Product Review: Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea

Cheaper than a trip to Starbucks, this drink is awesome!  I don't know about you, but I HAVE been glutened unintentionally by Starbucks and with this drink--which comes in a few different flavors--that won't happen.  The Mocha was incredible and the Chai was delectable.  It was hard to decide on which flavor to pick.  Thank you Bolthouse Farms!!

I LOVE that they even list that the soy they use is not genetically modified.  That's hard to come by these days.  And look!  It says right there on the bottle that it's gluten free!!  Whoohoo!
How did they know what we wanted?

Feeling good is such an amazing thing.  Those who DO feel good, take it for granted and those who don't would give anything to feel good again. At one time in my life, I heard someone say that popping Tylenol and Ibuprofen for headaches all the time was a bad solution because if you're having headaches, there's a reason and you need to figure out what it is.  I thought that was ridiculous.  Headaches are SO normal.  Everyone has headaches all the time!  But now I realize that it's not normal or okay.  When I went gluten free, I stopped having constant headaches.  That, to me, is an indication that headaches are often caused by food intolerances, allergies and sensitivities.  Either by irritating our bodies directly or causing mal-absorption and nutrient deficiencies.  Once I became  more nourished and stopped eating gluten (reverse that order!) my headaches and fuzzy head feelings were gone. 

Don't underestimate feeling good.  Or feeling bad.  Maybe there's a reason.

Delightful MOCHACHIP Cookies

This was my first gluten free experiment. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, but I had just run out of vanilla. I improvised and this is what I came up with. These Mochachip cookies have been deemed "Better than chocolate chip cookies" by my seven year old son. They have a hint of coffee and plenty of good chocolaty goodness.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups rice flour
2 cups sorghum flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp coffee beans - finely ground
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp pure stevia powder (or one cup sugar)
8 oz chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs. Combine dry ingredients and stir into the sugar mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir.
Make small balls and flatten them with your palm. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Yields: 4 - 5 dozen cookies.

We made ours tiny just like the super expensive Gluten-Free cookies at Whole Foods. Then to prevent over-eating them and promote making them last, we packaged them with squares of corrugated cardboard and ribbon. The 'window' is made with clear packing tape on both sides of a cut out shape. Seal them first in small ziploc bags and they should stay fresh for a week or so.