About a month ago I was pretty sick for a few weeks. The only way I can describe the illness was this: the worst morning sickness you've ever felt, but you're not actually pregnant. Sounds horrible right? Because if I'm going to be nauseous and miserable for a couple weeks straight, I'd at least like the reward of knowing I'm growing a baby, but alas, no baby.
I finally decided to go see someone about my illness, and it was decided that I was either gluten intolerant, or my body just didn't want gluten for a few weeks. We'd decided for me to go off of it for thirty days to see what happened, and then I could reintroduce it into my diet after thirty days and if I got sick again, no more gluten forever, and if I was fine, my body just needed a break.
I lasted an entire two weeks because I'm weak and can't do diets or fasts, but the two weeks was enough time for my body, and gut to heal, and I haven't been sick since reintroducing gluten. It was a relief to know it wasn't a permanent thing, and I feel so much better than I had just a few weeks ago.
While I was going through my gluten free period, iHerb.com reached out to me wanting to know if I wanted to try their service, and their products, to which I gladly said yes. They're an online marketplace for all natural, organic, gluten free, and even vegan food products. Basically anything that you would pick up at your local health food store, they have for you on their website. The fun doesn't stop there though, because they also have an extensive inventory of beauty, baby, sports, and vitamin products.
My favorite part about their site is the customer loyalty program. Whatever amount of money you spend on your first order, they give you 5% of that off your next order. It's awesome because most of the items that you'd purchase from iHerb.com are things that you'd need on a regualr basis, and so it's nice to know that you're consistently getting that discount.
When I ordered my products from them, I chose things that would help me get a mini gluten free pantry going, so that I could keep eating and making yummy things while I was going through this cleanse. I wound up finding a lot of things that I loved to eat, but here are three recipes that I loved the most.
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies:
I made these cookies with the same recipe that I use for my normal chocolate chip cookies, but swapped out the normal flour for the Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten Free Flour. They tasted amazing, and I even gifted them to someone else who was gluten free, and they said that they were the best gluten free cookies she'd ever eaten. I also fed them to three other people who didn't know they were gluten free, and they were never any wiser. So I'll take that as a win. I also used the Enjoy Life vegan, dairy, and gluten free semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, and they were just pure perfection.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
1 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the egg, mix until combined, and then the vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda into the hot water and then add it to the mixture. Mix in the flour until just combined, and then add the chocolate chips. Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, using a rounded tablespoon scoop and rolling into balls. Bake for 10-13 minutes until golden brown. Mine took about 12 in my oven. Cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack.
Chicken and Rice Soup
This is one of my all time favorite recipes in the winter, but I usually make it with noodles instead of rice. I made the swap for this recipe, and used the Edward & Son's Not Chick'N vegan and gluten free bouillon cubes and the soup turned out perfectly. I'll definitely be making this again.
Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 cups of water
Edward & Son's Not Chick'N vegan and gluten free bouillon cubes (or 8 normal ones)
3 large carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 cups instant rice
Directions:
Add all ingredients except for the rice to your slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours. When the chicken is cooked all the way through, shred it, and then add it back to the pot with the instant rice. Let it all cook together for another 10 minutes, until the rice is cooked all the way through, and then serve.
Gluten Free Granola Bowl:
This one is pretty self explanatory, but there was gluten hiding in the granola that we were previously using, so I grabbed a bag of the Bear Naked Cacao and Cashew Butter Granola, and would have that on top of some vanilla yogurt each morning, and some berries on top, and it was by far my favorite way to start the day.
