Acknowledgments
This book has been in the making for many years. Before my last cookbook was even published in 2006, I had embarked upon my free newsletter, in which I publish a new recipe each week for all my readers to enjoy. This regimine meant that I have had to create a new recipe each week as well, thus setting me on course for another cookbook within a few short years. During that time, however, I also began teaching cooking classes and traveling around the country, speaking as an expert in gluten-free cooking and living. I wrote another book, The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free, and founded a gluten-free flour companyJules Gluten Free. Not only did these other activities keep me quite busy, they taught me a lot more about our gluten-free community.
Folks coming to the gluten-free table come for many different reasons, but most have been on a long journey to discover the key to improving their health. Along the way, many, if not most, learn that they have other food intolerances as well. Be they allergies or intolerances, as with gluten, if your body doesnt like a particular food, it needs to come out of your diet. That reality is harder for some than for others, and certainly harder with certain ingredients than with others. Many families are contending with multiple and differing food restrictions. Helping these folks in my classes, lectures, and consultations, as well as through my newsletter and e-mails, I came to know that my next book needed to help people do more than just understand how to successfully remove gluten from their diets.
So, I must first express how grateful I am to all those along the way who have shared their food needs and restrictions with me; their experiences and the solutions I have crafted for them inspired much of the content of this book. To the loyal readers of my other books and of my weekly newsletter, I value all the feedback you give me. Free for All Cooking represents a compilation of many reader-requested recipes and favorites throughout the years of my newsletter.
No labor of love is ever possible without support, and for that constant encouragement, assistance, and understanding, I must thank my wonderful friends and family. Among this battery of supporters were taste-testers, bakers, and honest critics of my recipes, as well as others who entertained my kids as I worked to meet deadlines. These dear friends are the only reasons this book was ever finished on time! Mary, Monique, Danielle, Brooke, Kathy, Gabrielle, Trish, Laurie, Sandi, Kathy, Nina, and Haley allowed me to work without (too much) guilt that I wasnt spending every moment with my children, whom I knew were always having fun with my friends and their kids! If my parents lived closer, they would have been ever-present recipe tasters and child tenders; however, distance could not dim their constant encouragement and love, which has always buoyed me. Such unconditional love has carried me not just through this project, but over other hurdles in my life as well.
Two other people deserve special credit for making this book everything I had hoped. Kathy Witte was instrumental in the beginning stages of this books creation, by not only helping give it the organization it so needed, but also by reading every recipe to be sure that they were clear and simple enough for even first-time bakers to follow. Her counsel was always blunt, and always right! She made this book better for her contributions, and I so appreciate her for it! Jeff Rasmussen worked tirelesslyalways with a smileand never complained about the odd times of day I would create a new recipe and need a professional food photograph. He spent hours upon hours, often waiting for just the right natural light to come streaming through the window, so that he could get the real food shots I wanted (stock food photos are a pet peeve of mine!). His eye and patient angling brought light to such minute crumbs that it helped me to focus on more than the big picture and challenged me to create even more delicate and delectable dishes. Traces of his cheeriness, creativity, support, critiques, laughter, and love have made their way into every part of this book, as they have in my life, and I will be forever grateful.
Dr. Alessio Fasano and his team at the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, in particular Pam King and Pam Cureton, have once again provided invaluable support and information to me in my work. And once again, Dr. Fasano has taken time out of his inhumanly busy schedule to grace the pages of my third book. Whats more, he continues to make invaluable contributions with his pioneering work in the celiac community; his dedication to preventing, understanding, and mitigating celiac disease is a light for everyone living with CD. He also has supported and encouraged me professionally, and our friendship has been a bright spot on my own celiac journey.
An author can never say enough about their agent, and it certainly holds true for me as well. Marilyn Allen knows the crucial role she has played in bringing to life this, my third book. I only wish she lived closer, so she could sample all my bake-outs!
Finally, I am so appreciative of the efforts of my editor, Katie McHugh, in promoting this book and its vision. The team at DaCapo Press has embraced my vision of teaching readers how to fashion each recipe to suit their own familys dietary needs, substituting only where necessary. This result is key to ensuring that these recipes are truly delicious and safe for each readers particular food restriction without compromising on taste.
To you all, a heartfelt thanks!
Ingredients and Substitutions
BASIC, NATURALLY GLUTEN-FREE FOODS
This list of examples is by no means comprehensive, but rather demonstrates the range of naturally gluten-free foods that are safe for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity when prepared without gluten-containing ingredients.
Butter
Cheeses (most)
Chicken
Eggs
Fish
Fresh Fruit and 100% Fruit Juices
Fresh Vegetables and 100% Vegetable Juices
Grits
Honey
Lentils
Meats
Milk
Nuts
Seeds
Shellfish
Sugar
SAFE, GLUTEN-FREE INGREDIENTS (GRAINS, PSEUDOCEREALS, BEANS, AND MORE)
These products are safe in any form, so long as they are not mixed with other non-gluten-free foods or produced in an environment risking cross-contamination with gluten-containing foods.
Agar agar
Amaranth
Arrowroot Powder
Buckwheat
Cabernet flour
Chia seeds/flour
Corn (maize)
Flax seeds and flaxseed meal
Legumes/beans and flours (e.g., fava, garbanzo, garfava)
Lentils and lentil flour
Millet flour
Montina flour
Nut flours
Oats (certified gluten-free)
Pea flour
Potatoes, potato starch, potato flour
Rice and rice flour
Sago starch/pearls
Seeds (like sesame, poppy, sunflower)
Sorghum flour
Soy and soy flour
Tapioca (cassava, manioc) starch and flour
Teff Quinoa and quinoa flour
Wild rice
NON-GLUTEN-FREE GRAINS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS TO AVOID
These products are not considered gluten-free in any form or amount.
Bread or bread products containing wheat flourlike breading, coating mixes, or panko Barley Barley malt Bulgur Couscous Durum Einkorn Emmer Farina Farro Graham flour