Gluten free Holiday recipe magazine review - Living Without's Gluten-Free Holiday Recipes, Winter 2013

Having special dietary needs is a nuisance at the best of times, but when it comes to the festive season with parties, dinner invites, and other social occasions it can become a little miserable when everyone else is eating—except for the food allergy or celiac guest.

No host or hostess likes to see a guest missing out, so a little help on what to serve is always welcome, and even if you're very experienced in catering for different dietary needs, sometimes a few new ideas are welcome too.

With the festive holiday season rapidly approaching we decided to review Living Without's Gluten-Free Holiday Recipes, Winter 2013 to see what it has to offer.

Living Without's Gluten-Free Holiday Recipes - CDN$6.95 + tax

With over 70 gluten free recipes for the holiday season there is plenty of mouthwatering choice. The magazine also includes Stocking Stuffers, Santa's Bookshelf, and Holiday Helpers sections, with suggestions for gifts for the foodie in your life. They also include a substitutions page with suggestions for how to changeout dairy, eggs, and nuts from recipes.

The recipe selection is broken into sections: breakfast, breads & rolls, entrees, stuffing, sides, sauces & glazes, cookies, and desserts. There is also a very useful section listing gluten free flour blends—absolutely essential reading.

I would prefer to see more photographs of recipes as I tend to rely more on the visual aspect than the ingredients list, however, the photos included are mouthwatering, and the recipes clearly presented.

Recipes include pumpkin spice Belgian waffles, herb baguettes, lemon herb roast chicken, cornbread sausage stuffing, Hanukkah slaw, cranberry chutney, double chocolate peppermint cookies, sleigh bells with lemon filling, jelly donuts, pumpkin coconut pie, chocolate bark, and chocolate mousse, plus many more.

I did recognise one or two recipes that have made their debut in previous magazines, but I would definitely agree they were so good that repeating them is worthwhile, e.g. the Cranberry Mousse Pie, I've been making that one since 2010, and it gets compliments every time.

To summarise, some great recipes, and from experience I've never made anything from a Living Without magazine that didn't work or taste good. I'm looking forward to making some of these recipes now—why wait for the festive season?

For more info: www.livingwithout.com or Facebook page