A Review of Beyond Grain and Dairy

I don’t know even where to begin with this fantastic GAPS Cook Book. Beyond Grain and Dairy is the book I would give to anyone who is getting started on GAPS and is worried that they won’t have anything to eat. It is also the book I would give to anyone who has been on GAPS for a while and is bored with their food. It is simply the book that I would give to anyone on GAPS uses a cookbook.

I was going through Beyond Grain and Dairy again getting ready to write this review and I kept thinking “Aren’t I done yet?” There are a lot of recipes in this book! They cover everything from appetizers to desert and from Breakfast to late night snacks. If I had to classify these recipes as to the type I would say that these recipes have a very American Feel with a good dose of Southwestern spice. Starlene also includes several Asian inspired dishes which make my mouth water when I read about them. I am amazed that she managed to write such a long, comprehensive cookbook without any dairy (not to mention grains or starches). Certainly some of the dishes, like the pizza or the spaghetti and meatballs, could easily have cheese added to them for those of us who can have dairy but I really did not miss it. She even has recipes for ice cream and “milk” shakes, all without dairy!

For those of my readers on the Low Oxalate Diet (LOD): You will not find a lot of strictly LOD recipes in this book, although you will find plenty of inspiration. Many of the recipes need only a few changes to make them LOD compliant. Mostly the problem is with using nuts and some high oxalate spices. There are also some chocolate deserts.

I am embarrassed to admit that I have had this cookbook in my possession for a few months and have not made many of the recipes from it. This is not because they don’t look good! The fact is that I am in a food rut and wallowing a bit instead of looking for ways to get out of it. Reading through this book in preparation to do this review reminded me of just how many terrific looking recipes it contains.

I can’t list them all but the ones that really stood out to me for us to try soon were:

• Bacon wrapped meatloaf stuffed peppers
• Chicken Stir Fry
• Cauliflower Pizza Crust (dairy free!)
• Curried Chicken with Pineapple
• Shepherds Pie (actually I have made this and it was fantastic!)
• Chicken Heart Salami (really want to try this)
• Butternut Squash French Fries (these are a favorite of my kids that I haven’t made for ages)
• Ruby Red Sauerkraut Coleslaw
• Avocado Mayo (Even an egg free version!)
• Cantaloupe Smoothie
• Pumpkin Coconut Smoothie
• Bacon Muffins
• Faux Cornbread
• Pumpkin Poppers (Like donut holes!)

Really that list is just the highlights. This book has over 100 recipes! I didn’t even mention the double chocolate brownies or the Cherry Walnut Bundt Cake or the Blackberry Almond Flour Loaf since those are all high oxalate and mentioning them would just be torture. 😉 I know that some of you aren’t restricted as I am to just low oxalate foods so you will adore this cook book!

Starlene has two more cook books that I want to mention. One is called Baking with Coconut Flour and it is all about how to use this sometimes fussy flour to make delicious baked goods as well as ideas on how to convert favorite wheat flour recipes to coconut flour. Really an excellent book for anyone who is doing both the Low Oxalate Diet and GAPS. She also has a book of deserts called Everybody Loves Pudding. This book is also dairy free and most of her deserts are egg free as well.

Through May 31 all of Starlene’s books are half price! You just need to enter the coupon code BIG50H when you check out to get any and all of her books for half price! Starlene is celebrating her 50th birthday and sharing the gift with you!

Discount extended through Midnight June 1! Don’t miss it!

Also, one lucky person will win a copy of this book, Beyond Grain and Dairy. Follow the link below to enter that drawing.

Go ahead and buy the book(s) now though. If you win Starlene will return your purchase price to you. This discount mentioned above will only last 2 more days so by the time you find out if you have won it will be too late to take advantage of it.

Beyond Grain and Dairy Give Away