Review: The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook by Cybele Pascal

In my ongoing search for good-tasting baked goods for my son, I ordered The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook by Cybele Pascal from Book Depository (it was also a good way to test this online bookstore, which offers free shipping to several countries in the world. Check it out.)

Anyways, The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook promises recipes without “gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame.” Just perfect for my son!

But as always, the proof is in the pudding, I mean, baking. And here’s what I’ve made so far:

Potato Bread

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Review: Lavigne Organic Clear Skin Solution

It’s annoying and embarrassing, and it’s been giving me a lot of grief.

I’m talking about adult acne.

I hardly had any breakouts when I was a teenager, but sometime in my 20s, I my skin started breaking out.

I thought – everyone said – I’d have clear skin by the time I hit my 30s, but here I am, in my early 40s and still breaking out!

I’ve tried many things. The best thing, really, is to visit my dermatologist about every two months and use a bunch of chemicals on my skin.

But since moving to Canada, I haven’t been to a dermatologist in years. Plus, I’d really like a gentler way to care for my skin.

Enter: The LaVigne Daily Essentials Clear Skin Solution.

We’ve been happily using LaVigne’s Mayan Magic Balm for my son’s eczema, so when I discovered LaVigne has many other products, including a package for acne skin, I was excited to try it out.

Linda Zaumini, founder of LaVigne Organic Skincare, graciously gave me a complimentary set of their Clear Skin Solution, which is made up of:

• Botanical Cleanser
• Clear Magic Facial Spray
• Vitamin C Serum
• DMAE Firming Cream
• Mayan Magic Balm

I used these products for several months, to get a clear picture of how they were affecting my skin. I tend to break out when I use something new, so I had to give my skin a few weeks to adjust.

In this post, I’ll tell you what I liked and didn’t like about these products, including why I’m now back to my chemical-laden acne-fighting products.

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Finally – Eco-Friendly Binders!

It’s really frustrating to buy eco-friendly supplies for the kids and my home office. Everything from backpacks to lunch boxes are made of plastic! So I was pleasantly surprised when Naked Binder approached me to review their binders.

Naked Binder’s 3-ring binders are made of 100% recycled board and metal. They don’t have any vinyls, plastics or toxins. Here’s one of the binders I received:

I gave the other binder to my 10-year-old DD as I wanted to get her thoughts on the binder as well.

The Good:

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