Kitchen Stewardship’s Healthy Snacks to Go & Family Camping Handbook

Full disclaimer: The e-books provided to me for review and offered in this giveaway are compliments of Katie Kimball at Kitchen Stewardship. In addition, I am an affiliate for Kitchen Stewardship and receive a commission fee for any e-books purchased  via links here at gfe. However, I am sharing information on these e-books solely because I think they will be of excellent value to my gfe readers.

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. The winners of Katie’s (Kitchen Stewardship) e-books are Ricki (Diet, Dessert and Dogs) and Diane Bennett Bramos. Ricki will be receiving the Healthy Snacks to Go! e-book. Diane will receive Kitchen Stewardship: Camping in the Big Woods. Congratulations to Ricki and Diane! Plus, here’s great news for other gfe readers … Katie is also extending a 25% discount to all my readers through midnight tomorrow, October 12. Click here to purchase and receive your 25% discount by entering the code GFE25. Important: You must enter the GFE25 code to receive the discount and the offer expires at midnight on October 12.

I recently shared my adaptation of Katie Kimball’s Popeye Bars. (I wash happily and healthily noshing on one earlier today.) Katie Kimball is the energetic brain and heart behind Kitchen Stewardship. I am not sure how I first met Katie. It was either through a post from my dear friend, Amy, over at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, or on Twitter. When I finally made my way over to check out Katie and Kitchen Stewardship and subscribed to her posts, I was blown away. First, there is Katie’s passion for real food (which I always appreciate), but then there’s her zest for getting to the truth and presenting the best available information to her readers. For example, in a series about soaking grains a while back, she interviewed five experts on the topic, even offering “point-counterpoint” posts when her sources (one of whom was Sally Fallon Morrell herself, she, of Nourishing Traditions fame) disagreed. The kickoff post for that series is here if you are interested.

Very recently, Katie and her family have gone grain free and almost completely dairy free. (That’s her family’s story and I won’t tell it here, but you can read more on the why here and the how here.) Now this latest change in  diet has not only proven beneficial to Katie and her family, but it will also prove to be a positive thing for all of us who are gluten free or grain free. How? As I said, Katie doesn’t do anything halfheartedly, so she’ll be spreading awareness of gluten-free and grain-free living and asking folks to do some of their own challenges along these lines to monitor how their bodies respond to grains. For example, right now she’s conducting a Test Your Grains Challenge. Katie also does guest posts on other blogs that are thought provoking and worthwhile. Five Foods Women Should Be Eating is a recent one. (I can’t wait for the follow-up to this post; you’ll know why as soon as you read it!)

But let’s get to Katie’s e-books that she has graciously offered for a gfe giveaway. First, there’s her Healthy Snacks to Go! e-book. This e-book offers several snacks (inlcluding the original Popeye Bars) that are just as they sound … perfect to pack for lunch or a car trip, or just enjoy at home during a break. It’s not a completely gluten-free cookbook, but that’s not a problem at all. Because what makes this e-book especially helpful is that Katie clearly shows the status of every recipe in detail (e.g., gluten free; sugar free; dairy free; pricey, but still less than processed; easy; medium; hard) and then gives tips for each on how to adapt further if needed. I have no doubt that I’ll eventually make all Katie’s snack recipes. Incidentally, many of the tips shared in this e-book have already proven helpful to me on healthier eating—like how to trick your tongue when using less of or alternatives to unhealthy sweeteners. Shown are just a couple photos of the tasty snacks shared in Healthy Snacks To Go! You can see a more detailed preview of this e-book here.

Then there’s Katie’s other e-book, Kitchen Stewardship in the Big Woods—A Family Camping Handbook with Real Food Options. If you’ve been following gfe for a while, you know that we’re a camping family. Mr. GFE and I have experienced most kinds of camping, before and during our years together. Before our marriage when we lived very close to the Rappahannock River, we’d pack all our gear and food in Mr. GFE’s canoe on Friday evening and head out … paddling many miles on this tidal river, camping one or two nights along the way, and then paddling back all in one day. While Mr. GFE was in college, he taught Outward Bound-type classes in the Blue Ridge Mountains every summer.  He’d teach basic skills such as setting up camp, cooking, hiking, first aid, and rapelling, but would also lead backpacking expeditions of youngsters on the Appalachian Trail. Together, we’ve also stayed in a truck camper, a pull along camper, and our all-time favorite—and current method of camping on our mountain property–is driving up to our property to pitch our much used and abused, and now cockeyed, Eureka tent.  We started taking our son camping when he was still in diapers. He loved every minute of it and, now at age 22, still cherishes the times when he can get away to camp on our mountain property.

Yes, there’s the connection with nature, but there’s also the time as a family that you just don’t get at home with numerous other distractions. Talking and telling stories around the campfire is an immeasurable gift to all who are present. Then there’s the food; we eat very well at home, but we eat even better when camping and the food seems to taste infinitely better. Camping is a great recreational activity and Katie’s camping handbook can be used by all. It can certainly prepare the newbie for camping. Or, maybe you’re not a complete newbie. Maybe you’ve been camping with friends and family … tagging along using their gear and resources, but now want to venture out on your own. Katie’s book walks you through everything you need with handy charts and lists. Even veteran campers will appreciate Katie’s guidance. There are also recipes (20, in fact) and meal ideas, and again, the recipes shared aren’t all gluten free, but they can easily be made gluten free. For example, Katie shares cold balsamic spelt salad. Spelt contains gluten (read more here), but you could easily make cold balsamic quinoa salad or cold balsamic rice salad. When Katie talks about making pancakes or using tortillas, just be sure to use gluten-free pancake batter and corn or other gluten-free tortillas (e.g., brown rice, teff).

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m sharing this e-book giveaway now, with Fall already here. There are a couple of reasons. First, I’ve got a little bit of a backlog of good stuff to share. (Doesn’t that sound enticing? It should!) Next, Fall is one of our very favorite camping seasons. It’s often a short one, but always a good one.  There’s that crispness in the air, the scenery comes alive with color, the fire and accompanying S’mores are much more appreciated, hearty meals are perfect fare, and the tent is cozier than ever—just to name a few of my favorite reasons to love Fall camping. Last, some of you live in climates where you truly can camp comfortably year round—lucky you!

If camping season is just about over where you are, this is still a great time to get this e-book. Katie’s handbook will tell you what supplies you need so you can either add them to your holiday wish list (family and friends do want to know what you want; it makes their job easier!). Or, you can start gathering them through castoffs from friends and family, outdoor shop end-of-season sales, yard sales, thrift shops, etc. for the next full camping season. We start camping as early as April at our mountain property. The weather conditions are similar to Fall, with warm enough days, but still pretty chilly nights. But, hey, I’m jumping ahead of myself … we might just get to squeeze in another weekend or two camping at our property before all our gear gets stowed until Spring—hope so! You can check out more info on Katie’s camping handbook here. There are a few reader reviews there as well—all very positive—and if you haven’t figured this out already, I totally agree with them. I was totally impressed with how thorough and helpful this handbook is, but again that’s Katie! Even if you want to buy Katie’s Family Camping Handbook rather than participate in the giveaway, $4.95 is an amazing deal. Likewise, $6.95 is a good value for Katie’s Healthy Snacks To Go! Click here (or on images of Katie’s e-books on my sidebar) to view more details or purchase either.

This giveaway is open to all and ends Sunday, October 10, at midnight, Eastern. There will be one winner for each e-book. See the ways you can enter below. The first entry is the only one that’s required, but taking the other steps and stating so in a separate comment for each (or reporting that you already have), is a terrific way to get extra entries!

~~Leave a comment stating which e-book you would like to win.

~~Check out the Healthy Snacks to Go! table of contents here.  Choose the recipe that interests you the most and leave a comment.

~~Follow Katie on Twitter. Leave a comment.

~~“Like” Kitchen Stewardship’s Facebook page. Leave a comment.

~~Subscribe to Kitchen Stewardship via email or reader. Leave a comment.

~~“Like” gfe on Facebook. Leave a comment.

~~Subscribe to gfe via email or reader. Leave a comment.

Free Email Updates to gfe Please enter all required fields Correct invalid entries