Gluten-free product family. Photo: Betty Crocker

The gluten-free community has been in the limelight in recent months, and now they have a new celebrity of sorts backing them.

Betty Crocker now offers a line of gluten-free classic dessert mixes -- Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix, Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix, Gluten Free Brownie Mix and Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.

Among the ingredients in the mix is rice flour, a grain allowed on a gluten-free diet.

While the price point is a little higher than the normal cake mixes (the retail price is usually around $4.49), it saves a trip to the health-food store for your next gluten-free brownie craving. Plus, other comparable gluten-free mixes usually run a price point of $6 and up.

"There was always a premium paid for a product that was considered gluten-free," Elaine Monarch, executive director of the Celiac Disease Foundation, tells Slashfood. "Now that General Mills has brought that into the mainstream for a much lower price, it's fabulous."

The Betty Crocker Baking Team says they came up with the mixes after witnessing firsthand through two staff members how the disease can affect day-to-day living.

While I love bread, and feel so lucky to be pretty much allergy free, I know it can be tough on those who do have a serious food allergy. I once had a friend with coeliac disease. I remember how careful she had to be with what she ate and all the questions she asked at restaurants before ordering. I made a gluten free cake for her, but now I can't remember what kind of flour I used (of course).

It shouldn't be too hard for my friend to find good gluten free goodies now, though. According to the Orlando Sentinel there's such a demand now that it would be foolish for producers to ignore it. Apparently most health experts thought of coeliac as a European disease, but after a 2003 study by the University of Maryland which found that 1 in 133 Americans suffered from it coeliac disease jumped into the spotlight.

It used to be that there were only a few products at health food stores, but now you can find gluten free products anywhere.

Love, loss, adventure and blueberry pie? Those are all themes that run throughout the new movie My Blueberry Nights, which opens nationwide today. The movie stars singer Norah Jones, in her debut acting role. She crisscrossing the country in an attempt to find herself and in the process, frequents classic diners and eats a lot of pie. Blueberry pie to be exact.

The famous vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free New York City bakery, Babycakes NYC supplied all the pies used on the set of the film. They've offered us a rough "recipe" (it's actually a list of ingredients, but I'm sure the intrepid bakers among you might be able to craft it into a pie) for the blueberry pie that Norah Jones is about to take a bite of in the picture above.

Check out the film and, if any of you make this pie, let us know!

Friends, we're bringing all kinds of snacks, foods, and desserts to the table for Super Bowl, but let's be real about something. Most of these foods are meaty, carb-y, and definitely go against every New Year's Resolution you made a month ago. Steak chili? Sour cream based dips? Potato chips? Deep-fried everything? Yeah!

But, well, yeah.

Though the Super Bowl may be but one day, and not even an entire day, but an afternoon, some of us do want to stick with healthy options, or have some dietary restrictions, like reader hayduke who left us a comment today asking for suggestions for Super Bowl food ideas with the following guiding principles (we don't like to call them "restrictions"):

• Sister is vegetarian
• Sister also eats gluten-free
• Dad needs to lose 20 pounds, so something "light"

Hayduke has a few things already lined up, but would like some more ideas (as would we!) If you have recipes or ideas to share, leave them in the comments!

Back when I was in high school, I discovered that you could get maple sweetened candy canes in the health food section of Fred Meyer (a west coast chain of stores that sell groceries, clothes, homewares and just about everything else. I've lived on the east coast for six years and I still miss it). I bought them instead of the traditional ones because I liked the old-fashioned color the maple gave the candy. I also liked the idea of eating something that wasn't filled with lots of artificial colors.

Now there's another way to get candy canes that make you feel incrementally better about eating them. According to our friends over at Green Daily, you can now get organic, vegan, fair trade, GMO-free candy canes. They are made by a company called Pure Fun. They use all natural, kosher, vegan, gluten-free and Fair Trade ingredients and they source their cane sugar from companies that "green cut" it by hand. You can find Pure Fun candy at Whole Foods or online.

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.

Shauna, the Gluten-free Girl has been living with Celiac disease her entire life, but has only been eating gluten free for just over a year and a half. In that time, she has felt better than she ever did before and she has definitely learned more about gluten-free cooking and baking than she ever thought she would know. By her own admission, she does not make gluten free baked goods all that often, in large part because it is more complicated than a standard muffin and the pre-made mixes are usually just as good. This particular batch of Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins, however, she made completely from scratch. In her post, Shauna explains how she developed a feel for using gluten free flours - sweet white sorghum flour, white rice flour and tapioca flour in this case - to achieve the familiar consistency of a muffin made with wheat. To the inexperienced, gluten free baking sounds like a challenge, but as with anything else, familiarity makes things easier and Shauna's successful muffins prove that point.

Back in August, we started looking at a category of beer that is getting increasingly popular as awareness of celiac disease and gluten intolerance grows: gluten free beer. At the time Anheuser-Busch was just starting to test their own gluten-free brew, but it must have been a success because the company is now ready to release their newest product. Redbridge beer is completely wheat and gluten-free and is described as a "full-bodied lager brewed from sorghum for a well-balanced, moderately hopped taste." It contains 4.8% alcohol per bottle and will be sold in six packs at higher end grocery stories (described as "stores carrying organic products) and in some restaurants.

This marks the first truly mainstream GF beer on the market, as others like Bard's Tale Beer's Dragon's Gold and Ramapo Valley Brewery's Passover Honey Beer are all produced by small breweries in small batches and are not available everywhere.

Protons are the first crunchy tofu soy snacks on the market. They are high in protein and calcium, have soy iso-flavones, iron, and fiber. They're also low in carbs and sodium and have no cholesterol and zero trans fats. Their also natural, organic, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, non GMO, and have no preservatives. WOW! Can you put any more healthy tag words in one paragraph? I'm feeling great just typing this.

They come in six tasty flavors, three sweet and three savory: Backyard Bar-B-Q, Tomato Herb Garden, Chili Lime Fiesta, Lemon Meringue Pie, Maple Syrup Waffle, and Cinnamon Toast. You can eat them plain for a snack, use the savory ones like croutons on soups or salads, and some folks even eat the sweet ones like cereal, in a bowl with milk or soy milk. Mmmm... Mmmm. Sounds mighty tasty to me. Just don't accidentally mix the sweet and savory or you'll be having tomato soup with lemon meringue pie croutons for lunch, and Backyard Bar-B-Q cereal for breakfast. Oh, I'm sooo confused. Just pass me some protons.

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.

Mash up some vegetables and spices, add in a splash of lime and what do you get? Some rockin' guacamole, just like this one featured on Gluten Free Goddess. The thing that sets this guacamole apart from others, aside from a lovely presentation with slices of lime, is that it uses tomatillos and jalapeno peppers, in addition to the fairly standard combination of tomatoes, onions, garlic and avocado. The dip is colorful, packed with flavor and more than enough to be a meal on its own if you're looking for something that doesn't involve any cooking for an easy lunch.

No doubt you noticed that the blog the recipe comes from is about gluten free foods. Guacamole is a great choice for anyone with a wheat intolerance - it's good for just about anyone actually - because it pairs much better than the average dip with corn tortilla chips, one of the favorite snacks of many gluten-free eaters.

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.

After getting stuck under a lawnmower, Des Moines radio personality Van Harden says that he lost his taste for bread completely. Harden said "Doctor's can't explain it," but it could be the case that he experienced a side effect as doctors revived him from anesthesia after his surgery. With no appetite for bread, Harding was essentially living an Atkins-style life, but he did miss the taste pizza even though he didn't actually want to eat the wheat-based crusts.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so Harden came up with a 100% cheese crust pizza, complete with toppings. Think of it as being a stuffed-crust pizza, without the actual crust. Over the weekend, in what appears to be the first release of the product, over 200 were sold at two Des Moines Hy-Vee stores. More store are scheduled to offer the Atkins-friendly, gluten-free pie soon.

After disclosing that its fries contain more trans fat than the nutritional information claimed, McDonald's revealed that their frence fries also contain potential allergens from dairy and wheat. The fries had always been considered to be safe for customers with a gluten intolerance, as the suppliers of the potatoes remove all potential allergens before shipping them, but the flavoring agent that McDonald's uses has derrivatives of both wheat and milk ingredients.

The revelation comes following the laws passed at the beginning of the year which require companies to disclose potential allergens, including eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy. The director of nutrition at the company says that proteins found in the wheat and dairy are what cause allergic reactions and that they are not present in the flavoring agent. She also notes that if you have been eating the french fries without experiencing an allergic reaction, you will be able to continue to do so.

Even if it does not affect those with allergies, vegetarians may be concerned that the fries contain ingredients derived from dairy.

Even more impressive and far healthier than the recreations of Girl Scout cookies are Gluten Free Girl's nostalgic attempt at making the Fig Newtons she loved so much as a little girl. While she admits that Fig Newtons weren't really that good, she still misses them in her new gluten-free lifestyle. She couldn't find a recipe, so she made one up. Her fig spread, which includes port, pomegranate juice, and Meyer lemon juice, couldn't be lusher. Her dough is a butter cookie base with white rice flour, millet flour, cornstarch and teff flour. And lots and lots of nutmeg. It sounds wonderful! And hypo-allergenic. Who'da thunk it.

[thanks for the tip Larissa!]