Gluten-Free Star Chefs

Raised an Italian-American, Karen Morgan lived a very gluten-rich life until a sobering diagnosis with celiac disease met her palate’s fate in 2002. While beginning to adapt to her drastic lifestyle change, she found a wasteland of gluten-free products; cardboard imitations of the baked treats she had forever loved, cannibalized the shelves. Broken hearted by the nonexistence of quality and taste within the market, she decided to do something about it and subsequently embarked on her self-taught, empirical journey to find the perfect gluten-free recipes for everything.It was not until the summer of 2006 that the gluten-free Gods crowned her a bona fide gluten-free virtuoso. With nearly 100 recipes mastered under her belt, she decided to put her work to the test.  Without telling the patrons or the owners of the chateau where she was baking in France, every dessert she made was gluten-free. To the audience’s amazement when she leaked her secret, she was lauded with a standing ovation every night.Upon her return to Austin, Texas, she immediately posted her recipes on her first food blog, The Art of Gluten Free Cooking.  In 2008, Blackbird Bakery was born. The online gourmet, gluten-free bakeshop catered to gluten-free gastronomes nationwide by shipping her handcrafted treats. The uniqueness of her style married with the uncompromised quality of carefully culled ingredients soon had her catering to celebrities like Ben Harper, David Arquette and pro surfer Kelly Slater, as well as marquee events among the ranks of the Grammy Awards, Sundance Film Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Wanderlust, and SXSW.Her first cookbook, Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free, (published by the house of Chronicle Books) is a compendium of delectable gluten-free desserts that are just as good, if not better, than their gluten inspirations. She is now the star of Whole Food’s new cooking show, Gluten Morgan and has officially formed a partnership with Whole Foods as their gluten free expert. She is the only gluten free author to have her cookbook being sold in all twelve Whole Foods Market regions, an honor very rarely given to any author. Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free is currently in its fourth printing.Her work has been featured in The New York Times, About, The Daily Candy, Gluten-Free Girl, Silvana’s Kitchen, Simply Sugar & Gluten Free, Spa Magazine, The Oregonian, The Austin American Statesman, Living Without, Yoga Journal, San Francisco Weekly and on NPR. She lives, bakes and works in Austin, Texas with her son, Leo.

Cara Lyons is the author of Cara’s Cravings, a food blog dedicated to indulgent recipes for healthy living. Cara has found that the key to maintaining her 75lb weight loss is spinning her passionate love of all foods and cooking into enticing, wholesome recipes featuring clean and nutritious ingredients. She has proven to herself and those around her that healthy food is far from boring. On the contrary, it can be rich, interesting, and unexpectedly delicious. In addition to her blog, her original recipes can also be found in Clean Eating Magazine. Cara enjoys cooking “inclusively,” meaning, she enjoys dabbling in gluten-free, vegan, and other specialty diets, so that more people can enjoy her recipes. But in particular, Cara enjoys creating gluten-free recipes using natural, clean ingredients and more nutritious, wholesome flours.

Welcome to Free Eats.  I’m Terris and here are a few facts about me:Once upon a time, I went to culinary school and got my degree in baking and pastry arts.  I baked breads, made macarons, pulled sugar, tempered chocolate and made wedding cakes like my life depended on it.Fast forward 13 years and I’m married to the love of my life and we have two little munchkins named Claire and Patrick.  My son’s multiple food allergies (and my diagnosis of celiac disease) inspired me to rewrite my original repertoire of recipes and create new ones on a daily basis.I call the gorgeous Sierra Foothills of California my home and I am grateful to have Yosemite National Park in our “backyard.”If I’m not in the kitchen or hanging out with my kids, I can be found grooming, riding or caring for our horses.  They are my yoga class.In culinary school I once had a wedding cake instructor who would make us clean our mixers with Q-tips.  This guy made people cry, but I secretly kind of admired his passion.  Plus, he bought the Q-tips with his own money.My kids are the coolest ever and they have full editorial rights.  They have also created the rating system that I use to determine if a recipe is blog-worthy.  Currently the highest honor is known as “rocket ships to the sky” and I live my life in fear of the dismal “rocket ships exploding on the ground” rating.I sincerely hope that you enjoy my recipes and that you are encouraged by how delicious gluten-free, allergen-free cooking can be.