The Best Gluten Free Cake Mixes!

You always are in need of a good cake mix, whether it is for your toddlers birthday party or for cupcakes for school. We have found a number of gluten free cake mixes that are easy to make and taste great:

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mixes

Betty Crocker recently ventured into the Gluten Free market with a number of baking mixes, but there cake mixes, are our favorites for their versatility. They taste great and they are easy to find on the baking aisle of any major grocery chain. They are inexpensive and they bake easily turning into great cupcakes and cakes. The cakes and cupcakes made with these mixes, do tend to dry out after the first twenty-four hours, so you can always add applesauce or sour cream, to keep them moist. The Betty Crock offers a: Yellow and a Chocolate Devil's Food cake mix. Our favorite is the Yellow Cake mix! Betty Crocker also has a FAQ's area for their Gluten Free baking mixes!

Cherrybrook Kitchen Cake Mixes

Cherrybrook Kitchen is a wonderful company and they offer a great gluten free cake mixes. These mixes tend to be a little more expensive, but they taste wonderful. We love their Yellow Cake Mix and it is very moist. Cherrybrook Kitchen's is so sure that you will love their products that, they stand by their products, if you are not satisfied with any of their products for any reason at all, you can return it to them and they will either replace it with a product of your choice or refund your money. Cherrybrook Kitchen offers a Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix and a Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix. Some grocery stores such as Kroger and Earthfare carry Cherrybrook Kitchen's products, however, if you cannot find it in your local store, you can order items directly from Cherrybrook Kitchen or you can purchase them in bulk on websites such as Amazon.com.

Gluten Free Pantry's Old Fashioned Cake & Cookie Mix

Gluten Free Pantry has a great Old Fashioned Cake & Cookie Mix, that is easy to use, versatile (makes cakes or cookies) and tastes great. The mix tends to be a little more expensive that the Betty Crocker mix, but it is widely available and tastes great. If you can't find this mix in your local grocery store, you can purchase it online from Amazon.com and GlutenFree.com.

Drinks

What gluten free options are there for your toddler to drink? We were faced with this question over a year ago, and we found a number of drinks, which we have been very pleased with:

First JuiceFirst Juice organic fruit and vegetable juice is naturally lower in sugar, tastes great and your toddler will love it. First Juice is gluten-free, organic, healthy and all First Juice brand bottles are made of Bisphenol-A (BPA) free and phthalate-free plastic. They offer two conveinent bottles: 32 oz. multi-serve refill and an 8 oz. sippy top bottle (which you can purchase individually or in a playgroup pack). First Juice tends to be a little more expensive that the average juice, but you can purchase it online and in-bulk to increase the savings and you can find coupons. In our house, First Juice, is always around. First Juice is offered in a number of different flavors: Apple+carrot (43% juice); Banana+carrot (49% juice); Peach+Purple Carrot (44% juice); and Blueberry+Purple Carrot (45% juice).

Honest Kids Juice

Honest Kids juice, is the second toddler drink that we keeped stocked in our house. These organic thirst quenchers are half the sugar of most kids drinks and gluten free. They taste great and your toddler will love them. They are inexpensive, and you should be able to find them in your local grocery store or Wal-Mart. Honest Kids currently comes in 5 flavors: Goodness Grapeness, Appley Ever After, Berry Berry Good Lemonade, Super Fruit Punch, and Tropical Tango Punch.

Cold Cuts

It is always hard to grapple with just how products contain gluten, and one that catches a lot of individuals off guard is cold cuts, aka sandwich/deli meats. Sandwiches are a large part of the American culture. It is what a kid packs in their lunch box for school, it is what parents take to work. Thus we thought it was important to find out what deli meats our son could eat. Below are a number of gluten free brands:

Boar's Head Brand

Boar's Head Brand meats, cheese and condiments are all Gluten Free. Their deli meats and cheese contain no fillers, artificial flavors, colors or trans fat. This is very convenient considering there are approximately 500 products under the Boar's Head Brand available nationally. To make sure there is no cross contamination issues, you will have to ask the store to cut it on a cleaned slicer. You can read more about the brand in the Board's Head Nutrition Guide.

Hormel® Natural Choice® Sandwich Meats

Hormel recently has launched Hormel® Natural Choice® meats, which includes sandwich/deli meats. We came across it one day in our local Wal-Mart's sandwich meat cooler. I tossed it in the cart, figuring that I would give it a try, and we have been very pleased with the products. After further researching this line of products, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Hormel has also has a Gluten Free section on their website, where they offer the following statement:

As part of its commitment to food health and nutrition, Hormel Foods is proud to provide celiac disease information to help consumers navigate through the often confusing food landscape. On this site, you’ll find basic terminology, tools and resources to get you started on becoming and staying gluten free.

Hormel's Natural Choice sandwich meat is inexpensive, easy to locate and taste great. Hormel also has a coupon section on their website. I would highly recommend trying them with your family.

Applegate Farms

Applegate Farms makes a wonderful sandwich meat. A well know brand within the Celiac/Gluten Intolerant community, Applegate Farms offers organic and antibiotic-free product, their products are without a doubt some of the best and freshest tasting sandwich meat, we have ever had. The downside to their cold cuts is that they tend to be expensive, however, you can order them directly from Applegate Farms and in-bulk which can help to cut out the extra cost if you purchase it in a local grocery store. For a complete list of Cold Cuts, you can check out this list.