Hi to everyone who visited this blog after the Martha Stewart show. I was going to respond to the comments one by one, but there are so many of you, I'm going to roll it into one big post. If I leave anything out, feel free to comment, or email me and I'll get back to you.

First of all, thank you so much for all the support and the sweet comments about my boys!!!! They had fun on the show, and I'm glad people enjoyed watching them.

Re: Gluten, yes I use a lot of barley and oat flour. I've found it's the best combo for baking. Barley does contain gluten. Oat is supposedly gluten-free or low gluten, but is usually processed in the same facilities with other gluten products, and thus must be labeled as containing gluten due to cross contamination. I have not excluded gluten from my cookbook, because it is not considered one of the top 8 food allergens, as identified by the FDA. However, since writing the book, I have realized there's a growing need for gluten-free recipes. I have every intention of coming up with a gluten-free flour mix that can be used in my baking recipes. Please check back for that in the near future.

Yes, these recipes are great for vegans! All baked goods are vegan.

To the person at Trader Joe's, the book is available on Amazon, at Borders, Barnes & Noble, many Whole Foods, and many small health food stores, and smaller booksellers. Please, pass along the word to your customers with food allergies! I love Trader Joe's and shop there all the time.


Eczema is almost always from some kind of allergy, but it doesn't have to be a food allergy (tho in my opinion, it usually is). Shellfish gives me eczema, along with a whole lot of other symptoms. I've heard dairy and eggs are big culprits. To the woman whose husband has eczema, i wish you luck! Do you intend to start cooking an allergen-free diet? If I were you, I'd try to cut out the top 8 food allergens for a few weeks, and see if his skin improves. Please keep me posted on how it's going with that. Eczema really is so unpleasant, and I hope he finds his culprit.

And hopefully, I will have some kind of cooking show in the future. It's in the works. And part of the reason I'm so behind in getting back to you all is that I taped a special for the Food Network last week. It's called "Edible Enemies" and is a one-hour special about food allergies. I'll keep people posted about when that will air, though it may not be until 2007.

Again, THANK YOU for watching, and supporting, and your interest!

Check back soon for new recipes and updates. I'm moving to California on tuesday. Perhaps I'll have new recipe inspiration out on the west coast. The produce there is incredible! And if there's one thing i love, it's fresh produce.

be well!

Cybele

Watch me make Rolled Maple Sugar Cookies on Martha Stewart tomorrow, April 20th! Check for local times...

Enjoy!

Cybele

NEW RECIPE:

ALLERGEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I made this one up using ingredients from my two new sponsors, Spectrum and Enjoy Life. They are sooo yummy!!!!

1 cup Spectrum Naturals Organic Vegetable Shortening
1 3/4 cups date sugar or beet sugar or a mixture (I used 1 1/2 cups date sugar with 1/4 cup beet sugar because date sugar is more nutritious and not too sweet -- All date sugar would be great as well)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 1/4 cup rice milk
2 Tbsp. rice milk
pinch salt
1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup Enjoy Life dairy-free/soy-free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. In an electric mixer, or a large bowl, cream sugar with shortening. Add vanilla extract, Egg Replacer, and rice milk. Combine flours, salt and baking soda. Add to bowl. Combine completely. Then fold in chips. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet. You may want to flatten them a bit into round cookie shape. Cook 11 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool before eating. Serve with a chilled glass of vanilla rice milk. Makes about 2 dozen. Yummy!

Dear Friends:

I have been horribly remiss in updating this blog. I've been traveling, promoting the book, and last week, was at EXPO West, a huge natural products expo in Anaheim, CA, where allergen-free, and gluten-free is truly all the rage. Look for some really exciting products at your local health food stores in the next few months: Soy Whipped Cream (for those who can't eat dairy but can eat soy), Good Karma Rice Milk Ice Cream in flavors like Carrot Cake, with chunks of Carrot Cake, that rocked my socks off, and thankfully was nut-free too! Ener-G is coming out with a new bread called Seattle Brown Bread, which is gluten-free, allergen-free, and actually edible, unlike many of their other bread products. I really like this new bread and would eat it on a daily basis. It's made with some highly nutritive ancient native american grain, that they bought the entire crop of this year, so only they will be making bread with it. There are lots of new gluten-free and allergen free cookies on the market as well, some that use agave as a sweetener, which also has the added benefit of being low on the glycemic index, and thus good for diabetics.

Other updates:

Martha Stewart tapes April 13th and airs April 20th. They have switched the dates on me repeatedly, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed I actually make it to the finish line.

New fun recipe idea:

Melt Enjoy Life Dairy-free/Soy-free Chocolate Chips in a heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, dip Ener-G allergen-free gluten free Wylde Pretzels in and swirl, pulling out individually with a fork. Lay out on wax paper on a cookie try. Once finished, refridgerate for a couple of hours. Soooooo yummy. Also, try with Gorilla Munch cereal or raisins. The kids will LOVE this one.

Please come back! I promise not to go so long without writing again.

be well.
cybele