Allergy-Friendly Food for Families: 120 Gluten-Free Dairy-Free, Nut-Free, Egg-Free, and Soy-Free Recipes Everyone Will Love

Title:         Allergy-Friendly Food for Families SubTitle:   120 Gluten-Free Dairy-Free, Nut-Free, Egg-Free, and Soy-Free Recipes Everyone Will Love Publisher:  Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub Date:  April 10, 2012 ISBN:        9781449409760 Author:     Editors of Kiwi Magazine Allergy-Friendly Food for Families is the most trustworthy, comprehensive, practical, and kid-friendly collection of recipes that exists for the important and growing audience of allergy-aware families. Unlike other allergy cookbooks, this book covers not one or two allergens, but the five most common allergens in kids: wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, and soy. Each of the 120 recipes is free of at least three of these allergens; most are free of all five. When parents are desperate for ideas for what to make for dinner (or lunch, or snack time), they want recipes from someone they trust, for food that tastes good, that doesn't require a lot of fancy ingredients, and that the whole family can eat. Allergy-Friendly Food for Families is the ultimate resource. From the three crucial mealtimes (breakfast, lunch, dinner) to the "fun" foods families can't live without (desserts, snacks, parties), parents are completely covered. Perhaps most importantly, all of these recipes are simple for parents to make. Recipes such as Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies, Pear Yogurt Dunkers, Good-for-you Nachos, Polenta Mini Pizzas, Giant Cookie Cake, Veggie Bite Soup, and Cool Zucchini Noodles will make kids forget they have allergies. Parents will love the additional informational sections on spotting food allergies, stocking an allergy-free pantry, deciphering labels, and other frequently asked questions. Food should be delicious; family time should be fun. This book reflects those values. Editors of Kiwi Magazine Kiwi is the premier magazine (first published in 2007) about raising families the natural and organic way. Published bimonthly, Kiwi has 250,000 subscribers. The magazine supports and encourages parents to make green, healthy choices when it comes to food, home life, and more. It helps families balance their green ideals with their busy lives and schedules, and helps parents raise their children the healthiest way possible. Kiwi introduces families to the latest in natural and organic living—showing how to practice this lifestyle on an everyday basis. Marygrace Taylor, Kiwi's staff writer and recipe developer, created the majority of these family-friendly recipes right in her home kitchen in Austin, Texas.

In the last several years, there has been increases in the rates of allergies amongst the children. When we first introduce solid foods to the babies, we will test if they are allergy to the food by giving the same food for three days consecutively. This is important as being a mom, you certainly want to make sure the food given to our children is safe for them. This book, Allergy Friendly Food for Families will become very handy for those parents that have children that are allergies to certain type of food at home. Or even if your children do not have any food allergies, but you may have different people in the family have preference to certain type of food, for example the boy maybe don't like eating nuts, while the mama does not like dairy products, so instead of cooking different food for different family members, you can also opt for a recipe that are both nut-free and dairy-free that everyone at home can eat. It's easier for the one who prepares the food, it's also make everyone happy that they won't feel left out or someone complains that he misses his favorite food because another person in the family can't eat it.

The recipes available in this book are divided into 6 categories:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Dessert
• Snacks
• Parties

For each recipe, it will show whether the recipe is gluten-freen, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free and soy-free. The preparation time, cooking time, how many servings per recipe and the nutrition for each servings are clearly stated. There are also some recipes that allow your children to cook together with you. Some tips on food and info or facts about the type of food are included too. Total there are 120 recipes altogether. And most of them are easy to make. I would say the more challenging part is more on sourcing for the ingredients. Some food like rice milk we can make ourselves at home. But some food like, soy=free, nonhydrogenated margarine, we definitely have to learn to read the lables for the food we are buying. I also love the picture of the food show next to the recipe. Unfortunately not all recipes are showing the picture of the food.

Note: I receive the digital ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Gallery. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.