Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook | Review & Giveaway

I have a hard time resisting a good cookbook particularly one that has luscious sounding dishes, mouthwatering photos and of course ingredients that are attainable and methods that are realistic.  I admit however, that I'm not exactly gentle on my cookbooks, if its a favourite then its likely covered in smears of food with pages that either fall open or stick together. 

I had the opportunity to try out The Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook and was immediately excited by the plethora of recipes contained within its pages.  Nearly every recipe in the book features a full page, full colour photo which not only inspires, but also provides the home cook with a realistic image of what the end product should look like.  Each recipe also clearly identifies any products that have the potential to contain gluten and highlights those recipes that are also dairy free.


As gluten-free becomes more mainstream, more gluten-free cookbooks are becoming available and the question of how much general gluten-free information should be included becomes an important one.  The Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook dedicates over 15 pages to the 'Gluten-Free Kitchen' including information about what gluten is and where it hides, a description and photo of 16 gluten-free grains, flours and starches and information about effectively reading food labels and kitchen safety tips for those of us who do not have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen.

All of this information alone, makes the Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook a great buy for someone who is new to the gluten-free diet, but add in that many of the baking recipes utilize a combination of gluten-free pantry ingredients and store-bought mixes (such as cake or cookie mixes), this cookbook manages to make gluten-free baking not only less intimidating, but actually achievable for the 'non-baker'.  I don't generally cook with mixes, but people buy them for me, so I'm eager to try out the carrot cake recipe that will give me a chance to use up both a gluten-free cake mix and a gluten-free pudding mix that are already in my pantry.

We are giving away a copy of The Cooking Light Gluten-Free Cookbook to one Momma Stuff Blog reader, to enter check out the Rafflecopter after the jump.