Incredible Edible Gluten-Free Food for Kids

The cover of this cookbook draws me in. It looks fun to me. And as I open the cookbook, I quickly relate to the author. Sheri L. Sanderson is the mother of a child with celiac disease, and and Woodbine House bring us Incredible Edible Gluten-Free Food for Kids, 150 Family Tested Recipes. Finding foods that our kids will eat and that are gluten free (and more) can be a challenge, and Sanderson knows that.


The first four chapters are educational and informative:
Chapter 1: A Guide To Gluten-Free Beginnings
Chapter 2: Understanding Celiac Disease
Chapter 3: Special Help for Your Child
Chapter4: Before You Start

I often say that being just gluten-free would be sooooooooooooooooooooo easy. Adding dairy, soy, nuts, eggs, and other foods to the "free" list makes meal prep more complicated, and Gluten-Free Food for Kids is a gluten-free cookbook. If you're anything else free, you'll need to know how to make your own substitutions or skip certain recipes. (What is a substitution for powdered dry milk or buttermilk powder, anyway?) Bottom line: This book is a solid option if someone in your family is ONLY gluten-free. If you have other frees on your avoid list, I'd recommend you borrow this one from the library to see if it is something you will use enough to buy.

The Poultry chapter is my favorite and that's the one I'll be cooking from first. Chicken with Dijon Sauce and Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets are calling my name. There are recipes for homemade pizza sauce and mini pizzas that I'd like to try on a biscuit recipe ('cept I need a substitute for the buttermilk powder in the buttermilk buscuit recipe or perhaps I will use biscuits from a gf baking mix).

There are quite a few recipes for dishes that I already make and there are a large number I won't make because I know we won't eat them (stuffed peppers, for example).

The recipe list gives readers a lot of variety, including appetizers and snacks, breads, breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas, salads and veggies, soups and stews and sweets. The Party and Entertaining chapter is important - seems we all struggle with party ideas. The Lego cake idea is genius. The last chapter contains craft ideas. I wish I'd had this when my girl was in preschool.

The appendix and resource list at the back are a real wealth of information. There are cooking tips galore with a troubleshooting guide that I wish I'd had when I began over 1o years ago.

Sheri L. Sanderson's web site is HERE.

Woodbine House sent me a review copy of Gluten-Free Food For Kids. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Gluten-Free On A Shoestring

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring by Nicole Hunn arrived in my mailbox recently, and the popovers on the cover were too inviting to leave there on the cover.

Eldest agreed. We set out the eggs to bring to room temperature and once they were ready, we began. She did most of the work.

Because of the recent move, I cannot always remember exactly where I put things when I unpacked them. I do not have a popover pan and I could not find my large 12-muffin muffin tin. So, we improvised with minis.

I'd not made popovers before; they turned out quite tasty, even with substitutions, and Li'l Bit ate several of them.

We were limited in what we could make because I have not found all of my baking supplies since our move. I had to go digging in boxes to look for the xanthan gum. I was thrilled to find it and then we had all the ingredients for popovers. (I have yet to find the vanilla flavoring.)

And we found the large muffin tin when we were finished.

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring is a 257-page paperback that gives readers 125 gluten-free "Easy Recipes for Eating Well on the Cheap". There is a small photo section in the center of the book. Amazon has it priced under $11 at the moment. (a bargain!)

I wanted to make at minimum a couple more recipes before I post the review, and I seem to never have all of the ingredients I need or everything that sounds good has a milk ingredient that I cannot use (sour cream, cream cheese) or substitute (we have a soy issue, too). So, no, it's not allergen free, although the majority of the recipes are adaptable.

Another wrinkle: Lately, temps have been too hot to bake. I don't want to turn on the oven if I don't have to.

I want to make the toaster pastry recipe. Graham crackers. The chocolate wafer cookie. Chocolate chip brownies. Pizza crusts. I wonder if I use coconut kefir or yogurt in place of the half-cup of sour cream, would the Devil's Food Cake turn out right in my new oreo cookie cake pan that I found on clearance? I have quite a list of recipes to try, and at this point, they're not going to happen until the school-building-school kids go back to school in August. Then, my homeschooler and I will begin baking together in a bigger way again.

This is not just a baking cookbook. Hunn gives us veggies and main dishes in addition to breads and desserts. She gives readers quite a lot of "how-to" as she begins the book, which is informative to newbies and oldies alike.

I've enjoyed reading the cookbook. I'm ready to get my act together and cook from it in a big way.

De Capo Press sent me a review copy of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring. I was not paid for this review. I do not benefit should you choose to purchase this book. I am not obligated to provide a positive review.

sam the cooking guy: just grill this!" by sam zien

In my constant search for recipes that my whole family can enjoy together (one of my children is on a gluten free, dairy free, soy free and more diet), I am looking more and more at cookbooks that concentrate on meat.

sam the cooking guy: just grill this! arrived while we were in transition in a hotel and hubby and I spent lots of time poolside drooling over browsing the recipes and fabulous food photos while the kids were swimming.

I have not had an opportunity to grill a single thing since our move. We do not have a grill our our new location. At our 'old' house, our grill was a permanent fixture attached to our little deck, using a gas line from the house. We never had to fill a propane tank. Our 'new' house has an even smaller deck and came with no bbq grill. So, we are shopping for them, and I am researching the newfangled infrared grills. They fascinate me. Zien suggests I get a ridged grill pan and grill indoors.

Right from the start, I learned some tips. I have always thrown my meat on the grill straight from the refrigerator. Zien says to allow it to sit at room temp about half an hour before I cook it. ("You can't possibly cook meat properly if it's fridge-cold in the middle." p. 24)

Please peek inside: The table of contents is here. The chapter called small things is here. For those of us who like to read from back to front, the index is here.

When I think of grilling, I think of meats, yet Zien gives us recipes for veggies, salads, sides, drinks and desserts, too (not all are grilled).

For those of us cooking for individuals with food allergies and intolerances, Zien gives us a long list of recipes we can use. Most are naturally allergen free. No, all of the recipes are not allergen free, and you'll have to find the dishes that are right for you, and I suspect you'll find quite a few recipes to work with. (I need a soy substitute for some recipes that use soy sauce.)

What do I want to make as soon as I get a grill? cedar plank salmon. sticky sweet ribs. lamb with rosemary oil. mustard, honey, & curry chicken things. Zien gives us a cheese-free recipe for amazing leftover steak tacos (it does contain a little sour cream). the best cauliflower. grilled bacon & mashed potato pizza. That's my short list.

My favorite quote from the cookbook: "When I autograph a book to a couple, I like to write, 'Cook together--always.' I think being together in a kitchen...the fun, the hassle, the casualness of the whole thing--whatever it is--is good for two people." ... (p 218)

The 272-page paperback is priced at $19.95 and is available now.

Wiley provided a review copy of just grill this. I received no payment for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review. And when I get a bbq grill and cook from this cookbook, I'll blog about it.

FREE FOR ALL COOKING

Jules E. Dowler Shepard brings us FREE FOR ALL COOKING, 150 Easy Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Recipes The Whole Family Can Enjoy.

You may be familiar with Jules Gluten Free^TM, a company that supplies gluten-free flour and baking mixes for families like mine who have at least one family member with multiple food intolerences or allergies.


FREE FOR ALL COOKING is Jules's latest cookbook made available from Da Capo Press. The paperback is 247 pages, is priced at $18.95, and covers a lot of gluten-free territory.

I like this cookbook because Shepard understands families like mine, families who want to develop menus that the whole family can enjoy together, and families with more food intolerances than simply gluten-free. She gives us a lot of substitutions in her recipes, and for a newbie who isn't skilled at making substitutions, that is a real bonus. (Shepard gives us *gasp* TWELVE substitutes for eggs, with suggestions within recipes on which egg substitute works better in individual recipes. I have never seen twelve egg substitutes listed before.)

Shepard gives readers an education about which grains are gluten grains and which grains are not. If you're new to GF baking, you'll appreciate the education.

The cookbook does not require you to purchase GF flour from Jules. You may purchase flour from her or create your own blend; she gives you her blend recipe in the cookbook.

Shepard gives us a nice variety; she covers recipes for breakfast foods; appetizers and side dishes; breads and rolls; soups; main dishes; and desserts in six chapters that include everyday foods and recipes for holidays and special occasions.

There are a few pages of color photos in the center of the cookbook. Not all recipes are pictured.

The cookbook cover photo makes me want cake with sweet icing like crazy, but that's my problem, I suppose. (I will have to make a cake, soon.)

Jules blogs at http://blog.julesglutenfree.com/.

I am happy to add Free For All Cooking to my cookbook collection; inside, there are plenty of recipes that should please my picky eaters for every meal (and more).

De Capo Press sent me a copy of Free For All Cooking to review. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

The Kitchen Classroom

In the I-wish-I'd-thought-of-this-myself category, The Kitchen Classroom by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is a paperback cookbook/CD-ROM combo designed to help parents (and professionals) use the kitchen as a classroom with children with special needs and/or developmental delays who also happen to have food intolerances or allergies.

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is the kind of expert that I like to learn from. She is the mom of a child on the autism spectrum. She's an RDI(r) mom. And she knows cooking, too; she is a former cooking instructor for Williams-Sonoma who now teaches at Gratz College in Pennsylvania.

Part of her story is here. Or here.

Back to "The Kitchen Classroom": Every recipe is gluten free and casein (dairy) free. Every recipe is simple and kid-friendly. (Note: The recipes are not allergen free. If your child is more than GFCF, you will have to make some substitutions or skip some recipes entirely.)

The $22.46 paperback includes chapters about the relationship and sensory aspects of cooking. Author Kaplan-Mayer includes information about child development; about being in the kitchen with children who have developmental delays; about framing shopping for recipes and cooking; about the GFCF diet; and about kitchen safety as well.

Both the paperback and the accompanying CD-ROM include the 32 recipes.

The paperback features lots of little ideas and suggestions that parents can use, things to spotlight for the child, if developmentally appropriate, with hints about using activities as part of academics, too.

The CD-ROM features recipes in pictures for six breakfast choices; five lunch choices; seven dinner choices; nine snacks and treats; and five veggie side dishes. You may choose to look at the picture cards right from the computer, or you may choose to print them. Each recipe on the CD gives users a reminder to wash hands, an ingredient and tool list, and the recipe steps in pictures and words. The photos are full color and Kaplan-Mayer is generous with the photographs; she gives us almost 500 photos to guide us as we cook with our children.

Some of the recipes require little "cooking"; some require more. There are recipes for toast, eggs, pancakes, muffins, sandwiches, latkes (sweet potato!), salmon, rice, noodles, pizza, salad, fries, a smoothie, and more, all simple and all things kids tend to like. A sample recipe is here.

If you are a beginner in Relationship Development Intervention, I think you'll really like Kaplan-Mayer's suggestions. One of the mistakes I made a lot in the beginning is creating an activity that was too complicated. Kaplan-Mayer keeps all of these recipe activities simple. She frames the simplicity for me. I like that.

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer blogs here, giving readers information, recipes, and how-to on video.

Thumbs up, Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer. I wish I'd had something like this in my RDI(r) beginning to help me keep activities simple. Several years into RDI(r), your cookbook is still a wonderful reminder and help.

Woodbine House sent me a copy of "The Kitchen Classroom" for review purposes. This is an unpaid review and I am not obligated to provide a positive review. I do not benefit financially if you purchase this product.

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free by Karen Morgan from Chronicle Books (review)

I just made the tallest gluten free, (almost) casein-free cornbread I have ever made. From scratch. And it is delicious! The recipe is one I adapted (I made my own "buttermilk" using casein-free milk-substitute and lemon juice; I did use the real butter called for in the recipe) from Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free This recipe for southern-style corn bread (page 31) is among our favorites.

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free by Karen Morgan is a beautiful 224-page hardback cookbook that gives readers and bakers 75 recipes for desserts and pastries that are gluten free and made from scratch. The photographs inside are so gorgeous, I want to try almost every one of them. (I am not a fan of the savory caramelized alsatian onion tart.) I have blueberries in the refrigerator for the cobbler recipe, and I'll make that cobbler if there are enough blueberries left after my family has been nibbling at them. That shortbread on the cover has me thinking about strawberry shortcake, too. Or a mix of strawberries and blackberries with shortcake. (We have no organic strawberries in the supermarket at the moment; I looked for them all weekend.)

In addition to an intro, notes on ingredients, a resources section, index, and table of equivalents, Morgan gives us seven chapters covering "biscuits, muffins & sweet breads; cookies & bars; tarts, pies & cobblers; cakes, big & small; crepes & pâte à choux; custards, puddings & ice cream; and dinner-party showstoppers".

Blackbird Bakey Gluten-Free is another cookbook that we girls oooh and aaaah over together; it's quite the backdrop for relationship building in our autism intervention. Looking together at the recipes and pictures and dreaming about what we want to make and for what occasion is a wonderful experience. The fact that we can make something that ALL of us can eat makes it even better. ;)

Check out some of the photos here. You'll want to own the cookbook when you see the photos. ;)

Morgan uses a different blend/ratio of flours for each recipe, which sets her recipes apart from the folks who develop a blend that you mix, store, and have ready to use in any recipe. While having that one blend ready to go is convenient, (and I do like convenience!), having recipes that are developed individually is attractive, too, because I trust that they've been tested and tested and that the recipe developer knows the recipes are better for the flour blend having been individualized for each recipe. I think there's room for both kinds of gluten-free cookbooks on my bookshelf.

I seem to be stuck on blogging about the topic of cornbread recipes. I have a one recipe that is good fried on the stove in a little oil, like johnnycakes, yet I keep searching for a baked cornbread recipe that is a little more like what I grew up with. This one's closer to the one my grandmother makes. (We never put a can of whole kernel corn in our cornbread growing up; the corn adds something special.)

No, this is not an allergen free cookbook. If you, like me, are more than gluten-free, you'll need to know how to make your own substitutes. Gluten-free recipes are a great starting point, though, when the flour substitutions have already been made for me. I sense myself becoming braver than I used to be; I am ready to try Morgan's strawberry tartlets with vanilla pastry cream using coconut based milks instead of cream and half-and-half.

My friend Amy made the lemon bars from Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free. Click here to read about the lemon bars.

Check out the Blackbird Bakery web site here; follow on facebook here. Morgan provides readers hints, tips, and recipes, and offers an occasional giveaway.

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free is a fantastic cookbook for gluten-free baking. I look forward to baking my way through it.

Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free for review purposes. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Cake Pops

I am not the most creative person on the planet. Before one of my children needed a special diet because of food allergies and intolerances, I'd have just purchased food pretties for special occasions from a bakery.


I would still purchase food pretties from a bakery for the sibs on their birthdays, except that I have an added complication. My GFCFSF+++ girl is a twin. And if I buy her twin's cake and make and decorate her cake myself, the purchased cake is beautiful and the one I made stinks by comparison.

Buying one cake and making and decorating the other is nothing but a glaring advertisement for how much help I need in the decorating department.


So, I took a cake decorating class. That helped. But still, I need ideas.

This cake pop craze is too cute, and I need ideas that I can use as I play with homemade coatings (is there a gluten free, milk free, soy free candy coating? I haven't found one yet) so that I can make some cake pops that all of us can make and enjoy together.


Angie Dudley's Cake Pops ($19.95 list price) is a *wonderful* mix of recipes, how-to, beautiful photos, hints and tips to all things cake pops, cupcake bites, and cake balls. Our book arrived in the middle of a busy CHRISTmas season, and we haven't had time to try to make every bit of them from scratch, yet (I can't use canned frosting in the balls/pops because they all contain milk or soy or sunflower oil and I can't use candy coating discs, either). The girls and I have browsed the book, studied it, ooo'ed and ahh'ed over the pictures, and dreamed of what we'll try first.


Angie Dudley blogs at Bakerella.com. Check out the Mrs. Pots cake pops here.

No, the recipes are not allergen-free. If you're baking for an individual with allergies, you'll need to know how to create the cake and other ingredients that are safe for the person you're baking for. (Sidebar FYI: There is a GFCFSFEF recipe here.)


The best part, I think, about Cake Pops is the way Angie Dudley makes my girls and me feel like we can do this, too. She got the creative gene; hopefully, I can try to channel that from her ideas, combined with my (very) little bit of experience with some icing tips, I can come up with a homemade icing that will cover and harden on my cake balls, and we can decorate with another homemade icing. Melted chocolate chips will work. (I wonder if fondant would work in place of candy coating?) She certainly encourages my desire to be creative. (I almost drooled over the photos in the book - they're gorgeous.)

We've gotten quite a bit of time to experience share over the photos in this book, dreaming about what we want to make, ooooing and ahhhhing over the cute treats.

The book is spiral bound under a hard cover, which means it is quite sturdy and lies flat. I don't have to weight it down on the kitchen counter to hold it open to the right page.


Cake Pops is a must have, especially for a mom who has the allergen-free recipes and needs ideas for creating allergen free treats at home.

Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Cake Pops so that I may review it on my blog. I received no financial compensation and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Falling Off The Bone

Author Jean Anderson, via Wiley, brings us a beautiful cookbook for all things meat: Falling Off The Bone.

I'm the one who finds a new recipe to try only to have it flop because the meat is tough and the kids won't eat it. Falling Off The Bone ($29.99) promises to teach me how to turn out tender, delicious meats every time.

The pictures in this sturdy hardback cookbook are gorgeous. I can't decide what to try first. I page through the book looking at recipe titles, ingredients, and photos, and think, "I want to try that one and that one and that one and that one..." There are a few recipes from the cookbook here.

Falling Off The Bone covers (in chapters) beef, veal, lamb, and pork. I find one recipe (puchero, page 70) in the beef section that uses poultry (chicken drumsticks are an ingredient).

Author Stevenson gives us recipes for soups, stews, one-dish meals, and entrees. Recipes range from traditional U.S. comfort foods to dishes from different cultures from around the world. Anderson shares favorite family recipes with readers, too.

The most important parts of the book for me are the "how-to" and "why bother". Anderson gives the reader instruction and education about different pieces of meat, about how to tenderize, about kitchen tools, gadgets and pots & pans, about ingredients to enhance flavors, about short cuts, about anything you need to know when cooking beef, veal, lamb, and pork.

Allergen-free cooks: This is not an allergen free or even gluten free cookbook. If you're comfortable making substitutions, you'll be able to use this cookbook with ease.

With the wake-up temp at 8 degrees above zero this morning, a soup or stew would be good; another choice would be a recipe to use the chuck roast that I have in the freezer. Decisions, decisions. Armstrong has recipes for them all.

Wiley sent me a copy of Falling Off The Bone for review purposes. I am not paid for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free

I was excited to see that Anne Byrn has written a version of her Cake Mix Doctor series for gluten free cake mixes.

The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free, Classic Cakes, Cookies, Brownies, Bundts, and Bars, by Anne Byrn, retails for $14.95, and is a 308 page paperback.

My review copy arrived in early December. The first cake I made was the Banana Bread Cake with Caramel Glaze (page 117). I had bananas that needed to be used in banana bread or thrown away. I found my bundt pan and got to work. Check out the pictures I took of my very first GFCF bundt cake.

I love the convenience. Baking gluten-free from scratch means I have ten thousand ingredients (slight exaggeration) to make a recipe. Using a GF white cake mix from Whole Foods and a few "regular" ingredients from my kitchen had me making one of the quicker GFCF batters I've ever made.

Author Byrn includes suggestions to make most recipes dairy free. Occasionally, there is a recipe that can not be made dairy free, but the majority of recipes in the cookbook have GFCF versions. I made the caramel glaze for the Banana Bread Cake using coconut milk in place of the cream. The texture and crumb were excellent - no gummy blob in place of cake, here.

(Penny's notes: 1) We rotate eggs in baked goods at my house, and I made this first cake with eggs instead of egg replacer. I wanted to see what the original recipe made. Next time, I'll try it w/ egg replacer and have something to compare. 2) I use real butter. (Some people use ghee or clarified butter.) I used real butter in the cake pictured here. When my daughter was two and had been on the GFCF diet for eight months, our DAN! doctor recommended we try real butter. He suggested that there is not enough casein in it to cause problems for some children. I refused to try it for about a month because I had seen a four-day regression when my daughter ate one cheerio that I was unable to remove from her mouth before she swallowed it. Based on our doctor's medical advice, we did try butter on GFCF toast with no signs of infraction, and while I do use it sparingly, I did use it in this recipe. Consult with your doctor before trying any dairy if you are sensitive to it in any way. This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor and do not play one on this blog.)

This is not an allergen-free cookbook. If you (like me) are baking for someone with more sensitivities than simply gluten and dairy, you'll need to know how to make substitutions in some of the recipes (particularly for eggs; eggs are the most challenging item to substitute from this cookbook). Additionally, Byrn uses cream cheese in some of the recipes; for those of us baking soy-free as well as GFCF, I have not found a dairy-free, soy-free substitute for cream cheese. Still, there are lots of recipes in this book that I can use.

I don't like the fact that a recipe sometimes begins on the right side of the page and I have to turn the page to read the rest of the recipe.

I do like the place in the margins for my own notes as I bake through this cookbook.

The ingredient lists and directions are big enough for me to read w/ my reading glasses on.

The cookbook features recipes for cakes, cookies, desserts for any occasion, from dessert with a family dinner, to potlucks, to birthdays, to weddings.

Bottom line, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free is a must have in a GFCF kitchen.

Workman Publishing sent me a copy of The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free in exchange for a review. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

CANDY CONSTRUCTION Edible Crafts

Tired of building with little plastic blocks and want to add some variety in your play construction projects? Have some candy left over from a holiday that you'd like to use without eating it?

A big challenge for me is finding the "how to" instructions for a food craft. First I have to know what might be out there and start an internet search, succumb to the temptation of a few rabbit trails that take me off topic, and try to find instructions that will guide me in creating something cute and do-able.

Imagine my delight to discover a delightful book that has edible crafts with recipes and instructions all in one place - requiring no internet time. Check out CANDY CONSTRUCTION, Edible Crafts, by Sharon Bowers ($14.95).

Bowers starts with some basic limit setting that include no eating while building, a limit on one candy to eat when finished, and teeth brushing when done.

I am reading CANDY CONSTRUCTION from the perspective of the mom who wants to make something with a child who can't eat typical candy. I'm looking at instructions and recipes to see what, exactly, I can find in allergen-free form in order to duplicate at my house. Rice cereal treats, pretzels, some gummy candy, Nerds, marshmallows, sandwich cookies, chocolate bars - I see quite a few items I can find an appropriate substitute for. Peanut butter cups and Nutter Butters - no way - I'll have to skip the recipes that use those or figure out a good nut-free substitute.

CANDY CONSTRUCTION offers party ideas based upon quite a few themes (you may choose to plan a party around one of the crafts) and holiday ideas that could use up leftover candy. Bowers uses everyday candies for the folks who aren't on special diets, easy to find, generally. The instructions are easy to follow; the projects, simple, because they're for kids. Some of the figures or parts of crafts could easily become a cake or cupcake topper.

The projects are what I call "RDI-able"; the projects can be used for a variety of Relationship Development Objectives in a fun, "in context" way.

There are other benefits. Having a child on a special diet due to food intolerances and some allergies can make Vacation Bible School, birthday and holiday parties difficult. If *I* don't make it from GFCFSF+++ ingredients, my girl can't enjoy it with the others. Now, I can make something my girl can taste if she wants to.

I'm pleased to add this book to my collection of cookbooks.

Storey Publishing sent me a complimentary, review copy of CANDY CONSTRUCTION Edible Crafts for review purposes. I am not paid for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Cookbook: Fresh From The Market

In my never-ending quest to find recipes that are GFCFSF (and a few other "frees") to fit family food sensitivities that all of the majority of our family will eat, combined with an interest in seasonal eating/cooking because it is healthier and may help lessen food sensitivities, I requested one of Wiley's very newest cookbooks to review: Fresh From The Market, Seasonal Cooking With Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March.

Often, "market" cookbooks focus on whole foods which happen to offer a good number of GFCFSF recipes.

When I opened the package containing Fresh From The Market, Seasonal Cooking With Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March, ($35.00, hardback) the book automatically flipped open to a recipe for Spicy Crispy Chicken from the Spring section, a gluten-free roasted chicken with eight spices in the recipe list. I wonder if I dare make this one in autumn?

The cookbook is beautiful. Heavy; weighty. The pictures are gorgeous. As Thanksgiving approaches, I peeked at the Roasted Turkey with Chestnut-Sausage Stuffing, Cranberry-Grenadine Relish, and Rosemary Gravy recipe. Makes your mouth water, doesn't it? And with a gluten-free bread in the stuffing, only the gravy needs substitutions for the cream and flour in order for the entire thing to be GFCFSF.

The authors give us a little bit of everything, from drink recipes, to breakfast recipes, salads that I'd consider for lunch, dinner recipes, and holiday recipes. They provide lists of seasonal foods by month and sample holiday menus. The table-of-contents is HERE. Amazon dot com shares a recipe HERE.

It is an education for me; I'm learning new vocabulary. For example, I learned that the ramps used in the cookbook are wild leeks, and I'm pretty sure I've not seen them at our farmer's market. Mache is a kind of lettuce. Burrata and Fiscaliini are cheeses. Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. There is so much to learn. I did expect it to use more 'ordinary' ingredients from the market and not so many 'unusual' ones.

Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March use quite a few ingredients that I have not seen at local markets and would likely be challenged to find, including quail eggs, milk-fed veal sweetbreads, rabbit, skate, duck eggs, or wild boar.

My complaint is that the text is much too small for my past-the-midpoint between 40-&-50 year-old eyes, even with reading glasses.

If you're looking for gluten free, or dairy free, or allergen free recipes, there are some sprinkled throughout the book, although the authors use quite a bit of cheese, milk, eggs, nuts. If you're experienced at making your own substitutions for food sensitivities, you'll find more that you can use than people who aren't confident making substitutions in "regular" recipes.

Many of the recipes are what I consider too fancy for everyday, although maybe I need to rethink my perspetive on that one. (We are worth some fancy foods! Pigs in a Blanket "Ritz Carlton" might be a fun place to begin, although the store-bought frozen puff-pastry in the recipe isn't gluten free) Most of the recipes that I will use will be altered in some way (partly because of our food sensitivities and partly because the ingredients are challenging to find); for example, the butternut squash soup sounds delicious, however, I am sure that I will not make the Foie Gras and Wild Mushroom Crostini to accompany it.

Fresh From The Market, Seasonal Cooking With Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March is a lovely cookbook as I learn more about seasonal buying, cooking, and eating. I'm thrilled to add it to my collection.

Wiley sent me Fresh From The Market, Seasonal Cooking With Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March in exchange for my review. I am not paid for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

easy gluten-free"

The American Dietetic Association has a brand new cookbook, "easy gluten-free". Authors Tricia Thompson, M.S., R.D., and Marlisa Brown, M.S., R.D., C.D.E., C.D.N., have written more than a cookbook. This 271 page paperback begins with a forward by Gluten Free Girl Shauna James Ahern and includes many gluten free recipes in the middle section between a 37 page introduction to all things gluten free and a generous reference section at the back of the book.

easy gluten-free ($15.95) gives us a good cross-section of recipes for every meal, that include entrees, side dishes, snacks, dessert. There are fancy dishes, there are comfort foods, there are recipes that look long and complicated, and some that are short and simple. It's a good mix.

The table of contents is HERE.

Chapter 1, "I Have to Eat Gluten-Free. Now What?" is HERE.

No, some of the recipes aren't casein (milk) free, nut free, egg free, allergen free, although some recipes contain substitutions suggestions. There are quite a few that are allergen free. My GFCFSFer daughter looked through the book last night, unusual for her, and called to me in the next room to tell me about different recipes. She wants to make Mexican Pizza and baked onion rings, among other things.

For individuals who must rotate grains, there are recipes that use some of the more "unusual" grains, like quinoa, teff, and amaranth.

The negatives for me: There are no photos inside. The paperback is floppy and you'll need something to weight it down or hold open the pages as you cook from it. And here's a big pet peeve of mine: The URLs mentioned in chapter one are too difficult to find. No one wants to type two lines of characters to find an internet reference. I wound up going to the blog site and searching on key words rather than trying to type that too-long list of characters. Here's one example (which I went to the trouble to find and cut and paste for you - what a pain to type!): http://www.diet.com/dietblogs/read_blog.php?title=Labeling+of+USDA-Regulated+Foods&blid=17330 I looked for a shorter perma-link and could not locate one. Establishing a new blog via blogger to hold those posts for simple perma-links would have been easy to do.

I like this book. It's a good starter book for a newbie; it's a good book for anyone who might be entertaining and cooking for frends with gluten intolerance.

Wiley sent me this book so that I could review it on my blog. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Betty Crocker fix with a mix desserts

Allow me to introduce Betty Crocker's fix with a mix desserts, 100 sensational sweets made easy wih a mix, a cookbook that includes a chapter on using Betty Crocker's new line of GLUTEN FREE mixes.

I have always liked recipes that began with a mix, where you add ingredients and get something special. (I have a coconut cake recipe that people believe is from scratch, and it begins with a mix. That's one that I haven't succeeded in making gluten free -- yet -- although I have tried.)

I was disappointed to see that there are only SEVEN gluten free recipes in the bonus section of the cookbook; HOWEVER, as I scan the gluten-filled recipes, I see many opportunities to substitute a gluten-free mix. If you are a veteran at gluten-free baking, I suspect you'll see the opportunities, too.

My guess is that the gluten-free recipes are especially for someone who is new to GF baking, or for, perhaps someone completely unfamiliar with it, who is baking a sweet for a GF friend.

If you are baking casein (milk) free, nut free, egg free, or other allergen-free, you'll have to know how to make substitutions, because this particular cookbook does not offer those substitutions.

The photos in the cookbook are beautiful; the presentations of finished recipes are pretty, yet simple enough that I believe I can duplicate them at home. As I look at the cookbook for ideas I can use in GFCFSF baking, I see some neat desserts in the gluten-filled section that I can copy with substitutions for my GFCFSF girl. I love new ideas! I can't believe I'm going to type this, but here goes: the entire cookbook has helped me think outside the box. I'm so afraid to experiment with gluten-free mixes, afraid the experiment will be a gummy flop, that sometimes I don't try. Comparing the gluten-free recipes with the gluten-filled recipes is interesting - there are so many similarities - my confidence is growing and I'll be trying some substitutions.

Some recipes call for canned frosting, so if you're like me, avoiding soy and milk, you'll have to make a homemade frosting, which adds to the prep time, although icing is not difficult to make (and I prefer homemade over canned).

Priced at $19.95, the pages in this cookbook are spiral bound within a sturdy hardcover. It lies flat on my counter and the cookbook stays open to the recipe I'm using without my having to weight it down.

I am craving the pumpkin spice cupcakes right now. I think I have all of the ingredients for them, too.

Wiley sent me Betty Crocker fix with a mix desserts so that I could review it for my blog. I am not paid for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

gluten-free girl and the chef

I often say that being SIMPLY gluten free would be so easy. My child and I have a long list of food sensitivities that can make meal planning and cooking feel like a chore.

As I read gluten-free girl and the chef, a love story with 100 tempting recipes, I realize that being SIMPLY gluten-free would be fun, too. The Aherns remind me that food is supposed to be fun, something to enjoy, not a chore to dread. Shauna and Daniel Ahern are an inspiration.

gluten-free girl and the chef, a love story with 100 tempting recipes is, as the title reveals, part cookbook, part love story, and Shauna Ahern tells us that it is meant to be read cover-to-cover, from beginning to end. It's more than a cookbook and a love story; it's an education, too, with real how-to tips and instructions about cooking basics.

I read it cover to cover yesterday and today. What a fun book!

I first "met" Shauna at the library, when her book, gluten-free girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too caught my eye. I brought it home and read it cover to cover. Shauna James Ahern weaves a wonderful story. I found Shauna's blog. I anticipated the new cookbook would be wonderful. (I think it is!)

Back to gluten-free girl and the chef: Their story, their love story, is hard to put down. Shauna and Daniel's closeness is something I envy. I enjoy the glimpse inside a restaurant kitchen, the peek into how a chef thinks. The images they describe, and some of the language, is quite colorful. (They occasionally use words and phrases that I don't use; particularly in descriptions of conversations in restaurant kitchens. There was a comment about the colorful language on an Amazon review; while I don't use language like that, it wouldn't stop me from buying a cookbook.) Their descriptions make me want to visit the Pacific Northwest again. I visited Seattle a couple of times (years ago); I've been inside some of the very places described vividly in the book; the authors' detail helps me picture them in my mind.

(I think Food Network should create a reality-tv show that chronicles the days of this family. I'd tune in.)

The Aherns, apparently, think about food the way I think about autism, all the time, or a majority of the time. And they cook and write about it, deliciously. (I can't believe they don't each weigh 400 pounds. They must have some big self-control when it comes to portion sizes.)

They inspire me, revitalize my desire to try to find new recipes, new foods, that fit our food sensitivities, that we can enjoy together. They remind me what food and cooking are all about. They remind me to eat as locally as possible and cook seasonally, which is healthier and supports local farmers. I have the urge to get to the farmers market more often.

This cookbook is beautiful. The photos make my mouth water. I'm all over the place. One minute, I am intimidated by some of the recipes. Next, I want to make several of them right now. Flatbread crackers (and that pizza on the cover). Asian pear tart. Waffles. Crusty Bread That Even Those Who Eat Gluten Might Like. Halibut with Millet, Carrot-Fennel Salad, and Golden Raisin Sauce. And, the Bacon-Wrapped Pork Belly (probably the most unhealthy thing in the world, but oooooooooh, it sounds so good!). And I want to have a bacon party. The Aherns have a long list of recipes on the blog if you'd like to peek at some of the recipes they make at home. This video and this one demonstrate a couple of the recipes in the book. (Chef makes everything look easy.)

To my readers who, like me, are more than simply gluten free: gluten-free girl and the chef is a gluten-free cookbook. Not allergen free. I use gluten free cookbooks as a starting point and improvise from there, based on our sensitivities. They sometimes use foods I can't use (cheese, milk, cream, milk powder, eggs, almond flour, nuts, shellfish, and no, we cannot simply substitute goat's milk for the cow's milk), some I rotate in our weeks. Some of the ingredients that are off limits at my house, I can omit or substitute; some I cannot. Still, there are quite a few recipes I can try, as is. And they give me a baking tip that is new to me: When I substitute a gf flour for a gf flour in a recipe, I need to match the weight in ounces, not the amount by cup or fraction of a cup. What an a-ha moment for me. They include weights in the ingredient lists of recipes in this cookbook.

There's a good mix of recipes in the cookbook. It's not just a baking cookbook or just entrees or just desserts. gluten-free girl and the chef includes a little bit of everything. Some of the recipes I think are too fancy for everyday (I suspect the authors would disagree with me). Maybe that's because I feel intimidated by the techniques and length of the ingredient lists on the ones that I consider "fancy". Whether you're cooking for a dinner party, for a pot luck, or for the family at home, the Aherns have something for you.

They have me wishing for some cooking classes and a new (gourmet) kitchen. One reason I'm reluctant to broaden my horizons in the kitchen is because prep and clean-up seem to take forever, and I have a small counter space on which to work. I am not experienced at searing and braising. If I were more practiced at chopping and didn't have to stop to read how-to directions when using a new technique, if I could just go into the kitchen and cook and not think about it, I'd do it more. There's only one fix for that: get in the kitchen and practice more.

One of the first things I did when I received my review copy was look for the pizza recipe inside. Pizza is pictured on the book jacket, but I couldn't locate the recipe inside. I headed over to Gluten-free Girl's facebook page to ask about it, and found I was not the first to ask that question. I'm told that FRIDAY, the gluten-free girl and the chef will do a blog post and video about making the pizza from the flatbread cracker recipe in the cookbook.

(I'm confused by information about making waffles. According to the side bar on page 86, variations:"Play with other whole grain flours for this mix...""...but keep the potato starch and the sweet rice flour so the mix will be light."... I don't see potato starch or sweet rice flour in the original recipe list of ingredients. Is there supposed to be potato starch and sweet rice flour in the original recipe? I'm not sure. Waffle recipe is HERE.)

For those of you who are like me and often start at the back of the book, the index is available online, along with the TOC. The table of contents is here and the index is here. And a video featuring the authors is here.

Thank you, Shauna and Daniel Ahern, for reviving my desire to bring the family together with food as the glue, for encouraging me to keep trying new things, looking for new recipes that fit our situation! The cookbook is a jewel and I treasure it.

Wiley sent me a complimentary copy of this cookbook so that I could review it on my blog. I am not financially compensated for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Allergy Free Desserts by Elizabeth Gordon

I follow quite a few food bloggers who blog gluten free or allergen free. Elizabeth Gordon is one of them. She doesn't blog frequently, but when she does, she sometimes shares a sweet recipe. Allergy Free Delights is in my left side bar, and when Gordon posts, I see it because the most recently updated blogs move to the top of the blogroll.

The recipes that Gordon posts make my mouth water. I'm not kidding. Peek at a couple of them. Chipwiches. ohmy And fig newtons. They have the look of yum. English toffee. I dream of toffee.

My desire to do some serious GFCFSF+++ baking has been greater than my ability to pull it off this summer. I need to organize my kitchen (again). (I heart author Gordon for having some of the same challenges that I do, yet she seems to experment in the kitchen more than I.) I loathe turning on the oven in the summertime. We've had so many hot, humid days near or above 90 that I don't want to heat the oven while the a/c is pumping on overdrive.

I've spent a lot of time reading cookbooks and dreaming about what I would actually make.

I received Elizabeth Gordon's new cookbook, allergy free desserts a week or so ago. List price is $22.95, the cookbook is a beautiful hardback, complete with photos of the recipes (I like photos!). True to the title of the book, the recipes are all glorious sweets. Yes, mouth watering sweets. Yes, it's exactly the gluten-free baked goods that I want to make.

What I didn't expect was Gordon's heavy use of chick pea flour. Almost every recipe in the cookbook uses chick pea (garbanzo bean) flour. (IF YOU ARE BAKING FOR SOMEONE WHO IS SENSITIVE TO RICE, check out this cookbook.)

Chick peas are related to soy and peanuts, and while some individuals who are sensitive to soy and peanuts are NOT sensitive to chick peas, I have chosen to avoid chick pea flour in my GFCFSF+++ baking. My daughter had reactions to peanuts when she was small and we got rid of peanuts. Lab tests reveal a sensitivity to soy. (My BIL and nephews have peanut and legume allergies.)

So, when I use her cookbook and recipes, I will make some rather big changes to them when I use a rice flour blend with corn starch to avoid the particular sensitivities we have at my house (potato happens to be one of my sensitivities).

I've had success changing other GFCF recipes to suit our needs - once the proportions are determined, flour blends can be somewhat interchangable, and I hope this holds true for bean flour blends. I haven't used many recipes intended for bean flours. So, we'll see. I'm up for an experiment. I've got my eye on a chocolate cake that uses cola as one of the ingredients because a) I love chocolate and the picture has me almost drooling over it and b) it reminds me of a cake I used to make before I stopped buying wheat flour.

Wiley sent me a complimentary copy of allergy-free desserts to review. I am not paid to write this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Carol Fenster: 100 Best Gluten Free Recipes

Carol Fenster is a name I became familiar with 9½ years ago when my daughter went on a gluten free diet (three weeks later, we removed casein from her diet, also). I own a couple of Carol Fenster gluten free cookbooks, both are paperback with no photos. (And yes, I purchased them.) And Fenster's recipes were gluten free - not casein (dairy) free. I don't cook from them often because I have to figure out how to alter recipes to fit all of our other dietary requirements. (Fenster is NOT an allergen free baker/cook.)

I trust Fenster. She's well known in gluten free circles everywhere; she's a popular speaker, and her flour blends are often recommended and shared. As I become more comfortable making substitutions for our specific allergens, I am more comfortable trying recipes from folks who, like Fenster, aren't completely allergen free.

100 Best Gluten Free Recipes is different from the other cookbooks by Fenster that I own in that it is hardback and it contains color photographs, and offers recipes that are vegetarian (meat/dairy free) and offers substitutions for some milk-based ingredients in some of her recipes.

Fenster gives us a little bit of everything in this cookbook. Here is theTable of Contents:

Introduction
Breakfast, Breads and Muffins
Small Bites: Appetizers, Soups, Salads and Sandwiches
Grains, Beans, and Pasta
Main Dishes
Desserts
Sources
Index

There are photographs of some of the completed recipes. The pictures are wonderful. (I like a cookbook with photos of completed recipes.) I have a short list that grows longer by the minute of recipes I want to try. If I can find a soy free, milk free cream cheese substitute, I want to try the Individual Fruit Tarts in Coconut Crusts pictured on the back cover. I'll try the crusts without the filling. The corn dogs pictured inside are the neatest, most "normal" looking corn dogs I've seen in any gluten free cookbook. (Will I be able to make mine look like those? Hmmm.) I want to make my own ice cream waffle cones. (Yum!) Lemon chicken. Chocolate chip muffins (they're actually chocolate muffins w/ chocolate chips, and yes, there's a photo).

For the most part, Fenster cooks with "regular" ingredients. If you're a gluten free cook, you'll recognize all of the different flour substitutes, the gums needed for baking, etc. Chia seeds are used in one recipe and are one of the few unusual items in the cookbook (I haven't seen them in a store yet).

If you are looking for a strict GFCF cookbook, this isn't it; although there are plenty of GFCF recipes to try here. If you're allergen free, you'll have to make quite a few substitutions. (I've said this before and I'll say it again, being simply gluten free would be so easy!)

This book is small, physically, too, giving it advantages and disadvantages in my opinion. A smaller book travels more easily, fitting into my tote bag on a trip or to the waiting room of an autism therapy appointment. On the other hand, a smaller book is more challenging to cook from (thank goodness for my StudyPod to prop it upright and open in the kitchen). A smaller book means the font is smaller, although I need my reading glasses for pretty much any book I cook from now.

Priced at $16.95, yes, I'd buy this book to add to my collection.

Wiley sent me a complimentary review copy of Carol Fenster's 100 Best Gluten Free Recipes to review here. I am not otherwise compensated for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

The Autism Cookbook, 101 Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Recipes

Based upon reviews at online book sellers that I read after I posted my first thoughts about this cookbook, I have opted to remove this post until I have cooked from it. I've not experienced problems with a cookbook that I previewed here before cooking from it, but this time, I suspect I might.

Here's the preview in a nutshell: At first glance, it is a beautiful book filled with simple recipes that fit the way we cook - I'll have to make no or limited modifications to recipe ingredients.

Vanessa Maltin's, "the gloriously gluten-free cookbook"

I received a copy of Vanessa Maltin's new cookbook last night. It's titled, the gloriously gluten-free cookbook, Spicing Up Life with Italian, Asian, and Mexican Recipes.

I sat down after supper and read the forward by Heidi Collins, read Maltin's intro, and read every recipe with my "we're-more-than-gluten-free-and-can-I-actually-use-this-cookbook???" perspective.

Oh, yes I can!!!

For those of you who are simply GLUTEN-FREE, I think you'll adore this cookbook. For those of you who are MORE than gluten free, I think you'll find (like I did) recipes you can use AS IS and some you can use with a substitution here or there. There are a number of recipes that have enough casein-based ingredients that I will not be able to make them at all for my daughter, (I don't have a good GFCFSF substitute for Parmesan cheese, for example) but will be able to make them for myself and friends with a wheat intolerance or Celiac.

I cook around so many allergies that I don't expect a cookbook to cover all of them. Gluten-free recipes are easier to adapt, because the gluten-free part of the recipe has already been adapted for me, allowing me to concentrate on substitutions for other ingredients on our lists at home. This cookbook is a good starting point for me.

I'm not a fan of Mexican food. I didn't grow up tasting those spices and I've never grown a taste for them. As an adult, I learned that I like Italian and Asian food, and gave up making those recipes when my daughter was diagnosed with a number of food allergies that include wheat/gluten, milk/casein, and soy.

I am delighted to see several recipes in the Asian section that do not use soy sauce!!! There are a few Asian recipes that use just a small amount of soy sauce - I may be able to recreate them with a mock soy sauce now that I have a solid "base" recipe.

My daughter (the one w/ the allergies) peeped over my shoulder a couple of times as I was reading recipes and said she would try this one or that one if I'd make it. Now that I've discovered a soy-free, nut-free mozzarella cheese substitute, I want to try some of the Italian recipes in the gloriously gluten-free cookbook. Who knows, maybe I'll even try a Mexican recipe, too.

The entire chapter, "Italian GLUTEN-FREE Cooking", is HERE.

The cover photo is the only photo of a completed recipe in the book. (I like photos in cookbooks, and I'm guessing omitting photos allowed the publishers to include more great recipes while keeping the price down.)

The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook: Spicing Up Life with Italian, Asian, and Mexican Recipes

Vanessa Maltin

ISBN: 978-0-470-44088-9

Paperback

256 pages

April 2010

US $19.95

Disclosure: Wiley Publishing sent me a review copy of the gloriously gluten-free cookbook. I am not financially compensated for reviews and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Introducing Whole Foods Cooking, by Rich & Sue Gregg, a TOS Crew Review

I should know more about whole foods cooking. Between my homeschooler and me, we have a long list of food sensitivities, allergies, and intolerances. Cooking with whole foods often means fewer ingredients, simpler recipes, which increases the likelihood that I can make one dish or meal for all of us.

Introducing Whole Foods Cooking for Health and Hospitality by Rich & Sue Gregg, from Sue Gregg Cookbooks, ($17.00) is much more than a cookbook. It is a teaching cookbook accompanied by a CD with PowerPoint photographs and illustrations of information and recipes. The book contains "Recipes & Nutrition Basics", which are an education into how to shift your cooking toward more nutritious, healthful foods.

How does a mom begin to do that for her family?

The Greggs' motto is

"One recipe at a time."

I'm hungry for new recipes that are gluten free, casein free, soy free, pineapple free, sunflower free, peanut and tree nut free, for starters. We rotate eggs in recipes and don't serve my child with allergies egg dishes, although she occasionally eats a baked good with egg as an ingredient. I have sensitivies to some of the foods on that list, plus tuna and the nightshade family.

I'm tired of making separate meals for those of us with allergies. Our home feels like a restaurant most nights, with all of us eating something different. I need more recipes that all of us can enjoy together.

I'm partial to recipes that have already been tested with a gazillion substitutions so that I don't have to experiment and make a flop that I have to throw in the trash. I've done that enough, and it's costly to my pocketbook and my confidence in trying to modify recipes.

In this particular cookbook, the Greggs use a lot of ingredients that we avoid, from sour cream and yogurt to parmesean cheese to pineapple. Mrs. Gregg knew that we have a lot of sensitivities when she sent me the book, and her hope was that she could add a handful of new-to-us recipes for my house.

This is not the "miracle cookbook" for GFCFers. It isn't meant to be that. If you are looking for a lot of GFCF recipes, this is not the cookbook for you, UNLESS you are looking for information about whole foods cooking. The cookbook is a nice resource to have because it contains as much (more, probably) information about whole foods cooking and making recipes healthier as it contains recipes.

"Introducing Whole Foods Cooking," is a teaching cookbook, one that will ease newbies into cooking healthier meals.

The entire family gave a thumbs up to the baked salmon with lemon. ;) It's simple to make and easier to clean up than my standard salmon recipe. We all enjoy a GFCF version of blender batter waffles, too.


A 38 page preview of this cookbook is available HERE.

To read my Crewmates' reviews of this and other Sue Gregg cookbooks, please click HERE.

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Crew of reviewers, I was given complimentary copy of "Introducing Whole Foods Cooking" by Sue Gregg. I received no financial compensation for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Raw Energy, a MamaBuzz Review

I am always on the search to help me feed my family healther foods, foods that they will actually eat, and foods that are gluten free, casein free, soy free, etc etc etc. I figured I'd find a few recipes in a recipe book using raw foods.

Stephanie Tourles brings us, "Raw Energy, 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body".
List price is $16.95.

I expected that the book would be recipes only. I was incorrect. The recipes do not begin until Chapter 4, on page 94 of a 272 page book.

Tourles gives me an education in all things raw food, starting with the basics, the pantry and kitchen equipment, and raw food prep. Then she launches into the recipes, beginning with nut milks, shakes, smoothies and frozen fruit creams; fruit and veggie juices; energizer bars, balls and bites; nut seed and fruit blends; raw cereals and parfaits; veggie chips, dips and spreads; cold fruit and veggie soups; candy and cookies. Suggested reading, resources and an index finish the book.

I didn't expect nuts to be in so many recipes. We can't use nuts or sunflower products here, nor pineapple, in addition to being GFCFSF. We're watching oxalates, too, which eliminate some more choices. Are there recipes I can use? Absolutely! However, the majority of the recipes use a nut or nut milk, so families with nut allergies may not find a wealth of recipes to use, although there are a few. (I wonder if I use rice milk instead of nut milk in the frozen goodies if I ruin the raw food value?)

Honey Melon Pear Soup - when I find the ingredients in season - look foward to trying that one. Raspberry Ricky Soup sounds tasty, too, and I can make it with no substitutions.

Tourles has me considering the purchase of a food dehydrator. I wonder if I could borrow one to try the recipes for dried zucchini and sweet potato chips?

Tourles has me curious about using bee pollen. She uses it in some of her recipes. I never thought to try that. I'm guessing heating bee pollen would ruin it's raw food value, so I wouldn't cook/bake with it.

I'm always thrilled to find new recipes to try, recipes that everyone in the family can eat. Thanks to Raw Energy, I have a few new recipes to introduce at home. :)

FYI: Tourles blogs here; she has a fan page on facebook.

I was given a copy of Raw Energy to review for MamaBuzz. I received no compensation for my review. I am not required to provide a positive review.