Celeste's Best Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free Recipes: Over 250 Recipes Free of Gluten, Wheat, Dairy, Casein, Soy, Corn, Nuts and Yeast

When I read the description of this book and people's reviews, I thought it might be just what I needed, because I have a wheat gluten and corn allergy. However, it turns out that most of the book is junk. The substution tables at the front of the book are helpful, but they are not listed in the recipes where they would be most useful.She consistently uses the same flour muxture for most (if not all) of her recipes, so she justs says to refer to that flour mixture and come back to the recipe you are making. I find this inconvienent and absurd. Why would anyone only use the same flour mixture for everthing from pancakes to pie crusts, and bread? You wouldn't. Not all types of baked goods will work well with the same mixture, nor would you want the same flavor each time.And who uses olive oil for every recipe? I never use olive oil when I cook breakfast foods. I have used butter (corn free, not margin, which contains corn), and other creative nut oils (like walnut), or canola oil when cooking breakfast foods.This is supposed to be a corn free book, yet every recipe lists xantham gum, which is often derived from corn. Substututions are listed in the front of the book, but not in each recipe as ingredient substitutions as they should be. As one alternative (in the front of the book) to xantham gum she lists konjac powder, which is not an ingredient I have ever heard of. Where do you find it? What is it derived from? Answers to these questions would have been helpful information.What would have also been helpful is if she suggested/listed some allergy free bands for some of her ingredients. (Like Haines has a corn-free baking powder, and Singing Dog has a corn free vanilla)The book lists canned ingredients in a lot of the recipes, instead of fresh whole food ingredients. I can't use canned tomato paste/sauce products (for example), because they contain citric acid, which is a preservative commonly derived from corn. (Which is not mentioned in her book at all). Not to mention the over cooked and over salted products you get from canned foods. I admit that I do use a few canned goods on occasion, but I am limited to what kinds I canned products/brands that I can get due to allergies and other health considerations, like sodium content or preservatives.I fully expected this book to start with fresh produce, especially considering the topic covers food allergens. Most processed food contains allergens or things that are unhealthy for you, like salt, preservatives, added sugars, etc. not to mention that canned goods tend to have less nutritional value than fresh or frozen goods, due to the overcooking done to sterilize and can them.Also, her one-for-all-purpose flour mix is a purely white rice and white bean mixture, (which means it is probably starchy and is lacking some nutrition, although the white beans may give it some protein and fiber.) But without providing alternative flour mixture, the book isn't helpful for people who can't have alot of starch.People who have lymphodema (like some cancer patients) are supposed to restrict their starch intake, so their limb(s) don't swell.There are gluten free oats and other flours that could be used that have more fiber and protein and nutritional value that just white rice. While she lists alternate flours at the front if the book, she does not explain relevant ratios or what flour works best when combined with other ingredients, which, frankly was my primary reason for buying the book, because I want to understand how to balance the chemistry of the different ingredients and flours that I would have to combine in order to approximate what wheat gluten generally handles by itself. Without gluten, making tasty baked goods becomes a lot more complicated. If you have ever tasted any store bought gluten free bread (it tastes like saw dust and weighs like a brick), the unpaletable experience will make you feel the need to make your own fresh bread from scratch. But bread needs lots if agents that various things, like thickening or, helping it rise, trigering the chemical reactions you need, so you don't end up with a dry tasteless brick of a loaf at the end.Had I been able to actually see a few recipes inside this book along with the table of contents and the at least a page of the substitutions, my considerations for purchase would have been more informed about what I was getting. I just received the book, and upon review, I now feel like I paid too much for it. Out if the 393 pages in the book, I feel only anout 50 pages might be helpful.As far as the recipes go, the most useful section is on how to create your own condiments.My recommendation is to not waste your money on this book. Maybe see if you can check it out of your local library for the reference substitution lists and condiments section, but buy a better, more informative book elsewhere.

A cookbook that claims to be allergen-free should not contain one of the major 8 allergens, yet this contains eggs in so many of the recipes. I realize she gives egg substitute equivalents for many of the recipes, but not for some of the recipes that really require the lift of eggs. There are other allergen cookbooks out there that are better and truly allergen free. The recipes need to be developed with no eggs to be considered allergen free. Otherwise, this is just another gluten-free cookbook. I'm sending it back and continuing to look for more to expand my allergen-free cookbooks.

This is my go to book for making gluten free buns, and the best gluten free sandwich bread I've every had. I often use the pizza crusts too. My neighbor just went gluten free and could not stop gushing over the multi-grain bread "are you sure this is gluten free... it is so good, so moist... not crumbly...." Warning: the gluten free white bean and sweet-potato flours are difficult to find, some co-ops will special order and she gives resources to find them on-line. The sweet potato flour is also very expensive compared to most gluten free flowers. I also bought a special ceramic bread pan, and the Braville immersion blender which I love and is worth the investment as I use for more than the recipes in this book. You will need an immersion or stick blender. If you are Gluten free on a tight budget, I recommend "The Healthy Gluten-Free Life".

Love this book! So many recipes. With my sons food sensitivities, this book is exactly what I needed. Now I canprepare items he can eat. I was overwhelmed when he told me his food was bothering him and after removing ingredientsthat caused issues, I was stumped as there seemed to be nothing left. So the search began. Came across Celeste's book.She had most of the problems worked on for me and done all the trial work. She has done a great job on these recipes.I think I will be fighting him for the Pound Cake and Vanilla Treats. He has beaten me to the other items I made. Guess Iwill have to make extra if I want to get some. Glad to see he can eat. I have sticky note tabs for quick referencing his favorites.As we try more recipes, the whole book will be marked.

I've been gluten free for over a year, but am still allergic to something and am having to do another elimination diet to pinpoint what else it could be. I had no idea how to do this until I found Celeste's book. It's truly been a lifesaver for me.My sister who is gluten, soy, dairy and corn free picked up my copy and would not put it down until I told her I'd order her one too. She had a death grip on it lol I ended up ordering 2 more copies as my sister inlaw wanted one so she could cook for us. And if someone wants to cook for me I will certainly give them the tools to do so!I highly recommend this book! And if you need help or have questions on any of the recipes got to Celeste's facebook page and she takes the time to answer your questions. Can't get any better than that!

simply love this cookbook. so far everything is good.some of the flour I couldn't findlike sweet potato flour, northern white bean.but you can substitute it with and Asian bean flourwhich is white and fluffy and is very good for you (protein)the one I use is called Pine Brand Mung Bean Starch. but it's actually a flour..and the bread is actually good as well...page 171 gluten free yeast free bread.I actually make a Cinnamon Raisin bread- here are my subs to the recipeI sub. the arrowroot starch/flour with Potato StarchI sub. the sweet potato flour with Sweet Rice FlourI sub. flax seed meal with 2 tablespoons of Almond Flour and teaspoon of coconut flourthen I add 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon and 1 cup of Raisins.then I added 1

unfortunately I cannot use the recipes as they stand due to the fact I have intolerances to so many things. This is the only book I have ever found that comes near to solving my problems and by finding few substitute ingredients I may be able to make some of the recipes. This book fills me with hope that no other book has ever done. It also gives a lot of advice so that I can understand the way the ingredients work. So much work has been put into compiling this book, I am full of admiration

Lots of great gluten free recipes, even lots without other things I am intolerant to now. Easy to follow, however some ingredients hard to find.

Good book but not easy to get ingredients.

As with many of these books, they are what I call "geography specific" which means, if you live outside of a large city, you can't get the types of flour you need to make a gluten free mix. I live in Newfoundland and our choices are very limited. I have lived in the Maritimes as well and the situation is the same there. These books should beadvertised with a caveat that says something like "here is what you will need to make gluten free flour" and then list the ingredients. Otherwise the recipes are useless to many of us.

It was a gift so not sure how good it is