Getting balanced meals on the table is a challenge for most of us with busy lives — even more so if there are multiple dietary issues to navigate within one household.
Jessica Beacom and Stacie Hassing get that on both a personal and professional level.
The two dietitians met in 2014 at a business conference in New York City and continued to discuss their career goals via phone and email when they returned to their homes and families — Beacom’s in Boulder, Colorado; Hassing’s in rural Minnesota. Eventually, they started a website together to share recipes with their private practice nutrition clients and clinic patients.
Today, therealfooddietitians.com draws millions of visitors seeking healthier versions of family-friendly foods that can be customized for special diets and food allergies. And now their appealing, no-nonsense approach to meal planning is distilled in a handy and attractive cookbook: ”The Real Food Dietitians: The Real Food Table: 100 Easy and Delicious Mostly Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, and Dairy-Free Recipes for Every Day” (Simon Element, $30).
The recipes within are neither fussy nor overly restrictive, allowing for desserts (Jammy Blueberry Pie Bars, One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Blondies) and even some vitamin-infused cocktails with apps (Cherry-Lime Mojitos, Dairy-Free Nacho Cheese). Breakfast, lunch and dinner choices include Florentine Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches, Mexican Street Corn-Style Salad, Sheet Pan Fajitas and Noodle-Free Veggie Pad Thai with Shrimp.
As working moms, these authors take into account factors beyond nutrition by sticking to widely available ingredients and uncomplicated techniques, and offering shortcuts to save on dish-washing. Each recipe includes preparation and cooking times with icons to identify whether or not it will fit your dietary needs as is or with a modification (Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free Option, No Added Sugar, and so on).
You’ll find a nutritional breakdown at the bottom of each recipe, but they don’t advocate calorie-counting.
“Our goal,” they write, “has always been to help others eat mindfully and simply enjoy the food that they eat; to nourish their bodies in a sustainable way that makes them feel their best, and ultimately enjoy life to the absolute fullest.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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