Customer Reviews

Nearly Normal Cooking For Gluten-Free Eating: A Fresh Approach to Cooking and Living Without Wheat or Gluten

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This cookbook is a breath of fresh air for me and for my family! The recipes are clear, realistic, and uncomplicated. No weird ingredients to chase after. And her flour mixture makes recipes taste "normal." It's been fun to try new things, and my friends have loved making recipes we can all enjoy.

Just as valuable as the recipes are her comments about her experiences and the good humor she brings to daily life as a celiac. She shares just the right balance of honesty and encouragement. The explanations at the front of the book about celiac desease, do's and don'ts, references, etc. are good for synthesizing what I already knew and for sharing with friends and family so they can understand too. Great cookbook!

Happy Celiac Cook

I've known for nearly 20 years I was allergic to wheat, but I cheat, far too much. The down side was that I stopped baking. I stopped experimenting in the kitchen.

Now, with this amazing flour recipe, I can throw open the doors to my kitchen and cook with abandon! She has put the excitement back into cooking for me. THANK YOU!

And to top it off, the graham crackers taste better than store bought! I can't wait for a full line of Nearly Normal in the grocery store!

For the true celiac, this book is heaven sent. M wheat allergy causes nasal/bronchial problems only, so frustrated with tying to eat wheat-free, I always gave up and went back to craved wheat products: pasta, bread, baked goods, and put up with the runny nose and frequent `colds.' Coming into the high-allergy season, I gave Nearly Normal Cooking a try, and finally, this book has kept me happily wheat free. Jules Shepard is a celiac who has developed recipes over a lifetime of trying to find something good to eat, and indeed, her recipes are as close to normal as I can imagine. The pecan-crusted fish is fine restaurant and guest fare; the muffins, pizza, and other usual no-no's are tasty and satisfying; and there are general recipes that are simply just plain good eating, whether or not they ever would have involved wheat!

Jules Shepard, whose credentials as a successful career woman are impressive, is not an intended chef! She is a celiac who has succeeded in balancing family preferences with medical necessities. The book includes a brief history of her personal experiences in discovering the root of long-term misdiagnosed illness and her exceptional response to it, resulting in this book, and perhaps helping people sort out their own dietary needs.

Best of all, this is an on-going effort. Her website updates this book and will include new recipes as she uncovers them. BUY THE BOOK~AND LET HER KNOW YOUR EXPERIENCES!

An April 2008 order resulted in an incomplete copy of this book. The cookbook had 89 pages and appeared to be complete as its final page was blank except for a bar code. Because it was missing dessert recipes referenced in other reviews, I suspected it was a partial copy. Contact with Jules Shepard and reference to Amazon's Search Inside confirmed this. The replacement book was complete but I wanted to alert other Amazon customers of a possible printing run error on this book.

I appreciate Jules giving out her flour mix recipe as I have always liked to cook from scratch. I have had mixed results with the gluten-free pre-made mixes that are on the market. My daughter is gluten-intolerant and very picky about texture and taste. The chocolate chip cookie recipe is a real winner with her. I'm looking forward to trying out other recipes and using the flour mix in favorite family recipes. Thanks Jules!

I'm primarily interested in the typically high-content "flour" recipes that require effort to make gluten free. I've baked 3 recipes so far and found the instructions to be somewhat vague or innaccurate.

The Grand Marnier cheesecake (pg 123) is very tasty, but made enough filling for two 9-inch pies, not one. I was a bit perplexed as to what "1 cup chopped mandarin oranges, with juice" meant, so I used 1 cup of chopped mandarin oranges and added about 1/8 cup juice, not all the remaining juice from the cans of mandarin oranges, which I thought would make the cheesecake much too runny. Luckily I had enough graham-like cracker crumbs (pg 122) to quickly prepare another pie crust for all that filling.

The graham-like cracker recipe is a very good substitute for regular graham crackers.

I suspect the French sunken chocolate cake (pg. 120) either has incorrect baking temperature, time, or both. My two oven thermometers both read 325 degrees as per the instructions, but the cake took well over 70 minutes of uncovered cooking instead of the 40 minutes suggested, and it's still a bit undercooked in the center. Also, the instructions say to beat the eggs & sugar until thickened but to "fold" in the chocolate & butter mixture....which I'd not expect to do on something that hasn't been beaten to a fluffier consistency.

Unfortunately it will be a bit of an adventure to figure out whether other recipes need to be modified to produce the expected product and not waste money on ingredients for recipes that may not be correct. I'm more inclined to modify well-tested recipes from traditional cookbooks than to make a recipe from this cookbook, particulary when expensive ingredients are involved.

I would not recommend this cookbook to the beginning cook who couldn't recognize potential problems and be able to quickly modify the recipe or change cooking techniques in order to make the recipes work.

This cookbook is such a tremendous resource, especially for those newly-diagnosed and struggling to make a drastic lifestyle change. Every time I get a new copy I find myself giving it away!

The fact that Jules gives us the recipe for her own gluten-free flour is astounding b/c it is truly interchangeable with any recipe calling for wheat flour. Have you checked the prices of and tasted other gluten-free flours recently? Costly and nothing to brag about, so I don't understand the previous reviewer's comment about the book being nothing but a plug for her product. Her only 'product' is providing information and recipes for those wanting to cook and eat gluten free.

Go ahead and use the flour recipe found in the introduction to make the scones on pg.94; then you can thank Jules for the generousity of sharing her flour recipe (that she could easily charge for) because you really can't tell that they're gluten-free. And as for the dried beef comment --all I can say is, "where's the beef?" Nowhere in this book could I find a recipe calling for dried beef because, as the reviewer said, ewww.

The final outcome of the recipes will surely satisfy -- and you'll need it after the frustrating time you'll have making things from the baked goods section. I cannot address the other parts as I have not made things from them, but this cookbook lacks basic information about yields (amount you get from the recipe). And sometimes ingredients that are not in the dough -- but rather toppers such as parmesan or salt -- are included in the recipe with other items. It can be confusing even for an experienced baker. In the next printing I would suggest correcting this or know that you may suffer through VERY salty flatbread. If you do read the entire recipe first and take care while baking -- you will enjoy the results.

This is a pretty good book as far as GF cookbooks go. There are a few errors and several of the recipes could have been more specific in their measurements and instructions. This seems to be par for the course in all the GF cookbooks I've used so far. Aside from that, most of the recipes are rather tasty, once you've adjusted the spices. Using the recommended measurements can result in rather bland soups and such.

If you enjoy having high cholestrol this is the cookbook for you! Nearly-useless, this book contains recipes containing gelatin, cream cheese, ranch dressing, Dried Beef!! (ewww), Miracle Whip, Velveeta cheese and in one recipe alone she has you purchase sour cream, cheddar cheese, mushroom soup, frozen hash brown potatoes and a bag of potatoe chips!!!
There is not a fresh produce item in this book. This cookbook is the biggest joke. Don't waste your money or time. FYI: I gave it one star
because I couldn't go any lower.

This book has tons of recipes with normal ingredients for making gluten-free food. You will find the food delicious. The cookbook also has a great new all purpose gluten-free flour mixture. There is a wealth of information about celiac disease and living wheat and gluten-free, including a reference list of gluten-free alcohols, grains and other foods