Review & Give-away: FREE For All Cooking

Isn’t that a neat title for a cookbook? In addition to gluten-free recipes, there are many allergen-free recipes in FREE For All Cooking by Jules E. Dowler Shepard of Jules Gluten Free. People who can’t do dairy, soy, nuts or eggs will be happy to find tons of fantastic recipes in the book. Every possible egg substitution on the planet is listed as are many non-dairy substitutions for butter, sour cream and evaporated milk. Soy and nut substitution ideas are covered as well.

Part I of the book explains gluten-free ingredients and substitutions. Unrefined sugars and other sweeteners and gluten-free oats are covered in this section as well. The recipe for Jules’ flour blend is also listed there, including variations with different grain options. Note that ‘very fine rice flour’ is listed as an ingredient which is hugely important. There are some mighty gritty rice flours on the market and they do not perform or taste like very fine rice flour.

The recipes are in Part II of the book and each one has symbols denoting what allergens they are free of. Those are: GF (gluten-free), D (dairy-free), N (nut-free), S (soy-free), E (egg-free) and V (vegetarian, but not necessarily vegan). The categories include Breakfast Foods, Appetizers and Side Dishes, Breads and Rolls, Soups, Main Events and Desserts. Every recipe is gluten and dairy free and almost every recipe is also soy free. Many are nut and egg-free and vegetarian as well. In other words, people with multiple food intolerances are going to love this cookbook as much or more than those of us that avoid just gluten!

The thing you should know about Jules is that she will not settle for less than stellar tasting food. She’s extremely focused on making sure the dishes she creates are good enough for anyone to enjoy, including the most finicky gluten eaters around. Jules has been baking since she was a young girl so when she went gluten-free she had to learn how to create her favorite dishes without gluten. That’s what led to her creating her own custom gluten-free flour blend which is now a staple in our pantry. Recently, I made an apple cobbler recipe with Jules Gluten Free flour and it was shockingly delicious.

There are many interesting recipes in FREE For All Cooking, but one of the most interesting ones is the one for yeast free whole grain sandwich bread. In addition to being gluten and yeast free, it’s also dairy, soy, egg and nut free – and vegetarian. It is very hard to find bread recipes that don’t call for yeast except for quick breads. Jules recently launched her own blog where you’ll find many fabulous recipes and other news. Additionally, there is a new Bread Mix in the Jules Gluten Free product line.

If you’re interested in winning the FREE For All Cooking cookbook, please enter a comment below. One random winner will receive this great book! The deadline to enter is Tuesday, November 30^th at 12 midnight EST and the winner’s shipping address must be in the U.S. Good luck!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Kathryn Hartsell who the book from Jules Gluten Free!

*Special thanks to Da Capo Press and Jules Gluten Free for my copy of the book and for sponsoring this give-away for our readers!