• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Helpful GF
menu icon
go to homepage
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips
  • Reviews
  • Work With Sharon
  • Quiz
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips
  • Reviews
  • Work With Sharon
  • Quiz
×
Home » Gluten Free Reviews » Gluten Free Cookbooks

Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple—A Cookbook Review

Published: Aug 3, 2018 by Sharon McCaskill · Modified: Mar 19, 2024 · ✅Edited and Reviewed by: Sharon McCaskill, MA, RDN · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

Sharing is caring!

1.1K shares
  • Share284
  • Reddit
  • Flipboard

Against All Grain is a paleo-style cookbook by Danielle Walker which promotes easy-to make food that's gluten-free and dairy-free. But is it as easy and simple as it claims?

I tried out lots of the recipes, and this Against All Grain Cookbook review is a candid review of the cookbook and recipes.

Keep on reading to learn more about it and discover if it’d be a good fit to add to your cookbook library or use the table of contents below to jump to the section of your choice.


Are you new here? Here's tips to live gluten-free without the stress!

  • How to eat out SAFELY when you’re gluten-free
  • How to make ANY recipe gluten-free
  • How to TRAVEL gluten-free and still have fun

…get valuable support in my EXCLUSIVE Facebook community “Stress-Free Gluten-Free” by clicking here!


The gluten-free guide below is based on personal experience and research.  Always be sure to discuss any medical changes with your doctor for your personal medical needs. Additionally, this post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My full disclosure isn’t that interesting, but you can find it here. 

Danielle Walker, founder of Against All Grain and author of this cookbook Meals Made Simple, is an author I’ve followed for a LONG time.

When Tyler and I first got married, I found her blog so inspiring. I admire her transparency with her readers covering her ongoing journey with autoimmune disease and its effect on daily living.

However, I totally respect her ability to use food (specifically, a Paleo diet) to heal many aspects of autoimmunity. While my family isn't Paleo, we really do enjoy Walker’s second cookbook, Meals Made Simple.

Danielle Walker's Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes to Make Anytime
Danielle Walker's Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes to Make Anytime
$20.21
Buy Now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
07/16/2025 09:16 pm GMT

Take this quick quiz and uncover the secrets to making your gluten-free lifestyle not just manageable, but truly enjoyable with custom recipes and tips!

in post quiz graphic with image of sharon eating yogurt with text overlay: your custom gluten free blueprint awaits
Take the Quiz Now!

MEALS MADE SIMPLE: AN OVERVIEW

While Meals Made Simple includes over 100 recipes, it is a bit more than just a cookbook. Walker becomes your guide to a transition to the Paleo diet. She begins with a summary of her personal journey of transitioning to Paleo and her experience helping others.

She then shifts to become your guide in the kitchen—an introduction on how to use Meals Made Simple, a shopping guide (including a synopsis on ingredients you will use, quality of ingredients, essential kitchen tools, and more), and a simple guide to Paleo.

For her readers, Walker defines the Paleo diet as “reverting to the foods that our bodies were intended to consume and process before the days of the agricultural revolution and processed foods” (p. 34).

Finally, Meals Made Simple concludes with 8 weekly meal plans complete with shopping lists.  This section of the book makes for easy meal planning--she does it for you!

THE RECIPES

All recipes in Meals Made Simple are Paleo—meaning that they are gluten-free (and dairy-free) by default (this also makes many of her recipes fitting for AIP and other diets).

Walker claims that these recipes are designed for busy-living. Many recipes are crockpot meals or even 30-minute recipes. Personally, I rely on my slow cooker a lot, so that’s a major reason why I decided to finally give Meals Made Simple a try.

Meals Made Simple divides its recipes into the following categories: breakfast, soups & hearty salads, poultry, beef/pork/lamb, seafood, sides, basics, and simply sweets.

I tried out recipes for you—(you may have seen a couple teases of me making them in my Instagram Stories—if you don’t follow me yet, click here and do it!). Here’s what I tried and what we thought!

Biscuits: Rating 4.5/5

According to Meals Made Simple, this recipe makes 8 biscuits, takes 20 minutes of prep, and cooks for 18-20 minutes.

Biscuits from Meals Made Simple

To make these, you’ll need blanched almond flour, coconut flour, eggs, honey, lmond milk, apple cider vinegar, baking soda, salt, and either palm shortening or ghee (I used Thrive Market brand’s ghee—learn more about why I like Thrive Market here).

Save $ on GF Groceries
Get 30% OFF your first order and a FREE gift when you join Thrive Market!

Elevate your gluten-free lifestyle with the convenience of Thrive Market's grocery delivery – join now and discover a world of delicious and wholesome options delivered straight to your doorstep!

Get 30% OFF your first order and a FREE gift when you join Thrive Market!
Try it now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

You’ll also need parchment paper, a flour sifter, baking sheet, either a mixer with a dough hook or a pastry cutter (I used my Kitchen Aid’s dough hook), a biscuit cutter (I just used my hands), and a wire cooling rack.

This recipe was easy outside of one issue: you had to sift a LOT of flour, and it felt like it took forever (and it made my hands tired—I know, wah wah).

I do think the sifting was necessary though because these biscuits--DANG they were good. The texture was great, but the taste was even better. We ate them warm with some ghee on top and the kids added jelly.

I do feel as if the result was worth the work and I’ll probably make these biscuits again, I just know that I wouldn’t have the gusto to make this recipe on a regular basis due to all the sifting. I’m a wimp, obviously.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole: Rating 5/5

overnight breakfast casserole from Meals Made Simple
Overnight Breakfast Casserole--right out of the crock pot!

According to Meals Made Simple, this recipe serves 6-8, takes 20 minutes of prep, and cooks for 6-8 hours in the crock pot.

To make this breakfast casserole, you’ll use palm shortening or softened ghee, gf breakfast sausage, bacon, onion, white sweet potatoes, bell peppers, eggs, almond milk, full-fat coconut milk, salt, dry mustard, and black pepper.

For kitchen tools you’ll need a slow cooker, a skillet (for precooking the sausage and bacon), a grater (I used my Kitchen Aid shredder attachment), a sharp knife for chopping, a whisk, and a bowl.

This recipe was so delicious, and pretty simple (CROCK POT). We actually made it for dinner (which I think was a good choice, since we actually stopped our crock pot early.

At only 5 hours of cooking the edges of the casserole were already a bit brown, and we sleep for more than 5 hours at night…). We had quite a bit of leftovers too. Tyler has actually asked me a couple time to make this again! It’s on my list for a repeat next week.

Buffalo Chicken Salad: Rating 4.5/5

According to Meals Made Simple, this is a slow cooker recipe serving 6-8, takes 20 minutes of prep, and cooks for 4 hours.

To make the crock pot buffalo chicken you’ll need boneless skinless chicken breasts, Buffalo sauce, ghee, white vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper.

slow cooker buffalo chicken from Meals Made Simple

To turn it into a salad you’ll also need romaine lettuce, celery, shredded carrot, and ranch dressing (Walker includes a recipe for Herb Ranch Dressing that we didn’t try—we used Primal Ranch which is our FAVORITE. You can find it cheaper at some local stores or through Thrive Market). You’ll also need a slow cooker.

Save $ on GF Groceries
Get 30% OFF your first order and a FREE gift when you join Thrive Market!

Elevate your gluten-free lifestyle with the convenience of Thrive Market's grocery delivery – join now and discover a world of delicious and wholesome options delivered straight to your doorstep!

Get 30% OFF your first order and a FREE gift when you join Thrive Market!
Try it now
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

I absolutely loved the simplicity of this recipe…almost as much as I love Buffalo anything! It honestly took much less than 20 minutes of prep.

To make things even simpler, I filled a couple gallon-sized freezer bags with the ingredients and tossed them into our chest freezer.  Now I have meals prepped for weeks when I just can’t get meal planning together!

While I ate it as a chicken salad, Tyler ate it as a wrap using a burrito sized gluten-free tortilla. Both ways it was great! One note: it was VERY spicy. Next time I’ll probably leave out the cayenne pepper.

Cumin-Garlic Summer Squash: Rating ⅘

According to Meals Made Simple, this recipe serves 6-8, prep time is only 10 minutes, and the cook time is 15 minutes.

squash from Meals Made Simple

This recipe calls for ghee or olive oil (I used olive oil), garlic, zucchini, yellow squash, ground cumin, sea salt, and black pepper. You’ll also need a knife & cutting board, and a skillet.

This recipe was simple perfection. It was one of those recipes that reminds you that regular food right from the earth is delicious.

I’d never had cumin as a seasoning straight up on veggies, and I liked it! It wasn’t anything earth shattering, but a good, reliable way to eat your veggies.

What's they key to loving your gluten free life? Get your personalized plan with the guide you need to thrive!

in post quiz graphic with image of sharon eating yogurt with text overlay: your custom gluten free blueprint awaits
Take the Quiz Now!

MY OPINION

My overall rating of the cookbook is a ⅘. I really liked the recipes I tried, and there’s more that I still want to try!

Not all the recipes fit my idea of ‘simple’—but I think a quote from the book itself sums it up perfectly: “This way of cooking takes a bit of extra prep work but is, in the end, a lifesaver.” (p. 13). It does take extra prep to eat healthy, whole foods. But it does improve your health—and that is worth it.

If you are curious about the Paleo diet (or just looking for more gluten-free recipes), click on over to Amazon to “peek inside” Meals Made Simple and some of Danielle Walker’s other cookbooks (she even has a newer one, Eat What You Love, which is a whole cookbook of  Paleo comfort foods--now that is right up my alley. 

I know I personally will remake the Overnight Breakfast Casserole and Buffalo Chicken Salad.  I mean, it’s two more crock pot recipes in my arsenal. But I’ll also continue trying new recipes from Meals Made Simple.

Have you tried any of Walker’s recipes? Let us know in the comments below.

Did you love this review of Danielle Walker's recipes in this cookbook?

If so, be sure to share this cookbook review on social media or pin it to Pinterest using the social sharing buttons below.

Other posts you may find interesting:

  • 20 Best Gluten Free & Dairy Free Cookbooks
  • Top Tips for Simple & Easy Gluten-free Living
  • Best Gluten-Free Gifts to Give
  • How to raise a child who is gluten-free: real parents share their top tips
  • How to Stay on a Budget when Eating Gluten-Free
  • The ultimate guide to gluten-free skincare
Meals Made Simple Pin Image 1

More Gluten Free Cookbooks

  • collage of four gluten free dairy free cookbooks thumbnail
    20 Best Gluten Free Dairy Free Cookbooks
  • collage of 4 childrens books about gluten free and celiac
    Best Gluten Free Books for Kids
  • True Roots: Pin 4
    True Roots Cookbook: A Review

Sharing is caring!

1.1K shares
  • Share284
  • Reddit
  • Flipboard

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Margaret ROGERS

    August 27, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    I LOVE summer squash and this recipe is great. Looking forward to trying other recipes!

    Reply
  2. Krish

    August 30, 2018 at 5:52 am

    Nice detailed review ..appears to be a good recipe book...simplicity is what matters ...
    Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi! I’m Sharon McCaskill, RDN and I'm so happy you are here! Welcome to The Helpful GF where I help you live gluten-free with confidence and without the stress. ♥

More about me →

Trending Articles & Recipes

  • thumbnail image of gluten free dairy free brunch recipes
    19 Gluten Free Dairy Free Brunch Recipes
  • pin image for low fodmap ideas and recipes
    16 Greatest Low FODMAP Gluten Free Recipes
  • Ruffle chips in a green bowl with text heading that says the best gluten free potato chips
    Best Gluten Free Potato Chips
  • thumbnail for gluten free comfort food post
    28 Gluten Free Comfort Food Recipes to Try

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Quiz
  • Shop

Please note that some of The Helpful GF's links are affiliate links, and TheHelpfulGF.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.  As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. My full disclosure isn’t that interesting, but you can find it here.

Copyright © 2025 The Helpful GF Sharon McCaskill, LLC

1066 shares
  • 284