Danielle Walker's Against All Grain Celebrations: A Year of Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes for Every Occasion [A Cookbook]

My husband and I have been eating a paleo diet now for 3 years. I have both of Danielle's other cook books, Against All Grain and Meals Made Simple. I am a huge fan! This cook book is already a family favorite in our house. If you have loved ones who have food allergies or other food related health issues you really need to check out this book! I have had the amazing privilege of cooking things out of this book for several weeks already and everything I have prepared has been devoured and loved by my entire family and extended family. Even people who don't eat a grain free diet. I love to cook and I have had to really struggle to try and figure out how to modify family favorites over the years to make them fit into our diet. (Our kids think we are high maintenance.) But with this cook book I feel like Danielle looked into what our family favorites were and pulled them out plus quite a few more and put it into one incredible book! My husband and I personally loved the blackened salmon from the fourth of July section on Page 177! We cooked up everything from the Game Day section for our son in law on his birthday weekend. Everyone of the recipes turned out so good. We made the mini corn dogs for the little ones and I think the adults ate as many of them as the kids! There is a recipe for corn bread which we haven't been able to enjoy for 3 years and we have made it several times because yes it is just that good! With cooler weather here and pumpkin spice everything hitting the shelves there is even a recipe for pumpkin spice latte! It is absolutely amazing, clean no chemicals and sure to be a regular this fall in our home. Oh and did I mention there is even a recipe for sticky buns! My grandmother used to make these for us and I remember all the work she would put into bringing this wonderfulness into our lives. This recipe is not as much work as a traditional bread dough recipe and the taste and texture are true to my memories! Our son who doesn't eat this way tried these and asked me why I was hiding this from him! I love how every holiday our family loves is in this book filled with a variety of super yummy recipes we can eat! Everything and I mean all of it, from appetizers, to the main course, all of the favorite sides, and desert! This book is hard cover unlike her other two cook books and it is such a huge improvement for when I am cooking! It lays flat on my counter top so I don't have to have something sitting on it to hold it open to the right page! There are beautiful pictures of every recipe to inspire you and tease your taste buds while you wait for your creations to cook up. I just can't say enough good about this book. If you don't have her other two books fear not she has once again taken the time to explain the special ingredients used and shares special tidbits and make ahead notes at the bottoms of every page to help you with preparations. It will for sure be our go to book for celebrating with our family. Danielle Walker and her team has another great big hit on her hands!

I've been cooking gluten free, and largely dairy free, for years now. However I recently switched to paleo for my baking needs (grains are fine for me so long as they're not milled.) What I took away the most from this book was how much I remembered I loved cooking good food. I'm someone that loved cooking since before switching to gf/non dairy diet. However I think a lot of that joy in making dishes went away at some point and I didn't even realize it! Every page is beautifully composed and it made me excited to cook the recipes. What I also love about the book is that it's something I can grow with as my family grows. There are so many wonderful options for simply my husband and I. And then more options once we start a family. I really like that I can go tot this book over my lifetime to plan out our occasions, it's well balanced that way. Where as some recipe books I've found can be a bit centered on celebrating with a family. Another thing I liked is that I hadn't realized simply how many holidays and causes for celebration there were in general! For some reason, in my mind, I thought the book would focus more on providing many options of dishes for the 'main' holidays, as in Thanksgiving and Christmas. However this book covers events that I hadn't even thought of like game day and basic Autumn dinner party. Initially I didn't like this arrangement as much, I thought I would've preferred a larger variety of options per holiday and fewer events. (There are lots of options per holiday, it's more that they're planned out for you as a full menu per meal. So that you don't have to really stress about figuring out how to make a balanced menu per event.) However now that I really get how this book can grow with me for life, I dig it. I also really think this book would be phenomenal then for anyone just starting out on a new diet or lifestyle like this. It will get you through anything you need for a year of events. The only note I'd make is that if you don't happen to follow the basic Christian holiday system and/or are expecting celebratory foods from other cultures holiday systems, you won't find them here. While I don't personally find this to be a problem. I could see this being a deal breaker for some. However I also don't perceive that the author was intending to be closed minded here. It's more that when you read her book, she shares in a way that you are a part of her family and their traditions. She shares these traditions in a very sincere way. So I think for her to branch into cultures (that I presume) she doesn't follow intimately would've created a very contrived and disingenuous book and recipes. So far I've made the blender bread a few times, stuffing, green bean casserole and apple pie...basically Thanksgiving!. I love the mushroom cream base for the green beans so much that I think I might try to turn it into a cream of mushroom soup this winter. The apple pie dough felt a bit different than I expected to work with. It wasn't hard to work with as I could still make a lattice top. But it just felt odd...it tasted great though! I only mention it because I wonder if it's versatile enough if you wanted manipulate it into something beyond basic sheet formations that are well supported....but still...almond flour pie crust! The only trouble I had was with the blender bread and then subsequently when I went to use it in the stuffing. I have a KA Diamond Blender that chews through the nuts and such in the dough well. But the second I add the coconut flour to the mix the blender gets a bit clogged and fussy. When I add the extra water as indicated, the bread turns out really wet one baked. It was so wet that I had to dehydrate it significantly before using it for stuffing. The stuffing recipe calls to dehydrate it with a bit of butter. But there's no way the butter would've taken to the bread cubes as it was so wet. So I don't know if this is really a recipe issue, as it could be the combination of blender capability with the brand of coconut flour I used. With the second loaf of bread I threw into my food processor once it got fussy in the blender (but after I added the water) and the processing went much more smoothly after that. So I might try using my food processor in the future or maybe a combo of the machines. All in all I'm really glad to have found this book and Danielle Walkers work. The way she sets up cooking is very familiar to me since before I made any dietary changes. So I'm sure that anyone with a basic sense of wisdom in the kitchen cooking will be able to jump into this book without much trouble. I couldn't have asked for a better book that I didn't even realize I needed so badly! Edited: I forgot I made the Bacon Carbonara for my husbands birthday and it was delicious. And the then the pancakes, OMG the pancakes! I've never been a big pancake eater in my life. But these are amazing, I love them. I've been contemplating using them as bread on a monte cristo sandwich because I think they'd be excellent as such!

I have Danielle Walker’s other 2 cookbooks (Against All Grain and Meals Made Simple) Although I don’t have the food issues and need to eat paleo like the author, I do have sensitivities and Danielle’s cooking fits the bill for me. I was very excited to be a part of the launch team for her latest cookbook Celebrations, and have been testing recipes for about a month. First of all, the cookbook itself is beautiful. The photos are gorgeous, really showcasing the finished dish. I love the idea behind the cookbook as well – celebrations! It’s an event based cookbook with full menu plans starting with New Year’s Eve and going through Christmas. There are Game Day menus, Summer BBQ and Mother’s and Father’s day meals, every kind of event you could have in a year. I LOVE that the main dish, sides, desserts, even drinks are planned out in one place. But you don’t have to remember which event had the ribs, and which one had the fabulous BLTA burgers because there is a meal type index (breakfast main, side, dessert etc.) included, plus a regular index. Really Danielle thought of everything for this cookbook! She also includes ingredient substitutions, pantry staples, and tips and tidbits for making things ahead. I tried out a lot of the recipes: • Eggs Benedict Strata, pg 113 • Deviled Eggs 4 ways, pg 187 • Curry Pumpkin Soup, pg 220 • Heirloom tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad, pg 168 • Baked “Beans”, pg 128 • Skillet “Corn” Bread, pg131 • Be Mine Pizza, pg 72 • Knife-and-fork Ribs, pg 124 • BLTA Burgers with special sauce, pg 172 • Peach Cobbler, pg 132 • Apple Pie, pg 259 • Granny Sarella’s Biscotti, pg 308 • Christmas Fudge, pg 312 • Ginger Ale, pg 181 Just about everything was amazing. Of all the recipes I tried, there was only one I didn’t like and it was comprised of mostly things I don’t like, but wanted to give it a go anyway. I thought maybe it would be like a Reuben – I don’t like many of the ingredients in a Reuben on their own, but LOVE them all put together. I saw lots of extremely positive reviews for it as well. It just wasn’t for me. But that’s not a bad ratio considering how many things I tried and absolutely loved. I made several dishes for company and they had no idea they were eating paleo except for when I told them.  Since I don’t have the restrictions Danielle has, I was able to substitute regular items like burger buns, or real beans in the baked “beans” and still enjoy the incredible flavors of the recipes. There is something for everyone in this book, regardless of whether you follow a paleo lifestyle or not.

I am sharing this review as a fan and follower of Danielle Walker. I have both Against All Grain and Meals Made Simple and have been using them as part of my weekly menu plans for a couple of years now. I attempted gluten free & dairy free recipes prior to her books and was always left discouraged by a kitchen disaster and an out of control grocery budget. She has managed to create simple recipes that are packed full of flavor and healthy ingredients that quickly become our new normal. I had the privilege of previewing this NEW book for the past month and am SO EXCITED to have it in my collection!!! The list is long of why I love it… here it goes: Hard cover, lays flat, pictures on each page, menu style intro of each section, serving size listed on each recipe, make ahead instructions, tid bits, conversion and substitution charts, recipe index, special diets index(egg-free, nut-free, nightshade free, SCD/GAPS) also top ten tips for effortless entertaining, ingredient glossary, and kitchen gear. I love how it starts with New Years Eve and flows through the entire calendar year highlighting holidays and occasions… Celebrations! Though these are ‘special’ meals, they are easily becoming some of my families everyday favorites. I was brave enough to serve some of the dishes to friends that don’t have diet restrictions/food allergies, and to their and my surprise they loved what they tried and it actually created a curiosity that led to them looking further into healthier eating. If you are looking for gluten free/dairy free/paleo recipes that are worth passing down to future generations… THIS IS what you need! [pictured: knife - and - fork pork ribs (pg 124) / christmas fudge (pg 312) / ginger ale (pg181) / roasted autumn harvest salad (pg223) / peach cobbler (pg132) / baked "beans" (pg128) / breakfast sausage casserole (pg)]

You know what I hate? I hate reading reviews on cookbooks that people have posted within a few days of receiving them, often before they've even tried any of the recipes. Sure, you can tell if the food looks good by flipping through it, but that does not a great cookbook make. Well this, is not that kind of review. I purchased this book all the way back in Fall of 2016, when it first came out. I'd recently started eating Paleo and wanted a book with festive recipes to accommodate my new diet. Six years later (still eating Paleo!), this is one of my favorite and most regularly used cookbooks, so I finally feel ready to share my review. I have made at least 25 recipes from it and am continuously looking for excuses to try more. These recipes do. not. disappoint. I'm the type of person who likes to try recipes for the first time when I'm having company over, and when I'm making something from Celebrations, I don't have to worry about whether or not it's going to turn out well. It's all delicious. The way Danielle has put the menus together is superb, but all of the dishes also stand on their own. I've told many a person that the spinach artichoke dip alone is worth the cost of this book. Man is that recipe a hit when I serve it to people, and yet it's dairy-free! The oysters and apple-parsnip soup from the NYE menu are divine. The smoky sweet potatoes and Brussels with bacon jam have become a staple at my Thanksgiving dinners (make sure to try her wet brine for your turkey, too; mine came out so flavorful and tender). The carrot cake is freaking good. The "baked beans" are a Paleo revelation! The gingerbread worked wonderfully this year at the gingerbread decorating party for a child who could not eat gluten. I could go on, but I don't think I need to. If you're looking for a book with great holiday/special occasion foods, this is it. All the menus will make you and your loved ones feel as if you are feasting like kings. If you just choose a single dish to bring to your party or add to dinner, it will assuredly be a standout that gets you a ton of compliments.

I was so excited to get this book for my birthday. I have her first book, and so looked forward to the recipes in this book. I love a hardcover cookbook, and it seemed just perfect. To my sad dismay, the print is so small and fine that I cannot read it without a magnifying glass. That is really kind of inconvenient when you are cooking. Fortunately for me, I have a lovely app called Pepperplate, and I type my favorite recipes from the book into that app. It makes it easy to add ingredients to my shopping list, so I'm very pleased. The recipes I've tried have not failed me yet. Loved the Paleo Cornbread recipe. I made it for my Thanksgiving dressing family recipe. It was perfect. I'm not a baker, and never was, but Danielle's recipes are easier than regular baking. Over all, I am very pleased with this book.

First things first -- the book is beautifully laid out and every recipe has it's own picture. And (drum roll please)...it lays completely flat! No more messy cups or oddly shaped weights to keep the book opened on the right page. It should be a mandatory feature in every cookbook. Seriously. As for the content itself, Danielle masterfully cracked the code on 'translating' classic recipes into paleo and gluten-free versions that taste just like the originals (or even better). One of the downsides of adopting a Paleo / gluten free diet is missing out on food served at family events, holiday parties, potlucks, etc. This book has a full array of menus for every possible occasion (from Valentine's day to Thanksgiving) and a lot of the dishes are also simple enough for everyday cooking. Recipe highlights so far: - Peach Cobbler: this recipe itself makes the book purchase worth it. Amazing combination of texture and flavors. - Butternut Squash Carbonara: the sauce tastes exactly like the 'real deal'. - Lemon Bars: great as desert or to serve at a party. Perfect balance of sweet and tart. - Green Chili Chicken Soup: just when you thought it would not be possible to still get excited about chicken soup, this soup surprises you some unusual ingredients and a lot of flavor. Only drawback if you're new to a Paleo / gluten free diet -- initially, you will need to invest in some commonly used paleo pantry staples to make the majority of the recipes (nut flours, arrowroot powder, coconut oil, etc.) but in return you will get to enjoy a much healthier version of the American classics (there is even a recipe for marshmallows!). A must have addition to your cookbook collection. Absolutely worth it!

I had no plans to buy this book when it came out. We don't host any get-togethers, and I rarely need to bring a dish to any kind of gathering. Then I tried finding a plain yellow cake recipe for one of my kids' birthdays and couldn't find one in any of my cookbooks! I saw this book locally, paged through it, and found plenty of recipes that can be used not just at special occasions, but year round. I love how the book is organized by celebration, which is completely different from any other cookbook I've seen. Obviously you can pick and choose recipes from different sections, or make one recipe on a normal weeknight if you want, but it's fun to see traditional meals laid out in this format. I also love that she has an intro page for each section where she talks about her favorite memories or family traditions for that particular occasion. As is the case with her other books, the layout and photography are spectacular. There are plenty of pictures and tips as well. Some of the recipes have nut- and egg-free variations for those who have further restrictions. The book has a nice, sturdy hardcover and lays flat on the counter when open. The only complaint I have is that two sub-sections in the Christmas chapter are duplicated, but there don't appear to be any other pages missing as a result (not sure if I got a bad copy or if it's the entire print run). I have only made one cake recipe so far (it turned out great!), but I have plans to make many more recipes from this book. Because I've cooked lots of recipes from her other two books, I know I can trust the recipes to be complete and accurate and turn out the first time. Even if you're a non-party person like me, I think you will still find lots of new and old favorites in this book.

Las recetas para todas las celebraciones que tengas en el año; desde cumpleaños hasta pascuas o incluso Navidad. Excelentes y fáciles recetas para las personas que no consumen gluten ni lácteos o que simplemente desean llevar un estilo de vida más saludable.

Great recipes for all types of events!! All her books are amazing, recipes come out Delicious and instructions are clear.

Very helpful on scd diet

My daughter has some food intolerance issues as well as being coeliac. She is delighted with this book as it gives her great ideas for recipes she can enjoy depite the restrictive diet. It complements her collection of Danielle's wonderful books. We had some gorgeous Halloween food following recipes from the book and are looking forward to sampling Danielle's Christmas ideas.

Ich kenne alle Bücher der Autorin und habe sehr sehr viel nach ihren Rezepten gekocht/gebacken. Bis heute hat mich kein Rezept enttäuscht (das ich vorher appetitlich fand). Aus diesem Buch habe ich (leider) noch nicht allzu viel gekocht, da ich kleine Kinder habe und so viel Festlichkeit bei uns noch nicht in Frage kommt (weil mir das oft schlicht zu aufwändig ist). Aber das "blender bread" ist das beste Brot, das wir bisher ausprobiert haben. Ich schreibe diese Rezension, um darauf aufmerksam zu machen. Sollten Sie also noch auf der Suche nach einem wirklich guten Paleo-Brot sein, könnte das blender bread auch Ihr Herz gewinnen! Nun ein weiterer Tip: Meine Kinder konnten das Brot, so wie es aus dem Ofen kommt nicht richtig schmieren (es ist dann ziemlich weich) und fanden es auch zu eiig (immerhin 8 Eier sind drin). Also habe ich das gesamte Brot in dünne Scheiben geschnitten. Das geht ziemlich gut, wenn das Brot ganz abgekühlt ist. Die Scheiben habe ich auf dem Gitter ausgebreitet und unter dem Grill auf MAX etwa 4-5 Minuten gegrillt, die Scheiben dann umgedreht und nochmal etwa 3-4 Minuten getoastet. Dann werden sie härter, wie normales getoastetes Brot und gar nicht mehr eiig. Seitdem gibt es (natürlich nur ab und zu) kein anderes Paleobrot mehr bei uns. Wir hatten vorher bestimmt 5-6 Rezepte ausprobiert. Übrigens: wir verwenden statt der angegebenen Mandelmilch lieber Kokosmilch. Die haben wir nämlich immer da (und Mandelmilch fast nie). Sie lassen sich gut austauschen, ich mache aber trotzdem etwas Wasser (ca. 3 El) extra dazu. Kauft Euch das Buch, diese Frau ist wirklich talentiert!!