Keuilian - The recipe hacker : comfort foods without gluten, dairy, soy, grain, or cane sugar

Front Table Books Cedar Fort Publishing Springville, Utah

DEDICATION

This cookbook has truly been a labor of love. I agonized over each picture, recipe, and anecdote. My goal was to provide you with 100 wholesome recipes that your family will learn to love and choose over traditional processed foods. And if I can make you smile and inspire you to eat healthier along the way, then Im happy.

None of this would have been possible without the love and unending support of my husband, Bedros, and my two enthusiastic (and brutally honest) taste-testers, Andrew and Chloe. I love you guys so, so much.

This book also wouldnt have been possible without the amazing support of my blog readers and Facebook fans. You truly inspire me. Thank you so much for being on this wild ride with me.

I really dont want to start rambling here, but I simply have to mention a few more of my peeps. Cara: thank you for always dropping by at a moments notice to taste test new recipes. And for just being awesome in general. Kristen: how many trips to the grocery store did you do for the creation of this book? Probably too many to count! Thank you for all you do! Pete: Your artistic design for RealHealthyRecipes.com makes me happy every day when I look at it! And your encouraging words mean the world.

Hope you enjoy this book! Reach out to me at RealHealthyRecipes.com and Facebook.com/RealHealthyRecipes and Ill send many more healthy recipes your way.

P.S. If I can finish this book, then you too can accomplish your big thing. I truly believe that. Let me tell you, there were moments when I thought that Id never finish or felt I was going insane in my kitchen, piled under dirty dishes. But in the end, here we are and Im still alive. So go on, get going on your passion project!

CONTENTS

... worth waking up for

... that get the party started

... without the guilt

... for that perfect meal

... the best for last

WELCOME TO THE RECIPE HACKER

My name is Diana Keuilian and Im a recipe hacker.

One day, while putting the finishing touches on dinner, I was trying to explain to my husband, B, how much I enjoy taking an existing, traditional recipe and turning it into something healthier. I rambled on about the challenge of taking out the gluten, sugar, dairy, soy, and grains without sacrificing flavor or consistency, and what a thrill I get when my healthier version of a classic turns out to be tastier than the original.

B looked up and said, You know what you are? Youre a recipe hacker.

I wasnt sure how to take that. It sounded rather outlawish.

Then again, in a sense, I broke the recipe code when I discovered how to use wholesome ingredient substitutions to transform traditional dishes into real food masterpieces.

I love food, to a fault. Sometimes Ive looked at this as a curse, like when trying to lose the baby weight, but most of the time I see it for what it is: a blessing.

Food is a blessing, and really good, flavorful food is one of the highest pleasures of this life. Going to a gourmet restaurant and having the chefs tasting menu, or taking a warm cookie out of the oven and wiping melted chocolate off your facedoes it get better than this?

Food is exciting and food is fun.

But eating lots of rich foods filled with grains, gluten, dairy, cane sugar, and soy left me overly full, bloated, and prone to weight gain.

So I started hacking recipes by swapping out the heavy stuff for lighter, real food ingredients. The resulting recipe has the taste, look, and feel of the originalwithout the ensuing food coma!

I love food way too much to give up flavorful and delicious dinners, snacks, and desserts. In this cookbook Ill share with you 100 of my favorite comfort food recipes, all made without grains, gluten, dairy, cane sugar, or soy. Some of these recipes are fan favorites from my blog, RealHealthyRecipes.com, while many more are brand new creations.

I hope that you enjoy these hacked recipes as much as I enjoyed making them!

WHY HEALTHY?

You may wonder if its worth the trouble to make healthy food, especially when fast food is so quick and convenient.

The fact is that our kids are becoming obese at a much younger age than any generation before them. Childhood obesity opens the door for a life riddled with health complications that can ultimately end in heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations, blindness, or death at an early age.

My son, Andrew, was born in 2005, the same year that it was announced that our kids now have a shorter life expectancy than we do. What a wake-up call that was for me as a young new mother.

I couldnt allow my son to become a statistic.

This is where I find my motivation to take the extra time and effort to create and serve healthy food for my family.

You may feel the same way, or perhaps youve been pushed into the world of gluten-free due to allergies.

Whatever brought you to this place of wanting to cook healthy dishes, Im so glad that youve arrived! The health and well-being of your family will be elevated and your taste buds will be rewarded.

And Im pretty sure we will have some fun along the way too!

REAL HEALTHY INGREDIENTS

Eliminating grains, gluten, dairy, cane sugar, and soy from your kitchen certainly opens up a few gaps. Heres how I fill them with healthier ingredients.

Organic Ingredients: Whenever possible, I purchase organic ingredients. This goes for produce, meat, eggs, and pantry items. While I dont specify organic in each recipe, know that organic is preferred and will taste better and offer more nutrients.

Flax Meal: This nutritional ground seed is used to replace flour in baking.

Coconut Flour: Ground from coconut meal, this is another wonderful flour substitute.

Blanched Almond Flour: Made from ground, blanched almonds. Its one of my favorite flour substitutes.

Almond Meal: Made from ground almonds with the skins still on, almond meal is a bit heartier than blanched almond flour.

Almond Substitutes: For those of you who are unable to use almonds due to allergies, I have 2 substitutes for your baking. Grind raw sunflower seeds or gluten-free oats into a flour, and use these in a 1:1 ratio for both blanched almond flour and almond meal.

Coconut Palm Sugar: Made from dried coconut sap, this wholesome sweetener is a healthier alternative to cane sugar.

Pure Maple Syrup: Believe it or not, pure maple syrup works very well in baking.

Raw Honey: This is another one of my go-to wholesome sweeteners. It contains loads of vitamins and minerals. I always measure raw honey melted.

Coconut Milk: Thank goodness for the versatile coconut! Coconut milk is all that I use to replace dairy milk in my cooking.

Coconut Oil: This wholesome oil is my go-to in baking. It is also measured melted.

Kitchen tools that I could NOT live without (in no particular order): food processor, skillet, high-speed blender, measuring cups, measuring spoons, good mixing bowls, spiral slicer, 4-cup measuring cup with spout, griddle, spatula, whisk, thick wood cutting board, baking sheet, mini muffin pan, muffin pan, brownie pan, donut pan, and good knives.