Finally - GOOD gluten free pasta!

I've been searching for a good gluten-free pasta since I gave up wheat about a year ago.  For the most part, rice pasta is a poor substitute.  It'll do when I really need to have pasta, but it usually turns out sticky, and it just doesn't have the same mouth feel as regular pasta.  If there's nothing else in the house, Trader Joe's rice based penne is the best of the bunch.

When J said that he wanted mac and cheese casserole for dinner tonight, I decided that rice pasta just wasn't going to cut it anymore.  I had to step up my game and try something different.  I found this on the shelf:

It's made with a blend of corn and quinoa (an ancient grain high in protein, calcium, and iron), so it won't be sticky like rice.  I bought the elbows, since that's the shape I use for mac and cheese.

What a good call!  The pasta cooked nicely, held up while baking, and tasted really good.  I should have slightly undercooked the pasta, since baking it made it mushier than I prefer, but it still was much closer in texture to regular pasta than anything else I've tried.

The big drawback to this pasta (as with most gluten free foods) is its price.  I think I paid $2.50 for an 8oz. box, which means it costs $5/pound.  I'll probably still pick up the rice penne from Trader Joe's since it's only $2/pound, but I will definitely treat myself to the Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta in the future.