Today, we had a delicious breakfast at The Olive Branch Restaurant in Downtown Colorado Springs.  The best part about it…THE GLUTEN FREE MENU! And I’m not talking just “our omelets are GF”, I’m talking “we have GF Belgian Waffles, Muffins, Biscuits, Granola…” and the list goes on.  Of course I got the waffles…and the muffin…and the biscuit I couldn’t leave without trying all of their GF goodies!  In actuality, I ate 1.25 of the waffles, nibbled the corner of the muffin, pinched a piece of the biscuit and then brought the extras home.

After the delicious and nutritious breakfast (kept me full for about 7 hours) we took Beau to the most awesome dog park in town (and apparently in the top 10 in the US!), Bear Creek Dog Park.  He LOVED it!  We stayed and walked the entire park for about 45 minutes, but the 40 degree weather in combination with the 30 mph winds had set a firm expiration date on our fun.

Then I met my awesome friend Jami for a Yoga Sculpt class at Corepower and she rocked it!  Got a nice sweat and muscle sculpting session.

Tonight, I felt like something healthy but delicious, so I did something I have had yet to do…pulled out my VitaMix Cookbook!  Just throw a bunch of veggies into the blender, hit start and watch it blend and COOK away!  We chose the Tortilla Soup option and all we had to do was pick up a Gluten Free Rotisserie Chicken from Costco (Of course, Hubby was excited about this because he could create a meal of samples)

Unfortunately, since I’ve last blogged, WordPress has reformatted their website and I have no idea how to load photos like I used to. Below are all the photos from tonight’s dinner!  10 minutes to make a delicious and whole food meal…sounds pretty good to me

Oh, and did I mention that I am also responsible for 2 weeks worth of Master’s Program homework assignments whilst traveling Europe??  Haha, yes, I am serious…except that I am a midst my curriculum (International Relations/Conflict Resolution).

Here is a brief snippet of our trip to Lilles, France…more to come!!

Ta ta for now!!

Buckingham Palace!

Again…

That is us!! We were there!!

Statues in the fountains outside the palace.

St. James Park…beautiful

Cute duckie!

Loved this shot.

Big Ben and Parliament

We were walking down the street when a royal motorcade came barreling down the street.  Jeff swears this is Prince William…too bad we can’t actually tell

For lunch I had a chicken curry with basmati rice and Hubby had…

Fish and Chips, of course

Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.  There was a para-olympic event going on out front of the gallery as well.

Hubby took this for his sister…Duck Tour UK!

Royal Stables

Westminster Abbey

St. Margaret’s Church

Us at Westminster Abbey! We were there!

Us and Ben

And the beautiful Tower Bridge.

Hubby and I really only were able to go see the National Gallery…all of the others were closed!  We then went to a really cool wine tasting gallery called Vinopolis.  We each were able to sample 6 wines and a Sapphire Bombay cocktail before dinner with Tom and JP.  Twas fun

Dinner was at Oxo Restaurant overlooking the Thames River.  Beautiful setting and great food!  I had seared scallops over a saffron mash.  Hubby had suckling pig and black pudding!

Dessert was a walk to “Scoop” the fresh gelato place in Covent Garden.  I had white chocolate and pistachio and Hubs had hazelnut and straticello.  So good!

Off to France!

Beautiful architecture in the complex!

Does he look like he only got 3 hrs of sleep?  Darn those good movies on the airplane!

Lovely walk to Hyde Park!

Cute little pub on the corner.

Double decker!

On the walk to Harrod’s…gorgeous architecture!

Hubby and I then realized that we were starving around 2PM London time and stopped by an old favorite, Wagamama’s.   This place is great and has a really cool ambience!  Hubby liked it a lot

Chicken Summer Rolls for an appetizer…we were starving!  I also had an elderflower sparkling soda and Hubby had a Coke.

Hubby ordered Chicken Katsu Curry and ate every last grain of rice.

I had the Yasui Itame, basically a vegetarian rice noodle bowl with curry and coconut…I couldn’t finish the entire thing.  So filling!

So if you are ever in the UK and see this sign, go in and eat!

After Wagamama’s, we sleepwalked to this monstrosity…HARROD’S!!!

Hubby with one Harrod’s bear…

Me, getting cozy with the other bear!

The Egyptian staircase!

This place was insane…like 8 different floors, thousands of square feet of absurdly priced items, etc.  We seriously felt like we were sleepwalking!

Beautiful fountain just outside of Sloan Square…

Then bed!! We are exhausted! Quick nap

Chiminea, koi pond, tiki torches, the works!

“Mom, what are all these strangers doing in our backyard?!?! I’M LOVING IT!!!!”

Love these lilly pads!

Outdoor oasis!
More food/drink than we know what to do with!  And this was only half of it!

Mingling…

Mingling with dogs…

Chowing down!

Brandon as the corn grill master

Fantastic party overall; friends and pups loved it!  Do you like outdoor parties?  I love them, but sometimes feel our yard is so big it is hard to keep them intimate!  Do you have a good “outdoor room”?

On the side, a fresh spinach salad with avocado and some creamy roasted tomato risotto!

Delicious! This meal was a hit for both me and Hubby

And now for the exciting news!!

The winners of the Rudi’s giveaway are:

Ashley:  My favorite burger combo is my sweet tater black bean burger, loaded with guac, roasted peppers + pepperjack cheese. Oh, and obviously ketchup.

and…

Tammy:  Done and done. My favorite burger is teriyaki pineapple. Thank you! This would be a great birthday prize.

Happy Birthday, Tammy!  Please send me your mailing info at glutenfreemuse@gmail.com and I will get your gluten free goodies sent soonest!

To all my other readers, please keep an eye out for other giveaways! Thanks for reading!

Just before we left, we received these AWESOME cookies from Enjoy Life.  I enjoyed the overall flavor of the cookies, but I must admit, I am a soft cookie gal.  These were great for crumbling over my ice cream creations though!  If you like crunch cookies, these nut free, dairy free, casein free, and gluten free cookies are just for you!

We didn’t bring the cookies to GJ because we knew we would have a ton of food anyways!  Here are some photos of the trip

Hubby with his giant lemonade at Country Jam!  We aren’t huge country fans, but we enjoyed the concert nevertheless

Popular!

The girls and I hanging out!

Wine Tasting!

Awesome scenery!

Hiking in Colorado Monument National Park

Main Street

The man of the 2nd year Love you, Hubs!

Have you taken any fun trips lately?  This one was a great time for us and thank goodness we got some friend time in too!

Ah, ok…this is roasted chicken, sweet potato wedges, lima bean puree, and sweet and sour swiss chard.  Now I remember!

This puree was fantastic!  I got the recipe from Clean Eating Magazine of course.

Another exciting thing…

A Foodbuzz Tastemaker Opp! Free Ore-Ida sweet potato fries!  And they are GLUTEN FREE! I have a post on these coming up, they were fantastic!

And a cute pic of Beau and his girlfriend Sadie…she has since moved and he misses her so much!  We are still looking for another girlfriend to take her place, but it seems that no other pup is able to fill her shoes

Do you ever have momentary lapses in memory?  Seems to happen to me a lot…mostly because I have so much swimming around in my head!

I was recently contacted by the awesome vegan company, Vega, about participating in their Vega Breakfast Challenge (go here to get your own $5 coupon to use on their product!).  They sent me 4 packs of their Whole Food Health Optimizer (Berry, Chocolate, Vanilla Chai, and Natural flavors) to test out and see how they compare in terms of nutrients to my normal breakfast fare…well, here is what I discovered!

Not only is this product gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free, it really is a whole food optimizer.  I used this breakfast calculator to see how my *normal breakfast (*I used buckwheat with blackberries as my example) compared in terms of nutrient capacity to just one packet of Vega.

This smoothie was a version of Kath’s Dough Boy Smoothie, and was super filling and delicious!

- 1/2 cup pre-cooked oats, groats, quinoa blend

- 1/2 cup strawberries/bluebs/blackberries

- 1 packet Vega Vanilla Chai WFHO

- 1 tbsp milled chia seeds

- 1 cup almond milk

Topped with luscious mango, banana, TJ’s gf granola, and some TJ’s sunflower butter!

Your Breakfast

WFHO

Serving Size (g)

69

319

Calories (cal)

240

251

Protein (g)

26

7

Carbs (g)

22

57

Sugar (g)

1

18

Fiber (g)

15

12

Fat (g)

6

2

Omega-3 (g)

2500

0

Saturated fat (g)

1

0

Cholesterol (mg)

0

0

Sodium (mg)

0

8

Vitamin A (iu)

5000

172

Vitamin C (mg)

60

5

Vitamin B12 (mcg)

6

0

Calcium (mg)

1100

56

Iron (mg)

18

3

Data sourced from USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference www.ars.usda.gov

Additional nutrition in
Whole Food Health Optimizer

Greens (Chlorella)

2500 mg

Probiotics (Dairy Free)

83 mg

Antioxidants (Mixed berry complex)

200 mg

MacaSure (organic gelantinized maca root)

2500 mg

Digestive Enzymes

300 mgCan you believe all that goodness was crammed into this bowl?

I was seriously impressed by the new Whole Food Health Optimizer from Vega, and cannot wait to try the other flavors!

Have you ever tried Vega products?  What are your thoughts?  Don’t forget to go get that coupon and register for my Rudi’s giveaway!!

Dinner this evening was broiled sesame salmon, red quinoa with orange and walnuts, and spinach with Garlic Gold Balsamic Dressing.

And believe it or not, Hubby made this meal!!  It was one of his last before he left for his business trip

And here is the beautiful man himself!

I miss you, baby!!

What is your blood type? Do you prefer meat or vegetarian style diets?