Gluten-Free Comfort Food Classics

Chapter 1: Welcome to Gluten-Free Comfort

If you’ve just learned that you or someone you love needs to eat gluten-free, you’re probably feeling a mix of things. Relief at finally having an answer to nagging health issues, perhaps. But also a very real, very understandable dread: What am I going to eat? And more importantly, what am I going to cook?

The short answer is: all the things you already love. The longer answer is what this book is all about. Macaroni and cheese with a crispy top. A flaky chicken pot pie that doesn’t fall apart the second you cut into it. A chocolate chip cookie that’s chewy in the middle and golden at the edges. A sandwich with bread that actually holds together. These are not things you have to give up. They’re just things you have to learn to make differently.

That’s where this book comes in. I’m not here to sell you on a lifestyle or to tell you that gluten-free eating is a magical cure-all. I’m here to get dinner on the table, and dessert, and breakfast, and all the leftovers in between. This is a collection of recipes for the food you miss, rewritten from the ground up so they work without gluten, without fuss, and without a dozen specialty ingredients you’ll use once and never again.

What Gluten-Free Actually Means

Let’s start with the basics. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It’s what gives bread its stretch and its