How Do Foodies Go Gluten-Free?

I have had several friends go gluten-free and we tried at my husband's doctor's suggestion for a short time.  It's a challenging endeavor.  You have to completely change how you cook and eat.  I have a very good friend who's done an amazing job doing that because her husband has celiacs.  In her case, she needs a lot of family food recipes.  But, if you aren't cooking for a family and you are looking for more gourmet recipes with complicated tastes, then what do you do?  

Well, a few weeks ago, a new cookbook arrived in the mail.  It was The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook by Judith Finlayson.  

If you are an adult who has just been diagnosed with celiacs or gluten intolerance or a gluten allergy and you love to cook, then this may be a great cookbook for you.  Who this cookbook is not for?  Parents with little kids (like me).  The recipes in this cookbook draw on a wide variety of gourmet flavors and combinations.  In the beginning, there is a section about how to cook and store gluten-free whole grains including corn, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, oats, quinoa, sorghum, and different varieties of rice.  What I especially like about this section is that the author explains how to cook many of them with a rice cooker, microwave, or slow cooker which makes it seem much more doable to cook these grains I'm not used to. 

The recipes are unusual.  They include a wide range of flavors, as I mentioned before.  In the breakfast section, you'll find a recipe for almond-flavored millet with cherries.  In the main dish section, you'll find southwestern turkey stew with cornmeal dumplings and salmon and wild rice cakes with avocado-chili topping.  For flours, she relies primarily on sorghum, tapioca, a little rice, and coconut.  Xanthum gum is also an ingredient you'll need for many of the recipes in this cookbook, though in very small amounts.  I found it to be most affordable to purchase Bob's Red Mill's Xanthum Gum at our local grocery store when it was on special one week for $6 a pound. I was surprised that sorghum was often the author's choice for flour.  My good friend explained to me that sorghum does have a distinct flavor that you have to get used to if you haven't cooked with it before.  So, if the sorghum flour isn't to your liking, I would try a substitution before giving up on a particular recipe.  I read on one blog that you can substitute white rice flour for sorghum, but that the author of that blog found this to make for blander recipes.  

Unfortunately for me, I can't say that I tried any of these recipes and that's because I know my little kids, who are normally my taste testers aren't quite as experimental as these recipes.  My plan was for my husband to be my taste tester, but that also didn't work out when he decided to not stay on the gluten-free track.  But, we have lots of foodie friends and I know from our conversations with them that these recipes would be right up their alleys. 

So, if you're a foodie who can't have gluten now--I'd try this cookbook!  Amazon does not have a preview available of the cookbook, but you can find one HERE on Robert Rose's website.

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this cookbook for review from the Robert Rose Publishing.

Coping with Food Allergies

Recently the husband of a good friend of mine was diagnosed with celiacs.  It feels as if I am meeting more and more people who have special diets.  I have watched from afar as my friend has just jumped right in.  Her whole family is eating differently to make it easier on her husband because of his need to take gluten and lactose out of his diet.  I have been so impressed with her dedication and her efforts to love her husband well.

As a host, I want to love our guest well when they come into our home.  I want to understand what I need to watch out for.  In my mind, food allergies are different than being a picky eater.  I remember trying to accommodate one picky eater who came to our home on New Year's Eve 9 years ago.  I changed my main dish just for her and then it turned out that she didn't like that either!  I couldn't do anything more.  But, food allergies are much more serious.  My friend's husband has to miss a day of work if he eats the wrong thing.

So, I was excited when I got the chance to review The Total Food Allergy Health and Diet Guide for review.  This book was by Alexandra Anca, a registered dietician, with Dr. Gordon L. Sussman, a medical doctor.  It is a chockful of information!  This book covers various food allergies, associated health conditions, the diagnosis of food allergies, managing the allergies, what products to watch out for, and then recipes.  Half of this book is recipes, which is the part I most wanted.

I found the information about allergies informative.  If I was starting down the road to food allergy testing, this book would provide good explanations of allergies vs. intolerances, how to understand different types of testing, and what I need to watch out for.  One note the author does make strongly, which I agree with, is that elimination diets shouldn't be started without medical supervision and advice.  We can unintentionally take nutrients out of our diets without making up for them.  The first half is full of charts and medical information.  But, if you or someone close to you has a food allergy, this information would be very important to have.

I have reviewed one or 2 gluten free cookbooks before.  The mix of flours used has always been very expensive, which has deterred me.  That was something I noticed right away with this cookbook.  The baking ingredients are much more doable--both to find and afford.  I made the applesauce muffins for my friend, her husband, and another gluten-free friend.  I did substitute cranberries for the raisins because I didn't have sulfur free raisins.  They were all very impressed!  Both families wanted the recipe and said they were better by far than other gluten free muffins they'd had.  The recipe did specify things like gluten free baking soda and gluten free vanilla.  I had to buy a new container of Clabber Girl and my Costco vanilla was labeled gluten free.  

As I looked through the other recipes, I was pleased.  The recipes are ones I'd make for company and are simple enough to prepare.  I wanted this book so that I could be a good host and make meals that everyone will eat when we have gluten free guests.   

If you're looking for a general food allergy book to help you cope with multiple food allergies in your family, or if you are like me and need some recipes when you have guests with food allergies over, then this is a very informative and helpful book!

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book from Robert Rose publishing for review.

Gluten-Free Cookbook

I just got a new cookbook from Amazon for review:  Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone   It was one of the two that I mentioned the other day.


I think Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free cooking would be hard, though it's becoming easier with the increase of products now available in mainstream super markets. Even General Mills is coming out with Gluten-Free baking mixes. But, for families that want to cook from scratch and not use premade gluten-free products, cooking has a lot of challenges. I was really curious how Silvana Nardone would deal with the struggles of substituting wheat and dairy in this cookbook. 

Rachel Ray wrote the forward for this cookbook, but I've found that her recipes often use expensive ingredients and are more time intensive then they sound. Honestly, I haven't liked her cookbooks or recipes.  So, I wasn't sure how this cookbook would be. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Silvia Nardone did just what I hoped she would--she developed a gluten-free flour that can be made into a pancake mix and used in a variety of other ways. She generally uses normal ingredients outside of the flour ingredients themselves. To make this mix more affordably, you can grind your own rice flour using a Nutrimill (though I'd suggest you call the manufacturer for tips on how much at a time to grind because I had a friend who was helped by doing this). It won't grind the other ingredients, but you can get them in bulk at some Whole Foods or at Amish Markets (which would likely be the cheapest option). But, if you're not in a big city, Bob's Red Mill products are carried by many main stream grocery stores now.  Usually, people use spelt as a substitute, but you're still stuck needing good recipes using that substitution.

I was a bit surprised with her choice to use vegetable shortening for baking as a substitute for butter. But, I realized that while Ms. Nardone is taking out the wheat and dairy, she wasn't taking out the partially hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup. I did a little research though and the verdict (at least on the internet) is that fully hydrogenated shortening is okay--it has no trans fats and Crisco makes a shortening that fits this bill. She also uses Marshmallow Fluff and Light Corn Syrup in a few recipes. 

The other substitution she makes is rice milk--which I think is a great choice. It tastes far better than the others and it's least expensive of dairy alternatives if you get it at Trader Joe's. I used to have to drink it because I was lactose intolerant for 2 or 3 years in my 20s.  I'm trying not to give too much away, but I don't think I am, because it is her recipes, experiences, and stories that make this cookbook what it is as much as her flour substitution recipe. 

As for the recipes, they'd be great for adults. Many of the recipes are far simpler to make and in flavor than the names would make you think--which is a good thing. It would be very easy to modify the recipes and make them little kid friendly by taking out a few of the spices or decreasing them. The main dishes are much more to the tastes of adults than children--but I think that is one of the easier meals to modify--baking and breakfast are far trickier. Her recipes don't use non-dairy cheses, which are expensive and taste different. 

I think this would be a great cookbook to try--even if the main dishes aren't to the taste of you or your family. Her ideas and flour recipe are worth the cookbook.  I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but I'm going to make the butternut casserole tonight and I'll post tomorrow how it turns out!  It's a good one to check out from the library first--to see how you like it.  If you do, would you please comment and let me know how you like it?

She does have a website that looked great:  www.dishtoweldiaries.com  And on her site she lists her favorite gluten free websites.  So, I think if we had to go towards a gluten free diet--I would definitely start there =)