Healthy Gluten-Free Cooking: 150 Recipes for Food Lovers

This comprehensive cookbook is aimed primarily at people suffering from celiac disease, a painful autoimmune condition. The only way to control the disease is to keep the protein called gluten out of the celiac sufferer's diet; since gluten is found in wheat, patients must usually say goodbye to breads, pastas, cakes, brownies and other baked goods. But the authors find innovative ways around these restrictions, offering recipes for such treats as Blueberry Muffins made with rice flour and tapioca, Buttermilk Pancakes made with cornmeal, and a Mediterranean Tomato, Feta, and Pesto Tart using a combination of wheat-free flours for the crust. But perhaps the volume's most useful resource can be found in a section called ""Basic Recipes,"" a compilation of gluten-free ways to make pastry, roux, bechamel, pancake batter and other traditional no-nos for celiac sufferers. After all, most foods are gluten-free, so while it's nice to see recipes in this book for Feta and watermelon salad, Fluffy herbed potatoes and Italian beef stew, the recipes that readers will find most useful are the ones that allow them to eat foods that were previously forbidden.