Papa Murphy's Behind the Counter Tour

 

Last Thursday was the most fun day! I was invited to the Edmond Papa Murphy's for their "Behind the Counter Tour". Although we used to eat there quite a bit (the Thai Chicken Delite is a favorite), we honestly hasn't been there since my Celiac diagnosis last fall. I inquired if they possibly had a gluten-free menu  planned for the future, and was excited to find out that a GF addition to the menu will be rolled out later this year! I decided I definitely needed to accept the invitation to find out more info!



 



 

The owner, Eric Walter, was amazing! He and his wife were so nice, patient (read: willing to answer any question we had, no matter how silly!) and full of information. They own the two Edmond locations (one on Danforth and one on Broadway) as well as the Midwest City location.

 

The first thing I of course asked about was the upcoming GF pizza.... and he said he understood it would be rolled out sometime before the end of 2014. They will be using a pre-prepared crust made by Udi's, which I thought was great news. "Pre-prepared", along with the Udi's name, means safe and GF! He also said he was sure their prep areas would change in some way to accommodate keeping separate ingredients for the GF pizzas.

 

After that, we were on to the discussion and demos for their current, regular pizzas. I was already familiar with Papa Murphy's "take and bake" pizza concept, which is pretty cool. Each pizza is assembled fresh right in front of you, and you take it home to bake in your own oven.

 

It was neat to see the dough made- and we even got to make a batch and roll out the dough balls. The accountant in me loved hearing about their supply projection formulas! Dough can be used either the day made or the day after, so they use a labeling system and a FIFO approach and are able to adjust their dough making each day based on prior day's sales. I love to see things in action like that.

 

They also chop all their vegetables fresh, as well as grate their own cheese. They have a huge walk in cooler where everything is stored and we got to take a trip in there (since I am so hot-blooded, it felt FABULOUS!).

 

We even got to make our own pizzas to take home! I decided to make mine for the kiddos. I chose their Delite crust, which is a thinner and healthier crust, and topped it with their white creamy garlic sauce. For Will's half I just topped it with cheese, but Reese got pepperonis and bacon on her half. After we were done assembling the pizza. they showed us how to wrap it securely in cling wrap to safely take home and store in the refrigerator until reading to bake.

That evening, I took the pizza out and baked it according to the directions and served it to two hungry kids. The crust got wonderfully crispy, just the way they like it.

 

 

Both kids absolutely loved their pizza! The Walters even sent me home with several slices of their Smores Pizza for the kids to enjoy for dessert. They were quite impressed and I am sure will be asking for some more soon.

 

Much thanks to the Walters for sharing their information (and yummy pizza) with me! If you are local and see me, ask about a coupon for a free pizza, I've got some in my purse ready to hand out!

COPPERTONE CLEARLYSheer

 

A few weeks ago BzzAgent scent me some free samples of a new sunscreen by Coppertone called CLEARLYSheer to try. As always, I like to try things out for a bit before I discuss them.

 

And luckily, I LOVE them!

 

There are two parts to the line, and one thing I love about both parts is the SCENT! Typically I find sunscreen scents to be bothersome, but these are really nice.
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CLEARLYSheer^™ For Sunny Days (SPF 30):

Clean and light formulas are ideal for everyday use under makeup with a fresh citrus scent that’s appropriate for routine daily activities. In addition to the lotion and spray pictured above, there is also a formula especially for face that I've been using under my makeup and it soaks right in. These as water resistant for 80 minutes.
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CLEARLYSheer^™ For Beach & Pool (SPF 50):

Delightfully light, refreshing formulas feel clean on skin, are water resistant for up to 80 minutes and have a subtle tropical fruit an flower fragrance.
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We're headed to our local water park today, and will be protecting our skin with COPPERTONE CLEARLYSheer!

Disclosure: I am a BzzAgent and received free product and coupons.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 in IMAX

Looking for an action-packed weekend of fun for the whole family? Head to your local IMAX® Theater for the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon 2!

 

 

 

Starting this Friday, June 13th, the second chapter of DreamWorks Animation's beloved How to Train Your Dragon franchise is soaring to all IMAX theatres domestically in select engagements. The IMAX 3D release will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience®, creating a unique environment that will make audiences feel as though they are flying alongside heroic Viking Hiccup and his faithful dragon, Toothless.

 

Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig reprise their respective voice roles, joined this time by Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett, Djimon Honsou and Kit Harington.

 

For more information about How to Train Your Dragon 2, please visit DreamWorks Animation's official website.

 

For IMAX Theater locations and local showtimes click here! 

 

This information has been provided by IMAX

Happy Birthday Ebates!

We've chatted about Ebates before, and just how much I love shopping through them. In honor of their 15th birthday, Ebates.com is offering up a crazy 15% cash back through May 19th at over 100 stores including some of my favorites like Sephora, Macy's, Avon, and Lancôme!

 

 

If you are new to Ebates, you can choose a special reward- a $10 gift card to Target, Walmart, Kohl’s or more after you make your first $25 purchase through Ebates.com. Sign up here!

#afflink

Summer Movie Deals

I've gathered up the summer movie program deals for the area and am so excited! These are such great deals! I'm listing Bricktown Harkins first, because it's absolutely the best deal. We'll pair the morning movie up with a trip to the Science Museum or the Zoo for a fun end to the week.

Bricktown Harkins 16
Okla City, OK
Admission: $2, or $5 for season pass for specific day of the week (BEST DEAL of the bunch! 50 cents per movie!).  Please note that individual ticket seating availability may be limited due to advanced purchases made by season ticket holders.

All shows begin at 9:45 am

Regal Spotlight Stadium 14
Norman, OK
Admission: $1 per movie  

The 2014 Summer Movie Express runs for 9 weeks with select titles playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10 am throughout the summer.

June 3 and 4: Hotel Transylvania/The Smurfs 2
June 10 and 11: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2/The Pirates: Band of Misfits
June 17 and 18: Arthur Christmas/Despicable Me 2
June 24 and 25: Lego/Free Birds
July 1 and 2: Adventures of TinTin/Rise of the Guardians
July 8 and 9: Kung Fu Panda 2/Madagascar 3
July 15 and 16: The Croods/Epic
July 22 and 23: Turbo/Walking with Dinosaurs
July 29 and 30: Mr. Peabody & Sherman/Rio 2


Warren Theatre
Moore, OK
Admission: $2, or $15 for season pass

All shows begin at 10:00 am.

The Croods May 27 and 29
Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked June 3 and 5
How To Train Your Dragon June 11 and 13
Epic June 17 and 19
Madagascar 3 June 24 and June 26
Cloudy With Meatballs 2 July 1 and July 3
Rise Of The Guardians July 8 and 10
Turbo July 15 and 17
Escape From Planet Earth July 22 and 24
Despicable Me 2 July 29 and July 31

Summer of Cider

Sadly, along with my diagnosis of Celiac Disease came the death of The Summer of Beer. Sniff.

 

Luckily, I have found that I LOVE hard ciders and am making my way through the shelves at the liquor store, since that's the only place to buy them in our bass-ackwards state.

 

 Welcome beautiful nights on the back patio!

 

Angry Orchard Elderflower is AMAZING. So nice and fruity and so smooth. Love!

 



But Woodchuck Summer has claimed my top spot in The Summer of Cider. This has a hint of blueberry and is so tasty. Even my neighbor who is not a big fan of fruity drinks liked this one.

 



 

But DO NOT try Woodchuck Spring...... I am not a fan. I though the "touch of maple and brown sugar" sounded fabulous, but not so much. In fact, just thinking of it gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Plus? It is not at all appropriate for Spring..... much more so Fall! Maybe I will like it then! 

 

Any suggestions for me?

Gluten Free at Pei Wei

 

Pei Wei's Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken

with brown rice

(minus onions and green peppers)

 

Pei Wei has a pretty amazing GF menu (scroll down to the bottom of the link for the GF section)..... there are lots and lots of options! Although my favorite dish, Honey Seared Chicken, cannot be prepared GF, I have switched over to Sweet and Sour Chicken and LOVE it! You'll find several salads, chicken and shrimp dishes prepared either Sweet and Sour or Pei Wei Spicy, Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls, as well as edamame. Even though their proteins are GF, they are still nice and crispy and I found some info on the website that explains how they do it. 

When you order one of our Gluten Free dishes, we dust your choice of chicken or shrimp in potato starch, all of which is Gluten Free, and then cook it in fresh oil.

When cooked in oil, the potato starch gives the protein a crispy texture that also allows the sauce to stick to the protein for better flavor.

They even provide GF soy sauce! Alas, stay away from the fortune cookies, as there is no GF option there! You'll have to do what I do, which is let my kids eat my cookie and read my fortune to me.

 

Friday Things

 

1. I've been working on a blanket for Will forever, as most of my crochet projects go (I have about a 4 year turnaround time), and one peril of that method is that yarn gets harder to find. My Walmart is no longer carrying Red Heart Super Saver Camo in Desert Camo. I do see some on Amazon, but don't want to pay outrageous shipping. Anyone seen it anywhere B&M?

2. I think I was super busy with little kiddo stuff during the height of the Jon & Kate drama, but I ran across it on Amazon Prime and darn those kids are cute, so I will admit to starting to watch it. I got all the way to the second half of the last season, when all the drama really got going, and POOF, it wasn't on Amazon Prime anymore. Wah!

3. However, I am contemplating a membership to either Netflix or Hulu Plus so that the Mr. and I can watch the first season of The Mindy Project together. I watched it last year, but for some reason didn't share it with him until this year, so we need to go back and watch it together. So maybe J&K is on there and I can FINALLY finish that watching project? Oh, and if you watched TMP episode recently where Morgan remarked lovingly about Jackee from 227, laugh with me too. SO GOOD!

4. I am obsessed with Thymes Naia Body Lotion. Obsessed, I tell you. I ran across a small bottle I'd received in a Birchbox a long time ago, and stuck it in my car, and OMG it smells amazing. I know nothing about details of scents, but Amazon tells me that it has scents of water lily and cyclamen, balanced with hints of citrus and lychee and I call it AMAZING. Has anyone seen this sold B&M?

Hope you have a great weekend!

Aarrrgggg! A jar of Pineapple Preserves has 1300 Calories!

 Last week I posted about and made Crockpot Sweet and Spicy BBQ Chicken from TheFrugalGirls.com. Although every single family member loved it (and Mr. Sasha *might* have eaten the remaining sauce all by itself), I must go back and retract my recommendation for this recipe as originally written.

 

Why? BECAUSE A JAR OF PINEAPPLE PRESERVES HAS 1300 CALORIES! Egad! 

 

Since the recipe called for the whole jar, I of course used the whole jar. It must have been a busy day- I didn't even glance at the nutrition facts (boo me!).

So if you are going to make Crockpot Sweet and Spicy BBQ Chicken, replace the pineapple preserves with a jar of pineapple chunks, ran through your blender to make a liquid.

 

This is what I used- a 20 oz jar of Dole Pineapple Chunks. (And note that I did NOT use the full jar of pineapple or the full container of BBQ sauce- just use your judgment and use how much you would like- you really can't mess this up!)

315 calories for the whole jar? Much better! (And much healthier too!)

And the family loved it just as much!

Sasha Goes Gluten Free At Raisin Canes

NOTE: I spoke with the manager at my local Raising Cane's on 10-07-15, and they are NO LONGER GLUTEN FREE. At all. 

The post below was originally posted in April 2014, when I had spoken with the manager and was told they had a dedicated fryer for their fries and naked fingers to keep them gluten free. A friend recently told me that was no longer the case, so I talked with the manager yesterday who verified they indeed fry everything together now.

I immediately removed the post, but then I realized how many hits it had gotten since being published, and decided to re-publish it to make sure that people with Celiac Disease know NOT TO EAT AT CANE'S.

 Please spread the word. I am sure there is a possibility that other Cane's may still have dedicated fryers, but YMMV, and if they tell you they do, the only responsible thing to do is ask each and every time you dine there to make sure they continue the practice.

Raising Cane's Naked Chicken Fingers

A friend mentioned to me that our local Raising Cane's has unbreaded chicken fingers and also has a dedicated fryer used only for those "naked" chicken fingers and their fries. This week we decided to try it out, and after verifying that was indeed the case with the manager, I indulged.

And YUM! I actually think I liked the naked chicken fingers BETTER than the breaded! There was a nice crispy coating, but it wasn't at all heavy and I felt like I was eating amazingly fresh chicken and not just breading. (I'm talking to you, Arby's!)

The Cane's Sauce is also GF and so good I actually dream about it. So glad to have another GF-friendly restaurant to eat with my family!

This post is not sponsored, I am just a new fan of Raising Cane's!



Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

A while back, I pinned this very yummy looking pic and recipe for Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt.

The recipe calls for adding 1 tbsp. of creamy peanut butter, 1 tsp. of honey, 1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract, 1 tbsp.. of miniature chocolate chips and a dash of sea salt to an individual Greek yogurt cup.

I thought I'd modify it a bit to include my favorite peanut butter alternate- PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter, and clear vanilla extract.

Have you tried PB2? Through a unique process created by Bell Plantation that does not involve the use of any chemicals; over 90% of the fat is removed from the peanut. Essentially the oil is squeezed out of roasted peanuts and what remains is a peanut powder.

I also buy Greek yogurt in the bigger tub since it's more economical than the individual cups.

My modified recipe:

• 1 cup Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt
• 2 tbsp. PB2 powder
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. clear vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. mini chocolate chips
• dash of sea salt

It's absolutely amazing and a great start to my day!

Sasha Goes Gluten Free.... at Qdoba

 

Qdoba Naked Burrito

 

My meal contained:

Brown Rice

Steak

Queso

Shredded Cheese
Salsa Verde

Sour Cream

 

Last week I did some online research and it looked like I could have a pretty darn good GF meal at our local Qdoba. And as luck would have it, the girl immediately in front of me in line was also a Celiac! She was a former Qdoba employee and shared some great info with me.

 

1. First, they are glad to change into a fresh pair of gloves for you.

2. Their burritos can be ordered "naked", which means no tortilla.

3. Your have your choice of rice type, beans, and meat. The only meat off-limits is the Ancho Chili BBQ. And all their salsas are GF!

4. Do ask them to get fresh shredded cheese for you- the cheese in the assembly line has been touched while making dishes containing gluten.

5. Their chips are not safe, but I bought a baggie of chips from home to eat with my Naked Burrito.

 

It was DELICIOUS. I may just go there for lunch again today!

 

This post is not sponsored, I am just a new fan of Qdoba!

 



Organizing Those Loyalty Cards

For years I've been using two card holders from Real Simple to organize my loyalty/membership cards. I got these at Target years ago.

 

Above is a pic of the only still living one- you can see it has definitely seen better days. My red one bit the dust last week. I checked Target and they don't seem to carry them anymore. So I turned to the place I turn when I need basically anything..... Amazon!

I found the kilofly Credit Card Holder on Amazon for just $10 and decided to order it. It arrived yesterday and it is absolutely perfect! This particular style is available in a few other colors, and there are other styles by this brand as well.

Here's a pic showing my cards inside- surely you knew that my Sephora Beauty Insider was one of my most important cards, right? If your purse is a mess of unorganized cards, I'd definitely recommend this!

#afflink

Just when I think I've got it all together........

I find Reese's to-do list.

#lordhelpme

Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line

I cannot tell you how excited I am about the Veronica Mars book, Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, coming out tomorrow- Kristen Bell is narrating the audiobook! I am going for a long run in the AM to listen to as much as I can!

Have you tried Audible? I have been using it for over and year and LOVE the app for my iphone. So easy to stop and start and it remembers your place! So easy.

Try Audible Now and Get A FREE Audiobook!

#afflinks

Summer Fun

This will be the first summer that I'm not working full-time, and I'm busy planning some summer activities to keep us busy and away from the TV and electronics. Today I'll feature some Season Pass information for the Norman, Oklahoma area, along with a few from surrounding cities worth the drive.

1. Andy Alligator's Water Park. Through April 30, seasons passes are $80 per person.

The $4.2 million-dollar park features a variety of attractions including a lazy river, double tube slide, the first four-lane mat racer in Oklahoma, an 800-gallon bucket of water that will be regularly dumped on kids. (from the Moore Daily)

2. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. A family membership is $45 and includes complimentary admission for two adults & children (or grandchildren) in the family under age 18.

From their website: Through world-class exhibits, educational programming for children and adults, public programs, special exhibitions and outreach, the museum brings Oklahoma to the world, and the world to Oklahoma, in a manner that is entertaining and accessible for visitors of all ages and all walks of life.

3. Oklahoma City Zoo. A Family membership is $65 and admits two adults (one adult named on card must be present) and up to five children ages 3-18 years old. A $5 discount is offered through March 31. This could be easily split between two families.

The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The zoo covers 119 acres and is home to more than 1,800 animals. (from Wikipedia)

4. Science Museum Oklahoma. A Silver membership is $115 and is shared by 6 people- great to split between families. You can even add two additional people on the pass for $30 each.

You can also upgrade your membership to an Oklahoma Museum Network Affiliate Membership for $40 and get general admission for any 5 people to the OMN Partner museums: Science Museum Oklahoma, Jasmine Moran Childrens Museum: Seminole, Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse: Enid, Museum of the Great Plains: Lawton.

Note: Old schoolies like me still call this the Omniplex.

From their website: Science Museum Oklahoma is a hands on learning environment for families and general science enthusiasts.

5. Earlywine Family Aquatic Center. Season passes for a family of 4 is $150, and $35 for each additional family member.

From their website: Earlywine Family Aquatic Center integrates a beach-like pool entry with the excitement of high-energy water toys, super tube slides, swimming lanes and twelve gently bubbling geysers.

6. Star Skate. A summer pass is $5 and entitles you to skate for only $3 at their skate sessions. During the summer they have afternoon sessions on Thursdays and Fridays.

7. Kids Bowl Free at Sooner Bowling Center. By signing up, your kids can bowl 2 games free all summer long, M-F. Shoe rental is not included and is $3. You can also purchase a Family season pass for $25 so that you can bowl 2 games per day with your kiddos.

Let me know if there are things that I have missed! I'll do a post on camps and other fun programs soon so feel free to leave me info on those too.