Wikets Recs From the Natural Products Expo West

Wikets new app recommendations

The Natural Products Expo West came to Anaheim in March and I was overwhelmed by all of the great products. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the word out about everything I saw until I realized it was a great way to use the Wikets app for iPad and iPhone.

Wikets let you recommend, or ‘Rec,” products that you love. I’ve been working with Wikets  for a while and I’m still genuinely into it. It’s a way to get real recommendations to and from real people that you know and trust.

Here are my top 5 recs from the Natural products expo:

1)    Lucy’s Cookies –I was able to meet Dr. Lucy Gibney at the show and she was delightful. More importantly, her gluten free, peanut-free, vegan cookies are delicious. My husband, who has Celiac Disease and can’t have gluten, loves the ginger snaps.

lucy's gluten free cookies
Dr. Lucy Gibney of Lucy’s Gluten-Free Cookies

2)    Udi’s Gluten Free – My boys and I devoured the box of Snickerdoodles I brought home from the show in about a half hour. Udi’s does an amazing job making gluten-free breads, muffins, and cookies taste like great.

3)    Emergen-C Kidz – I’ve been starting my mornings with Emergen-C for months now. It has electrolytes and vitamins, which are a great way to begin each day. I know kids (and adults) should get their vitamins through food, but I like to give my boys a little extra help.

emergen-C Kidz expo west
Emergen-C Kidz at Expo West

4)    Luna Protein Bars – Everything from Clif is good to me, but I especially love the Luna Protein Bars. It’s a great breakfast on the go and it tastes like candy. I just need to make sure I don’t eat it as a second breakfast. It has a lot of protein and calories. I also really liked the new Kit’s Organic Fruit and Nut Bar from Clif, which is just fruit and nuts.

5)    Gluten Freeda – I rec’d the gluten-free Oatmeal, but I very much liked the gluten-free burritos. The tortillas were soft and tasted like wheat flour tortillas. So good.

There were many more products like Begley’s Best Environmentally Friendly products and Julie’s Organics gluten-free ice cream sandwich cookies. Not only that, but there were so many products I never even made it to. It was a huge expo this year.

If you’d like more information about Wikets, visit  http://wikets.com. Wikets isn’t just a great place to find out what to do and where to shop. You can earn points by rec’ing and just by signing up you get double points. I highly recommend you check it out.

This is a sponsored post. The recommendations are not sponsored and these are products I really like. 

Wikets new app recommendations

 

Udi's Gluten-Free Foods

This past weekend I went to the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim and I was in gluten-free heaven. Udi’s Gluten-Free Foods hired a group of bloggers to talk about their personal experiences and try their new hamburger and hotdog buns.

I was thrilled to be one of them. I really do love Udi’s products. Finding good gluten-free bread is a challenge. When I used to make gluten-free baked goods at the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market I would stick to making cakes, sweet breads, and muffins. Sandwich bread was way too hard. It would come out dense, dry, and heavy.

Customers would ask me who makes good bread and frankly, the only one I liked was Udi’s. It’s light and tasty like bread with gluten. The same goes for the new hamburger and hotdog buns. Udi’s hired the Nom Nom truck for the Expo and they made their pork and tofu gluten-free and served it on Udi’s buns. The sandwiches were excellent. Also excellent, Udi’s was collecting donations for Celiac Camp at Camp Arroyo, a gluten-free camp for kids.

The group of bloggers and writers, which included Rockin Mama, Domestic Divas Blog, Family Fresh Cooking, Glutenfree18, and CeliacHandbook were also treated to a talk by Karen Fine of Mom Cooks Gluten-Free. She had great tips about how to get kids to eat healthy lunches, definitely one of my challenges. They included making lunches fun, trying something new every day, and my personal favorite was about sugar. If you want your kids to eat less sugar, she said, let them eat it and then ask them how they feel afterward. Eventually they’ll realize that they don’t feel great after eating too much. I’m curious to try it out on my kids, but afraid they’ll say, “I feel great!!”

After hearing speakers and eating Nom Nom the group walked through the Expo hall. Amazing. I went last year, but as a food business. It was nice just to try everything and talk to people. The Udi’s booth had chef Robert Landolphi making shredded bbq pork sandwiches on Udi’s bread. He was cute and I liked him because he, like me, started cooking gluten-free after his spouse was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.

The bloggers, Udi’s, & Kettle
Matt from main root

Then, the lovely ladies from Udi’s introduced us to some of their favorite gluten-free friends, Kettle Cuisine and maine root handcrafted soda. They were delightful.

At the end of day, we went our separate ways. I checked out a few food companies I’m interested in like Sharkies Organic Fruit Chews. My kids always want to eat the Sport Beans that I munch on before I go running so I wanted to see if Sharkies are a good alternative.

One of the women Sharkey’s booth saw me wearing the Udi’s t-shirt and started telling me her story. She had searched for years for a good gluten-free bread and didn’t find one until she tried Udi’s. She actually said, “Thank God for Udi’s.” I think that says it all.

Disclosure: I was paid by Udi’s to attend the Expo and to write a post. I was also given some Udi’s products and Landolphi’s cookbook. But I truly do love Udi’s products and I often recommend them to people living gluten-free.