Allergy-Friendly Food for Families

Full Disclosure: I love Kiwi.  I got an email because I've signed up to be a Mom Blogger through Kiwi Magazine saying if I would review a cookbook on my blog I could get said cookbook for free.  Of course I volunteered-who doesn't want free stuff?!?! Because my blog is SO awesome, I was selected to receive the free cookbook: Allergy-Friendly Food for Families: 120 gluten-free, diary-free, nut-free, egg-free, and soy-free recipes everyone will love. I do not have anyone in my house with food allergies, so I am fortunate enough to not need to worry about omitting certain ingredients from our meals, but I was really excited to try some of these recipes because they look really great.
Before I reviewed the book, I wanted to try at least a few recipes so I wasn't judging the book on only one recipe.  I was happy to see that there were also some vegetarian options in the book!  I tried the Easy Lemon Chicken for the non-vegetarians in my house and it went over VERY well!  I used all drumsticks, which all the kids love (yes, even my little vegetarian Vince ate this one :( )  and roasted the vegetables with some lemon thyme from Ellie's Fairy Garden (she was NOT happy that I picked it!).  I ate the veggies and thought the flavor was really good.  It reminded me of one of my favorite recipes from my Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook, but it took about 1/2 the time to make.  I also tried the Greener Sloppy Joes, which are vegetarian, using lentils instead of meat. I REALLY enjoyed this recipe...I ate it for about 3 days straight!  I didn't use the jalapeno so I could serve it to the kids (only Vince ate it.  I had some leftover meat sloppy joe in the freezer for Caden and I made it the night Ellie had her surgery, so she wasn't interested in eating anything!)  The third recipe I tried was Corn Chip-Crusted Tofu Fingers.  This too, was a great recipe!  I've tried to coat tofu before (following a recipe from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld) and the coating just peeled off the tofu when I cooked it.  This recipe, however, didn't have that problem at all.  Since it's gluten free, it uses cornstarch instead of flour to coat the tofu before adding the corn chips mixture---awesome!  I'm going to use this with EVERY recipe I have for coating tofu from now on!  I also bought some chicken tenders and used the same coating for the chicken for everyone in my family that doesn't like tofu.  It was very good (so I'm told) on the chicken as well.  I'm excited to try more recipes from this cookbook.  3 for 3 is pretty good odds, so I think I should have more luck with other recipes too!
As far as the cookbook in general, I really like the layout too.  Every few pages they have tips about greener eating, cooking with kids, getting kids to eat fruits, and other tips for parents of young kids.  Almost every recipe has a picture to go with it, which I really like.  I've made recipes from cookbooks before without pictures and sometimes I'm totally surprised how it turns out.  Each recipe has color-coded tabs to tell you what kind of "free" the recipe is.  So, for example, if you're looking for dairy-free recipes, it's easy to flip through the cookbook looking for the blue "dairy-free" tab.  The index in the back is also arranged by allergen.  I also like that the recipes are divided into meal categories (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snack) and THEN they have a Parties section!  I like how "normal" the recipes are.  As I said, I'm fortunate enough to not have to be careful of allergens in food, but when I have a party and invite children who do,  I have an arsenal of fun, kid-friendly, recipes to serve them.
If you're looking for a cookbook to help you keep your family safe from various allergens or if you're like me, and you're just looking for some different recipes to add to your repertoire, check this Kiwi cookbook out! But you don't have to take MY word for it!  (Is there a way to add the Reading Rainbow sound clip here?!)
 Kiwi has provided me with a free copy to give away on my blog.  If you're interested, post a comment and let me know.  After 2 days I will use the very high-tech method of choosing a winner by writing down everyone's name on a slip of paper and drawing it out of a hat.  (I'll use a piece of junk-mail or the back of a previously used paper, just to stay green!)