Monday, February 15, 2010

The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book – Book Review

Kelly Rudnicki’s The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book promises dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free treats, and does deliver exactly that. Kelly includes great recipes for breads, desserts and snacks, all without milk, eggs and nuts.

Warning: almost every recipe uses all-purpose baking flour, and many of the recipes use soy ingredients.

If your allergies include wheat and/or soy, you will find yourself needing to make lots of substitutions. That said, the eggs and milk ingredients are among the most difficult to replace while baking, and Kelly provides some great alternatives there.

Rudnicki starts with the premise that if you have food allergies then baking at home is the only way to go. As a food allergy mom – one who advocates that the world needs to adapt to food allergies and that we need solutions to eat safely away from home – I find this advice impractical for busy parents. But she does provide some simple and straightforward advice on how to transform your kitchen into an allergen-free baking zone.

The bottom line?

This book may not be the best choice for anyone with a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance. It’s also not the best choice for anyone who doesn’t like to bake. If your allergies are confined to milk, eggs and nuts, and you like to bake, then this is a good addition to your cookbook shelf.

Has anyone else tried this book? What do you think?

4 comments:

Rhonda said...

Hi Colette: We have used this book and made a few recipes. Its a great reference for people with food allergies. I loved the front section too with the tips and information.

Colette said...

Rhonda that's terrific! I am really happy that there is more and more information on food allergies coming available. When I first started on this journey it was hard to find anything at all.

Jamie Stern said...

Hello Rhonda, My local food allergy support groups have used and liked Kelly's book. I am also offering it as one of my prizes in our Allergy Free Recipe Contest this month. If your readers are interested, the top three entries receive free food from our online store. For more information on the contest, they can go to our home page.
Thanks and have a great weekend.

Colette said...

Jamie, thanks so much for mentioning that! To the readers -- you can find the Allergy Free Recipe Contest that Jamie mentioned here:

http://www.allergiesandme.com/Allergy-Free-Recipe-Contest