Elana Amsterdam

Elana’s Recipes:
Gluten Free Beverages:
Chai Tea
Hot Cocoa
Thai Iced Tea

Gluten Free Breads:
Banana Bread or Cake
Nutty Bread
Olive Rosemary Bread

Gluten Free Desserts:
Butter Cookies for Mary
Chocolate Bark
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chip Scone
Coconut Macaroons
Blueberry Muffins
Carrot Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Cinnamon Cheesecake
Pumpkin Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Elana’s Bio

Elana’s Pantry is the creation of eco-entrepreneur and gluten-free guru Elana Amsterdam. Elana shares weekly recipes and ingredient selection, purchasing, preparation and meal-planning tips with the readers of her articles and visitors to her website, www.elanaspantry.com (traffic 50,000 unique hits monthly).

She has written for publications including The Denver Post, The Boulder Daily Camera, Delicious Living, Delight Magazine, and Elephant and has been featured in a variety of publications including 5280, Working Woman, Crain’s New York Business, Fortune Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on CNN and MSNBC.

Her book, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, was published by Random House in July 2009. Advance orders online were so strong that a second printing was ordered prior to the book’s release.

Elana lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, 2 boys (chefs in training), 2 bunnies and 5 chickens.

About Elana’s Pantry
The seeds of this site were planted in 1993 when I formed my first business ecosav, an environmental consulting firm, specializing in recycling. It might seem to be a big leap from sorting corporate America’s trash to writing recipes in suburbia, but you’ll see how it’s all connected…

Running ecosav, I designed recycling and waste analysis programs for my clients and saved them a good deal of money in the process. One day, at the peak of my business success, I woke up and found myself in my 30’s, living in NYC with a husband, toddler and an infant.

What was I doing, I wondered? I felt like a fish out of water. I wanted to raise my boys in a simple environment, similar to the one in which I grew up in Northern California.

My husband and I decided a change of scenery was in order and within a year we moved our family to Colorado. When the last box was unpacked, I realized I was going to be a restless stay at home mom. Even though I remained involved in my New York consulting business, I was really looking for a new venture relevant to my life as a mother.

In my 20’s I studied ayurvedic cooking. When my son and I were diagnosed with celiac disease, this three-year study came in handy. Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder triggered by eating gluten. Out of necessity my cooking took on an entirely new dimension as we both went on a gluten-free diet.

Unwilling to cook two separate meals each night for my family, I needed to make gluten-free food that tasted like regular food. Would I be able to do this well enough to convince my husband to come home for dinner?

I threw myself into this culinary challenge and my husband, a tough critic, held nothing back. With much trial and many errors, I developed a gluten-free repertoire that tastes delicious. Friends and family now ask for my recipes, even those who are not on restricted diets!

While my cooking might not be complex, I appreciate that my food brings people together –those who eat regular food and those who can’t –to break bread in the warmth of my kitchen. I love to make food that is not only good for you, but actually tastes good. This has become a passion for me.
This passion has recently led me from blog to book with the publication of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. My cookbook, published by Random House (July 2009), features over 100 gluten-free recipes.

In addition to cooking, I enjoy researching products. I carefully vet each item that comes into my home and share my finds with friends, and now, with a larger community.

Although my husband encouraged me to launch this site seven years and 300 recipes ago, it took a while for me to catch up with his techno-ideas. Finally, here it is, elana’s pantry, a place where I can share recipes, and various ideas for healthy homemaking.

Enjoy!

Elana

reprinted from Elana’s Pantry: http://www.elanaspantry.com

Reprinted with permission from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook: Breakfasts, Entrées, and More. Copyright © 2009 by Elana Amsterdam, Celestial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo Credit: Annabelle Breakey.