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.