Week 4 of my learning happened while I was in Boston for the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) conference. Because I was not at home and did not have access to materials to do cooking and baking, I spent the week researching easier ways to make chocolate cake and meals that are gluten and corn free. While I put a lot of effort into making gluten and corn free cake from scratch, I figured there HAD to be some type of gluten free cake mix that also did not have hidden corn in it. What I found was Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake Mix. One of the biggest challenges of finding gluten and corn free products is finding them in stores. For example I had found corn free powdered sugar, but none of my local grocery stores or health food stores carry it. I chose this as my 20% project to create a birthday meal for one of my best friends, but also to help give her options for every day food and desserts. For that reason, ingredients that are not available locally, that I would have to order online, do not meet the needs of this project. While I found a lot of options for gluten free cake mixes, the Betty Crocker one was available in my local Vons, so it was the winner. Being busy and out of town, this week was a moment to take a step back and reassess the difficulty level of the foods I was choosing to cook. Next week, in addition to the cake mix, I'm going to cook a simple chicken and potato dish. Sometimes the secret to cooking gluten and corn free is to go super basic with your ingredients and your meal choices.