The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook: Over 325 Natural Foods Recipes, Free of All Common Food Allergens: Wheat-Free, Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Corn-Free, Sugar-F

My review pertains to the version of the book that has 350 recipes. But I would assume that this version is a similar quality.This book has really been a great resource for me. My son (who is 3) has multiple food allergies (wheat, rye, corn, eggs, soy, dairy, chicken, foods in the night-shade family like potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper....the list continues). It has been quite a nightmare to know what to get for him. And he also started developing sensitivities to the food that he ate all the time (oats, pork). When I got this book, I learnt about the rotation diet, about how one could get sensitive to foods if exposed to them for an extended period of time. It provided me with alternative foods, information about food groups (which is essential when planning a rotation diet), lots of alternative things to use instead of sugar (agave nectar, maple or date sugar), how to use alternative flours (amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, teff) which have all been so much help. I have been using the breakfast and better breads section extensively, and also the snack and dessert sections. With the range of allergies that my son has, those have been the hardest types of food to prepare. The main course sections have some good suggestions as well.I would highly recommend this book if you need to deal with multiple allergies and are at a loss as to where to start. I found the recipes in this book much better to use than the recipes from the Food Allergy Network, which is rather strange. The recipes from the FAN mostly had wheat flour in them, and provided no information on rotation diets, food groups or alternative flours. Some of the other books that I have bought are also not very strong in these areas. This book is particularly good if you have the type of allergies that I listed earlier. If you only have one or two of these allergies, perhaps you might find the recipes too esoteric and it might be unnecessary to go to such lengths as I have had to, to find the right food.

I found out a year ago that I'm allergic to all grains, tomatoes, beef, and on and on. My diet was getting monotonous and I was having trouble getting enough carbohydrates without grains. I also really missed some of the sauces and breads I used to eat. In the Allergy Self-Help Cookbook, Marjorie Hurt-Jones gives wonderful, cleverly designed recipes such as her Tomato-free Spaghetti Sauce using pumpkin and vitamin C. And her grain-free breads (pancakes & muffins) are a God-send. I also like her Quick Skillet Bread for a quick carbo without grain. Thanks for putting so many foods back into my meals, Marjorie!

For someone with wheat and dairy allergies this is an excellent cookbook. The recipes are quick and easy to follow with all products readily available at any organic or health food store. Her review of alternative flours and list of 'food families' are useful information for establishing safe foods.

Although I did find that there are a few recipes which do contain ingredients that are supposedly not in this cookbook, I found the recipes interesting and tasty. If you ensure you use light buckwheat flour as recommended in applicable recipes and follow other hints provided by the author, I've found the recipes to be very good overall. This is a very good basic cookbook for people, like myself, who are just starting to discover the world of allergy free cooking/eating.

This book is a both a pain and a blessing. It's a pain, because I never know if a recipe will work. It's a blessing, because when they do work, they are spectacular. The recipes are easy to follow, and have pleased even the most picky of eaters ( my 5-year-old son and his friends.) The variety is extensive, and substitutions are carefully laid out, along with the changes they will make to the appearance, flavor, and texture of the dish. Unfortunately, not all the recipes work. The Boston Brown Bread is an utter moist gloopy flop, as written. In spite of the problems with recipes, the reference information is even more valuable; it contains lists of biologic families of foods, (Did you know that mangoes and cashews are in the same family? What about avocado and cinnamon?), information on how to avoid nutritional deficiencies, and an extensive appendix of suppliers.