Rudi's Gluten Free Bread

So we have potluck lunches every so often at work (usually my idea ;). I head up the "Fun Committee" at work...a very boring, very vanilla name for a group of co-workers who tries to come up with fun ways of promoting a more exciting workplace and making relationship-building a priority)...

Obviously potlucks are really no place for gluten allergies, or food allergies of any kind for that matter. Usually I can eat what I bring...and maybe 1-2 other things, if that. Really, it doesn't bother me much...if at all. 2 years ago when I started this "journey"...I usually got annoyed. Once I even skipped a work lunch because pizza was being served and I really didn't want to deal with sitting there and being the only one who wasn't eating pizza. It probably sounds completely lame...but it was really hard for me to be the "odd man out."

So, yesterday we had a potluck. My co-worker, Debra, signed up to bring bread (the "main dishes" at this particular potluck were a variety of soups). In addition to a loaf of "normal" ;) bread...she brought a loaf of multi-grain gluten free bread made by Rudi's...a company I'd never heard of until that moment!

IT WAS DELICIOUS!

If you've ever tried gluten free bread...you know that most gluten free breads leave more than a few things to be desired. Taste. Texture. UGH...gluten free bread is usually pretty nasty and similar to cardboard or styrofoam.

Rudi's though....delicious! Really! I ate two slices dipped in my carnitas taco soup (made by me ;)).

Check out the website: Rudi's Gluten Free Bakery

I am not sure where Deb found the bread...but I looked on the website, and they do carry it at Naturally Yours here in Bloomington! WOO HOO! :) You can search on the site under the "where to buy" option and search for locations near you where you can buy this yummy bread! Apparently they are a few different varieties...the one I tried was the multigrain, and again...I'd completely recommend it! :) Two thumbs WAY up! AND...FYI, it's dairy free as well! :)

I am already looking forward to my toast in the morning...complete with homemade cherry jam from my friend Jami! :)

Flourless Chocolate Cake...mmmmmm!!

This week we had a potluck planned for Tuesday over lunch at work....so of course I knew I had to find some kind of new recipe to make! My mom had told me about a recipe for flourless chocolate cake that she had heard on a morning show on ABC I think...and had e-mailed me a link to it. The recipe looked and sounded delicious...and it was by Emeril, so it HAD to be good, right?! :) I gave it a try...here's the recipe for all of you adventurous-sorts out there!!

Flourless Chocolate Cake
(by Rachel and Emeril ;) )
~1 pound semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used four bars of Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate baking bars)

~1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 1/2 tablespoon (I used Land O' Lakes, our butter of choice in this house ;), and it was actually the salted variety because that was all we had at the time...and it was fine)

~1/4 cup Kahlua (I am cheap and didn't want to buy a $20 bottle of Kahlua, so I used this Bolthouse Farms Mocha Cappuchino chocolate milk drink I had in my fridge...also worked great!!)

~8 large eggs (organic, of course ;))

~1/4 cup sugar

~1 teaspoon vanilla (be sure it's gluten free!! Some aren't!)

~1/2 teaspoon salt

~Confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder, for garnish (I just used the powdered sugar; I figured there was already plenty of chocolate! ;))

~Fresh raspberries, for garnish (I forgot to get these; so I just had the powdered sugar...it was fine ;) Fruit, though, would make it even prettier!!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Using 1/2 tablespoon butter grease a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with a parchment round (I didn't have a round, so I just roughly cut one from my big roll of it!). Cover pan underneath and along sides with foil and set in a roasting pan (I used a cake pan! I don't have a big roasting pan).

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Combine the chocolate, butter, and Kahlua (or chocoalte milk! ;) ) in a metal bowl set over simmering water or in the top of a double boiler (I don't have a double boiler, so I used a medium-sized sauce pan and put a metal bowl on top). Melt the mixture, stirring constantly, until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes; reserve.

Meanwhile combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until frothy and almost doubled in volume, about 5 to 10 minutes (honestly, I probably did closer to 4-5 minutes). Fold 1/3 of egg mixture into chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula. Repeat this process 2 more times until all of egg mixture has been folded into chocolate mixture.

Pour batter into prepared springform pan and place in the roasting pan (I poured it into the prepared pan that was already inside the "roasting pan"/cake pan). Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake until cake has risen slightly and edges are just beginning to set, about 40-45 minutes. Remove cake from roasting pan and cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove foil, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Remove cake from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Remove springform pan sides, invert cake onto a large plate, and peel away parchment paper from bottom (this part took a while since I was being careful! The bottom of the springform pan was stuck to the paper, which was stuck to the cake. I bent a fingernail trying to pry them all apart! Be careful!!).

Reinvert cake on another large plate or serving platter and garnish with confectioners' sugar or cocoa powder immediately before serving.Yum yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took some photos to put with this blog entry...but I deleted them off my camera accidentally before uploading them onto the computer! DARN it all!!!!