Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
Deliciously G-Free
(Balllantine Books) ISBN 978-0345529381 0345529383
People on wheat-free diets can enjoy no-gluten versions of their favorite foods, like pasta and chocolate chip cookies. Using baking mixes made with flours from gluten-free grains and Elisabeth Hasselbeck's recipes, you can make gluten-free appetizers, sandwiches, main courses, desserts and breakfasts.
Besides useful tips and dietary help for celiac disease and glucose sensitivity, this celiac diet cookbook provides recipes for low-calorie wheat-free dishes and gluten-free recipes for kids.
Fried egg sandwich with chipotle mayo. French toast with caramel rum bananas. Coconut raspberry muffins. Crab cakes with homemade tartar sauce. Smoked salmon on corn fritters. Jalapeno and hot chile chicken fingers. Quinoa cornbread. Barbecue chicken sandwiches with red cabbage mango slaw. Short ribs with Parmesan Brussels sprouts. Gluten-free pizza. Veggie Pad Thai. Chocolate cashew fudge bars. Chocolate almond bark. Gluten-free tiramisu.
Deliciously G-Free includes gluten-free recipes for children, such as kid-pleasing chicken fingers, orange creamsicles, kids' choice chocolate buttercream and chocolate pudding pops.
Wheat-free cooking is easy with gluten-free baking mixes that you can make for chocolate chip cookies, brownies, yellow birthday cake and devil's food cupcakes.
One chapter features low-calorie, gluten-free recipes with nutrition information, such as Black Forest (cherry chocolate) shake.
The 266-page cookbook answers questions about cooking for a wheat-free diet, e.g., How do you substitute xanthan gum and guar gum to convert regular recipes to gluten-free? (Start with one teaspoonful.) Elisabeth Hasselbeck also identifies problems with amaranth flour (grassy flavor) and teff flour (darkens and toughens baked goods).
The introduction to Deliciously G-Free includes information for people on gluten-free diets: What is celiac disease? (It is not a food allergy, but a hereditary toxic reaction to gluten.) Elisabeth Hasselbeck's cookbook also explains the difference between celiac disease and gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance (digestive problems caused by gluten).
You learn which grains contain gluten (wheat, rye and barley) and which gluten-free flours are best for cooking different recipes. For example, sweet sorghum flour is ideal for making gluten-free quick breads, muffins, pancakes and biscuits.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck begins each chapter with a gluten- and wheat-free recipe index. She introduces each chapter and recipe with cooking tips, e.g., black bean flour adds moistness to her recipe for double chocolate brownies.
Cookbook recipes range from gluten-free appetizers to no-gluten desserts. Recipe sidebars offer cooking tips. One explains that although gluten-free spices clump, they are just as good as spices containing gluten.
Deliciously G-Free recipes look mouthwatering in Kelly Campbell's food photos.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is the author of The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide.