image via eater.com
Gluten free cookbooks started hitting shelves a few years ago, and they have now become wildly popular with the celiac disease and gluten free community. A quick search on Amazon for 'Gluten Free Cookbook' yields 3,770 results. While I think it is wonderful that there are more and more resources out there for gluten free cooking, and I fully support more people publishing recipes and information on how to cook gluten free, I don't tend to buy these books — here is why.
I don't buy explicitly gluten free cookbooks because often the gluten free adaptations of traditionally glutenous foods are just that — adaptations of heavy, glutenous dishes. If you are in the market to learn how to make streusel filled cake or a gluten free sausage roll, then I would definitely go purchase a popular gluten free cookbook. However, if you are just looking for everyday recipes that will make for delicious and healthy dinners, then I would look to the more health conscious cookbooks that are NOT explicitly gluten free. For example, love her or hate her, Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbooks are full of healthy recipes, many of which are inherently gluten free. She uses whole ingredients, and you wont find twelve different kinds of gluten free flour listed in a recipe (who actually keeps sorghum flour on hand?).
When first diagnosed with celiac disease, I made the rookie mistake of excitedly wanting to try anything and everything gluten free I came across. Whether it was a recipe for gluten free brownies or a gluten free pizza — I wanted to try the new options that I had as a celiac. I feel like this same thing happens when cooking from a gluten free cookbook. You see that it's possible to make a gluten free coffee cake and so you feel a certain gluten free foodie obligation to make and eat a recipe that your normally may not have eaten.
After working off the gluten free lasagna and homemade pizza, I came to the conclusion that just because a recipe makes something gluten free, doesn't necessarily mean it's the healthy option. My goal is to stick to recipes that have limited ingredients (no flour blends please), whole grains, fresh and minimally processed ingredients. Of course, there is always room to make the occasional adapted gluten free dessert once in a while.
Here are my favorite cookbooks to find healthy, easily-made-gluten free, recipes. While not all recipes in these cookbooks are gluten free, they can for the most part be made gluten free with a few minor adjustments.
Happy cooking!
— The Healthy Celiac
I don't buy explicitly gluten free cookbooks because often the gluten free adaptations of traditionally glutenous foods are just that — adaptations of heavy, glutenous dishes. If you are in the market to learn how to make streusel filled cake or a gluten free sausage roll, then I would definitely go purchase a popular gluten free cookbook. However, if you are just looking for everyday recipes that will make for delicious and healthy dinners, then I would look to the more health conscious cookbooks that are NOT explicitly gluten free. For example, love her or hate her, Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbooks are full of healthy recipes, many of which are inherently gluten free. She uses whole ingredients, and you wont find twelve different kinds of gluten free flour listed in a recipe (who actually keeps sorghum flour on hand?).
When first diagnosed with celiac disease, I made the rookie mistake of excitedly wanting to try anything and everything gluten free I came across. Whether it was a recipe for gluten free brownies or a gluten free pizza — I wanted to try the new options that I had as a celiac. I feel like this same thing happens when cooking from a gluten free cookbook. You see that it's possible to make a gluten free coffee cake and so you feel a certain gluten free foodie obligation to make and eat a recipe that your normally may not have eaten.
After working off the gluten free lasagna and homemade pizza, I came to the conclusion that just because a recipe makes something gluten free, doesn't necessarily mean it's the healthy option. My goal is to stick to recipes that have limited ingredients (no flour blends please), whole grains, fresh and minimally processed ingredients. Of course, there is always room to make the occasional adapted gluten free dessert once in a while.
Here are my favorite cookbooks to find healthy, easily-made-gluten free, recipes. While not all recipes in these cookbooks are gluten free, they can for the most part be made gluten free with a few minor adjustments.
Happy cooking!
— The Healthy Celiac
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