Clean Cooking: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Sugar-Free Recipes

Last Updated on June 29, 2022 by Rebecca Huff

A Tasty Bite Online Cookbook Club Selection

This is going to be so much fun. To read more about how the cookbook club will work read more here.

I want you to know that I didn’t even catch the “everything-free” part of this cookbook until after I’d been using it for a week or so. That’s how good the recipes are! 

For those who want to be inspired to prepare beautiful meals that include superfoods but are also grain-free and so on, this is your book. When you can make dessert tasty without the use of refined sugar, you should definitely write a cookbook.

I read the reviews and many of them were a bit negative. Glad I picked up the cookbook inside a bookstore before I had a chance to be scared off by those reviews. While I can see that some might consider the book to be “odd” or “too healthy” – I'm not sure what else one would expect from a cookbook title such as “clean cooking.”

You can grab a copy of this cookbook, our very first Tasty Bite Online Cookbook Club selection, at Amazon or head to your local bookstore. 

Here’s the description:

Cooking without gluten, dairy, and white sugar is not only easy; the results are also dizzyingly delicious. Clean cooking is a growing trend even among people who aren’t allergic to gluten, dairy products, or white sugar, and it boasts the benefits of slimming you down, giving you more energy, packing your body with nutrients, and making you feel healthier.

Clean Cooking: More than 100 Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Sugar-Free Recipes

It's easy to eat clean when you're looking at gorgeous photos of colorful foods. This cookbook is simply real food. 

Before we get into the actual recipes, I have to say a few things about the cookbook itself. I appreciate a hardcover cookbook because it stands up in the kitchen. In addition, the font pairing in this book is my favorite. Very clean and easy to read. The photos make me want to cry they're so good. Yes, cry. I just love cooking and food and food photography done well. 

So there. Now that's out of the way, let's talk about the recipes.

While the cookbook isn't necessarily a Paleo cookbook, it could certainly work as such. There are plenty of recipes to add in if you're following a Whole30 diet as well. 

Many of the recipes are made with raw ingredients, but it is not a predominantly raw food cookbook. 

If you want to lose weight, there are some meat and poultry, salads and side dishes, fish and shellfish dishes that will work with the keto lifestyle. Although, many people can easily lose weight just by shifting from the Standard American Diet to a clean eating style. I'm not one of those people. 

The Recipes I’m going to prepare first from this book are:

• Red Fruit Salad p. 57-58
• Black Sesame Seed Dressing p. 120
• Blueberry Oatmeal p. 49
• Carnitas, Guacamole and Mango Salsa p. 102

The red fruit salad had a rosemary and honey dressing that was so yummy, I've used it on green salads since making it the first time. Adding this recipe to the other three dressings listed on page 120, I've been really enjoying some new flavors and variety in my salads lately.

Another recipe that was absolutely amazing was the Tamari Salmon, Zucchini Spaghetti, Asparagus, and Broccolini with black and white sesame seeds. For a boost in healthy fats, I went ahead and added diced avocado to the zucchini.

Other recipes I suggest you try

As I spent more time in the cookbook, I found a few recipes that I really enjoyed. Here are some of my favorites:

• Gluten-free scones with fig marmalade (I used fig jam, the same kind I use in my parfait recipe here.)
• Zero Waste Burgers – I love these because one of the biggest reasons I don't juice is due to the waste. Yes, sometimes I put the pulp in compost, but using it to make another meal is best!
• Carnitas from p 102 – There's a lot of ingredients listed, but don't be intimidated by that.
• Hummus x 5 on p. 117 – Green pea hummus is so worth making as are all of the hummus recipes.
• Super Power Bars p. 145 – An excellent snack to keep on hand.

When you whip up a few recipes from the cookbook, please share them so we can see what you tried! Invite your friends to get cooking with us in A Tasty Bite Cookbook Club.

About the Author

Elisabeth Johansson is a pastry chef, food stylist, and cookbook author who has been following a gluten- and dairy-free diet for several years. She has fifteen cookbooks to her name, two of which, Mint and Chocolate and Food, Wine and Vanilla, have won the bronze medal at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Johansson lives in Sweden.

Wolfgang Kleinschmidt is one of Sweden's leading food photographers. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden.