Rudi's Vs. Udi's Hamburger & Hotdog Buns

Here's my family's comparison on Udi's vs. Rudi's. I think both brands offer great products and I'm happy to use either one. I prefer Udi's multigrain bread but Rudi's cinnamon raisin bread. It's all personal tastes but here's our comparison on two great companies.

Hamburger Buns

I was really excited to have a hamburger bun again but I've realized I enjoy eating my hamburgers without the bun. It's not as overly filling and I think it lets me taste and enjoy the toppings more. I will keep some on hand for the kids but I think I'm going to stay bun free on this one.

Udi's Whole Grain

4 buns/ package

I paid $.99/bun at Town & Country

180 calories/bun

5 g protein/bun

6 g fiber/bun

Rudi's Multigrain

4 buns/package

I paid $1.34/bun at Lee & Dad's - It's hard to compare price when it's at different stores

170 calories/bun

2 g protein/bun

2 g fiber/bun

I like the fiber and protein amounts in the Udi's buns better and they look more like traditional buns. The Udi's were the winner from my family, they were actually the favorite brand/type out of all of the buns. They have a nice texture and surprised all of us. The Rudi's have some seeds in them, not a lot, but I could see some picky kids not liking that. Mine didn't care and my boy actually preferred the Rudi's.

Hotdog Buns

Hubby was the most excited about these, he misses having a bun with his hotdog. Again the Udi's has more of a traditional look to it and is very thick. If you want a bun that is smaller and isn't too much for kids I would recommend the Rudi's bun. My kids didn't know what to do with so much bread with the Udi's.

Udi's Classic

6 buns/package

I paid$1.16/bun at Town & Country

160 calories/bun

4 g protein/bun

3 g fiber/bun

Rudi's Multigrain

4 buns/package

I paid $1.34/bun at Lee & Dad's

130 calories/bun

1 g protein/bun

2 g fiber/bun

The winner in our house was the Rudi's bun. It had a sweeter taste to it and I thought the Udi's bun was drier than the Rudi's.

So it looks like Udi's and Rudi's tied.

They're Here Too...

I was in Lee & Dad's IGA in Belgrade a couple days ago and spotted these little nuggets.

I haven't tried them yet but I do plan to do a taste comparison on the Udi's and Rudi's buns. From what I can see the Rudi's hot dog buns are smaller than the Udi's. This may be a better thing for my family since the buns seemed to be too much for my kids. The Rudi's hamburger buns don't look like "regular" buns as much as the Udi's do, if looks matter to you. Both packages contain 4 buns.

If you want to give these a try check out Rudi's webpage for a $1.00 off coupon on any of their bread.

Pictures are from the Rudi's website.

They're here.....

If you are wanting to enjoy some Udi's hamburger or hotdog buns for a Memorial Day BBQ they are in Bozeman! Check out their website link above to get a $1.00 off coupon. The only place I've seen them is Town & Country (they are for sure at the 1611 Sth 11th location) so far. Thanks Nicole for the heads up! I'm looking forward to trying them out at our own little BBQ on Sunday.

The hamburger buns come 4 to a bag and the hotdog buns come 6 to a bag. They also have their new artisan breads if you want to try them out. If you like breads with seeds in them definately give it a try. I liked that they were lower in calories and higher in protein than the regular Udi's bread.

Pictures are from Udi's webpage.

Bitterroot Gluten Free Bakery

Missoula has an option for yummy looking gluten free bread, sourdough pretzels, and other delicious looking baked goods through the Bitterroot Gluten Free Bakery. Hannah sells these treats at the Clark Fork River Saturday Market in Missoula. The Saturday Market runs from April 30th-September 22nd open from 8am-1pm. Check out her booth once the market is up and running again.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Rhubarb Muffins

Rhubarb season is back, I know this because my rhubarb plant is up to my shoulders. I'm short but still it's pretty big! I had one bag of frozen rhubarb left in my freezer and I figured it better get used before my first harvest this year. I looked through a lot of recipes and decided on muffins because after all my family loves muffins and I needed to give them a dairy free try. They turned out great, Hubby said they look professional so that's a plus!




Cinnamon Rhubarb Muffins
Adapted from Fine Cooking



2 C gluten free flour (I used Gluten Free Mama's Almond Blend)
2 t xanthan gum
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C sour cream (for DF use Tofutti Sour Supreme)*
8 T butter softened (for DF use Earth Balance Natural Buttery Sticks)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 -2 C diced rhubarb



For the topping

3 T granulated sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl mix the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl mix the sour cream, butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. It will be very dry at this point but that's OK the rhubarb is next. Add the rhubarb and mix thoroughly.

Split the mixture between 12 muffin tins. Use the back of a spoon dipped in water to smooth the tops.

Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the topping and cover the tops with 1t of the mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Yum!

*I didn't have any dairy free sour cream on hand but I did have Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese. I used this instead of the sour cream by adding 2 T of Rice Milk and mixing until smooth. This brought the consistency to a sour cream level and worked great.

Gluten Free Cooking Class & Updates

Olivelle is offering a Gluten Free Italian cooking class in June. If you are interested in attending call 522-9100 and have your credit card available for payment to reserve your seat. Here are the details.

Gluten Free Italian
Monday, June 28th 6-8 PM

Gain confidence in the kitchen with a gluten free lifestyle while not feeling deprived. Even gluten tolerant people are going to be jealous of the dishes we create. Grilled Polenta Bruschetta, Homemade Pasta (gluten free of course) with a Vodka Cream Sauce, Summer Berry Galette. $35 per person.


An update on Udi's bread, can you tell I love this stuff :) Bonanza in Billings has it and they will sell it by the case, 8 loaves per case, for a cheaper price. Lee & Dad's IGA in Belgrade will also sell the bread by the case for a cheaper price, just ask for Sheila if you have any problems. ETA, You will need to order it and can do it at any cashier checkout. They place the orders on Monday and the breads arrive on Wednesday.

Another Bread Fail

Even though I'm still on my diet I saw this recipe from The Baking Beauties awhile back and figured I'd give it a try, not only could we have some yummy bread but I could also post something, a double win! Sunday afternoon I whipped this together while the kids were napping and then I lost track while it was rising to find it overflowing my bread pan. No panic yet I just started baking it instead. It didn't turn out, see....

Obviously it's not the prettiest loaf in the world but a pinch of it tasted good so I thought maybe I could salvage it and tried to get it out of the loaf. Here's the result of that.

Even less pretty. The kids and I kept eating crumbs here and there and I decided I'd be resourceful since it did taste good so I made overnight French toast with it. Why can't the overnight French toast pictures every look appetizing? That was delicious and it didn't matter how unattractive this loaf was afterall.

I'll give it a try later but my weekends are busy with travel and guests for awhile so it wont' be any time soon.

Udi's Bread & The Children's Museum

I apologize for being MIA the past couple of weeks. We had a fantastic vacation to Portland, OR (I have reviews for their gluten free bakeries) that took up all of my time before, during, and after. I think I'm back into our normal routine so I'll be posting again.

I am happy to say that we have a new GF bread in the area and I couldn't help but try it since I've heard such good things on the interwebs. Lee & Dad's IGA carries 2 of the Udi's breads in the freezer section (by the other frozen GF items) and their pizza crust. I've heard you can also now get Udi's at Oak Street Natural Market.

I let it sit on the counter until it was no longer frozen and promptly ate a slice. It's good. The inside is nice and springy while the crust has a nice chew to it, I couldn't get enough of the crust. It doesn't need to be toasted near as long as my homemade GF bread and it browns nicely in the toaster. The only downfall is the loaf is on the small (short) side but that won't stop me from keeping it in my freezer. The cost was $4.79 (ETA it was increased to $5.29 in May) for the loaf and I didn't think that was bad. I also saw that Lee & Dad's now carries Gluten Free Mama products. You can find them next to the Bob's Red Mill flours.

I took the kids to the Children's Museum on Saturday and we had a really nice time. The only reason I'm posting about it is because my boy seemed to have a reaction while he was playing with the lentils at the sensory table. After he had been playing with them for awhile he complained about them hurting him. His neck and tummy (two areas where they had touched his skin and the dust had gotten on him) were red and he kept scratching them. I took him to the bathroom to rinse off and then kept him away from the lentils. I don't know if the table and toys didn't get washed after the barley was in them or what but we'll be staying away from that table in the future.

Baked French Toast, Gluten Free

A few months ago I tried to make some gluten free rolls, they didn't turn out. They tasted fine but they were way too dry. I hate to waste anything and instead of throwing them out I turned them into French Toast but baked them. This is a great way to use up dry GF bread.

Baked French Toast

Adapted from Cooks.com

1/3 stick butter

1/3 C brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

6 eggs, beaten

1 C milk

Dash salt

6 pieces dry GF bread, 1/2 inch thick (I just cut my rolls in half)

Melt the butter and pour in the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon on top. Lay the bread in the pan. Mix the eggs, milk, and salt then pour over the bread. Refrigerate overnight and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 45 minutes in the morning. You don't need to serve it with maple syrup but it sure doesn't hurt.

Breads From Anna Herb Bread Review

I really like the Breads from Anna mixes, the texture is the closest to gluten bread I have had so far and they taste wonderful. For meals I really like to use the Herb Bread mix to make rolls and I made them for our turkey dinner this past weekend. They turned out so nice that our gluten eating guests went back for seconds and took some of them home, that's a good sign.

To make the rolls follow the directions for a bread loaf but use a large scoop (my Pampered Chef one worked really well) to make the rolls. Smooth the tops with your fingers, make sure they're a little wet, and allow to rise. Bake for 10 min uncovered then cover and bake another 10 minutes.

The only place in Bozeman I've seen these mixes is Oak Street Natural Market. They are a bit on the pricey side so I save them for special occasions, well worth the splurge now and then.

Gluten Free Cheesy Corn Bread

My parents were up last weekend and I’ve been craving corn bread so I decided it would be a good side with our chili. I’ve been battling a sinus infection, like everyone else it seems, so my motivation level was low and I didn’t feel like looking up an already GF recipe online. Instead I grabbed my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and decided to modify their recipe to GF. I’m happy to report it was a success. The corn bread was light and fluffy and didn’t start to dry for two days. My dad asked if he could safely eat it, habit for a long time Celiac I’m sure, and he couldn’t believe it was GF. He commented that it was the best GF corn bread he’s had and loved that it wasn’t hard. It’s a winner in my book!

Cheesy Corn Bread
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 C GF flour blend (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Almond blend)
1 C cornmeal
4 T sugar
1 T baking powder
½ t salt
2 beaten eggs
1 C milk*
¼ C olive oil
½ C shredded cheddar cheese*

Grease a 9x9x2 baking dish and set aside. Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Stir together the GF flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture.

Combine the eggs, milk, olive oil, and cheese then pour into the well in the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened then spoon into the baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean.

Let it cool before cutting into square and serve with honey butter.

If you like to add corn to your corn bread you can add a drained can of corn with the wet ingredients.

*For dairy free rice milk and Daiya work as great substitutes.

Gluten Free Cheesy Beer Bread

I saw this cheesy beer bread recipe at Tasty Kitchen and I had to try it, it looked too good to pass up plus there wasn’t much time needed to whip it together. This accompanied our roast this last weekend and it was delicious. It’s a quick bread so no time wasted for it to rise, just mix and bake resulting in a dense but tasty loaf. Delicious? Yes! Healthy? No! The whole family liked it and it’ll be my new recipe for when I need some bread and I need it fast.

Gluten Free Cheesy Beer Bread
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

3 C gluten free flour (I used Mama’s Almond Blend)
2 t xanthan gum
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
¼ C granulated sugar
1 C cheddar cheese, shredded (For DF Daiya works perfectly)
12 oz gluten free beer, I used Redbridge
¼ C melted butter
Garlic & onion powder to taste
Parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 375 F. Sift together the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Stir in the cheese and mix well. Mix in the beer, it will be a bit hard toward the end but I was able to get it all mixed together by hand. Put in a loaf pan or separate into muffin tins. Pour melted butter on top of the dough, sprinkle with garlic and onion powders to taste, then sprinkle with parsley flakes to make it pretty. Bake for 1 hour with a loaf, I would try for 40-45 minutes with the muffin tins.

Gluten Free Corn Dog Muffins

My household has two muffin fanatics, if you didn’t know, and I think muffins are a gluten free mom’s blessing. They are great for breakfast, lunches, and snacks and I love that I can freeze them and have an easy lunch box item on days I don’t have leftovers to send with the kids. I make mostly fruit muffins so when I saw corn dog muffins I had to give it a gluten free try.

Gluten Free Corn Dog Muffins
Adapted from AllRecipes

1 10 oz package gluten free cornbread mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 T brown sugar
1 eggs
¾ C milk
½ C cheddar cheese, shredded
4 hot dogs, chopped in bite sized pieces (I sliced them length wise then cut into smaller pieces, mostly to avoid a choking hazard for my one year old)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix together the cornbread mix and brown sugar. In a small bowl whisk the eggs and milk until smooth. Fold the egg mixture and cheese into the cornbread mix until moistened. Add chopped hot dogs and mix until evenly distributed. Spoon into muffins tins (either lightly greased or use paper liners) until 2/3 full. Bake 14-18 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in a muffin.

Serve with honey butter, its funny how my sons eyes light up when he opens a muffin to find butter already spread on it.

Honey Butter
¾ C butter, room temperature
¼ C honey

Mix together the butter and honey until smooth then store covered in the refrigerator.
My kids like to pick the hotdogs out of them first and then eat the corn bread. I didn’t find them to be the best things in the world (I could do without the hotdogs in them) but they’re not bad. They definitely need the honey butter.

The important part is they made these two smile, at least before my girl threw hers across the counter.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this summer and I love it. For starters it has us eating veggies I’ve never tried before and I’m eating a lot more of the ones I have had. It’s like a present every week opening the bag to see what I got. My last share had a huge zucchini in it and since hubby isn’t a fan of zucchini I never buy it. I wasn’t sure what to do with it but I’m out of muffins and since my kids love muffins the conclusion became very easy. I modified my banana bread recipe a bit to make these and overall I’m happy with them. I think they need a little more of a spice but I’m not sure what to put in there, maybe cardamom or ginger? I froze half of the shredded zucchini because I had a lot so maybe I’ll try to kick it up a bit with my next batch.

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

3 C GF flour (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Almond flour)
½ T xanthan gum
3 t cinnamon
3 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 eggs
¾ C butter, softened
1 2/3 C brown sugar, packed
2 C shredded zucchini
2 t vanilla
1 C chocolate chips, raisins, and/or walnuts

In a bowl sift the GF flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a mixing bowl cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time then add in the vanilla mixing thoroughly. Mix in the shredded zucchini then add the flour mixture in 3 batches mixing thoroughly after each batch. Add the chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips) or raisins. You could also add the walnuts here but that’s not for me, bleh! Put the batter into a muffin pan and bake at 325 F for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I also made a batch of mini-muffins and baked them for 25 minutes. This recipe gave me 17 regular sized muffins and 24 mini-muffins. If you bake it in a bread pan bake for about an hour.

This makes about 24 servings with 197 calories per serving, I count 3 mini-muffins as 1 serving.

The texture was perfect on these and they are not crumbly at all. Super yummy!

Breads From Anna Mixes

The Breads From Anna Bread Mix is the best GF bread I have had so far. It has a great texture and isn’t crumbly plus it stays moist for 3-4 days on the counter. It’s not cheap but worth every penny in my opinion. I still like to try my hand at homemade bread now and then but this mix is always in my pantry. I use the mix in my Zojirushi Bread Machine and it turns out wonderfully. The manual tells you how to program a homemade cycle for GF breads. If you use a bread machine be sure to scrape down the sides during the mixing cycle, some of the flour doesn’t make it into the dough if you don’t do this. Also once the mix cycle is over and the rise cycle is starting I smooth the bread out to make it even. Put a little bit of water on your fingers or a spatula to help make it smooth and shape it as needed.

I saw the banana bread mix at Oak Street Market and figured it was worth a try. It was quick to put together and I made muffins since my littles love muffins. The taste was really good but they didn’t rise like my banana bread does. I also didn’t think the texture was quite as good as mine so I think I’ll stick to making them from scratch.

You can get these mixes at Oak Street Market and they are also available at Bonanza in Billings and Whitefish Super 1.

Gluten Free Croutons

I apologize for being quiet this last week but I was on vacation and Yellowstone doesn’t really have much connectivity with the internet and all. I am back though and have lots to post.

I’m not one that freezes half of my gluten free bread to keep it from drying out and we all know gluten free bread dries out fairly quickly so what do we do with this stale bread? Do not throw it away, it still has plenty of options for you and they are delicious. Toast is always a good option but I usually make French toast (mmm…) or croutons with my stale bread. I use the croutons to put in my meatloaf and to make chicken strips. They have so many options and are easy to make. I had run out of croutons so the other night I took my stale bread and busted out some croutons.

Garlic Parmesan Croutons

Stale bread
Garlic flavored Olive Oil*
Parmesan Cheese

There aren’t any measurements because it’s all based on how much bread you have and what your taste preferences are. Preheat your oven to 250 F. Slice the bread into small squares, I like mine to be about ¼” in size. Place the squares in a single layer on a cookie sheet then drizzle with the garlic flavored olive oil and dust with parmesan cheese. You can add any other flavors you like or just leave it plain if you prefer. Place in the oven for 30 minutes then remove and allow the croutons to cool. I place mine in a plastic bag and store them in the freezer to grab as I need. These smell so good when they’re in the oven.

*I like the garlic olive oil from Olivelle in Bozeman, if you haven’t been there I highly recommend stopping by it’s a lot of fun. They offer a ton of flavored olive oils so you can always add a kick to these with the different options.

Gluten Free Caramel Rolls

I have been craving caramel rolls and thought the first morning having my little pumpkins back home would be a great time to have them. I followed this recipe for the rolls but I changed the sauce for them from rhubarb to caramel. They were so good and I couldn’t tell they were gluten free at all. This is either because my cooking rocks, I’m sure this is the reason, or I’m getting very used to GF breads. Either way I was pleased.

Caramel Sauce (from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book)

2/3 C brown sugar
¼ C butter
2 T agave nectar (or corn syrup)

Place the three ingredients in a saucepan and stir on medium heat until combined. Pour into an ungreased baking dish.

It hits the spot!

Double Fail

It’s bad enough when I have a single fail with a recipe but this was a full out double fail. I’ve been craving bread with roasted garlic in it, specifically the garlic Ciabatta bread Costco used to have. I was so excited to come up with a recipe, I was also feeling confident so I should have known things would not work out. I sat down and figured out how to make a general Ciabatta recipe gluten free and I was set. The first night I mixed the dough and then let it sit out for 24 hours. The next night I shaped it into a loaf and popped it in the oven. To give the crust that crunchy texture I put a dish of water on the bottom rack and my bread above it. Things were going great, I was full of excitement, and then I hear crack. What the heck? I open the oven door to find my stoneware cracked down the middle, ugh! This is fail number one and when my bread turned out horrible, mostly because it just didn’t bake right and wasn’t done, that gave me fail number two. Darned all that work!




Lesson learned, don't put a bowl of water below your stoneware.

Gluten Free Banana Bread

I have a lot of frozen ripe bananas and figured it was time to make some banana bread again, I think I’ll actually make more this weekend since we’ve already finished these muffins. This recipe is one I’ve tweaked and played with and it is a favorite. My hubby went back for seconds which doesn't usually happen with banana bread and my son wouldn’t stop eating it. The chocolate chips are optional and I like to freeze half of it to grab one here and there for my son’s lunch at day care.

Banana Bread or Muffins

1 ½ c gluten free flour mix (I used the Gluten Free Mama Almond Blend)
½ T xantham gum
1 ½ t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c butter at room temperature
1 t vanilla
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
5 oz chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, xantham gum, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. In your mixer cream together the butter and sugars then add the vanilla. Beat in the eggs until combined and then the bananas until combined. Add the flour mixture in 2-3 parts then add the chocolate chips. Pour into a loaf or muffin pan. For a loaf bake at 350 F for about an hour and for muffins bake for about 40-45 minutes. It will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I find that using frozen bananas is a lot easier to mix, just let them thaw for a bit on the counter top before using, it's fun to squeeze them out of the banana peel.