Kombucha

Many people look curiously at me whenever I load 5-6 Kombucha into my grocery cart. They wonder what it is and how it tastes and why in the world I would pay $3 a pop for it.  

I have my baby sister Laura to thank for introducing me to this miracle drink. She drinks them like they are going out of style.

One day I got a stomach bug that my littles shared with me. I felt not so hot and I trudged through the grocery store looking for something to make me feel better. I saw the row of chilled Kombucha drinks and decided to give it a shot. I grabbed the Gingerade flavor, paid for my groceries and plopped down in the car, exhausted and feeling sick. I opened the bottle, took a reluctant swig and an instant sense of relief washed over me. My stomach was settled and I felt amazing. It felt like the tea had washed all the nastiness out of my stomach. 

After that I was hooked. I try and drink one every day to keep myself healthy. There are many Benefits to drinking this miracle tea.

My personal favorite brand is Synergy and the flavors I prefer are the Trilogy, Guava and Cranberry (shown in photo). You can find this drink at Whole Foods and they carry them at most major grocery chains.

Rainbow salad

Rainbow salad

One of my favorite things to make is a big, crunchy green salad. I make one a few times a week and eat it every night before my main dinner course. You can choose any type of veggies you prefer. 

I like 

Peppers, carrots, celery, radish and red cabbage

red pepper

carrots

celery

radish

red cabbage


Chop 'em all up then add them to a bowl. Look at those beautiful colors.

Rainbow salad



Then pick a type of lettuce or a few different kinds. I prefer red leaf. The pre packaged lettuce bags are super easy and simple as well. I like to keep my chopped veggies and lettuce separate. I feel they last longer that way.

Red leaf lettuce


This salad is very versatile and can be enjoyed with any type of dressing. You can also add avocado or some sunflower seeds for some extra nutrients.

Amazing tomatoes from my garden! Yummy and naturally gluten free!

The picture on the left is of me FEB '13 when I was at my sickest. I weighed under 120 lbs. I was so thin it hurt to sleep because my bones stuck out so far it hurt to lie down. No fun. The picture on the right is me July '14. 10lbs heavier and much healthier and happier!

Many people ask me what it is like to live with Celiac disease.

The simple answer is that at first it sucks. You feel isolated from the rest of society. I felt like a freak that I could not even touch a small piece of gluten with out literally breaking out in a blistering rash.

I was angry, sad and freakin' hungry.

All my favorite foods were off limits. No more bagels, bread or pretzel's from the mall. Eating out at a formal dinner? Forget it. Who knows what is in the sauce and maybe they cut the salad on the same board as the bread? I literally was starving and felt so anxious every time I would eat something in fear it would make me sick.

After some time, I started to get used to eating new foods and found that I felt SO much better I *almost* forgot about my old gluten favorites. One day I started to crave muffins and decided I would experiment with my old gluten-filled muffin recipe and see if I could make them edible with gluten free flour.

The result (after a few tries) was nothing short of miraculous. Ah ah ahhhhhh! I had an amazing muffin recipe that I could eat safely and that my kids loved. Heck I even felt confident enough making it for parties. Many people rave about these and I will make a video later this week showing exactly how to make these decedent gluten free muffins.

Here is my HOW TO video: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies- Gluten and Dairy Free and only 6 ingredients!


Recipe:

1. Preheat oven 350

2. Ingredients

2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
1/2 cup chocolate chunks (dairy free)
vanilla to taste
2tsp baking soda

3. Bake 8-10 min

4. ENjoy!

Welcome to Bina's Bakery

Hello. I am excited to start my blog, Bina's Bakery. I hope to use this as a platform to share my delicious gluten free recipes with you all.

To tell you a bit about myself, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease Jan 2013. I cannot eat any gluten, and become ill if I ingest even minuscule amounts. Crazy huh? So after a short-lived depression (where I mourned sourdough bread and pizza), I picked myself off, broke out my old cookbooks and began a quest to convert my old gluten-filled recipes to yummy gluten free recipes.

I also have Type 1 diabetes and my son is lactose intolerant so I will share dairy free and diabetic friendly recipes as well.

XOXO
Bina