A byproduct of listening to the intuitive spark that we each possess is that creativity starts to flame in other areas of your life. Case in point are these amazing gluten and dairy free chocolate chip cookies I made on a Sunday earlier this month.

Backstory
Last January after taking a nutrition quiz at the prompting of a fitness coach with whom I had won three months of coaching through an end of the year give-away, I went on an elimination diet to test sensitivities to gluten and dairy in addition to reducing carb intake.

A week later, I couldn’t even finish a pancake, bacon, egg, and salad breakfast, a meal that I had loved previously from one of my favorite places — Skillet, because I felt so sick. And since I had had everything at one time… the wheat, dairy, sugar, it seemed like the appropriate time to visit my naturopath and find out the proper way to proceed with an elimination diet.

My naturopath suggested eliminating “culprit” foods (gluten, dairy, soy, and sugar) for a month and then begin testing one item every three days. The elimination part was hard and I went through some crazy emotions but I made it. When the testing phase started, I felt so sick from the wheat or the dairy item I chose to listen to my body and not finish the testing phase and just give in to the fact that I wasn’t going to be eating those foods on a daily basis anytime soon.

But there are certain food items that one misses. In my case, it was cookies.

Early on I found out that cookies made from rice flour taste as unappetizing as they sound. Luckily, I found a great vegan gluten-free cookie from I

A friend had sent a recipe she used with the base being peanut butter and they were yummy. However, along the way I have realized that I also have a sensitivity to peanut butter.

So, I concocted these…

You’ll-never-know-its-missing-gluten+dairy Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup ground cashews + sunflower seeds
1/2 cup almond butter
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup ground oatmeal
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 t vanilla
2 egg
1 t baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, beat together the ground nuts and nut butters, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix for 5 minutes. Add in the ground oatmeal, coconut flour, and baking soda. Continue beating to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a teaspoon, scoop rounds of dough onto a baking sheet.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and feel dry to the touch.

Enjoy!

In what areas of your life has creativity sparked a cascade effect?

xoxoxo, s