the book yet, (I know...let's not talk about it, I'm embarrassed enough.) I wanted to take part in seeing who this amazing Mr. Darcy is. I thought the movie was sooo good! Mr. Darcy is pretty darn cute, if I do say. Now when my Mom found out I really liked it she was nooot happy. Why? Because the new version is nothing like the original. I had nothing to base on  what the 'original' was because I'd never seen/read it.
So if somebody didn't read the book watched it, then yes, they'd probably love it, I would have loved it. I WANT to love it, and I will probably keep trying to.


Magnus. Bane. I love Magnus Bane. Oh my gosh I wish he was a real person that we could be best friends. I don't feel like he was portrayed well enough in the movie nooo, no, no, no. No, I was so upset about it. Why? Why?!

I really hope the TV series coming out is so much better because it's going to be heartbreaking if it comes out to be like the movie.

Again. In no way am I trying to rip apart Cassandra Clare. I love her books so much and she seems like a great person. I feel so bad that Stephenie Meyer can't even stand to deal with Twilight-the series she worked so hard for that's probably like a baby to her!- because so many people tore it up and made fun of it.





If you've watched the City of Bones movie: Did you like it? Have you read the books before hand? What're your thoughts? Has it altered your opinions on anything?

I would love to read your opinions in the comments!!

Tye Dye-ing Shirts | Bucket List Project

To another thing crossed off the list!

There's actually four shirts, however I could only fit three in the frame :P
The nice thing about tye dye too is that I can just use the old white shirts I had to use the dye on, there wasn't any need to go buy a brand new pack for new shirts. [:

A Long 'What I've Been Up To Lately' | III

Hola!

It's been a while, no? I thought I'd do an update and pretty much post everything that I could find on my iPod that I haven't posted yet and scramble up some posts.

As long as this is, you know what the sad part is? I still haven't been able to make myself pull out my camera (technically iPod, lately as it seems) and take pictures of the things I should actually be taking pictures of.

One of these days I'll get the hang of it.

Anywhozoles. Onto the post!

Lets start with the things from further back.
My Grandma had asked me to do some cleaning for her, and when I was through giving Chestnut a bath (which was a job and a half, let me tell you...) I sat outside with Jack and Cookie.

I can't get over how big he is. I've never seen a cat so big before. He towers over Cookie, that poor girl. Oh, and an update on her, she's been looking great lately. She's put on some weight and doesn't look so frail. She looks a lot like Cookie again, even if she does carry all the elder cat characteristics.

Want to hear something cool? While I was sitting on the porch with the cats a female hummingbird came to the feeder that's hanging from the ceiling. Went over and hovered in front of Cookie, then came and looked at me, hovering for a moment, and then went back to the feeder to drink and did it's little chirping. It was almost as if it was saying something. The one we have here at our house has done that to me, too. I was washing dishes one day and it came over hovering in front of the screen at me for a moment and then left. I wish I was a Dolittlea during times like that.

 Carrying on. Larabar's have become a favorite again lately. I love trying new snack bars. I like the Cherry Pie flavor. The song is also very good if you haven't heard it. Okay, that may be the main reason why this bar is so good.

 Since I have been going off the gluten free a bit, I've been enjoying cereal again. I forgot how good Lucky Charms is. However, I still mainly stick to Gluten Free things, mainly because the ingredients are better than most of the things I see that aren't. If there was a way you could live on cereal, getting all the nutrients you need, I'd totally do it.

 This is my parents Peach Tree. It's very big. Maybe 11feet tall? Probably 14 if you were to actually measure it. They aren't ripe yet, at least not that I've noticed. But they sure do look good still!

 The Bane Chronicles. Oh. My. Gosh. Magnus please marry me. I LOVE HIM. I loved him since the moment he was mentioned in the books. He's so funny, and quirky. Ah-I can't even. He's perfection is all. Don't even get me started on Jace.

I've been trying to work out again. These past couple weeks have been not the greatest. I always feel like I'm treading through water. I always try to push myself but even 30mins in it becomes too hard.
However, my eating has been better. I've been trying really hard on having healthier things. Fruit has become a big portion of my diet and I'm not sure how long that's going to continue. I'm gonna try switching to a more veggie-based 'diet' and see how it turns out.
You can only be constantly bloated for so long before it starts to mess with your head.

It is that time of year again where I get lost in my favorite series. I've been trying to drag it out. If I let myself I'll read all of them back-to-back and have the series finished in a matter of days-but no... This series, to me, is one of those series where it must be quiet, no disturbances, no nothing that could possibly interrupt it while reading. This is that kind of series. When I read it I want to be taken to New York or Idris and tag along.

Two weeks ago my Dad's friends from work came over along with the one's daughter, and a good friend of mine, and we got to hang out while they all went on the bikes.
Because everyone in the house lately seems to be watching, this was the absolute perfect excuse to bake something that doesn't have to be so healthy! I made Alton Brown's Gold Cake with homemade peppermint icing, topped with some sprinkles on half. Because you're never told old for sprinkles. Regardless if you're a biked or not. I didn't have a piece but everyone thought it was really good. Mom said it could've used a little more extract. This was my first time making it though, and the recipe is very... balanced? When it comes to the ingredients.  Everything has to be added a certain way, at a certain temperature and I didn't want to play with it because of that.
There was just more to it than what I typically do when making a cake.

When our friends were going to leave Dad took me on his bike to see them off a town over, it was so cool. I'm planning that one day I'll get my own bike. A Harley would be pretty cool [;

As of Friday. My lovely Mother took me to the mall in search of a dress for my brothers upcoming wedding. And I'm pleased to say that the second dress I tried on was the dress I got. It's one I've been actually really wanting for a while now, but I never knew the mall carried them. Than again, I never looked. Dresses are not not thing. I like the thoughts of wearing them, but I don't like wearing them.
In case you're wondering. The dress in the picture is actually the first dress. Although I reealllyy liked it, I didn't like the tightness of the cinching around my stomach.
As for shoes to go with it... I'm thinking converses.

Lastly was grocery time. We went to the local health food store, Giant Eagle, and Wal*Mart.

I've been trying to play around with my 'diet' lately. I've been eating tons of fruit but I've noticed after drinking the one Bolthouse Farms drink today that I think the fruit is what is causing me to bloat so bad (TMI?) and I'm gonna try going for the veggie side and see how it sits.
This is what I got:

Health food store:

Annie's Organic Ketchup (2/$5)
Gin-Gin Hard Candy

Giant Eagle:

Bolthouse Farms Blueberry Banana Almondmilk (BOGO Free)
Bolthouse Farms Multi- V Goodness (BOGO Free)
Luna White Chocolate Macadamia Nut bar
Coconut Cream Pie LaraBar
Evolution Pineapple Passionfruit Yogurt

Wal*Mart:

Organic Half & Half Salad Mix
Ben & Jerry Pistachio Pistachio Ice Cream
Stonyfield Smooth & Creamy Strawberry Low Fat Yogurt

McCormick Gluten Free Taco Seasoning
Gluten Free Pizza Crusts
Babybell Light Mini Cheese Wheels ($.75 off coupon)
Thrifty Bee Dark & Robust Honey
Del Monta Zucchini with Italian Style Tomato Sauce
Green Giant SteamCrisp Southwestern Style Corn
Minute Multi-grain Medley Gluten Free Rice ($1.00 off coupon)
Annie's Homegrown Organic Cheddar Bunnies




I'm pretty certain I have enough food to last me the rest of eternity now.

Quick & Simple Gluten Free Oatmeal Pancakes

I don't know about anyone else, but I really miss pancakes. It's hard too when you want to make them in a healthy non-boxed-premade mix because most of the recipes you look up, at least the ones I've come across, has like 5 different (and expensive) flours, not to mention fancy ingredients.

So here I made up my own recipe. And it's healthy! Plus, chances are you have everything already in your pantry/fridge [:

I'd also like to note, that this isn't a 'typical normal' pancake. Because it isn't made with milk & flour and all that lovelyness, it doesn't have the same light & fluffy bready texture to it. It's more egg-y.

Here is where I apologize for the bad quality of photos, but I promise the recipe is very good!

 Starting off. One banana, two eggs. Mash the banana in a bowl, add eggs, and mix until everything is combined, and yes, it'll probably look kind of gross.
Next add 1/3 cup of gluten free oatmeal. I used 2/3 of a Chex Gluten Free Oatmeal packet. Next add the 1/2tsp of vanilla extract and mix it all together.

You could very easily add other things like spices, fruit, chocolate chips, oreo pieces, whatever you'd like into the pancake.

I cooked them over low-medium heat in a lightly oiled non-stick pan. It doesn't take long for one side to cook, you'll notice the edges starting to turn a white color, like if you were cooking an egg. It only takes about a minute or two.

Continue down the line... I like to cut mine just to be sure the egg is cooked in the middle...

The best part? Topping it with strawberry preserves!!! Delicious!

Banapple Smoothie Recipe

7 Apple Slices (I used the Chiquita Green & Red Apple Slices)

2/3 Packet Vanilla Carnation Breakfast Essentials

1tbsp Chia Seeds

1/4c Blueberry Lifeway Kefir

1/2c Vanilla Almond Milk

1 Ripe Banana