This is a post about you, not me. Along those lines, I have some questions, I want to get to know you better. To find out what you like, and also what you need.
Why? I’m thinking of writing another cookbook. For the past ten years, I’ve had cookbook writing on the brain. And in the past four years I’ve created two of them. Now, I’m entertaining the idea of writing a third book. If I do, I’d like it to be of benefit to my readers. So here are my questions:
- What, if any, are your dietary restrictions?
- Are there foods you are not allergic to that you avoid?
- Which type of recipe (i.e., bread, salad, entrees, sides, desserts, etc.) do you find most useful?
- Of the cookbooks you own, which sections do you find yourself using most frequently?
- What is your definition of “healthy food”
- If you could ask for one thing in a cookbook, what would it be?
Feel free to answer all of the questions above, or just a couple. I’m really looking forward to hearing from you, and getting to know you a little bit better.
I will (as always) read each and every comment left below and while there may be competing requests and wishes, I will do my best to incorporate them into my future projects.
Cara says
No Dairy for me….You have a ton of desserts in your cookbooks & blog. I’d love more snacks & hot lunches, too. Why don’t you do your own Paleo cookbook like the one by Sarah Fragoso. I love that – & a picture of all the recipes! Thanks for everything you do for all of us who follow your blog! Your recipes have been a God send & have helped me develop a new way of cooking for the last several years.
JennM says
Oh, how exciting!
I am diabetic, so I follow a low-carb lifestyle. I am not specifically gluten- or grain-free, but I do find that recipes in that category tend to work well with my lifestyle.
Entree recipes are the ones that would be most useful to me–and I would love a good mix of sit-down-at-the-table-together meals and pack-in-a-lunchbox-for-work-or-school recipes
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
c duncan says
I eat a paleo diet. But I AM ALLERGIC TO ALMOND FLOUR. Almonds are the only nuts I really seem to not handle very well, and the almond flour is just too concentrated. I do not eat gluten free grains at all.
I have baked some with coconut flour, but my kids think the baked goods taste a bit like sawdust. And I have used reliable recipe sources.
I would also like more paleo-friendly “home-cooking” recipes. We really don’t eat a lot of baked goods, cupcakes etc. no matter what flour is used. I would enjoy paleo snack ideas.
Love your site. Your posts on inflammation, walking, self-healing, have been extremely helpful to me.
Julie Schutt says
1. I can’t have gluten, dairy or soy. No GF oats either.
2. I do not eat meat or seafood, but do eat eggs. I also can’t tolerate coconut flour (which made me so sad when that was the majority of the recipes in your cupcake book!) or avocados.
3. I find the desserts and breads most useful & use the original almond flour cookbook for them at least 2x per week. I would love to have vegetarian options for entrees in more cookbooks that don’t involve soy!
4. Definitely desserts.
5. More plant-based recipes. My husband eats Paleo, but I feel much, much better without meat or dairy in my diet. More tarts and berry recipes, with less use of coconut flour/oil/shredded coconut.
6. More pictures!!! Ideally at least one picture per recipe. It’s difficult for me to want to attempt anything without a goal of what the end product is supposed to look like. If I pick up a cookbook and there are hardly any pictures, I won’t buy it.
Karina says
Hi Elana!
I already left a comment answering your questions, but I had an additional thought to add. I have recently been thinking about how one could soak nuts before baking with them. I haven’t tried anything with this idea yet, although I am planning to. As I currently can’t eat almonds, I am trying to bake with other nut flours. I think I will soak the nuts before grinding them into a flour, although if one was using almond flour (which is of course widely available unlike other nut flours), it would probably be easier to soak the flour before using it in the recipe. I’m not sure how that would work, as one would than have to somehow reduce the liquid in the recipe, perhaps by using a soild sweetener (such as coconut palm sugar) instead of a liquid sweetener(like honey).
Soaking nuts,as I’m sure you know,really improves their nutrition. You would really be taking your cookbook to the next level by including soaking in the recipes involving nut flour.
Thanks again for listening to my thoughts!
Donna Harrison says
I have MS and my husband has a dairy allergy. I am looking for recipes that do not have red meat or dairy, are reasonably simple (I don’t have to stand for hours to make them), and do not have ingredients that I have to buy at a speciality store, use 1 tsp. and then never use again.
Salads, entrees, soups, desserts and of most interest.
Thanks
Melissa says
Hi Elana –
1. My dietary restrictions are no gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, or shellfish. I generally eat Paleo. It’s clean and keeps me healthy.
4. I would LOVE a book by you that has entrees/sides/salads and some “breads” in it. There are a few Paleo cookbooks out there, but they’re not that good. I love your cooking style and your food, so if you put a cookbook out with entrees/meals, I’d be the first to buy it.
Thank you for all that you do!
Take care –
Melissa
susie says
My favorite cookbook is your gluten free almond flour cookbook because the ingredients are simple and everything whips up rather quickly, tastes great, and most items are readily available in the kitchen. I hate cookbooks that use 5 different types of GF flour. One of my favorites from your cookbook is the blueberry banana muffins because it uses fruit as sweetener and no xanthan gum etc. I’d love to see the following in a cookbook:
-Minimal ingredients
-Easy to make
-Focusing more on breakfast, desserts, and snacks. I find it hard to find healthy GF snacks.
-Fruit as sweeteners and less use of dates.
-More photos!
-No dairy, nightshades, soy, corn, gluten,xanthan gum, and legumes.
susie says
oh! and easy subs in the cookbook if one wants to sub eggs for non eggs. etc
Chrissy says
1 and 2: I eat a paleo diet due to health restrictions (not allergies).
3. Paleo style breads and muffins.
4. Yours of course!
5. Healthy balanced meals/food means (to me) that I don’t have to take any vitamins to supplement a lacking diet.
6. I am looking for more baked snack recipes. I feel like I have exhausted a lot of the options. I also like to entertain so I would love to find meals that can be made on a grander scale.
Ellen says
The cookbook I search for and never find is this:
gluten free
Corn free
egg free
low carb
sugar free
My husband can’t have gluten or corn, I can’t have eggs, and I am diabetic and eat low carb and sugar free to control my blood sugar. I am always looking for tasty recipes, especially for baked goods, that don’t rely on artificial sweetners, and meet the criteria above. I find much I can use here on your blog, and I thank you! Good luck with this new project. I am sure it will be super!