Our pancake roundup this morning only included eight delicious recipes that were sure to tempt just about everyone to get out their frying pan and make up a batch. But as tempting as they may have been, most of the recipes presented there would not be good choices for gluten-free eaters because they were almost all flour-based. In fact, most pancake recipes are. Fortunately, there happen to be a lot of equally delicious gluten-free pancake options out there that ensure everyone who wants to can celebrate Fat Tuesday (a.k.a. National Pancake Day).

The easiest GF option is a pancake mix. Jay used Kinnikinnick Pancake Mix to make the lovely stack pictured above. There are many mixes out there to choose from, including Bob's Red Mill, which is widely available at Whole Foods Stores.

If you want to make your own, try using an alternative flour, as was done in these Rice Flour Crepes or Almond Flour Pancakes. You can find several more GF pancake recipes here, which use buckwheat, quinoa, potato flour and other gluten-free bases.

[Thanks for the reminder, Jay!]

Unfortunately for those who are gluten-intolerant, the standards for gluten-free foods aren't exactly standard, so it can be risky when buying many foods, especially processed foods, at the store. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of regulating the nutritional information that gets put on food labels and they have drafted a proposal that would set a standard definition for the term "gluten free" and set standards for food producers to follow to meet it.

"Currently there is neither a regulatory definition of the term 'gluten free,' nor is there agreement among manufacturers or consumers as to what this term means," said the FDA. Their new rules state that "gluten free" foods must not have any type of wheat, rye or barley, including hybrid grains that use them. They allow for the use of such grains if the gluten is completely removed before processing, however. The terms that will be imposed on those who violate the new guidelines, assuming that they are accepted, has yet to be determined. The FDA will take comments on the proposal (PDF) for several weeks before revising it and making their final ruling.

There are a lot of gluten-free bread mixes on the market from a number of different companies, but Bob's Red Mill is one brand that I see most often, as they carry it prominently at Whole Foods. Reading the packaging on some of their yeast mixes, I noticed that they gave instructions for making the dough in a bread machine and I couldn't help but wonder if the dough would develop properly under such conditions, as even though the yeast will thrive in the bread machine environment, the ingredients are quite unlike the typical flours used in bread. Odds are, they probably work out reasonably well or the company would not continue to instruct people to use the machines. If you want to make GF bread on a regular basis, however, you might want to consider switching to a machine that has an actual gluten-free cycle programmed in to it. The Breadman TR875 is the first one that I've heard of that is equipped with such a feature. The stainless steel machine can handle up to 2-pound loaves and also offers pasta, jam, and pizza-dough cycles.

One of the things that is largely off limits to anyone with celiac disease is beer. Almost all beers are made with malted barley and other gluten-containing ingredients, such as wheat, barley, rye and/or oats.

New Grist is a beer that is brewed entirely gluten-free using sorghum, hops, water, rice and gluten-free yeast grown on molasses. It is produced by the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is available in approximately 1/3 of the country. Right now, New Grist is carried by stores that include Whole Foods, which is likely to make the beer more widely available.

To get an idea of how in-demand such a product is, it is interesting to note the Anheuser Busch is actually testing a gluten-free brew of their own. It isn't ready for the market yet, but simply the fact that the country's largest brewery is interested in offering what many would consider to be a niche market means that celiacs are being recognized as a significant portion of the population.

Other gluten-free beer options include Dragon's Gold and HB (formerly called Passover Honey Beer).

Can you believe that the cake on the front cover of this book is gluten free? Is everyone - whether you have allergies or not - drooling? 125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes is, as the title suggests, a cookbook of entirely gluten-free recipes that work. It's a great resource for both celiacs and for people who have friends and family with celiac disease. The recipes cover every meal of the day and primarily consist of made-over recipes that will reintroduce old favorites (now gluten-free, of course) back into your kitchen. There are many different muffins, cookies, cakes and even recipes for sandwich loaves because when authors Donna Washburn and Heather Butt asked families what kinds of gluten-free recipes they were interested in seeing, these were some of the favorites that they named. They're comforting foods and the book lets celiacs keep them that way.

In addition to the recipes, which are accompanied by wonderful photographs, there is an extensive guide to alternative flours and techniques for using them, which will enable cooks to adapt some of their old favorites to a new dietary standards.