Video: Mac and Cheese Taste Test on the Today Show

Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru and Food Trends Editor at the Today Show, mentioned celiac disease and included a gluten-free and dairy-free macaroni and cheese in a segment with many mainstream gluten products. Amy's new gluten-free and non-dairy rice macaroni and cheese is featured at the end of this Today Show video.

Watch Phil's Hit and Misses weekly on ABC and on his website. Last week, he rated Orgran Mini Outback Animals Vanilla highly. From General Mills to major television networks, gluten-free products are going mainstream!

"If you would like Phil to consider your new product for review, please send 4 samples of each flavor you to submit for review, with the suggested retail price and other product information. We regret that we can not review all products submitted. Please send to:

New Product Review
SupermarketGuru.com
3015 Main Street, Suite 320
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Product reviews are conducted by randomly selecting one flavor of a product and taking into consideration the information available on the package itself as it would appear in the retail environment. Information contained in advertisements or on websites is not taken into account for evaluation or ratings.

Email danielle@supermarketguru.com with any questions and whenever possible please be environmentally friendly when packaging your products."

A Sincere Thank You to Nancy Lapid

I just found out that Nancy Lapid will be leaving About.com Celiac Disease. Fortunately, the site will remain and soon About.com will be seeking someone to replace her. The new writer will certainly have a challenge trying to fill her shoes, but luckily Nancy will provide assistance.

Nancy has made About.com Celiac Disease one of the best resources on the web for accurate, trustworthy, and informative gluten-free articles. I have enjoyed reading her articles and have recommended the comprehensive site to many. If you have a question about celiac disease, it is likely that you will find the answer on her site. After reading some of her many great articles, I wrote a blog post about her terrific work on About.com Celiac Disease.

Thank you Nancy for your countless hours of hard work and dedication to helping to improve the lives of individuals with celiac disease! I truly respect your work and am inspired by your writing. Thank you for your positive comments about my Gluten Free Optimist blog and the many links to it. You will be sorely missed!

Tips for Profile Pics

Mashable recently posted “5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Profile Pic”. These tips are from social media experts. One of the most important tips is listed below.

“A rule of thumb touched on by many is consistency. Because followers and friends will be looking out for your face first, it’s important that once you find a photo that works, stick with it.”

Many may find this surprising as profile pictures are frequently changed, especially on Twitter and Facebook. So, do not change your profile picture to show off your latest hair style, magazine cover, or new product. Keep that one great image, so people can instantly recognize you when skimming through updates.

If you aren’t a Photoshop user, Examiner.com recommends resizing and editing photos on Picnik, where many basic services are free. Once you are satisfied with your image, you can add Twibbons to it, including a celiac disease ribbon. Change your Twibbons, but don’t change your pic!

Video: Inside the Gluten-Free Bakehouse

This slide show is narrated by Lee Tobin and provides an inside look at the Gluten-Free Bakehouse (Whole Foods Market) in Morrisville, North Carolina. Gluten-free consumers like to see an inside look at companies and products, so this is great free marketing for the Gluten-Free Bakehouse. The video was added to You Tube only three weeks ago, yet it has already been viewed 1,886 times.

Video: Food Tricks for Commercials

This video of a makeup artist for food preparing the perfect burger for a commercial is fascinating. It is a segment from a three part special for kids that aired on HBO in 1990 called "Buy Me That". Whether you are looking to take the perfect photo of a product or make a viral video, take a look at this video. If commercials are making you crave food, knowing these tricks will certainly make them less desirable. Seriously, sesame seeds glued on a bun!

Twitter and Facebook on a Cereal Box

I was surprised to see Twitter and Facebook names listed on a new gluten-free Nature's Path cereal box. This is the first time I noticed social media contact information on a product package, and I am sure this won't be the last. If you aren't on Twitter and Facebook, sign up now and a new gluten-free world will be at your fingertips!

Easily Create a Gluten-Free Blog with Tumblr

According to a post today on Mashable, Tumblr is thriving. Mashable describes Tumblr as “one of the simplest blogging platforms around”. It is considered to be easier to use than WordPress. Tumblr has 15,000 new users each day and had over 1 million page views in February. Recently, Tumblr added a new feature so that users can add static pages (create several header tabs), which is something that is still difficult to do in Blogger.

Browse the Tumblr directory to see gluten-free blogs. Gluten-free and the City and Celebrate with Cake are great examples of Tumblr blogs. If you want to choose Tumblr for your blogging needs, register here. For more blogging information, read “Top 10 Blogging Tips”.

Get answers to your blogging questions and share tips by leaving a comment here, joining the Gluten-Free Faces Bloggers Group, and becoming a fan of the Gluten-Free Social Media Tips Facebook Fan Page.