Enjoy two new cooking demos from jae steele, author of the new healthy cookbook, Get it Ripe.  In the videos, jae steps us through making her Flax Maple Cookies, and a nutritious Green Drink. Like her book, the videos include a bit of everything - nutritional info, culinary tips, and personal anecdotes. jae is a registered holistic nutritionist; with a background as a professional vegan baker and work on an East Coast organic farm. Her recipes are vegan, but they also focus on using wheat-free, all-natural, whole food ingredients.  A refreshing change of pace!  You can view dozens of jae's recipes on her website, Domestic Affair.

The September Go Dairy Free newsletter is now viewable online. Check it out to view our monthly updates on new product reviews, news, and food bites plus a giveaway and featured recipe.  This month's giveaway (3 autographed cookbooks) and original recipe (Wholesome Snack Muffins) were supplied by the new food allergy cookbook, What Else is to Eat? To receive future Go Dairy Free Newsletters straight to your inbox, simply sign-up with your correct email (otherwise you won't get the newsletter!) and name (of course it is kept private!).  You can also view all past newsletters online.

Sarah Hatfield, No Whey Mama ~ As I've mentioned before, children's books about allergies--especially dairy allergies--are not very common. Children's books about allergies that my kids actually enjoy reading are even more rare. So I am pleased that they like Abby the Alley Cat: Staying Safe From Dairy! by Myronie and Sam McKee. First-grader Katherine finds the Seuss-esque rhyme scheme and repeating refrain ("Staying safe from dairy is my goal/So I will not touch it with a 10-foot pole!") easy to read, and two-year-old Eli likes the cute drawings by illustrator Adi Rom. I like the positive, upbeat message and the allergy-related information for parents included in the back of the book ...

Janet Doane knows her almonds, after all, she is the author of Almond Essence, a dairy-free recipe book that shows you how to make and use (for seed cheeses, kefir, etc.) nut milk from sprouted almonds and other nuts and seeds. As to be expected, Janet was more than a little disappointed when almond pasteuriation came into play, but she has sought out and found truly raw almonds from a number of suppliers. For your own resources, I have included Janet's list below (thanks Janet!) as well as a couple of almond milk recipes to get you started ...

Review by Roxanna Bennett ~ Reading New York Times best-sellers Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin made me feel like I was getting beat up in my high school bathroom by a couple of popular cheerleaders. While the aim of the books is to convert as many people as possible to a vegan lifestyle (and the fact that a celebrity like Victoria Beckham has been seen in public with a copy of Skinny Bitch no doubt adds to the hype around both books), the overall tone is completely abusive and deliberately provocative. I ordered the books from the internet during a bout of low self-esteem, thinking it might help me shed some weight, and promptly forgot I'd placed the order. When they arrived in my mailbox, I was surprised and ashamed that I’d even considered reading something with such an abrasive title. The shame was underscored by the very first page of Skinny Bitch wherein I was informed that healthy = skinny and unhealthy = fat. (Tell that to the millions of people trying to overcome anorexia, or suffering from malnutrition and starvation.) ... Read Full Review

As I dug my way out of an enormous backlog of emails, I discovered a summertime newsletter from Matisse & Jack's.  Sure that it was outdated, I nearly deleted it, but at the last minute decided to give it a peak.  Low and behold, it housed recipes for using their snack mixes that looked more like back to school recipes than summer treats to me (with a quick tweak of their titles).  So posted below are three recipes, Chocolate Chip Power Cookies, Mini-Banana Bread Muffins, and Peanutty Hiking Bars (change that name to Nutty Energy Bars and substitute some almond, cashew, or sunflower butter for the peanut butter to make them peanut-free policy friendly!) - each using a dairy-free mix from Matisse & Jack's.  These mixes are now available at Super Target, and M&J sells them to groups for school fundraisers too ...