I am pleased to announce the winner of our “Cookies for Everyone” Cookie Book Sweepstakes!  Elizabeth Ilson from Florida has won! I am so excited to welcome her into our test kitchen and spend a day of baking with her at our headquarters in Schiller Park, IL.  Myself and the Enjoy Life team are very excited to have her with us for a day and give her a tour of our dedicated facility as well!

A few members of the team surprised Elizabeth with a congratulatory video letting her know that she had won the sweepstakes.  I wanted to share it with you!

There were also three 2nd place winners who were announced on our Facebook page this morning.  Congrats to James, Vicky and Lynn as well!  Wish they could join us in the test kitchen, but they have won a FREE “Cookies for Everyone” cookbook, an Enjoy Life grocery tote, an Enjoy Life t-shirt and Enjoy Life coupons! Congrats!

I’m so excited to have someone to bake with. It will be fun to decide what we will be baking. Enjoy Life has great tasters too, so look out!  Let the baking begin…

We’ll have lots of fun Elizabeth, see you soon!

Happy and healthy eating,

Betsy

A few people have expressed concern about the use of Bob’s Red Mill Flour in the recipes of the Cookie Book since they do not share the same strict allergen-free mission as Enjoy Life, so I wanted to address it in case any of you were wondering.  

As I have mentioned, I co-authored the book with Leslie Hammond, a culinary expert also focused on food allergies. Bob’s Red Mill happened to be her preferred choice so she has used their flours in many recipes. This by all means does not mean you have to, especially if they do not work for you or your family because of contamination issues. In fact, Leslie addresses the concern of safe ingredients in “Stocking an Allergy Friendly Kitchen” section: “Your doctor/allergist and you are the ones who need to choose which ingredients and products will work best for you and your family. In most ingredients, there is a contamination risk. Research the product and consult your physician to make sure the product works for you. If your allergies are severe and you react to the tiniest amount of contamination, some of the products that I use may not work for you. For example, certain flours I recommend are made in a facility that also processes nuts, soy and dairy. That may not bother many people, but for some it can cause a reaction. Always check with the company frequently because their facilities can change.” 

If those ingredients do not work for you, we recommend you substitute accordingly and use a product that you are comfortable with, just be sure to use the volume measurements (cups, tablespoons, etc), rather than weight, as ingredients vary between manufacturers, and we have found they give the best results. If you have further questions, please let us know! 

Here’s a list of other available options. But again, we suggest you contact the vendor to be absolutely sure they are safe for you and yours. 

1) Arrowhead Mills 1- 800-434- 4246

* This product is not made in a dedicated facility or on dedicated equipment

* Lines are cleaned to avoid contamination

* They do test for gluten to 10 p.p.m.

* Plant does contain other allergens

2) NOW Foods 888-669-3663

* Not made in a dedicated facility or on dedicated lines

* Plant does contain other allergens like coconut and tree nuts

* GMP Certified

* ELISA testing, RANDOM testing for gluten

3) Authentic Foods 310-366-7612

* Dedicated Facility

* They do have an Almond but it’s in a different location, not processed there, packaged but in a different location.

4) Barry Farms 419-741-0155

* Brown Rice Flour: Made in a dedicated facility…they purchase it from a dedicated facility

* ORGANIC Brown Rice Flour: Made in a dedicated facility for ORGANICS not GLUTEN FREE. Therefore no guarantee on gluten free for ORGANIC.

Betsy

My name is Betsy Laakso and I will be blogging about allergy friendly recipes, tips and advice for those with food allergies. I am the Director of Research & Development for Enjoy Life Foods, so I’m responsible for creating all the delicious and smile-good Enjoy Life treats.

Also, I recently co-authored a cookbook called “Cookies for Everyone” which features over 150 recipes for delicious gluten free and allergy-friendly recipes that are safe for almost anyone with food allergies. If you have questions or comments about any of the recipes in this book or any of the Enjoy Life products, please feel free to ask them here. I welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing you!

Happy Eating!
Betsy