product review

whenever i see anything "gluten free" i'm always very intrigued. living a gluten-free life means having a diet void of wheat, rye, and barley. did you know that gluten is found in chapstick, as well as a stabilizing agent for ketchup and ice cream? for that matter, i think it's probably in glue as well (is that right art?) - so don't be eating glue if you have bad reactions to gluten. it sounds like there's no way to avoid this in your food. whether you live gluten free by choice or because of a disease, there doesn't seem to be many great tasting options out there. that's why when i saw a Gluten Free Brownie Mix at Trader Joe's, I immediately put it in my basket:

*i think i was more interested in the paper bag packaging but it sounded interesting. and how many bad things come out of Trader Joe's?

*i taste tested the batter before baking it. hoping to mask the weird aftertaste i added chocolate chips, a dousing of extra cocoa powder, and some strong coffee. you like my use of a chinese noodle bowl as a mixing bowl? :)
*after a 1/2 hr of baking, these were the results. shiny exterior, crisp edges. hmm, potential?
*after my first timid bite, the brownies reminded me of mochi. it was slightly chewy...moist, but not quite the brownie i was hoping for. i have to add that i used apple sauce to sub for 1/2 the oil amount, so could that be the culprit? it's not horrible...i think i need to give it a few more tries before i have a FINAL verdict.

My next experiment is a gluten free chocolate cake from Sweetie's, a company working out of Santa Barbara, now distributing locally in Southern California. They claim great things about their cake and have comments on their website like "I have made this cake for my friends and not one of them knows it is gluten-free!" We'll see about that. Some of my friends are about to be tested.