"Cooking for Isaiah" -- Book Review

I have fallen in love...with a cookbook.  My wonderful, wonderful Mom has helped me so much with this diet change.  She got me a Nutrimill, so I can make my own flours.  She also but a ton (and I mean she really did give me a lot) of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch.  She has really been so supportive in so many ways!  I love her!  Thanks, Mom!  Anyway, to add to everything she's done for me, she bought me this cookbook.  Cooking for Isaiah is a gluten-free, dairy-free cookbook written my a mom who is cooking for her son.  That is exactly what I need!  She also uses rice milk, shortening and oils, so every recipe is very easily converted to soy-free, yay!!!

So far, I've tried her Cinnamon Toasted Waffles, Double Cornbread, Sloppy Joe Potato Skins, and Load Baked Potato Soup.  Tonight I'm making her Banana Pancakes with Cinnamon Goo...is your mouth watering yet, because it should be. :)

The Cinnamon Toasted Waffles are better than any cinnamon toast I've ever had...I gorged myself on them.  The boys were a little more picky, but I know as they get used to the new diet, they will definitely eat these. 

The double cornbread was so good out of the oven, and even 3 days after the fact (I'm eating some right now).  I made them as muffins instead of a loaf and it worked perfectly, but like any cornbread when it's cooled it crumbles a bit.  My only complaint was when they were fresh out of the oven, you could smell the apple cider vinegar that was in it...she used the vinegar to sour the rice milk (mock buttermilk).  You couldn't taste the vinegar, just smell it...and the smell went away once the bread cooled.  It was enough of a smell, though, that my little ones refused to try it, so I may just leave the vinegar out next time, or swap it with white vinegar or lemon juice.

When I made the sloppy joe potato skins, I simplified it....We had left over roast from Sunday dinnner, so I shredded that and added Manwich (yes, manwich is safe for our family, and I wanted to use up what was in the pantry).  I thought it was soo good, but I think I'm the only one that did.  I really love how she used potato skins in place of bread, genious, and scrumptious.  So, I may be doing this for tuna melts, and chicken salad, and much, much more. :)

I had baked potato innards left from making the potato skins, so of course I had to try her baked potato soup.  It was pretty good, but really it was even better as left overs the next day.  I'm not kidding, let the flavors mature in the fridge overnight (with the bacon), and you will have a really, really, really yummy soup.

One thing, or really two things that I really love with this cookbook is her recipes for all purpose flour and pancake mix.  I've come across other recipes, and I had a basic one that I used...but I never actually prepped the flour beforehand and stored it as an 'all purpose flour' mix.  With having these blends, she has made it so her recipes can be used by anyone.  If you're not gluten-free, just substitute regular all purpose flour! :)  And for those of us that are gluten-free, really make up a batch of the flour, stick it in the fridge, then when you need flour, you don't need to weigh out 4 different flours, just one, yay!!  The only change I made to her flour blend is that she uses white rice flour, I used brown rice flour, and it worked very well.

I would put up all of the recipes that I tried, but really you should just go out and get the cookbook, it's so worth it.  Whether you're gluten-free, dairy-free, or neither, it is so worth every penny you spend on it.  And it's a mom trying to feed her son and her family, so support her! :)