These are questions I get regularly from readers. If your question isn’t answered here, contact me and I will try to get back to you with an answer as speedily as I humanly can!
Blog | Contact and Social Media | Recipes
- I’m a company/client representative and was wondering if you accept products to review?
- Are you on Twitter/Facebook/Google+/etc.? I’d like to follow you!
- Are you gluten-free? You post gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free recipes so I was surprised to learn that you eat all those allergens that your blog is “free” of.
- All your recipes used to be dairy-free, but now sometimes you use dairy like butter or goat milk yogurt. Why?
- What do you use to substitute dairy in a recipe?
- How do I find the nutrition content/value of your recipes?
Blog
Why wasn’t my comment approved?
I approve most comments on my blog, but I don’t accept spam or comments advertising for other companies. I also don’t accept comments promoting your website. Comments must be relevant to the post. Leaving a comment just asking me to check your site is awkward for both of us. It’s like soliciting. I know it’s tough getting traffic, especially if you’re just starting. We’ve all been there. If you want me to check your site, please include the link in the appropriate field and I will check it out. (On a further note, please see q&a below about link exchanges.)
No. Like asking me to check your site in a comment, link exchanges are thought to help boost your traffic or popularity with more link-backs but that’s not how it really works. Not to mention it places the pressure of obligation of reciprocating on both of us. If I love your blog, I’ll add yours to my blogroll. If you love my blog, you’ll add mine to your blogroll. No obligations, no pressure. (For more info about why link exchanges are a bad idea, read this post.)
P.S. You don’t have to ask me permission to add my blog to your blogroll.
At this time I am still building my audience, so I am currently not accepting guest posts from other bloggers at this time. I may, however, feature other bloggers whom I admire at my own discretion, as well as friends or family members who may want to share a recipe on my blog.
Contact and Social Media
I’m a company/client representative and was wondering if you accept products to review or for giveaways? Yes. I accept products, including cookbooks, for review that supports my message and meets my criteria and that I think my readers would enjoy. Email me about your product and I will accept it for consideration. To get an idea of products I have reviewed in the past, please see my reviews index.
If you are a representative of a client, please clearly outline what your client offers in your email so that we can all be on the same page at the same time.
Are you on Twitter/Facebook/Google+/etc.? I’d like to follow/like you! Yes, I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+! Follow me on Twitter: @zscupoftea, you can like me on Facebook here, and add me to your circles on Google+. Add meYou can also keep up to date with all posts on Z’s Cup of Tea on Velvet Aroma.
Recipes
Are you gluten-free? Your blog has gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free recipes so I was surprised to learn that you eat those allergens that your blog is “free” of.
I can and do eat gluten, dairy, and sugar but only when I’m on an outing, including staying at a friend’s or relative’s, and there aren’t options that are gluten, dairy, or sugar-free. At home I generally eat what I blog and that is ultimately how I prefer to eat. I’m lucky in the sense that I don’t have any allergies or sensitivities, or at least none that I’m aware of – although I do sometimes feel depressed for no reason almost immediately if I have had too much wheat – so I have the unique privilege of being a flexitarian in how I eat. More often than not, I am inspired to make a version that is safe to eat for my brother and that’s suitable for my blog.
All your recipes used to be dairy-free, but now sometimes you use dairy like butter or goat milk yogurt. Why?
The majority of my recipes are dairy-free. The decision for my recipes to be dairy-free initially was based on my family following SCD to help my brother’s recovery from autism. Some forms of dairy are allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), but in the case of autism, it is not allowed at all. Over time, my brother has become able to have small amounts of butter and he’s also tried feta cheese and has goat milk yogurt as a treat on occasion.
What do you use to substitute dairy in a recipe?
Depending on the recipe, staples I often use include coconut oil or grapeseed oil, or a mixture of the two, coconut milk, or this custard recipe, which I have used before instead of yogurt. You’ll notice that a number of my early recipes rely on coconut oil.
How do I find the nutrition content/value of your recipes?
While I believe in eating a balanced and nutritious diet, I don’t count calories or calculate the nutrition content or nutritional value of the recipes I make. If you wish to know the nutritional value of a given recipe, there are many nutrition calculators available online.
