The Allergy Free Pantry Book Review & Giveaway

    Did you know that May 2015 is a big month for us? The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) for years has declared it as "National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month". Also, the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness has chosen this month to be the "Celiac Awareness Month" as well. Wow! Talk about double celebrations. 

     To kick off these two significant campaigns,  I would like to share with you this book by Colette Martin called The Allergy Free Pantry.  Released last year (2014), this cookbook has become one of my good friends in the kitchen.  

 
     As we all know, one of the biggest challenges of living with food allergies is finding safe food. I remembered the first time I went grocery shopping after my children were diagnosed with their allergies.  I spent more than two hours reading labels.  After what seemed to be an eternity, I almost cried when I realized that there were only three items in my cart.

      Since I can't go home with nothing to feed my family of 6, I breezed through the outer sides of the grocery store (the part where fresh fruits, vegetables and meats are located).  That's when it hit me.  If I want to keep my sanity and my family fed, I have to start cooking every food we eat from scratch.

     I confess it was way easier said than done.  If you have been following my blog for a while, I'm sure, you are familiar with my meltdowns from pancakes to brownies and more.  Do you remember these brownies?

      Basically, I spent the first twenty four months post food allergy diagnosis experimenting in the kitchen.  I can't imagine how much tears, money and time I've thrown away before I was able to come up with a decent repertoire of safe things to eat.

   Then last year, when I learned about Colette'sThe Allergy-Free Pantry: Make Your Own Staples, Snacks, and More Without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy or Nuts, my immediate response was "Where were you three years ago?"

     This cookbook is a great resource for any person with food restrictions.  It contains 105 recipes of the most basic things we realize we take for granted. My favorite chapter is the condiments section. I can't believe how easy and cheaper it is to make my own food allergy safe mayonnaise, ketchup, ranch dressing and even barbecue sauce!

      From breakfast, lunch, snacks and even treats, this cookbook will definitely make a food allergy mom's life so much easier.  It even includes so many tips on gluten free flour choices, egg substitutes, non dairy milk making, long term storage and even canning.

    The instructions are simple and easy to follow. I'm even challenging myself to try to make homemade gluten free pasta and pizza crust. Yes! This book has a full chapter on this subject too.
   
      Did I make you really curious?  Well, I talked to Colette and she's very happy to give a free copy of her book,The Allergy-Free Pantry: Make Your Own Staples, Snacks, and More Without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy or Nuts  to one of my TFM Friends.  That's one of you my beloved readers. Simple check out the rafflecopter below for options on how to get free entries.

    This giveaway is open to all US based readers ages 18 years old and up. It starts today May 11, 2015 and will end on May 24, 2015 11:59 pm EST.

      Good luck and don't forget to share the giveaway to your friends as well.

       Have a great week!

- Roz

(Note:  I received a free copy of this book to review. This set up  however, doesn't have any effect on  my opinion about the product. Also, this post contains affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure here.)

       

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Food Babe's White Bean Chili

        Have you read The Food Babe Way by Vani Hari?  For those who are not familiar with Vani, she is the creator of the highly successful blog called Food Babe. With a mission to expose the unhealthy ingredients in common, well loved brands such as Subway and Kraft, this passionate health advocate is both loved and highly criticized by the industry.

      I came across Vani's blog early last year while I was doing some research regarding the hidden toxins found it food.  At that time, she just exposed one of the ingredients found in Subway's bread.  Though my children were not eating from the chain restaurant anymore due to their food allergies, I was still appalled to learn that even brands that market themselves as healthy are still using unnecessarily additives on their products.  For someone who's been really keen about what my family eats, I'm glad that there's someone who's willing to take the time to tackle this enlightening as well as controversial issue.

      The food allergy community I am in has mixed feelings towards The Food Babe. In one of her articles for instance, she advised her readers to "tell their food servers that they have food allergies to make sure that their order will come out as what they liked".  For someone with two children who are high risk for anaphylaxis and yes, a real pain in the butt when we eat at restaurants, that type of statement has a big impact on me.   What if the a food server read that and didn't take my food requests seriously? 

         Aside from that incident, I have to say, I still visit her blog once in a while.  After all, she does provide topics that are interesting and practical tips.  So, when I was contacted to preview her new book, I grabbed the opportunity.   

         If you are into healthy eating, I suggest you'll take the time to read The Food Babe Way .  The first part of the book contains a list of ingredients that are may cause harmful effects to the body.  For a label reader and food allergy mom such as myself, this is really handy to have on hand.

         The second part contains her tips on losing weight and having more energy.  This includes a day by day guide on forming healthier habits.  She also included some easy to make recipes such as the White Bean Chili below.  This gluten, dairy, nut, egg and soy free recipe is not only safe for my kids to eat, they actually liked it.          
           

           

      To sum up, I actually enjoyed reading the The Food Babe Way.  Even though she's not a scientist, she gave very interesting information that we can check out ourselves.  It was written in such a way that will make us think and pay more attention to our food before we eat.

      Personally, I would like to try her 21 days step by step program.  I'm still in working on losing that extra 25 pounds. If you would like to join me, you can grab a copy of her book, The Food Babe Way.   Let me know if you do so that I can start writing about it too.

        In the meantime, you can enjoy her recipe below.  It's great for this cold blasts.

        Happy Saturday!

- Roz   

(Note: I received a free copy of the book for this review.  This however didn't affect my thoughts and opinions about it.  Please see my full disclosure here.)

Food Babe's White Bean Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. smoked paprika
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. turmeric
8 large tomatoes, diced or 14-18 oz can diced tomatoes
2 15 oz. cans chick peas, rinsed and drained
4 cups vegetable broth
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 medium zucchini, diced

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
2. Add the onion, bell pepper, carrot, and garlic and saute until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add the spices and cook for one minute.
4. Add the tomatoes, chick peas and vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
    Season with sea salt and pepper.
5. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.  Add a little water if more liquid is needed.
6. Add the zucchini and cook for about 2-3 minutes more.  Serve hot; store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.