There are days where I am scouring my recipe books for a good, healthy, flavourful meal. With so many chemicals, preservatives and with people suffering from numerous food allergies and intolerance's such as allergies to preservatives, nuts, seafood, gluten intolerance, dairy intolerance (which I suffer from) just to name a few. We are now on the search to eat natural, whole and preservative free foods and recipes that taste good, are simple to make and budget friendly. I stumbled across a book that ticked all the boxes in my need for allergy friendly, healthy, natural meal ideas and recipes.

It's called 'Cut Out The Crap' by Collette White. As the title suggests it's getting back to the basics of good healthy eating, cutting out all the unnecessary "crap". It caters to the gluten, dairy and preservative intolerant but can also be used for the everyday family who want get back to healthy eating.

There are some delicious recipes to be found in 'Cut Out The Crap'. Some of my favourites are:

Almond Dukkah

Cajun Prawns & Pineapple Salsa

Salmon Frittata

Don't forget Dessert.... Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

Baked Pears & Honey

I made a number of recipes from this book over the past few weeks and they were a pleasure to make and utterly delicious.... not to mention healthy and budget friendly.

Collette White the author and creator of this wonderful cookbook will be joining us today to talk about her book and the 'Cut Out The Crap' revolution.

What a wonderful cookbook you have written and created. What is the story behind Cut Out The Crap and its creation?

Thank you! It all started when I was diagnosed with multiple food allergies and after many months I decided I didn’t want to eat boring food anymore, so started creating tasty healthy recipes for myself – but I wanted to make sure they were recipes that my entire family (without food allergies) could eat and enjoy also. I started sharing my creations with friends and family and getting positive feedback, so I thought I would get 10 or so printed. After a conversation with a dear friend of mine, she helped me dream big and I went on to get the first 2,000 copies printed.

Zucchini Fritters

Was it your intention to ever become a cookbook author?

Ha ha! No! When I was first married and moved out of home I had no idea even how to cook from a Jar!
I have always loved books and had dreamt of writing a book one day to have on the shelf with all my others, but a cookbook would have been the last book I would have imagined to end up writing.

What advice would you give to someone considering embarking on a cookbook writing journey?

Make sure you have the time to do it properly (at least 2 years) Have patience and cook from the heart and it will show in your recipes.

What are some of your favourite recipes from the book?

I can get carried away when I am asked this question! My book has 124 tasty recipes and there are only 2 that I can’t eat (with tomatoes)
I love the recipes that I felt I was missing out on for a while when I first found out I had all these allergies, like Chicken Schnitzel and Lemon Meringue Tarts. I love the Turkey Coconut Curry Meatballs, Basil Pesto Chicken, Avocado Pasta, Salmon Frittata and Mango Sorbet....I better stops here! PS My husband told me not to forget his favourite, Potato Salad!

Avocado Pasta

What advice would you give to someone struggling with food allergies?

Buy my book!
Don’t give up and lose hope for tasty food. Food allergies are so common now that you don’t have to feel alone. Speak to others, read books, adjust recipes to suit your allergies and get inspired again.

How do you keep weekly meal times fresh and interesting for your family?

We eat out of COTC every night. I ask my 2 older girls to choose one dinner each week, they enjoy having a say in our dinners and I believe its teaching them about healthy food too.
I believe that the most important thing for me as a busy mum is planning what we are eating over the next week, so I don’t get to the end of a busy day and have nothing to cook. This ensures we always have a healthy meal on the table.

Collette & her gorgeous family!

What food could you not live without?

In summer it would be the fresh fruits of the season, mangoes, nectarines, peaches. I get so excited when I see these coming into season.
I would also have to say herbs and spices.

   If you could invite any three people over for dinner who would it be and why??

1)    Gerard Butler! What woman wouldn’t want that!
2)    It would have to be a Celebrity Chef like Jamie Oliver or Manu – I would love to see what someone like this could come up with for me to eat, giving them my diet restrictions.
3)    Princess Mary. She seems so genuine, friendly and real.

I hear COTC 2 is in the works at the moment. Can you give us a sneak peak of some of the recipes we can look forward to in this book?

Yes! I’m super excited to be working on my second book. COTC2 is being focused on children's meals that the whole family will enjoy. It can be difficult to cater for children with food allergies whilst keeping the meals tasty (for the kids) and healthy (for the parents). This is my focus for COTC “for kids”.
Sang Choy Bow, Apricot Chicken, Choc Chip biscuits and Hummingbird Cupcakes are a small insight into what yummy recipes to expect!

You can purchase her book "Cut Out The Crap' for $20 (+postage) through her website: www.cutoutthecrap.com.au

(*Hint* - They would make a GREAT christmas present! Get your order in now)

Visit Collette on Facebook or her Blog

GIVEAWAY

Collette has also kindly given me three 'Cut Out The Crap' cookbooks to giveaway to my dear Whimsical Wife readers.

To enter simply do one of the three options - (The more you do the more you can enter)

1. Visit Collette on Facebook, like her page and pop back here and leave a comment.

2. Visit The Whimsical Wife on Facebook, like my page and pop back here and leave a comment.

3. Become a follower of The Whimsical Wife (on the right) and leave a comment.

It is important that you leave a comment as that is how you enter yourself into the competition!

Australian Resident Only - Sorry!

Entries Close 10th November 2011