why I love the interwebs, pt 1

I love this website: more new math

ha ha

We're a little off topic today, but we can't help ourselves...

Google is celebrating the emergence of the barcode today... all we see is the google homepage looking a bit like a cyborg:

and then we ponder what it would really say...



OR if it was an angry cyborg:
OR if it was a fan of the Rachel Zoe Project but not so much a fan of Bing.

final verdict: TASTY!

I finally found a place carrying the newish gluten free baked goods from Betty Crocker. Using the word tickled probably doesn't do right by my reaction in the grocery aisle. I have a been a faithful mixer of gluten free flours for years now and recently, due to laziness and really, many situations where the need/want for a cookie decimates my patience, I have been turning to premixed varieties from Pamela's (always delicious, although fairly expensive). I'm pretty happy to report that I now have some new 'stuff' to add to the mix!

I bought the chocolate cake mix, the yellow cake mix, and the chocolate cookie mix. So far I've only made the chocolate chip cookies... and let me tell you-- they are tasty.

These cookies, once they come out of the oven are much more along the lines of those tasty cookies that are more redolent of a buttery mix than a cake-y one. They have a very light texture-- slightly crumbly-- with a little bit of the typical gluten free texture (although not gristly or mealy at all!) with a bit more chew to them.

All you need is an egg, a teaspoon of gluten free vanilla, and a stick of room temperature butter... it literally took me two minutes to mix and they cook in ten minutes. It's immediate cookie satisfaction. Just be sure to gently slide them off of the cookie sheet because right when they come out of the oven, they tend to break easily. I let them rest for about 3 minutes on a cooling rack.


Yum.

Available at Albertson's at 5801 Calle Real in Goleta.

garmin riding semi-gluten free?

Interesting article today in the NYtimes about Team Garmin's ride in the tour and their team chef-- Sean Fowler of El Racó d'Urús. Apparently, they are eating mostly gluten free?

Interesting.

kinnikinnick gluten free donuts

Talk about t-a-s-t-y: kinnikinnick's gluten free sugar and cinnamon bagels are addictive. I just gobbled a couple of them the other night...

Overall, the texture on these is excellent-- it's got a slight chew to it (it is more a cake donut than anything else!), a great light sugar cake taste, and a healthy dusting of sugar and cinnamon. These do come frozen, so you can leave them out to bring them to room temperature, but if you're hungry and impatient (like me), you can zap them in the microwave for a couple of seconds to get it heated up a little bit. Mind you, if you care about these sort of things, I tend to prefer toasting/microwaving these a little more while they're on on the frozen end since the ice tends to steam out the insides of the donut and only adds to the deliciousness.

I got these at Lassen's in Goleta for about 6 dollars in the frozen section (for 6 small donuts). A little spendy, but a great treat if you can pace yourself. A little research revealed you can also find a wider variety these online directly from Kinnikinnick (in tasty looking maple frosting, chocolate dipped, and vanilla glazed ... danger, danger).

betty crocker goes gluten free?

Talk about surprises... I just came across this article about Betty Crocker's foray into the world of gluten free treats, on AdAge, no less. I have yet to try some, but geez... this seems to bode well for those of us avoiding gluten. These mixes are made in dedicated facilities.

Since going gluten-free in 2003, I've seen the learning curve about being gluten free from "So you can still eat cookies, right?" up to recent conversations with strangers about children they know who have Celiac or are avoiding casein and gluten.

I have yet to try these mixes (it sounds like they aren't rolled out everywhere just yet), but I'm excited to not only try them but to also see how other mainstream food companies address the gluten free market... If you're anxious to try but can't find them in stores, check out Amazon-- here are the chocolate chip cookies, here is the yellow cake mix, the devil's food cake mix, and finally, the brownie mix.

I am still dreaming of a gluten free maple bar donut... any donut makers out there?

if you wear anything on your lips and are gluten free, read up!

Now here's something to think about that hadn't crossed my mind before the other day... does your lipstick have wheat in it? Suprisingly, a recent purchase of mine did. for those of you that have already thought about this, kudos to you... for some reason, it hadn't crossed my mind to look into lipstick, lip balm, or anything lip related in terms of gluten.

A quick wikianswers.com search suggests that in a lifetime, a woman can consume up to 6 pounds of lipstick/lipbalm/lipwhatever. Now take a second and think about how careful you are about gluten in your food... have you thought about what you put on your lips?

During a recent trip to Sephora, I picked up a tube of Clinique's superbalm moisturizing gloss. It's really nice stuff, but as I learned, it contains gluten/wheat. Not good...

So, as an alternative, I started researching more drugstore brands and was tickled to learn that Covergirl carries a range of lip products that don't contain any wheat or gluten-- I picked up Wetslicks Fruit Spritzers and Wetslicks Amazemint. Check out this link to learn more about wheat and gluten in Covergirl cosmetics. Covergirl is owned by PG so this link sends you off to their site for a full MSDS ingredient breakdown of all the companies they own.

Dr. Hauschka makes a lovely Lip Care Stick that I swear by in the winter months that is also wheat free... as a matter of fact, all of the ingredients they use are pretty great. They post a full listing on their website... check it out here.

Be sure to check out the ingredients list for any and all lip products you use... you might be gluten-ing yourself inadvertently.

BAGELS BAGELS BAGELS

A recent trip that took me to New York landed me squarely in the insanely busy Whole Foods at Colombus Circle and mouth agape in front of the frozen section with my eyes squarely focused on Glutino Gluten Free Bagels. Man. I didn't realize how much I missed bagels.

The flavor here, when toasted (I'm a big fan of the light toast, cool down, and second healthy toasting for slight browning) is great. It's not crumbly, it's not mealy, it's actually fairly close to the texture I remember though not quite as chewy. But seriously, you should really toast these. And while I've tried both the poppy seed version and the plain (and I'm a plain-bagel-with-a healthy-smear-of-cream-cheese-person), I will forevermore buy only the poppy seed version. Why? The plain version I bought most recently is crumbly and strange.

For a short time there, we were driving all the way down to the Whole Foods in Thousand Oaks to stock up-- that's how extreme my bagel love is-- but now I know they carry this at Pacific Health Food on Calle Real in Goleta. they're definitely on the pricey end of the scale (between 5-6 bucks for 5 bagels) but well worth it. Not in Goleta? Try buying these online here. Especially if you've been deprived for a few years.

HELLO tasty.

So... we've made this cake maybe 3-4 times. The first time, I think we both swooned while we ate... the second time, we cried a little because about 20 minutes into the cook time, the glass dish (I know, what was I thinking?) CRACKED and we sniffled over the ruined deliciousness and pledged to make another. The third, fourth... well. This cake gets devoured pretty quickly.

Even for gluten eaters, this cake is a treat... it's light, fluffy, and wow. Just try it. A good smear of chocolate frosting won't hurt you, either.

I buy this mix by Pamela's Products from Lassen's in Goleta (about $5 per package), where they have an excellent selection of mixes, if you aren't down to mix up your own.