Ticket Give Away for Gluten & Allergen Free Expo in Chicago

The Gluten & Allergen Free Chicago Expo is coming up on Saturday and Sunday, April 12th & 13th. The great people who put together these first-rate events have offered me 5 free tickets to give away to my readers interested in attending.

The ticket is good for one day admission and you can pick it up at the expo where your name will be on the "Comp List." How do you "enter"? Just send me an email at delightfullyfree@gmail.com with your name, the city where you live, what you like most about my cookbook, Delightfully Free, and, last, how you came by your copy of the book. The first five emails I receive will be the winners.

Please also encourage the GFAF Folks with your enthusiasm for what they're doing by liking them on face book: www.facebook.com/gfafexpo and following them on twitter: twitter.com/gfafexpo  Be sure also to mention the Expo to anyone you think might be interested in attending. Don't forget to mention the 35% discount GFAF is offering.

 Wishing you an allergen free day!

~Tracy

About Delightfully Free: Delightfully Free is a gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free cookbook of 141 recipes. It includes delicious resources for autism, Celiac disease, diabetes, lactose intolerance, obesity and just plain healthy living. It contains 114 color photographs, 114 vegetarian or vegetarian compatible recipes, and 103 vegan or vegan compatible recipes.

You can buy Delightfully Free and Even More Delightfully Free on my website, www.delightfullyfree.com or directly at this link: https://squareup.com/market/delightfully-free
Your signed books always come with free shipping. We do not sell on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other internet sites.

That Hidden Gem

Don't you just love finding a town's hidden gems? Those special places where the locals know to go.

For example, in the beautiful, peaceful mountain community of Idyllwild, California, there has been a great restaurant named the Gastrognome that my husband and I have dined at for 20 years when we're in Idyllwild. It is always full of locals who know each other, the owner and the servers. They have a very extensive and creative menu. I have no trouble finding something even I can eat and also really enjoy! That is especially true now that they offer quinoa and brown rice pasta substitutes. 

One of several Cozy Corners in the Gastrognome

And while we're on the subject, Idyllwild also has a fantastic organic health food store stocked full of gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free ingredients and products. It's called the Mountain Harvest Market.

I was escorted through this market by Dr. Ken Browning who has a family practice, splitting his time between his Riverside office and his Idyllwild office.

Dr. Ken Browning with his wife, Sandy, in front of their Idyllwild Office

His two offices carry Delightfully Free. In fact, his office was one of the very first of a great many medical offices to carry Delightfully Free as a resource for patients. Dr. Browning is truly one of the pioneers of integrating health and nutrition into a traditional medical practice. 

While I was visiting his Idyllwild office, he introduced me to the owner of the Mountain Harvest Market and told her he was carrying Delightfully Free in his offices. He said he wanted to know if she could supply the ingredients his patients would need to make the recipes. Wow, was I ever impressed as I walked through the aisles. Her mountain market could put many city markets to shame. I was excited to see that this little market had all the ingredients to make the recipes from Delightfully Free.

Another such place is in the picturesque coastal city of Carpinteria, California. It's called Pacific Health Foods and, as many of the locals know, Delightfully Free is available there. I am very grateful to have my book in this family run market where the customers are passionate about healthy, nutritious eating. 

These two markets illustrate that ingredients which were brand new to many only a few years back have become staples in health food markets. In fact, even some so-called mainstream markets striving to incorporate healthier choices for their customers are also carrying many of the ingredients.  The trend is so positive!

One last hidden gem (and one I especially love because they make the food) is Savoy Cafe just off State Street in Santa Barbara, California.  The owners, Kathy & Paul Shields, are wonderful people and friends. They also whip up some very creative dishes and desserts. In fact, their place has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. I've had the privilege and pleasure of doing a couple of book signings there and I always make sure they stretch over to cover at least two meals. :)

As you have probably guessed, the thing that makes all these places great are the wonderful people offering an excellent service or product. I hope you have the chance sometime to visit one of them. Oh, and if you need an excellent gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, yeast-free, dye-free, nutritious cookbook for your own use or as a gift for a special friend or  family member, then I have a recommendation for you. ;)

~Tracy

About Delightfully Free: Delightfully Free is a gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free cookbook of 141 recipes. It includes delicious resources for autism, Celiac disease, diabetes, lactose intolerance, obesity and just plain healthy living. It contains 114 color photographs, 114 vegetarian or vegetarian compatible recipes, and 103 vegan or vegan compatible recipes. 


                                                                  

                             

Next Gluten Free, Allergen Free Expo in Chicago

Well okay, technically, the next Gluten Free, Allergen Free Expo will not be in Chicago next to the Lake. But, it will be in the beautiful Chicago suburb of Schaumburg at the Schaumburg Renaissance Convention Center, 1551 N Thoreau Drive. 847-303-4100.

I thoroughly enjoyed being one of the featured authors at the last GFAF Expo held in Phoenix in February. The people organizing these conventions, the exhibitors, the sponsors and the attendees are all wonderful and made the expo very enjoyable and memorable.

So, I have signed up to be at the Authors Table for the Chicago Expo. I'd like to thank Nature's Path for supporting all of us authors by being the official GFAF Expo Author Team sponsor. I appreciate their products and use them in some of the recipes in my cookbook, Delightfully Free.

 If you haven't attended a GFAF Expo, you might look into this one or another in your area.

And, right on cue, the GFAF folks have made it even more tempting to attend by offering a 35% discount for ticket purchases made online:

I hope to talk with you in Chicago next month. Talking with other passionate people is one of the best experiences about these events!

~Tracy

About Delightfully Free: Delightfully Free is a gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free cookbook of 141 recipes. It includes delicious resources for autism, Celiac disease, diabetes, lactose intolerance, obesity and just plain healthy living. It contains 114 color photographs, 114 vegetarian or vegetarian compatible recipes, and 103 vegan or vegan compatible recipes.

You can buy Delightfully Free and Even More Delightfully Free on my website, www.delightfullyfree.com or directly at this link: https://squareup.com/market/delightfully-free
Your signed books always come with free shipping. We do not sell on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other internet sites.

Quinoa--An Amazing Food

A new tasty protein-rich salad from Delightfully Free featuring quinoa, olives & fresh herbs:

How much do you know about quinoa?  Quinoa (pronounce "keen wa") is actually a seed and is a complete protein source with 8 essential amino acids, higher in protein than any comparable grain (5.5 grams per 1 cup cooked). It is also a great source of fiber and other nutrients. It makes an interesting alternative to rice or couscous, and is so quick and simple to make. 

If you're interested in Quinoa, give this recipe from Delightfully Free a try. It's one of eleven delicious salads in the book.

 

If you want more information on Quinoa, check out this overview from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa

~Tracy

About Delightfully Free: Delightfully Free is a gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free cookbook of 141 recipes. It includes delicious resources for autism, Celiac disease, diabetes, lactose intolerance, obesity and just plain healthy living. It contains 114 color photographs, 114 vegetarian or vegetarian compatible recipes, and 103 vegan or vegan compatible recipes.

You can buy Delightfully Free and Even More Delightfully Free on my website, www.delightfullyfree.com or directly at this link: https://squareup.com/market/delightfully-free
Your signed books always come with free shipping. We do not sell on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other internet sites.

You Could Learn Mandarin Chinese Instead

"Isn't this kind of thing difficult?" That's the question I sometimes get from people who wonder if cooking and baking gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free is going to be the kitchen equivalent of learning Mandarin Chinese.

"Nope," I assure them. Actually, compared to "traditional cooking and baking," it will be the same as or even easier. Easier because you use a blender on many of my recipes such as my Black Bean Brownies and many of my sauces and salad dressings, to name a few examples.

Contrary to what you might think, while I love the challenge of creating yummy recipes, I don't love spending all my time in the kitchen. I'm for honing the process, helping myself along whenever and wherever I can without cutting quality. This is the reason I wanted a hidden spiral in my cookbook. I wanted it to be a beautiful hard back that people could display in their kitchens, but I wanted convenience at the same time. (Who likes to prop their cookbook open with a can of beans to see the recipe?) Delightfully Free lays flat when opened to any page in the book. 

Because I remember the uncertainty at times when I began this type of cooking and baking, I wanted Delightfully Free to be as user friendly and helpful as possible. That's one of the reasons why nearly every recipe has a full color photograph of what you'll create. I always enjoy hearing people tell me "your food really does look like your photos" or "I appreciate being able to see what I'm trying to make."

This motivation is also why I included at the beginning of my book a section entitled "Stocking your GF, DF, SF Pantry." It covers the different natural sweeteners, flours and other ingredients you'll come across in GF, DF, SF cooking and baking. It also mentions helpful tools to improve your results. It talks about the best way to get started...by taking a couple of recipes at a time and building your pantry with the ingredients for them. This way, you'll shortly have a pantry with everything you need  because once you stock up, you'll re-use everything you have.

So, don't let a misconception about GF, DF, SF cooking and baking keep you from enjoying delicious and nutritious meals, snacks, treats and desserts. Or, as they say in Mandarin Chinese Zou ba!

You can buy Delightfully Free and Even More Delightfully Free on my website, www.delightfullyfree.com or directly at this link: https://squareup.com/market/delightfully-free
Your signed books always come with free shipping. We do not sell on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other internet sites.