I recently wrote about Rachel Riggs’ forthcoming cookbook for people with ME/CFS and similar chronic illnesses and her commitment to donate the royalties to OMF.
This cookbook is unique. Its goal is to create the possibility of good-tasting food for people with food sensitivities that they can make with minimal preparation. That means recipes with short ingredient lists that take minimal preparation but still produce healthy and yummy meals.
Valentine’s Day Sneak Peek!
On Valentine’s Day, we’re getting a sneak peek at what a healthy, tasty, and easy-to-produce recipe looks like – and that, of course, calls for a goodie! What better time to indulge yourself?
Rachel’s Valentine’s Day Brownie
This brownie is free of gluten, grains, dairy, and refined sugar, and has a vegan/eggless option. While no recipe will work for everyone in our community because of our uniquely individual needs, this recipe will accommodate myriad food intolerances.
And it’s a single bowl + whisk situation — super simple.
If you’re cooking for yourself, the brownies hold up in the fridge for a week and it just takes 20 seconds in the microwave to restore themselves to their finger-licking goodness.
If you have an egg allergy – check this out. Rachel reports that if you’re able to tolerate baked goods with eggs in them but not scrambled or boiled eggs, a major egg allergen – egg protein – is denatured when cooked for 25-30 minutes at 350F degrees but not when frying an egg. That may be why you can handle baked goods but not more gently cooked eggs. Of course, when it comes to food allergies, you should proceed with caution and consult your doctor — but this may be something to explore!
You have to sign up for her newsletter to get the recipe, but once you do, you will receive a step-by-step recipe complete with photos to guide you along soon. You’ll also be the first to know the publication date of her cookbook – expected to be in early 2025. (I suspect you’ll get some other recipes as well.)
- Sign up for her newsletter here:
- If you’re on Instagram you can follow her cookbook progress here:
ENJOY!!!
(And look forward to Rachel’s Thanksgiving Day and Christmas recipes).
Where’s the recipe?
Sue, there’s a link at the bottom of the article to sign up for the newsletter, The recipe will be sent out soon!
oh thanks rachel for letting us know. i signed up a few days ago and didn’t get the recipe so i figured i had done something wrong.. lol
“You have to sign up for her newsletter to get the recipe, but once you do, you will receive a step-by-step recipe complete with photos to guide you along. You’ll also be the first to know the publication date of her cookbook – expected to be in early 2025. (I suspect you’ll get some other recipes as well.)
Sign up for her newsletter here: https://rachelriggs.substack.com/ “
Happy Valentine’s Day! To all, thanks, you are loved..just saying..
Thank you for your recipe gift, Rachel! And Happy Valentine’s Day to you!
I am eager to try out this recipe & the others once you publish🙂 Minimal prep is definitely the name of the game for us – so very helpful.
Thank you so much, it’s my pleasure!!!
Love to see your cookbook
Linda, I haven’t been given a final publication date, but it will be early 2025.
What is there to enjoy? This was just clickbait. Lets waste people’s time and energy when its already in short supply! I feel very dissapointed. You should at least be honest and title the article, you can sign up to get her recipe for free.
Hi Julie, I can understand your disappointment at not having the recipe at hand. Just to be clear the blog announcement did not say the recipe was in the blog – it said the blog would tell you how to get the recipe.
“Learn about that (the recipe) and how to get it – and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!” It did not say the recipe was in the blog.
I certainly understand how that could be missed. I recognize its a pain but this is a pain I go through regularly on the internet in order to get the content I want – and I think this is good content and this is a good project that I’m happy that Health Rising is able to support.
(We’re not affiliated with the cookbook in any way by the way :))
Julie, I’m really sorry you feel we wasted your time. I also live with me/cfs, and am making an extra effort to include step-by-step photos and an eggless option. I didn’t want anyone to assume this was just another recipe which is beyond our capacity or didn’t meet our dietary requirements. I wanted to include more information so more of us can participate in the simple joys of a fudge brownie!
I am very excited about this cookbook! I wear an armband that connects to the Visible app. It has a feature that shows me how much energy I used for specific activities. Other than going out for appointments or to a store or library, food prep is always at the top of the list. Making dinner generally uses about 1/4 of my energy budget, and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to simplify things. Thanks for doing this, Rachel – it must be a ton of work – and thanks for posting, Cort!
Thanks so much, Barb!! I hope it will be a great resource.
Perhaps some instructions would be helpful. I follow a few Substacks but this is the first I’ve seen that took three times to “sign in” for, only to find a fee is required. No instructions for that, either. Whatever the opposite of intuitive is called, this is it.
Peggy, there is no fee associated with my newsletter, I have turned off that option. I think the sign-up is slightly different for those people who already follow other substack newsletters. Glad you figured it out!
I’m really looking forward to this cookbook coming out! Nutrient dense and yummy food with low effort required is exactly what I need.
Thank you, Jen!!!
Thank you, Rachel (and Cort)! I just signed up. The cookbook sounds like it’ll be so helpful to many of us. Looking forward to picking it up when it comes out.
Thanks so much, Amy!!!
Happy Valentines Day to everyone!
Our community cares about each other!!
Rachel- thanks so much for the info about egg protein.
I could never figure out why I could eat egg in a baked recipe but not a fried egg. We’ll definitely explore this! Maybe I can find a way to eat eggs again- whoopee!
Or could you please share a baked egg recipe that would denature that protein?
I’m severe and am dependent on others to cook for me. Just giving them a simple recipe to follow would be great!
Hi Birdie!
I noticed that scrambled and boiled eggs made me feel horrible, so when an allergy panel identified an egg allergy I figured my love of cake was behind me. It’s what led me to develop the egg-free option for this brownie recipe. But in digging into the research, I ran across the info about egg protein being denatured after extended cook times at at higher degrees, and it made sense for me. However, this is only true for about 70% of people as the allergy may be too severe or may be to the yolk rather than the proteins. We should definitely proceed with caution. As for a baked egg recipe, I think you’d have to really overcook it in order to safely denature the proteins. It’s much easier to accomplish that with baked goods such as bread and cakes.
Best wishes on writing your cookbook, Rachel.
Brian, Kingston, ON, Canada
Thank you, Brian!!
Hi I clicked the link and subscribed and there are several recipes but not one for the brownies. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Chris!
The brownie recipe will go out in my next newsletter. I’m adding some additional photos to represent the step-by-step process so any of us with cognitive challenges will feel confident in making them! My phone was seven years old– typical ME/CFS situation– so my husband had to get me a new phone to allow for better pics. Thank you for your patience — I think it will be worth the wait, these brownies are LEGIT 🙂
Sorry – I signed up for the newsletter and got an email with a small icon which had what appear to be past newsletters (ending with Holidays 2023). Did I miss doing something?
rebecca – rachel answered in another message that the brownie receipe will be out shortly in her next newsletter. she is adding more step by step pictures to make it user friendly for some who have cognitive issues and need the extra help.
CERTAIN COMMON FOODS THAT OUR GOOD FOR YOU CAN MAKE YOU SICKER.
Hi Laura,
Isn’t that the TRUTH!
Unfortunately, my diet lacks diversity even though all the food I prepare is nutrient dense. There are just too many things I don’t tolerate — fermented foods, for example.
I signed up for the newsletter but there is no brownie recipe.
This does not work for me. Putting a photo of a brownie we could enjoy and the having us sign up, wade through a whole lot of bs and no quick recipe. You should know better and understand people with ME/CFS. I subscribed, spent energy on signing up, saw photos of out of season dinners that have nothing to do with brownies and unsubscribed immediately, do better. Give the recipe. If we want more, we’ll sign up. But I’m done with her now. Likely forever. And maybe this whole newsletter if you continue in this way.
How can you forget how disabled we are so easily?
I agree
I signed up for the newsletter and did not get a recipe for this. Instead it was a recipe for Za’atar Tahini Sauce. This may be good, but I wanted the brownie recipe, so very disappointed.
Hi Becky,
The tahini recipe is just part of the archive, The brownie recipe has been sent out via email so if you signed up it will be in your inbox. Check your SPAM folder if you don’t see it. I hope you enjoy the brownie!
RECIPE UPDATE:
If you signed up for the newsletter you should have received the brownie recipe. If you don’t see it in your inbox, please check your SPAM folder.
Enjoy!!
May I have the Brownie Recipe for Cronic Illness please