I was recently asked to review a new gluten free cookbook titled "Gluten Free is Easy"written by Christi Silbaugh and Michele Vilseck.
I immediately found the bright pictures to be helpful. When our family began cooking allergy-free meals, converting recipes without some type of picture to go by made it more challenging for us. Visuals are a great thing and all of these photos are well taken- the foods look like they could leap off of the page right onto your plate.
Another aspect that I loved were the helpful tips throughout the book. Simple questions that a newly diagnosed person learning to cook gluten free would (most likely) be asking are all available to them. Not only do the tips help with what types of products to use where but there are even a few that touch on how your body may be reacting to the adjustment of a new diet. Tip #9 is "Your body is accustomed to eating gluten. It may take 2 or even 4 weeks to overcome your cravings. Stay strong and give yourself time to adjust. Continuing to cheat will only make matters worse by prolonging the detoxification process." This is key as many people will start to feel worse and think that it is because their new diet is not right for them when, in reality, it's simply withdrawal.
Lastly, I appreciated that most of the recipes were simple, easy to follow recipes that were not too time consuming. In my opinion, the worst thing that someone can do is hand over a book of recipes that only a professional chef would make and expect them to make the recipe let alone make it well. Keeping everything simple allows the reader to feel less anxious to try new gluten free products that they have not used before and lets them know that cooking gluten free does not have to take any more time than any other recipe.
I do want to make a point that this is strictly a gluten free cookbook. Many of the recipes contain dairy and eggs (which is fine if you are not allergic) but may not be as helpful to someone who has multiple food allergies. "Gluten Free is Easy" is available as an ebook or can be ordered as a printed book as well. I highly recommend this book to start anyone on a gluten free lifestyle.
I immediately found the bright pictures to be helpful. When our family began cooking allergy-free meals, converting recipes without some type of picture to go by made it more challenging for us. Visuals are a great thing and all of these photos are well taken- the foods look like they could leap off of the page right onto your plate.
Another aspect that I loved were the helpful tips throughout the book. Simple questions that a newly diagnosed person learning to cook gluten free would (most likely) be asking are all available to them. Not only do the tips help with what types of products to use where but there are even a few that touch on how your body may be reacting to the adjustment of a new diet. Tip #9 is "Your body is accustomed to eating gluten. It may take 2 or even 4 weeks to overcome your cravings. Stay strong and give yourself time to adjust. Continuing to cheat will only make matters worse by prolonging the detoxification process." This is key as many people will start to feel worse and think that it is because their new diet is not right for them when, in reality, it's simply withdrawal.
Lastly, I appreciated that most of the recipes were simple, easy to follow recipes that were not too time consuming. In my opinion, the worst thing that someone can do is hand over a book of recipes that only a professional chef would make and expect them to make the recipe let alone make it well. Keeping everything simple allows the reader to feel less anxious to try new gluten free products that they have not used before and lets them know that cooking gluten free does not have to take any more time than any other recipe.
I do want to make a point that this is strictly a gluten free cookbook. Many of the recipes contain dairy and eggs (which is fine if you are not allergic) but may not be as helpful to someone who has multiple food allergies. "Gluten Free is Easy" is available as an ebook or can be ordered as a printed book as well. I highly recommend this book to start anyone on a gluten free lifestyle.
Thank you so much for this great review!
ReplyDeleteThe book is wonderful. Always a pleasure to see such great easy cooking items. For a person who feels they can't enjoy things when having such adverse allergies this is their best kept secret. Makes you feel human again. I Love this book and you will too!
ReplyDeleteMishelle Graetzer