Simplified Dinners that are Gluten-free and Dairy-free Review

What's for dinner tonight?  Not that again!!!  That's the conversation around our house several times a week.  I love to cook, and try to plan our meals.  But it's seriously difficult at times with food sensory issues, food obsessions and allergies.  Trying to make one meal for everyone is really difficult. Simplified Pantry has come to my rescue.

It is such a pain/time waster to have to continually re-write recipes because of all my food allergies.  It really like gambling whether or not a recipe is going to turn out if I have to make drastic changes to it.  So I was excited to try Simplified Dinners-Gluten Free Dairy Free cookbook by Mystie Winckler.  I really needed a cookbook that allowed me to provide simple home cooked meals without a lot of extra work.

Eating allergen friendly is very expensive at times.  So many specialized ingredients, the feeling is overwhelming.  When trying to switch around my cooking style, I remember standing in the grocery store starring at the choices, reading ingredients, and adding up the cost of the items I thought I would need in the cart.  It was mind-boggling.

Another aspect of allergen-friendly cooking is the necessity to do so much from scratch.  Gone are the days of 'pop it in the microwave and 5 minutes later dinner is done'.  With our busy schedule I have really come to dread cooking more and more.  The pure physical exhaustion of keeping up with the family has left me mentally drained to decide what to cook and forget to start dinner.

I was desperately in need of simple recipes without too much fuss and fancy ingredients (that in my area also requires a special trip to a different grocery store).  Simplified Dinners-Gluten Free Dairy Free cookbook has given me a chance to get back to more simple dinners that are super yummy!!!

The idea behind this cookbook is to have simple, healthy and delicious meals that don't break the bank.  Simplified Dinners-Gluten-free Dairy-free definitely has met the criteria there.

Not all the recipes we tried were 100% hits with the family.  The kids didn't like the coconut milk chocolate pudding, but I thought it was good.

A HUGE hit with my husband was the Brunswick Stew Recipe:

It was sooooo easy!!

Cook the chicken......

Dice up the veggies....

 And add them to the soup pot and allow to simmer....

Joe has actually requested this meal again.....and there were no leftovers!!!  Whole meal was on the table in roughly 45 minutes because I used bone-in chicken instead of boneless.  But still there was only about 10 minutes prep work involved.  So SUPER easy!!!

There is a wide array of recipes included in this cookbook that range from breakfast, soups, sandwiches/salads, main courses, side dishes, desserts, and mexican specialty meals (yeah...you can still eat Mexican food even if you do not eat dairy or gluten).

Still not sure if this might be a good cookbook for your family, you can download a sample.  You can purchase this wonderful e-book for only $12.99.  It not only includes many recipes, but a whole section on how to plan budget friendly meals.

Our family has enjoyed this addition to our kitchen, and I will continue to try the meals and use their meal planning guide.  It really has been nice, even with so many websites out there, to have so many recipes right at my fingertips.  No extra research required.  I could really plan the entire week out of this cookbook and not use any other resources....actually I could plan several weeks out!!!

You can also get the regular (non-allergen) version of Simplified Dinners if you do not have any food concerns.  It is also available for download for only $12.99.

Several members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew had the opportunity to try not only Simplified Dinners Gluten-free Dairy-Free, but also Simplified Dinners and Paperless Home Organization.  See how these products helped them in their homes by visiting the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog.