Flourless Chocolate Cake

Whether you're on a gluten-free diet or not, if you're a chocolate lover, this cake is for you! This is definitely NOT cake-like, but more fudgey and dense and delicious. Make this for the chocolate lovers in your life!

1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan and added 5 minutes to the cooking time) and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

We had a little get together with the girls today since a friend was visiting from out of town, so I figured I'd have some desserts ready for us after we got back from lunch. These are really easy, and gluten free! Perfect for Rachel!

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the ingredients and roll into small balls. Roll the balls in white sugar, place on cookie sheet and make the ever-so-recognizable peanut butter cookie design using the back of a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes and let cool.

Peppered Beef Tenderloin

Jim was in charge of this one. He found a really good sale on a beef tenderloin, so we cut it in half so we could make two meals out of it. The recipe was found on All Recipes and scaled down to what we needed. It was really good!

1.5 tbsp. coarsely ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp. salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 pound beef tenderloin

Combine the pepper, oil, lemon peel, salt and garlic; rub over tenderloin. Place on a greased rack in a foil-lined roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-65 minutes or until beef reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145 degrees F; medium, 160 degrees F; well-done, 170 degrees F). Cover and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Chicken Avocado Bacon Wrap

We had some leftover chicken that we had marinated in Newman's Own Lighten Up Light Lime Vinaigrette. We decided to make a wrap with a few items we had around the house...and a few items I had to pick up at the store. It was quite delish and quick and easy!

leftover chicken shredded or cut into strips
1 avocado, sliced thin
shredded cheese
romaine lettuce
watercress
2-4 strips of bacon
tomato, sliced thin

we made 2-3 wraps out of this

Just layer everything on the wrap of your choice, roll it up and enjoy!

Taco Bake

I found this recipe on All Recipes but made some minor changes of my own. For some reason I tend to gravitate toward some type of Mexican-type food, so below is what I made.

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (4 ounce) can green chiles
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup sour cream - I didn't have any sour cream so I used cottage cheese instead
2/3 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
2 tbsp. RedHot sauce
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice
corn tortilla chips - I used Blue Corn Kettle Style Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef, onion and garlic. Once ground beef is cooked through, add the chiles, water, sour cream (or cottage cheese), taco seasoning mix and RedHot sauce. Let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. In the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish, place a layer of tortilla chips. Cover with a layer of the meat mixture then a layer of cheese. Repeat this process until the last layer is cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.

Ukrainian Chicken Kiev

I went to yoga class and came home to this yummy dinner. Jim scaled the original recipe from 8 servings to 4 servings. He only used 2 chicken breasts but they're HUGE so the recipe below worked out fine.

2 large or 4 small-ish skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp. and 2 tsp. butter, softened
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 egg
1 tbsp. and 1-1/2 tsp. water
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup vegetable oil

Place each chicken breast between a sheet of wax paper and pound, using a mallet or rolling pin, to about 1/8 inch thickness; be careful not to 'break' the chicken. Wrap and refrigerate until seasoned butter is frozen.

To Make Seasoned Butter: In a small bowl combine the softened butter, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and mix well. Spread mixture into a 2x4 inch rectangle on a piece of aluminum foil; freeze until firm. When butter is firm, cut into 2-4 equal size pieces and place one piece on each chicken breast. Fold in edges of chicken and roll to encase butter completely. Secure with toothpicks.

In a small bowl, beat egg with water. In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, dill weed and flour. Place bread crumbs in a separate shallow dish or bowl. Dip chicken rolls in seasoned flour, then egg mixture, then crumbs. Place coated chicken in a shallow dish, cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When oil is hot, deep fry chicken rolls for about 5 minutes, then turn over and deep fry for another 5 minutes until golden and cooked through, with no pink showing inside. At this point Jim popped them into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes to make sure the chicken was cooked all the way through.