Roasting Tomatoes: Why you MUST try them

I've written about roasting tomatoes before, and I've even included some recipes that calls for roasted tomatoes, but this time I finally have some good photos and I'm going to show you exactly why you should make them.

You need to. For one thing, there are piles of these delicious babies all over the farmer's markets right now. Sure, they are about $4 a pint here which seems a bit expensive, but they are far worth it. I'd rather pay a little more for a tomato I'm going to actually eat than one that will sit and possibly rot on my counter (which happens with the bigger varieties)

You can, theoretically, roast plum tomatoes as well, but I prefer the cherry/grape ones. I think it's because the plum tomatoes still seem to retain some of their juiciness where as the little ones become a bit chewy and dry. I LOVE that.



Take a pint of cherry/grape tomatoes and slice them in half. Toss with a little olive oil and arrange, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper.

Roast in a pre-heated 300 F oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. Keep an eye on them as they roast away so that they don't burn, but they will visibly dehydrate and become little chewy bits of goodness.

Now, all my cookbooks and even friends have different suggestions for how you should make these. Alexis says to try garlic infused olive oil and sprinkle on herbes de Provence. Heidi in Super Natural Everyday says that you can add a little maple syrup (about 1 tbsp). My Rebar cookbook suggests minced thyme or rosemary.




Whatever you choose to do, don't be afraid of roasting tomatoes. Play around with flavors and see what you like best. I like mine plain, mostly-with a little salt and cracked pepper, then tucked into a sandwich, a pasta salad, or even put on a pizza.

Yes! You can put them on a pizza after you've roasted them. Just use like any other topping, then cook the pizza. It's amazing. I promise.

If you aren't using them right away, I put them in a jar in the fridge. Drizzle a little oil over them and they will be like sundried tomatoes-a little more juicy than that first chewy dry bite when they come out of the oven, but just as good.

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Roasted Corn and Black Beans on Baby Greens with Feta

Do you ever go out to eat and love something you had so much you try to re-create it at home? This is where this salad came from. While John and I were out one weekend riding around on our motorbike, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant and I ordered a delicious salad. Later in the week I was home, realized that I had all the ingredients in our fridge and re-created it, with delicious results.

There are few, if any, real measurements here except for the dressing. Just go ahead and arrange the following on your dinner plates! (or side plates, if it's a side salad) Just wing it, you can do it! The roasted corn, salty feta, beans, lemon thyme dressing, it's all just delicious. Make a bigger salad for dinner and serve it with crusty bread, if you wish.

baby greens, torn into bite sized pieces
grape tomatoes, halved
sweet red/orange peppers, sliced into thin strips
roasted fresh corn (scroll below for the directions)
black beans, drained and rinsed
avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
crumbled feta

To roast the corn:
Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

Cut the kernels from about 3 ears of corn. Toss with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, then spread them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes. When finished, remove from oven and let cool before adding to salad.

Dressing:

Adapted from Rebar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced lemon peel
1 shallot, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cracked pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, peel, shallot, thyme, honey, salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the oil a bit at a time, still whisking constantly. You can store this is a jam jar with a lid and give it a good shake before using.

Makes 1/2 cup

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Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Brownie Sundaes

Years ago, when I was 19 years old and had just moved to Vancouver from a small interior town in BC, the first job that I landed was waitressing at White Spot in Kerrisdale. One of the best parts about working at White Spot was that the kitchen didn't produce the desserts, the waitresses did- and I loved putting something together that would elicit wide eyes when I presented it at the table.

One of my favorite desserts at White Spot was the hot fudge brownie-dense, chocolatey brownie, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with hot fudge. Who could resist that? In fact, 20 years later, the hot fudge brownie is still on White Spot's menu. A few days ago I had made coffee ice cream, and then still itching for something even more decadent, I baked some brownies.

Sometime yesterday after supper, I finally remembered the White Spot fudge brownies. There was leftover chocolate fudge swirl in the fridge from when we made mint ice cream, and so I grabbed a bowl, put it all together, and handed the bowl to Kevin. His eyes widened as he gave a squeal of joy, then slowly, deliberately, ate every last bite.

If you make anything on this blog, you must make this. The coffee ice cream tastes like a latte, the brownies are dense and hold up to the ice cream well, and the fudge sauce is perfect. If coffee ice cream isn't your favorite flavor, then use this vanilla one instead. If you don't have an ice cream maker, then buy the best ice cream or frozen yogurt you can find.

All three recipes come from David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop. I know, I know-I've been extolling the virtues of this book for awhile now, but you must know that it is well worth buying if you own an ice cream maker. If you don't have an ice cream maker but you love ice cream, I highly recommend that you run out and buy one, AND buy this book to go with it. Besides the basic directions, David gives you tips on how to create a perfect ice cream custard, and dispenses advice on everything from ingredients to equipment and ice cream makers. The recipes aren't limited to ice cream either, but include sauces, add ins like home made mint patties, and everything from cookies to brownies and how to make your own ice cream cones.

I will dare to say that it is the ONLY ice cream book you'll ever need. All three recipes that are following are adapted from The Perfect Scoop. Now go buy that book, already.

Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, or walnuts chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

First, you will need to get a 9x9 inch square pan and line it with foil, then butter the foil. Make sure to use enough foil so that you have some overhang, which makes things far easier when you need to lift the brownies right out of the pan.

In a medium sized saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together, stirring constantly, until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Stir in the sugar until well mixed and then whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla.

Stir in the flour and salt, continuing to whisk well. It's recommended in the original recipe that you "beat the batter vigorously for 30 seconds, until it begins to form a smooth ball". I didn't actually do this, to be honest, but I did give it a good whisk.

Fold in your chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Scrape into your prepared pan and smooth the top before setting it in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the center is just set. Remove them from the oven and let cool before lifting from the pan, peeling off the foil, and slicing up.

These brownies will last about 3 days on your counter, wrapped well in cling film or if you leave them in the pan and wrap it with foil. They are also excellent crumbled into ice cream or served topped with a scoop and some sauce.

Makes 12

Coffee Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups coffee beans ( I used Buddha Kind-SO good!)
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups whipping (heavy) cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp finely ground coffee

In a medium sized saucepan, stir together the whole coffee beans, milk, sugar, salt, and 1/2 cup of the cream. Warm the mixture up (don't boil it), and then remove it from the heat, put a lid on, and let it sit for an hour at room temperature and steep.

Get a large bowl, pour the remaining cup of cream into the bowl, and set a strainer on top. You are going to need it later to strain your custard, and it's a good thing to have it all ready to go before you start. Set aside.

While you are at it, get a bowl of ice water ready that is big enough for the bowl that is holding the whipping cream to sit in. Later on you are going to need to sit that bowl holding the whipping cream and your finished custard in the top of the ice water bath and stir to cool it down. Not huge mind you, but enough that the bottom of the bowl holding the whipping cream will touch the ice water. You will want to stop the cooking process and make your custard cool quickly. Set aside.

Crack your eggs and separate them, tossing the whites (unless you have something you can use them for) and keeping the yolks in either a large pyrex measuring cup or a medium sized bowl. Whisk the egg yolks together and keep them near the stove.

Re-warm the coffee infused milk in a medium sized pot over medium low heat, stirring constantly. (don't let it boil!) When it's good and warm, gently pour a little into the eggs, whisking well as you go. Add the milk little by little, whisking constantly, until it's all incorporated. You have to be careful here, just adding the milk little bit by bit, and whisking things really well as you go.

What you are doing is tempering your eggs by adding it bit by bit. Otherwise the hot mixture would just cook the eggs. Ew!

Now that your eggs and warm milk are all mixed together, you need to cook the custard a little. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture will coat the back of a spoon. (the temperature of the finished custard will be between 170 C - 175 C) again-don't let it boil!

To test if it's ready or not, run your finger across the back of your spoon. There should be a definite line that doesn't fill right back in right away.

Remove the pot from the stove, and pour the mixture through your strainer into the bowl with the remaining cup of whipping cream, stirring. This is to catch any eggy bits that might be in your custard, and to get out the coffee beans. Press on the coffee beans to get out as much coffee goodness as you can. Nestle the bowl onto your bowl with ice/ice water, continuing to stir so that the cooking process is halted and the custard is chilled quickly. Mix in the vanilla and ground coffee.

When it is cool, pour the custard into a container and chill overnight. You could probably chill it for less time, but I find that overnight gives you a better result.

Process your ice cream according to your ice cream maker instructions.

Makes 1 liter

Fudge Ripple

Maybe this was just runnier because I didn't do it right, but there was a little leftover from when I made Mint Ice Cream so I just spooned it on top. Delicious!

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water, and cocoa powder over medium heat. Keep whisking it constantly while you heat it up, and the edges start to bubble. Bring it to a low boil, still whisking. Let it cook for 1 minute, whisking only occasionally, now.

Take it off the heat and chill in the fridge.

You can, once it's chilled, layer in with ice cream when your ice cream is finished processing in the machine and you are putting it into a container. Just spoon out some fudge ripple and plop spoonfuls here and there while you transfer the ice cream. Don't mix it. Mine didn't go super thick, so I used this as a topping for my brownie sundaes. Either way, it was delicious.

Makes 1 cup.

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Kevin and I are off to Food Network!

I've been chatting with Amy Wimbush from Simple Bites since I started writing meal plans for Everythingmom.com a long time ago. Recently she let me know she's going to be in Vancouver (yay!) and asked if I wanted to watch her compete in a Food Network show.

Families competing against each other in Vancouver, with Food Network, and a chance to take Kevin along? Yes! The best part is, you might be able to come too!

Details below. We're going to be there August 30th at the morning taping, if anyone wants to meet up with us too. See you there!

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Natural Mint Ice Cream

I've been coveting David Lebovitz books for awhile now, but while we were on our Traverse trip to BlogHer, I finally bought one. I've tried a few of his recipes via his site and both turned out so amazingly well that I couldn't wait to get my hands on a whole cookbook. (Seriously, the lemon curd was to DIE for. As was the Chocolate ice cream)

Of course, the one I wanted was The Perfect Scoop. I have an ice cream maker now, so why not get one that compliments it, right? As Alexis and I browsed the stacks of Powell's books in Oregon, I held my breath in hopes that I'd find a copy.

And I did.

The first recipe I decided to try was mint ice cream, since right now mint is easy enough to find in your gardens, and I have been dreaming about mint ice cream for awhile now. Not just plain mint, but mint with chocolate, as in Junior Mint candies scattered throughout. When I made this however, I was a little lazy and chose to make a chocolate swirl instead. (instructions coming soon).

Before you make this, you need to know that it won't take like mint ice cream you are used to. Artificial mint flavor has more of a toothpaste-ish mint flavor, whereas this one, created by steeping milk and cream with fresh mint leaves, has a more herb-like flavor. It's still mint, but not as strong, and it's certainly different from the artificial flavor. Also, it's not green. Imagine that! Also, while home made ice cream isn't necessarily really hard to make, there is a definite process to it that you have to follow. Make sure to read all the instructions through and have everything out and ready to go before you start, to avoid having any recipe meltdowns. Now, if by reading this you still aren't clear on the process, let me know. I'll happily include photos!

Real mint ice cream isn't green-imagine that!

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)
pinch of salt
2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves
5 large egg yolks

In a medium sized saucepan, stir together the milk, sugar, salt, and 1 cup of the cream. Warm the mixture up (don't boil it), and then remove it from the heat, add the mint, put a lid on, and let it sit for an hour and steep.

When the hour is up, pour the minty milk through a strainer into a medium sized saucepan. Press on the leaves to get as much minty goodness out as you can, and then throw away the mint leaves.

Don't put the strainer away-now, get a large bowl, pour the remaining cup of cream into the bowl, and set your strainer on top. You are going to need it later to strain your custard, and it's a good thing to have it all ready to go before you start. Set aside.

While you are at it, get a bowl of ice water ready that is big enough for the bowl that is holding the whipping cream to sit in. Later on you are going to need to sit that bowl holding the whipping cream and your finished custard in the top of the ice water bath and stir to cool it down. Not huge mind you, but enough that the bottom of the bowl holding the whipping cream will touch the ice water. You will want to stop the cooking process and make your custard cool quickly. Set aside.

Crack your eggs and separate them, tossing the whites (unless you have something you can use them for) and keeping the yolks in either a large pyrex measuring cup or a medium sized bowl. Whisk the egg yolks together and keep them near the stove.

Back to the minty milk in the saucepan waiting for you. Warm it up over medium low heat, stirring constantly. (don't let it boil!) When it's good and warm, gently pour a little into the eggs, whisking well as you go. Add the milk little by little, whisking constantly, until it's all incorporated. You have to be careful here, just adding the milk little bit by bit, and whisking things really well as you go.

What you are doing is tempering your eggs by adding it bit by bit. Otherwise the hot mixture would just cook the eggs. Ew!

Now that your eggs and warm milk are all mixed together, you need to cook the custard a little. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture will coat the back of a spoon. (the temperature of the finished custard will be between 170 C - 175 C) again-don't let it boil!

To test if it's ready or not, run your finger across the back of your spoon. There should be a definite line that doesn't fill right back in right away.

Remove the pot from the stove, and pour the mixture through your strainer into the bowl with the remaining cup of whipping cream, stirring. This is to catch any eggy bits that might be in your custard. Nestle the bowl onto your bowl with ice/ice water, continuing to stir so that the cooking process is halted and the custard is chilled quickly.

When it is cool, pour the custard into a container and chill overnight. You could probably chill it for less time, but I find that overnight gives you a better result.

Process your ice cream according to your ice cream maker instructions.

Makes 1 liter

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Road Trip Food: A How-To, With Recipes!

This summer I was on the road for 32 days, covering ten states, in three different vehicles, and went over 15,000 kms. While it was loads of fun and I enjoyed every second, there also was one major challenge.

The food.

Road trip food is generally not that great, I'll admit. You end up taking just whatever you can get, and after awhile all the restaurant menus begin to blend together. Even though we vowed not to eat fast food, by about the 15 day I was ready to chuck a restaurant menu across the room and wail in protest.

Plus I was really, really sick of bacon.

How did we survive that many days on the road? Each trip was unique, as it was by a different vehicle and had different travel companions-so I'll break it down for you, by the trip.

Family Vacation

Vehicle: car
Travel companions: My husband (ultra picky) and teenager (ultra adventurous)
Destinations: Montana, Oregon, Colorado, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, and more. The trip was to spend time 4x4ing in Utah, gold pan in South Dakota, and spend lots of family time together.
Plan of attack: Eat at hotel breakfast bars, pack our own lunch and snacks, eat dinner at restaurants.

This vacation was where I cooked the most. We loaded up on dry goods like cereal, crackers, hummus, and more before we crossed the border into the USA and hit a grocery store for more perishable items. I had packed a bag with a tupperware that contained all the hotel room cooking items I'd ever need: a peeler, small cutting board, knife, ice cream scoop, wine bottle opener, can opener, small jar with lid for making salad dressings, a few measuring spoons, salt and pepper). In the bag I also had a great plastic colander and single serving sized containers with lids.

What did I cook?



Road trip chopped salad:

1 egg per person (we snagged hard boiled eggs from the breakfast bar that morning)
lettuce, washed, dried, chopped (or torn into small pieces)
sweet red pepper, seeded and sliced
cherry tomatoes, sliced in 1/2
cheese, sliced
sprouts, chopped
green onions, chopped

Dressing:
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Chop up all the veggies (leave out the egg, tuna, cheese) the night before and toss in the large tupperware that you are storing all the cooking utensils in. Divide into smaller single serving containers and put in the fridge. Grab the eggs in the morning at the breakfast bar before you leave and put in a single serving container. Pack everything in the cooler.

**be careful-hotel fridges notoriously freeze everything!

Make sure to pack the olive oil and balsamic close to where you can grab it when you pull over at a restaurant and want lunch, along with a small jar, the lid, and a tablespoon.

When you are ready to eat, dump the salad onto a picnic plate. Add the eggs and cheese slices. To make dressing, shake 3 Tbsp of olive oil with 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar, plus a little salt and pepper. Drizzle over top.



Chick pea salad

19 oz can of chick peas
can of tuna (no drain is wonderfully easy)
cherry tomatoes
chopped fresh basil (would be nice, I didn't have any)
shredded carrots (you can do this with the veggie peeler OR buy them pre-shredded)
green onions, chopped

Dressing:
Shaken in a jar...

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Toss everything in a bowl, drizzle with the dressing. Season to taste. Then divide into single serving sized containers with lids.

(Makes 4 servings)



Veggie Sandwiches
The problem with sandwiches when you are traveling is that mayo is hard to keep cold. Give your sandwiches some 'sauce' by mashing up avocado into them instead.

bread
avocados (2, for 4 sandwiches)
lime
salt and pepper
cucumbers
sprouts
sweet peppers
carrot, shredded
sliced cheese (we loved pepper jack in this, lots of flavor!)
Thinly sliced red onion

Slice the avocado in half, take out the seed in the middle, then spoon it all out into a bowl and mash. Slice the lime in half and squeeze in the juice, and add some salt and pepper to taste. You cold also add chopped garlic and a little jalapeno if you want some spice.

Spread the avocado mixture on a piece of bread, then begin layering the other veggies. Spread more avocado on another piece of bread and sandwich together. Wrap them well and keep in the cooler until ready to eat.

Restaurant recommendations:

La Parilla, Bozeman, Montana

The Rusty Moose, Spokane, Washington

Greg's Grill, Bend, Oregon

The Peace Tree Juice Cafe, Moab, Utah


Romantic Bike Vacation for Two

Vehicle: motorcycle
Travel companion: my husband
Destinations: Washington, Oregon, California (specifically the Gold Rush Trail, or Highway 49 in California and the Redwood Highway on the way home)
Plan of attack: eat at hotel breakfast bars, strategic ordering at restaurants

This trip was the most difficult, mostly because we couldn't carry any food on the bike and were completely at the mercy of restaurants. We employed a lot of strategic ordering, to the point where we'd ask how big items were, and had no difficulty asking for sauces on the side, fruit/salad instead of fries, half orders, and would resort to the seniors/kids menus if we needed too. Also sometimes getting an appetizer instead of a full meal is a great option.

Favorite stops:

Starbucks coffee, for their hummus and chicken bistro boxes and keeping us in coffee all summer

John Barleycorns in Portland, Oregon for the best cold turkey sandwich I ate the whole summer

Black Bear Diner, because they so graciously made me something with a ridiculous amount of requests (a delicious 2 egg omelet with veggies, fruit, and dry toast)


Girls Only Road trip

Vehicle: Chevy Traverse
Travel Companions: Tracey, Nicole, Alexis
Destinations: Washington, Oregon, California to go to Blogher 2011 in San Diego.
Plan of attack: visit Trader Joes along the way and not visit a restaurant the whole trip

As far as restaurant free vacations go, THIS was the most successful. Appointed the Director of Noms for the duration of the trip, I was expected to provide cookies, and wrangle the food for the 4 of us. While at first I planned to cook, things gravitated in a different direction. Instead we all settled on grazing, which turned out to be wildly successful. Eating this way rather than in a sit down restaurant required a little time and forethought, but I think that all of us felt well fed and happy. The extra bonus was the ridiculous amounts of money we saved-for 7 days, we spent just under $60 each on food for four people. Crazy, huh? Plus it was ridiculously good food. I plan to employ this strategy more with my family on our road trip next year.

Any and all of this was consumed on our trip, all from Trader Joe's stores:

-morbier cheese
-brie
-smoked gouda
-cambonzola cheese
-crackers
-kalamata olives
-jarred bruschetta
-prosciutto
-pepper salami
-garlic naan, whole wheat naan, and mini pitas
-cherry tomatoes
-grapes
-nectarines
-guacamole (Trader Joes has a cool guacamole kit, with everything you need to make fresh guac yourself. They were very handy!)
-mini carrots
-snap peas
-olive tapenade
-cream cheese (tip: naan bread slathered with cream cheese, topped with tapenade = yum)
-hummus
-peanut butter stuffed pretzels
-trail mix
-Fage yogurts
-chocolate caramel wedges
-bottled green tea (iced)



A few days, we bought individually packaged pre-made salads, which are all fresh and come with a dressing that has only real ingredients, then supplemented them with the cheeses and meats. Trader Joes does this wonderfully, and we enjoyed just nibbling all the tasty goodness.



We had a great plug in cooler which helped enormously-not just with being able to keep the food cold but protect it from overzealous hotel fridges. Packing along our food not only saved us money but some of the most fun of the trip was stopping at various locations along the road for a picnic. There aren't any Trader Joe stores in Canada, but you can likely replicate this by stopping at other local grocery stores. I highly recommend mapping out your trip and then researching via Google maps the stores along your route, so you don't get lost and waste time looking for them (although we still did a few times).

All in all, it was a delicious trip. I even did a final shop at Trader Joes to bring a bunch of the tasty goodness home to my family.

Happy travels!

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Veggie Coleslaw

Truth be told, I'm not a coleslaw fan. It always seems so full of dressing, and mayonnaise and I just don't really get along. Tonight I had a bunch of vegetables kicking around the fridge, and thought I'd give this one a try. I had to revamp things a little since I didn't have fresh dill (so I used dried) and red onion, but even so the results were delicious. My whole family gobbled it down and asked for seconds, then asked if I would make it again. I love the color of the veggies, how crunchy they stay, and that for once I can control the amount of dressing. I didn't use it all-in fact, I just stirred until I thought things looked somewhat coated and then stopped pouring more in. I topped mine with some toasted sunflower seeds to add a little nutty crunch.

Adapted from Rebar

1/2 small head of green cabbage (I used savoy)
1/2 small head purple cabbage
2 carrots
1 sweet red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 medium red onion
1 small bunch of cilantro (optional)
1/4 cup minced chives

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup chopped dill
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Thinly slice the cabbage and toss into a bowl. Core, seed, and then thinly slice the peppers. Peel the carrots, thinly sliced into diagonal rounds, and then slice each round into small sticks. Thinly slice the red onion. Coarsely chop the cilantro and chives, then toss it all together.

In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Pour gently over the veggies, tossing as you go, a little at a time until it's coated enough for you. I like my salad lightly dressed. You decide!

Serves 8 (I halved this and it was plenty for three with some leftovers)

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Book Review: Don't Kill the Birthday Girl

Lately I've been getting a few cookbooks here and there to review, but recently this new book by Sandra Beasley came in the mail from Random House. I've read books before about allergies since I have Oral Allergy Syndrome as well as a pollen allergy, but most have been about how allergies work and what you do to avoid exposure.



This book was a treat-far from the traditional books I've always found that are out there about allergies, Sandra weaves science and new discoveries about allergies as well as the social implications along with her own experiences. There was the nutritionist that claimed she wasn't designed to survive, the dance of avoiding allergens at birthday parties, risks taken as a teen, and eventually navigating adulthood and the challenges that come with having many severe allergies.

I enjoyed the mix of story telling from Sandra's own life interspersed with relevant topics that have been in the news recently such as food labeling, processed food, and how they affect those with severe allergies. She also touches on soy and possibly why it has become one of the big allergies, and delving into science and history, explains at a level that is not only interesting and easy to understand but fascinating for anyone who is interested in food, how it is produced, and where it comes from. I love that the tone isn't preachy or condescending, but rather very informative.

This format kept me engaged throughout the entire book. I highly recommend it to anyone who deals with allergies, or even if you don't, it's a good read.

You can read more about Sandra and the book here

Or, see the trailer below.




Disclosure: I received a free review copy of the book to read in order to write this post. I'm going to pass the book along to a friend who has a child with food allergies.

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