This year was my first time attending the AND’s annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo – or FNCE for those of you “in the know.” My attendance was sponsored by my 9-5 so I spent much of my time working the booth and fighting off freebie-loving attendees. But since this show is the biggest Nutrition show of the year, I had to get around the expo to see who else was there. I tried to take as many photos as I could, however after scrolling through my camera album it seems as though I forgot a few. Anywho, here is a list of some of my favorite everyday things that were also at #FNCE! 1. Some amazing Trail Mix at Forgotten Booth Name (oops) – I’m kind of neurotic when it comes to mixed nuts. If it’s got any amount of sodium in the mix, I probably won’t eat it. I just don’t like the salty flavor, which usually leaves me thirsty. I feel terribly, but my first question to the man at booth #563 was “does this have sodium in it?” Ultimately, the almonds were the only item that contained salt. I always love a good healthy trail mix and this one was full of nuts and dried fruit. It even had shaved coconut and dark chocolate! P.S. shame on me, I don’t remember the actual blend and the man at the booth didn’t know either. But doesn't it look good?

2. Walnuts! – California Walnuts was there with a big fancy booth that had a big fancy walnut on top. I love walnuts for their big bite of heart healthy fats. I use them often to add crunch to cottage cheese, banana bread, oats and more. Throughout the weekend I sent out a handful of tweets to @cawalnuts ~~not because they were running a Twitter iPad 3 giveaway but~~ because I love walnuts!

3. Daisy Cottage Cheese – any brand of cottage cheese is good in my book, but Daisy brand was representing at FNCE this year. They even had a cottage cheese bar where you could choose your toppings. I picked plain old perfect strawberries.

4. Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk – Silk was there with a handful of their most popular milks. My favorite from Silk is their Unsweetened Almond Milk. I use it in recipes, in cereal, in protein shakes and for a healthy beverage on it’s own. Rich can’t even go one night without his Unsweetened Almond Milk with low-fat Honey Graham Crackers. It’s his favorite after-dinner dessert.

5. Kind Bars and their new Granola! – Kind bars are super-yummy and packed with dried fruit and nuts (just my kind of snack!). They were exhibiting both their amazing bars and their flavored granolas. I can’t remember which one I tried, but it was yum, and I also took home a sample so I’ll get back to you with a recap of that one at a later date.

6. Annie’s Salad Dressing – Seriously the best Organic low-cal salad dressings around. You’d never know they are low-cal by tasting them. My particular favorite is the Lite-Gingerly flavor (thanks to my kick-a$$ friend Wendy in Wyoming). When I found their booth, I spent 5 minutes explaining how addicted I am to their dressing – this rant was followed by them handing me a handful of coupons. Perfect! I love coupons! And I love this dressing!

7. Red Mill Flours – You can find this stuff in Whole Foods, Stop N Shop, Publix and wherever else you buy your groceries. It’s good stuff! I’ve used their flax meal and Almond flour before with success. I stopped to chat with the girl at Red Mill for a few minutes; she had this fabulous cookbook on the table that I’m dying to get my hands on. I’m hoping she sends me a copy [which I will of course share the contents with you all when she does]. She also mentioned a new flour she had coming out soon. I’ll share that with you at a future date as well. Anyway, if you’ve not tried any flours out of the usual, give Red Mill a shot - they have affordable good quality products.

8. Chobani Greek Yogurt! – Yay for Chobani! Our booth was directly across from Chobani [which I planned for] that made for a very hungry weekend. Everyone who walked by had a cup of Chobani yogurt in their hand from Chobani's Greek yogurt bar. That’s right, they had a Greek yogurt bar where you could choose your flavor and choose your toppings. I chose plain yogurt with cashews, blueberries and coconut. It was amazing to say the least. Chobani always goes over the top for events – their café/kitchen theme went over well and so did their two new flavors – Banana and Pear. Yum yum! Can’t wait to try these again when they hit stores!

After a long 4-day event, I can honestly say my time at FNCE was a success. I learned a few good things from the educational sessions, tried some yummy new flavors and foods, and met some great people. Before I go, I have to give a shout out to my good friend Marie Spano who I only found out was there via Twitter. Thanks Twitter for keeping me in touch with my friends!