Hannah is the whiz kid of baking, writing, photography, crafting, and, as she states, “just about everything I can’t learn in class.” With creative talents that excel far beyond her years, Hannah brings us a wonderful array of recipes, stories, and product reviews. In addition to GoDairyFree.org, Hannah hosts her own blog, Bittersweet, complete with art in various forms, from food to knitted creatures to eye-catching photos.

“Having been vegan for about three years now, absolutely everything I make excludes animal products. In earlier years, this seemed to imply that I would be doomed to a future of nothing but inedible muffins that could double as door stops, but with time and practice my abilities to create delicious baked goods improved. Now I feel as though there is close to nothing that can’t be recreated without dairy or eggs. In my opinion, there should be nothing that makes vegan food any more or less inherently tasty than the alternative. It all comes down to the same basic ingredients to contribute flavor, making it a simple matter of how you choose utilize them. That’s why I will never accept the response that something is “good for vegan food.” Perfectionist that I am, I will continue working at a recipe until it is delicious in its own right. Feeding other people makes me happier than anything else, so I try very hard to make things that everyone can enjoy.”

Hannah's first cookbook is due out in the fall of 2007.

Janelle has set out on a personal mission to feed her family well. In fact, her childhood addiction for all things food has evolved into a positive adult obsession, “I carry stacks of cookbooks and food magazines with me wherever I go, whether it is going to the beach, on the plane, or even for the 10 minutes I wait when picking up my kids from school. To be completely embarrassed and honest: I glance at recipes when waiting for red lights to turn green.” Beyond GoDairyFree.org, Janelle offers ideas, recipes, and stories via two blogs, Talk of Tomatoes and Brownbag Blues.  Though Janelle does not follow a dairy-free lifestyle specifically, her parental viewpoint and penchant for healthy cooking brings many dairy-free foods and recipes our way.

“I am a mom who feeds her kids and happens to adore food and all it has to offer. I live in Seattle, have a Dutch heritage (lots of farming, rolled up sleeves) and married an Italian (need I say more?). I love to plan parties, cook for neighbors and friends and read cookbooks. A mom with grade school kids, I am in the midst of teaching them to cook, keeping up with their appetites and finding every which way to keep my kitchen experience invigorating and my table top engaging.”

Allergic Girl has both food allergies and intolerances but that doesn't stop her from living life to the fullest. Her website, Please Don't Pass the Nuts features product reviews, restaurant reviews, hotel and travel information as well as the occasional cultural review, all allergy-free!

“I've been allergic to tree-nuts and fish for as long as I can remember. Throw in some of the nightshade family of veggies and some types of melons, most tropical fruits and lemongrass and you have one Allergic Girl. Additionally, I've had allergic asthma since I was four years old. Since 2005, I've maintained a wheat/gluten-free, soy-free and processed sugar-free lifestyle (organic/local/sustainable whenever possible) and it seems to have helped my overall allergies.”

As a professed SAHM (stay at home mom) writer, Sarah keeps us entertained with weekly muses on her blog, No Whey, Mama. She contributes several kid-friendly, mom-easy recipes as well as daily stories on living with a food allergic child. Her daughter, Katherine, is allergic to dairy. The verdict is still out on her youngest, Eli, and allergies.

"When our daughter, Katherine, was six months old, we discovered her dairy allergy when we supplemented with baby formula. At the time, we lived in a city and had many great dairy-free food resources available to us. Now that we have moved back to my hometown, I have become interested in teaching people about food allergies and creating kid-friendly recipes that can be easily made with ingredients found in any local grocery store."

Paul also contributes as an editor to Just Baking, and his own blog, Cookies, Et Cetera. Contrary to what these titles might imply, Paul's culinary talent does extend far beyond the oven. Nonetheless, his muffin, cookie, and candy recipes are so popular, that he is only recently getting the chance to break out of dessert mode.  Like many, Paul is familiar with lactose intolerance, and he therefore never shies away from “free-from” goodies.

“Cooking was a big part of my life growing up in small town Wisconsin. Sunday dinners at my grandparents, I can still taste the fresh baked rolls and kuchen. Baking fruitcakes for my church men’s club yearly fundraiser with my dad. My summer jobs were all cooking related. Early morning baker, short order cook, catering assistant, anything they let me do, I tried. The glamorous life of computer programming called me away from pursuing a career as a chef, but the love of cooking and baking has never waned.”

Mike is a key contributor to the gluten-free community. Never to overlook a special diet need, he crafts many recipes and product reviews for those who also must follow a dairy-free lifestyle. We all enjoy his regular updates at the Gluten-Free blog.

“I, like all other gluten-free / Celiac persons, want to live life to the fullest and not feel encumbered by the dietary restrictions of a lifelong disease.  And, through publishing a book of Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Gourmet Desserts, and also making available public discussions and recipes pertinent to Celiac sufferers, I hope to help others enjoy their lives while living gluten-free -- just as I enjoy my life.  I have been gluten-free for over 4 years now, and truly feel I am missing nothing compared to my pre-Celiac days, thanks to the  wonderful foods my wife creates for me, and the online support and information sharing enabled by the modern Internet.”

jae made big changes in her diet six years ago when she fell in love with a vegan, only to discover that she'd had a dairy intolerance for years! With 5 cookzines under her belt, and a full-fledged cookbook to be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2008, jae spends a lot of time in the kitchen. She's also been posting wheat-free, vegan whole-foods recipes almost each and every Friday on her weblog Domestic Affair for more than two years now.  When she manages to get out of the house, jae works as a holistic health practitioner based in Montréal, Québec. Along with her designation as a holistic nutritionist, she holds a level II in Reiki, is a certified Healthy Breast Teacher, and is currently studying Shiatsu massage.

Cate lives in a very harmonious world of food and writing. As the chief editor of the Well Fed Network, a creative collage of foodie blogs, and Sweetnicks, she contributes food news, recipes, reviews, and ideas throughout each week.

"For as long as I can remember, I have loved writing and yearned to be a freelance journalist when I grew up. When I moved out on my own for the first time, I discovered a second passion … cooking. Now, many years later, I still have a love for both and started my site, Sweetnicks, in an effort to combine them. I have a slight, ahem, obsession with cookbooks, food/cooking magazines, and, well, anything related to food. Joining the food blogging community, … it’s great to be among others who get the obsession.”

Questions on lactose intolerance?  Steve is your guy.  Several years ago he established Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse, a site dense with information.  In 2005 he began supplementing his website with the Planet Lactose blog.  Steve updates his blog almost daily (seriously) with the latest news on all things milk related.

"I'm lactose intolerant. I wrote the book on the subject. Literally. Milk Is Not for Every Body: Living with Lactose Intolerance is its name. I've researched everything on the subject of lactose intolerance for 30 years. I know just about everything about living without dairy products. That means I've been able to help people with dairy protein allergies, vegans, those who want to keep kosher, and others who want to reduce, limit, or eliminate dairy from the diet."

Though Barb is new on the net, she has a food allergy cookbook on the way!  Due out in late 2007, we look forward to her family-friendly creations.  In the mean time, she is sharing product reviews here with us at Go Dairy Free. 

"With no professional culinary experience and allergy experience, I a former Director of Operations for a Transfer Agent turned stay at home mom.  As a mother of two severely allergic children, I found my time consumed with how to feed them.  With 7 of the 8 top allergens to worry about this was no easy feat to accomplish.   Quickly becoming obsessed with food not in the way you might think, but rather obsessing about what to feed my children, I found a love and joy of cooking and spending time in the kitchen.    Reading all the cookbooks I could get my hands on, standing in line at the supermarket flipping through the entire food magazine rack and constantly watching the food network, I had become a “foodie”."

VeggieGirl recently emerged on the blogging community from behind the scenes.  She joins us with vegan product reviews and perhaps a story, recipe or two!

"I am a young, health-conscious vegan who has a passion for nutrition, cooking, food photography, animals, fitness, and writing. I aspire to write for a magazine publication in the future, such as VegNews or Vegetarian Times."

Amy Christine Coccia food lover by day and a disastrous cook by night. She has been experimenting in the kitchen for about ten years, perfecting only the chocolate chip cookie and brownie, only to discover a dairy and gluten allergy. Bringing a whole new beast into the kitchen is a daunting task, which is why she loves to go out to eat! Amy eats a mostly meat free diet and now is struggling with food choices that fit with her allergies and her fast paced lifestyle. She lives just outside of Boston and is eager to explore all the vegan and gluten free friendly places in the area. Her goal is to make going out to eat with food allergies a simple task because the world can’t stop when the stomach is rumbling. Another goal of hers is to cook more at home so please be prepared to laugh at her adventures in the kitchen. Good thing a firefighter lives next door. Visit her blog, What Do I Eat Now?

Sandra is an executive chef in England.  She has a great deal of experience in catering to various food allergies and intolerances, from milk to gluten.  Sandra shares many of her allergy-friendly recipes with Go Dairy Free, and she always welcomes food and cooking related questions.

"I have worked as a chef for over 27 years all over the world and for major events. In March 1999, after a lifetime of eating seafood, I experienced anaphylactic shock from fish. With this new awareness, I now work to help different allergy sites across the globe with recipes, menus, and general advice."

Carol has lived and cooked gluten-free for over ten years, and shares her many wondeful recipes via her blog, Simply... Gluten-free.  In addition to her own diet requirements, Carol creates numerous dairy-free recipes for her sister, who is allergic to milk.  It is these expertGFCF recipes that she brings to us on Go Dairy Free.

"I am an event planner, a gluten-free cook, a food writer and photographer and the hostess of the gluten-free blog Simply…Gluten-free.  I started cooking out of self preservation.  My mother passed away when I was 13 and between my father, sisters and I the best we could do for dinner was spaghetti out of a box and take home Chinese.  I taught myself to cook by reading cook books, watching cooking shows on television and annoying the heck out of really great cooks with my incessant questions.

What started as a necessity soon turned into a passion.  I loved to cook and I really loved to eat!  I used to love gluten but it didn’t like me back so we broke up.  I decided to look at the world of food not in terms of what I could no longer eat but in terms of abundance.  Now I celebrate the abundant world of gluten free living and enjoy the resulting good health."