the cake mix doctor bakes gluten-free: is it worth it?

Well this is pretty cool: Not only are we sharing this link to a cookbook that uses off-the-shelves gluten-free cake mixes as its primary ingredient, but its writeup offers a practical play-by-play review of how the cookbook works in a real baker’s kitchen! Neat concept, right? It’s almost as if you get to try before you buy…and in the case of a cookbook based entirely on grocery store cake mixes, we might tend to be a little reticent to shell out our hard-earned dollars. “Turns out, especially if you’re new to the world of gluten free flours, xanthum gums, arrow root powders, and substitute after substitute, this book could be your life saver.  The one thing that Byrn certainly does, is take the guesswork out of baking gluten free.”

Hear, hear!

This culinary mash-up features the book The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free: Classic Cakes, Cookies, Brownies, Bundts, and Bars by Anne Byrn, and is put to the test by Sonoma County caterer, blogger & pastry chef Meloni Courtway. We recommend hopping on over to BiteClub Eats to read the full review. Because you can never judge a book by its cover!

special deal on udi’s gluten-free bread!

We’re big fans of Udi’s gluten-free products (read our love letter to Udi’s here). Now’s your chance to stock up over at glutenfree.com!

glow gluten free cookies.

Whoa! Now that’s a cookie tower we can wrap our mouths around!

Glow Gluten Free is dedicated GF bakery that uses all natural and organic ingredients in a certified and Kosher gluten free bakery. Their not-so-secret recipe includes garbanzo bean and coconut flour, which we’re seeing a lot of in on-the-shelves GF baked goods these days because the pairing makes for a delicious, nutritious, casein-free treat-eating experience. Glow cookies come in four flavors: double chocolate chip, gingersnap, chocolate chip & snikerdoodle.

We haven’t seen this product yet in our neck of the woods so we need a full report from our readers. Is it love at first bite? If you haven’t tried them yet either, look here for a list of retailers.

new planet gluten-free beer. a new fave.

Way back when (last summer), a couple of members of The Gluten Free Lab went on a trip through the south. They eventually meandered into Colorado where they dined gleefully at Udi’s Pizza Café in Olde Town Arvada, CO. Their lives were never the same.

Why?

Because they discovered New Planet Gluten Free Beer. Alas, apart from bringing cases upon cases of this beer home to California, they had to drink what their gullets could gulp and leave the rest behind because New Planet has not been available outside of the fair state of Colorado up to this point.

“At last, people in the Rocky Mountain Region and Midwest States following a gluten-free diet can also enjoy a great tasting craft beer. Boulder, Colorado based New Planet Beer Company offering gluten-free beers are now widely available throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma (March), and Nebraska (May) in grocery chains, liquor stores and restaurants. Additional Rocky Mountain Region and Midwest States will soon follow. Our beer locator doesn’t have our new locations listed as of yet, but be on the lookout in your state. We’ll let you know when the beer locator can provide the specific locations.

“Some of you may be asking, ‘What about the rest of the United States?’ We promise that we’re working on it! We have to be able to brew enough guaranteed gluten-free beer for everyone (that’s a lot of beer!), so it takes time to figure that out. We’ll keep you posted on additional states as we add them.

“The good news– we’ll be offering all three styles of our gluten-free beer in the states we expand to.

“Tread Lightly Ale – is a smooth and well-balanced “Pilsner like” style ale with citrus tones and light in body and color. Tread Lightly Ale is made from sorghum and corn extract, orange peel, hops, and yeast. Tread Lightly supports trail restoration.

“3R Raspberry Ale – our award winning raspberry fruit ale has just the right balance of fruit flavor and aroma. 3R Raspberry Ale is made from sorghum and corn extract, natural raspberry puree, orange peel, hops, and yeast. ‘3R’ supports Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – the 3R’s of waste reduction education.

“Off Grid Pale Ale – is a wonderful interpretation of the classic pale ale style. It has a distinctly deep amber color and great character and body. The three varieties of hops provide a wonderful aroma and a citrus and spicy hop flavor. Made from sorghum and brown rice extract, tapioca maltodextrin, caramel color, molasses, hops, and yeast. Off Grid Pale Ale supports alternative energy efforts.”

How’s that for a Friday finishing note?! Happy weekend all!

speaking of gluten-free cereal…

Well maybe our last post, which announced that Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles are now gluten-free, didn’t speak to you, but surely we all miss the snap, crackle, and pop of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies? C’mon…who doesn’t love the classic rice crispy treat, especially when following our homemade marshmallow and rice crispy treat recipe! Alas, Gluten-Free Rice Krispies are due out late May 2011. Fellow GF blogger, Gluten-Free Optimist, wrote directly to Kellogg’s inquiring about this rumor…read what Kellogg’s had to say about her inquiry here (rest assured, the rumor is true).

cocoa pebbles & fruity pebbles go gluten-free.

The Gluten Free Lab’s penchant for sweets is pretty apparent. If one were to browse through all of the posts we’ve put up over the last couple of years, one might make a pretty solid bet that a majority of the posts are recipes for or product reviews of something sweet. Plus we have a sweets cookbook full of our own delicious gluten-free dessert recipes available for purchase on this website, sooo…yah. We’re sweet on sweets.

But our opinion on “sugar cereal,” as mom used to call it, holds some real weight. Sugar cereal was a treat reserved for special occasions only. Sometimes sleepovers, but always on birthdays. When my birthday rolled around, I would lovingly and lingeringly peruse the cereal aisle, weighing the options of my favorite sugar cereals against the promise of a free prize that may or may not enhance my overall sugar-cereal-eating experience. Since mom was doing the household grocery shopping whilst I made my decision (which generally was a lengthy process), I had a lot of time to weigh my options carefully. I’d finally meet her at the checkstand, my decision firm and my sweet tooth aching. So get ready to hear our inner kids’ cry of “boooo-yea” because two of Post’s classic Pebbles cereals – Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles (introduced to the Post cereal family in 1971, incidentally) – are now gluten-free! As in: this is the only version of this cereal now available. As in: there are no taste compromises Post could see in making this cereal out of entirely gluten-free ingredients in a certified gluten-free facility. As in: we wish it were our birthday yesterday so we could go pick up a box of this cereal and grin ear to ear while eating bowl after bowl (mom: take note!).

We’d say this release of Pebbles (and Pebbles Treats!) significantly ups Team Gluten Free’s score. We still may not be winning, but now we’ve got Fred Flinstone in our corner.