The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Cooking for Isaiah has a lot of things about it that I love.  I love the fact that it is written by a mom who was motivated to develop great tasting recipes for her son.  I love that the recipes are kid friendly, but also the kind that adults will enjoy.  I love that the recipes are both gluten and dairy free.  I love the numerous color pictures in the book.  There is a lot to love (or at least like) about this book.

One of the many pictures in this book that really grabbed my attention was the Raspberry-Lemon Meringue Layer Cake.  We love lemon desserts and I just had to give this one a try.  It didn’t disappoint.  It was pretty easy to make, looked beautiful, and was quite the combination of sweet and sour.  The picture in the book is better, but this gives you an idea of how lovely it is.


The book contains 135 recipes that cover most of the typical food categories.  There is also a section at the beginning on the basics that includes Sylvana’s all-purpose flour blend and her pancake mix.

There are a couple of things I don’t like about this book.  I have gotten to the age where I use reading glasses, but the distance at which I prop my cookbook is too far for reading glasses.  I really wish the ingredients list in the recipes was a slightly larger and easier to read type face. The instructions I find easier to read. 

In addition, I was not thrilled with some of the ingredients used in the recipes.  I think it’s helpful to know what kind of ingredients are used before you buy a book.  There was an obvious lack of whole-grain flour.  Silvana’s flour mix uses white rice flour and starches. The only whole grain I noticed was cornmeal.  I’m not terribly bothered by this, since I am comfortable with making flour substitutions.  I also noticed the use of corn syrup and vegetable shortening in several recipes.  These are ingredients I don’t use.  They mainly show up in the desserts and more than once made me pass over a recipe.  Having said that, I should note that there are plenty of healthy ingredients such as olive oil and vegetables in many of the recipes.

To end on a positive note, I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes in her sandwiches and pizza chapter.  She doesn’t provide any loaf bread recipes, but there are recipes for waffle bread, olive oregano bread slabs, bialy bread slabs, and pizza crust.

To learn more about the author Silvana Nardone, this book, and to find other recipes, visit the web site dish towel diaries.

The Giveaway:

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You must be a U.S. resident to win.  The giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 22 at 11:00 p.m. eastern time.  I will notify the winner by email and will announce the winner on my Facebook page.

Disclaimer:  I was provided a free copy of this cookbook for review.  The opinions in this post are my own.

Labels: giveaway, reviews