52 Books in 52 Weeks: WEEK 1

For my first, and hopefully not *only*, week of "52 Books in 52 Weeks" I read The Everything Guide to Cooking for Children with Autism by Megan Hart, MS, RD, and Kim Lutz.

Now, I don't have children with autism, but I knew that the diet the authors would be discussing would be free of gluten and casein, which we are trying to avoid (for allergy and other reasons). So I picked this book up at the library along with a stack of similar titles.

The first fifth of the book or so contained helpful advice on cooking for and feeding an autistic child, although it did seem cursory as I'm sure is necessary to encompass such a big topic in 40 pages.  The rest contained recipes broken down into: baked goods, soup, breakfast, salads/slaws, entrees, vegetarian entrees, sandwiches and snacks, sides, vegetable sides, desserts, and odds and ends.

Overall the recipes seemed simple and straightforward -- great for busy moms of special needs kids!  Not *too* many exotic ingredients -- I would say almost none if you don't include xanthan gum and "gluten-free, casein-free" versions of normal pantry items like margarine, soy milk, tofu, mayonnaise.  There were a few mentions of "agave nectar"  I was also especially excited to see that many of the baked good and desserts did NOT contain eggs, which we also need to avoid.   Recipes were high in soy (as is typical in casein free cookbooks), but not overwhelmingly so. Since we also try to limit soy due to intolerance, I am hoping our typical substitutes (rice milk, dairy/soy free cheese, etc) will be sufficient. I enjoyed how the authors sprinkled helpful hints and informative facts throughout the recipes, such as the fact that tasting uncooked batter containing xanthan gum might taste bitter, but the bitterness disappears with cooking. I didn't know that and appreciate the warning!

I will admit, I have not tried to make any of the recipes yet -- I've been too busy reading books on going gluten free to actually cook anything new and exciting.   I'll need to pick out a few good ones before I return it to the library. At $6 and change at amazon, I may actually buy it.  Those of you who know me IRL know that is a big deal, lol! (I never buy cookbooks and look everything up on the internet instead)

I'll save any sort of "rating" of the book until I've tried some recpies!

For more fun, join us at 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

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