Deliciously G-Free: Food So Flavorful They'll Never Believe It's Gluten Free by Elisabeth Hasselbeck Book Review

Update:  I have the hardcover but this title is also available as a kindle edition.

Update (1/20/12): Did you get a chance to read about when I made the Kid-Pleasing Chicken Fingers Recipe?

 

Yesterday I was out with my mom.  As I was leaving, she mentioned that she had a chance to flip through Deliciously G-Free: Food So Flavorful They'll Never Believe It's Gluten-Free by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and she thought it looked good.  My mother does not cook gluten free but since I do she is always on the lookout for products for me.  She's a good mom like that.  Since I do have picky tastes, and anyone that has eaten gluten free knows some things taste better than others, I've asked her to not purchase anything but to just tell me about it.  I told her that I already had the book on pre-order at Amazon so I should be getting it in a few days.  I don't normally pre-order a lot of items before they are published but when I heard an interview with the author saying that these recipes passed the taste test of her husband I thought, "I'm going for it".  When I got home last night, there was my copy of Deliciously G-Free waiting for me.

 

I'm already making my shopping list.  

 

I'm going to need to pick up some brown rice flour.  I've shied away from the rice flours because I haven't been much of a "from scratch baker" and I haven't cared for the gritty texture of the rice flours, but as I start to try more recipes I know I'm going to need to give it a try again.  

 

There is this recipe for "Smoked Salmon on Corn Fritters" that has a full color glossy photo that is starting to make me hungry.  I already have the gluten free cornmeal and the tapioca starch since tapioca flour is my favorite gluten free flour right now.  

 

Added note: My understanding is that tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same thing.  Potato starch and potato flour are different so make sure you are using the correct one when cooking or baking.

 

I also need to get some of that brown rice flour because she mixes it with tapioca flourand coconut flour (which I have used to make pancakes) to make her "Yellow Birthday Cake or Classic Yellow Cupcakes".  I've had to sit out many a wedding cake and birthday party because I haven't had a gluten free cake to eat too.  I'm excited to try her recipe since it uses two of the gluten free flours I enjoy.

I also already had Corn Chex on my shopping list for today.  (Thank you General Mills for making some of your chex cereals gluten free.  It makes shopping so much easier.  I remember when the rice and corn chex cereals were not necessarily gluten free so I really am thankful for this change).  I think I might pick up an additional box for the pantry because I want to try her "Kid-Pleasing Chicken Fingers".  That recipe looks so good and it calls for rice crumbs and corn crumbs.  I'm not exactly sure what that means but I'm just going to crush rice chex and corn chex to get my "crumbs". 

 

As you can tell there are a number of recipes I really want to try right away.  I love the glossy full color photos and wish that they could have been included for each recipe.  The only thing that I'm questioning is that there is a yummy looking photo for what I believe are the "Egg 'Doll' Biscuits" on what would be page 189 (this page is unnumbered).  There are colored sprinkles on the biscuits in the photo.  From what I have learned, many of the mainstream sprinkles and cake decorations have wheat in them or could be cross contaminated with wheat or gluten which makes me wonder if those sprinkles are actually gluten free.  If they are, it would have been nice to have a source for them in the book -- because sprinkles are fun.  I didn't see one.  I have only been able to find a couple of specialty companies on the internet that have gluten free sprinkles.  If anyone has a source they like for gf sprinkles please share it in the comments section.

 

 

Oh, and if anyone was wondering how my mom saw this book to tell me about it when it was just released yesterday. On the way home, she asked if I minded stopping at one last store so she could pick up a few groceries.  She said I could just sit in the car (where I worked on some paperwork) and that she would be out quickly.  I obliged.  I know once I got home I started  wondering how and when she was able to flip though the book when I had been with her.  Later, when I talked to her on the phone, she told me that was where it was.  Mystery solved.