A big thank you to Amanda Kamppinen for her amazing photography throughout the retreat! Another big thank you to Chef Trimell for an insane menu lineup!

What is the Fresh Air Retreat?

The Fresh Air Retreat is an immersive event for food bloggers to learn from each other and grow their businesses. This retreat is sponsored by food brands, making it a super fun and delicious experience!

This retreat is very generously hosted by Liz from The Lemon Bowl and Lauren from The Curious Plate! They went way above and beyond in planning and executing this flawless event. Thank you to Liz and Lauren!

Day 1

The first night, we all arrived in Austin, Texas. We were greeted in a beautiful home and had a delicious Lebanese style charcuterie board and dinner. Everything was delicious!

I loved meeting the other bloggers and learning more about their businesses.

Thankfully, the weather was great the whole time.

Day 2

The second day was jam-packed with activities! We started with a delicious breakfast hosted by Dave’s Killer Bread. Since I am gluten free and cannot eat their bread, I opted for fresh fruit, bacon, and avocado. I am hopeful that a gluten free bread is in the works!

They just launched Dave’s Killer snack bars in three new flavors. If these were gluten free, I would have tried them! They come in three delicious flavors: Cocoa Brownie Blitz, Trail Mix Crumble, and Oat-rageous Honey Almond.

Following this amazing breakfast, we had a strategy session with Raptive. Raptive is a full-service ad agency for websites. We learned about how to maximize revenue for our businesses. The Raptive rep was very kind and helpful. This strategy session was one of my favorite parts about the Fresh Air Retreat.

After a delicious taco lunch, we returned to the house for a learning session with Zwilling. Learning about knife cuts was so interesting! I love their Fresh & Save Collection and use these products in my kitchen and pantry regularly. In addition, I highly recommend checking out their Fresh & Save 7-piece Starter Set.

Following the knife skills session, we were treated to a delicious dinner! I am still dreaming about this veggie chicken stir fry.

Day 3

The last morning began with a 90’s workout class sponsored by Dave’s Killer Bread. Their whole premise is Crush the Day!

Following that, we were treated to the most amazing lunch sponsored by Envy Apples! Their apples have a satisfying crunch and stay naturally white inside longer. This was one of my favorite parts about the Fresh Air Retreat.

The first course was a sous vide apple amuse bouche. This little bite was sweet, tart, and incredibly delicious.

Secondly, these chicken apple skewers were sweet and savory. The apples provided the perfect balanced sweetness. We had these on top of gluten free bread.

Next, a delicious apple salad was so light and refreshing. See how white and crisp those apple slices are? Delicious.

After that, the main course was salmon with an apple walnut risotto. I need to make that risotto at home!

Finally, the dessert was a hollowed out Envy apple with frozen yogurt and dark chocolate drizzle. Divine! I need to try my Apple Pie Cookies with their apples. This lunch was a highlight at the Fresh Air Retreat.

Later that afternoon, we met with the Flor de Caña team and learned how to make espresso martinis. Their award-winning is family run and contains no added sugar.

My favorite part was that little bite of dark chocolate!

That night, we were treated to dinner at the Four Seasons Austin. Everything was over the top amazing. From the service to the ambiance to the food, it was perfection. The restaurant, Ciclo, was incredibly delicious and they were very gluten free friendly!

We had tomahawk steak, chicken, and gluten free carrot cake cheesecake. Highly recommend if you are in the area. This was the perfect way to wrap up the Fresh Air Retreat!

Overall Thoughts

This three-day immersive Fresh Air Retreat was fun, insightful, and delicious! Food blogging is such a niche career, so I enjoyed meeting other women who understand my business.

I am incredibly grateful to Liz and Lauren for inviting me to go to this retreat! It was a blast and I highly recommend it to other bloggers!

If you enjoyed this post, I would really appreciate a review! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Join my exclusive Facebook Group for a behind-the-scenes look. I would love for you to follow along! 

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Day to day, I eat a lot of grass fed meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  Thankfully Trader Joe’s has many great options for Whole30 compliant products.  Here are some of my favorites Whole30 Trader Joe’s products.

I cannot say enough great things about these turkey burgers.  They are in the frozen aisle and the only ingredients are ground turkey and rosemary extract.  I like to cook them in a skillet right from frozen and they’re flavorful and easy.  Since they only take about 5-7 minutes to cook, I often quickly add these to breakfast or cook one before work to add to my lunch.

I have tried probably 10 different brands of almond butter (some as much as $12 per jar) but this is truly my favorite.  It’s super creamy and runny which I love.  The only ingredients are almonds and salt, which makes this almond butter Whole30 compliant (and super delicious)!  I enjoy baking with it, eating it with an apple or banana, and just straight from the jar with a spoon.

When eating Whole30, seasoning is super important because it’s an easy and clean way to add flavor to foods.  This “Everyday Seasoning” is delicious on meats, salads, and roasted veggies.  I also LOVE their “Everything But the Bagel” seasoning.  Add a little sprinkle to scrambled eggs or an avocado and you won’t be disappointed.

Since traditional pasta isn’t allowed on Whole30, zucchini noodles are a great option.  I actually prefer them now since they’re light, subtle, and provide a nice texture to otherwise heavy dishes.  A common work lunch for me is zucchini noodles with chicken and marinara sauce. 

Larabars are an easy and quick snack for on-the-go.  They’re made with only a handful of real food ingredients and they’re perfect for grab and go.  This coconut one is delicious!

I love cooking and baking with Trader Joe’s almond flour.  You can also use it to coat chicken to make Whole30 chicken fingers or in place of regular flour.  I love that this only contains almonds, no extra fillers.

My love for RX bars runs deep.  I probably average two a day… my favorite is Chocolate Sea Salt but I haven’t met one I didn’t love.  All of them are Whole30 approved except for the select few that contain peanuts.  I love stocking up on the Pumpkin Spice bars during the fall and the Gingerbread ones during the winter.  Delicious!

Tahini is just ground up sesame seeds but it makes for a tasty salad dressing, condiment or an ingredient in sauces.  It has a similar consistency to almond butter but tastes much more savory.  A great Whole30 option!

These frozen carrot coins are so good.  They’re roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a handful of spices that make them so flavorful.  Since they’re frozen, I just toss them in a skillet with some olive oil and my protein of choice.  I usually pair them with some chicken or a turkey burger for a quick and easy lunch.

We always have a big bag of flaxseed meal in our fridge.  It can be used in baking or cooking but I’ve also added it to smoothies for an added nutritional boost.  In addition, they are great in protein bites.  Flaxseed meal adds a slight nutty flavor to whatever you pair it with; add some almond butter and nuts and it’s tasty!

These chili lime chicken burgers can be found right next to the frozen turkey burgers I mentioned above.  I also cook them in a skillet and they’re ready in only 5-7 minutes.  Quick and easy for a delicious lunch!

These are only some of the many items that are Whole30 at Trader Joe’s.  I always be sure to pick up organic grass fed meats, avocados, plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, their butternut squash zig zags (which taste like fries!), frozen Brussels sprouts, among many others.

I hope this post was helpful.  Please let me know if there are any other Whole30 favorites at Trader Joe’s that you love!

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Before any trip, I like to pack some snacks for the airport, flight, or the hotel.  I would much rather have these snacks on hand just in case than be hungry with nothing to find in the airport or hotel.  I love having some fresh fruit on hand so I picked up some apples and bananas to bring with me.  RX bars are one of my favorite ways to get in some protein and carbs and they’re filled with the best ingredients.  My grocery store just recently started selling these little almond butter packs so I brought some of those too.  Verdict: they’re so delicious!

Friday morning I left home around 3:30AM in order to catch a 6AM flight out of Boston.  Definitely an early morning but I was excited!

After landing in Savannah, we took an Uber back to our hotel in Richmond Hill, which is about 20-25 minutes outside of the city.  We dropped off our suitcases and headed into the city for the day.  We walked around a bit and the trees and flowers were so beautiful.

We stopped for brunch at The Collins Quarter and it was this cute little cafe/restaurant and the food was delicious.  I paired some of their a la carte sides and made a meal out of it.  I got chimichurri grilled chicken, bacon, and the fresh fruit bowl.  I will say, their waitstaff was very knowledgable about what was gluten free and what was not.  They were so helpful!

After brunch, we walked around down by the waterfront.  The architecture and history was breathtaking.  It’s such an old city and the cobblestone sidewalks and streets were so cool.

There was a huge cruise ship on the water that we watched sail by.  The weather was perfect: 75 and sunny.

We walked in and out of little boutiques and clothing stores and we obviously had to stop in the chocolate store.  I watched them making these chocolate bunnies and I was in awe.  It was so neat to watch!

We stumbled upon Forsyth Park and this beautiful fountain.  We actually saw a couple getting married by the fountain which was amazing.

We also loved seeing all the beautiful houses in Savannah.  There were so many row homes but there were also these beautiful brick homes.  So historic and stunning!

That night, we went to The Smokin’ Pig for dinner in Richmond Hill.  Since we were in the South, we took advantage of the BBQ food.  A lot of their side dishes weren’t gluten free, so I opted for some pulled pork and brisket.  Delicious!

Saturday morning I woke up early to run my training run on the hotel treadmill.  There was only one treadmill in the fitness center so I wanted to get there early enough to claim it!  After a challenging run, I had the continental breakfast (hello unlimited bacon!) and then laid by the pool.  It feels like I haven’t seen the sun in a few months so soaking in some vitamin D was much needed.

That night, we headed to my friend’s wedding!  The ceremony was outside and then the reception was indoors.  It was so nice to be able to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in years.

Sunday morning, we woke up and had an early flight out of Savannah.  There was a snowstorm in Boston so I was afraid that the flight would be delayed but they had us board early so we could beat the weather. I started a new book (I just love Jodi Picoult books) and had an RX bar while on the plane.

All in all, it was such a fun weekend!  I’m exhausted but I have such a full heart (and stomach)!

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