Official Review: Whole and Gluten-Free by Rachel Ramey

[sblake]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Whole and Gluten-Free" by Rachel Ramey.]

Whole and Gluten-Free by Rachel Ramey is a recipe book in the Whole Foods Kitchen series.

As a mom of a child on the autism spectrum, I recently started investigating gluten-free diets and was very interested to check out the recipes in Whole and Gluten-Free. I expected the book to open with arguments on why gluten-free is “the only way to go”; the few cookbooks I have already looked at were overly zealous on the subject. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the author does not take this approach at all. The book begins with conversion tips for changing out ingredients in recipes to make them gluten-free and continues presenting actual useful information on creating gluten-free recipes without venturing into the nebulous area of opinion.

The author has clearly gone through the trial and error of testing these recipes and suggestions, which is evident throughout the text portions of the book. I especially liked her section on “Tweaking” meals, for example swapping rice for the gluten-laden noodles in your favorite chicken soup recipe. Additionally, she points out some unusual places to look for gluten such as taco seasoning. (Who knew?)

The recipes themselves are quick and easy and use ingredients I would actually have in my pantry. That is a major plus in my opinion. The recipe for Orange Rice (sounded Asian, but was actually Mexican) was not only fast but delicious and the whole family loved it. On my list to try next is the Pan-Poured Pizza recipe with a gluten-free crust.

Coming in at less than 20 full recipes, along with approximately the same number of swaps and tweaks, the book was not as comprehensive as I would have liked. Breakfast only had one recipe, and that is the meal that I am struggling with the most in trying to break the cereal habit without having to cook made to order breakfasts on hurried school days. The author refers to her book Whole Breakfasts and Bread for more recipes so perhaps this book would be more aptly titled Whole and Gluten-Free Dinners.

The formatting of the book was flawless on my Kindle app. The book misses out, however, by not including any pictures. A great photo of a delicious entrée would really entice me to try it out for myself.

Overall I would rate this cookbook at 3 out of 4 stars. Everything that is included in the book is practical and well presented. I don’t know if we will continue working toward becoming a gluten-free family, but this cookbook gives me some hope that it can be done without going to culinary extremes.

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Buy "Whole and Gluten-Free" on Amazon

[a2jc4life]

Thank you for the thorough and detailed review!

--Rachel Ramey

[sblake]

You are welcome!

[Kira LH]

Being GF myself, I definitely need to check this one out! Thanks