Em Elless

In her first three cookbooks, Em Elless specialized in low-carb gluten-free recipes, a term long considered an oxymoron until the publication of her breakthrough cookbook in 2013,“Muffins to Slim By.” It was followed by “Yeast Bread Recipes to Slim By,” another breakthrough cookbook (yeast breads were considered impossible without gluten), and “It Only Tastes Like Cheating,” covering L-C G-F pastas and entrees. In her fourth book she took a giant step away from special diet recipes to develop bread recipes for pressure cookers, gained 30 pounds taste-testing experiments morning to night for months, and returned to a low-carb diet when she couldn’t fit into her closet. Her newest work is the e-book edition of her original Muffin book, enhanced with color images throughout.

Elless has spent decades pursuing culinary techniques many considered impossible to achieve, discovering by trial and error why standard methods did not work with L-C G-F recipes, and the joy of cooking when recipes succeeded. Over a lifetime of artistic endeavors, from fine art and cartooning (the “Donna Quixote” series in the National Museum of Women in the Arts magazine) to free-lance and humor writing in countless venues, Elless has used variations of her name, Marjorie L. Smith. Her cookbook pen name, Em Elless, is the sound of her initials, MLS, which she tried using but was repeatedly mistaken for the Multiple Listing Service.

She is aided in the kitchen by her loyal dog, Gaby, who generously donates her time sampling morsels.