GF Lasagna

Yummmmmmmm. I must say, this was awesome. Probably the best lasagna ever. I had been anxious to try GF lasagna but had a really difficult time finding GF noodles. Whole Foods, Lunds, Trader Joe's and Rainbow were out of the one or two brands they carried for weeks and weeks. I looked weekly for 2 months before I found a box at Whole Foods. I bought several. I used DeBoles for this recipe - which was super easy, as they are the kind you don't have to boil first. I will be making this again - yay!

Ingredients:
1 box DeBoles lasagna noodles
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 package of Hormel (GF) pepperoni (quartered)
1 green pepper, diced
1 small jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I used Newman's Own tomato basil marinara)
1 (15 oz) container of ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 cups Italian cheese blend (shredded)
s/p

Directions:
Brown the ground beef, season with salt and pepper (LOTS of freshly ground pepper), drain. Add diced onion, green pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Saute a few minutes until green peppers get a little soft. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and pepperoni. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and egg. Add some salt and parsley (or any other seasoning you like).

In a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, begin building the layers. Start with some of the meat mixture, then top with noodles. Top noodles with half the ricotta mixture, layer more noodles, then more meat mixture (sprinkle some of the shredded cheese atop the meat) and layer until meat and cheese mixtures are all used.

Top with more shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until noodles are cooked through - according to package directions.

Enjoy!

Cincinnati Chili, revisited

This is still one of my all-time favorite meals. My grandma used to always make it on New Year's Day. The aroma is to die for. Someone should make a candle or room spray of this scent....Luke would buy it by the crate.

I recently made it with Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta - it was fantastic. This pasta is SO much better than the stuff made with brown rice. The texture and consistency were great and the flavor was awesome. I love it!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 white onion, chopped, divided
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large can (29oz.) can tomato sauce
1 can (14.5 oz) can diced tomato
2 tsp. cinnamon
s/p to taste
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cloves

Directions:

Brown beef, season with salt and pepper, drain. Add peppers and onion, saute a few minutes until soft. Add tomatoes and sauce and remaining ingredients. Simmer at least 30 minutes.

Serve over regular or gluten-free spaghetti noodles. Serve with warm kidney beans, chopped raw onion, shredded cheese and sour cream as optional toppings.

 

Semi-homemade tortellini with red sauce

I had never tried any of the Buitoni fresh pastas, and decided to give it a try. I purchased the Sweet Italian Sausage Tortelloni (http://www.buitoni.com/products/#/tortelloni/sweet-italian-sausage-tortelloni) and made a semi-homemade sauce for it.

I sauteed diced green and red pepper and onion in EVOO and added a clove of garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes, 1 tsp. of sugar, a pinch of salt and some Italian Seasoning.

Serve atop the cooked tortelloni with fresh Parmesan cheese. Deliciouso!

Chicken Tandoori

I love chicken, but get sick of making the same old recipes. I think I found this one in Food Network magazine...but I can't be sure. It has great flavor and is really easy to do. It can be served alone with rice or with a simple yogurt sauce. Both are delicious.

Ingredients:
4 to 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp.vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. plain or Greek yogurt
1/2 small red onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. paprika (or hot paprika)
juice of 1 lemon
S/P
cooked rice for serving

Directions:
Preheat the oven broiler. Make shallow cuts in the chicken with a sharp knife. Toss chicken with lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt, the vegetable oil, onion, garlic, tomato paste, coriander, cumin, paprika and salt to make a paste. Toss the chicken in the mixture and let marinate for 15 minutes.

Place the chicken on a foil-lined broiler pan. Broil, turning once until slightly charred and cooked through. (The more sauce/paste that is one the chicken the longer it will take to "char" - mine didn't really "char", but the chicken was cooked through and the paste was hot!).

 Yogurt sauce:
Mix 1/2 cup of plain or Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro and sprinkle with salt and paprika.  This sauce is good on the chicken and the rice.

Little thimbles

This is a really easy and yummy pasta.  These little noodles look like little thimbles and are called ditalini (I haven't seen GF ditalini, but you could use any other GF pasta).

 

Recipe:

1 box ditalini (or any GF pasta)

1/2 bag pre-washed fresh spinach

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 small jar of green olives, halved

fresh Parmesan cheese

fresh garlic, pressed or chopped

olive oil

5 scallions, sliced

Heat oil in large skillet, add garlic and warm.  Add green onions, tomatoes and green olives.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add spinach and saute until limp.  Toss cooked noodles with the sauce and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Gnocchi part 2

Writing about gnocchi the other day made me crave it....

I haven't found GF gnocchi (pre-packaged) but there is an easy recipe at celiac.com

I made these baked gnocchi dishes with tomato sauce, a blend of garlic and herbs, mushrooms, green pepper and a lot of cheese. I used a little too much crushed red pepper for my taste, but Luke enjoyed it as it was.

Gnocchi

I first fell in love with gnocchi at al Vento restaurant in South Minneapolis. The first time Luke and I went there (with Jennie and Adam) was New Year's Eve in 2005. I had gnocchi with their mother sauce.....and I fell in love. I have always loved all things potato....but gnocchi is heaven.

I had a delicious baked gnocchi in marinara last year in Rome:

I don't remember the name of the restaurant...but it was in Piazza Navona. Unfortunately, at the end of the trip I had a really bad gnocchi somewhere near the Trevi fountain...which steered me away from gnocchi for nearly a year.

A few weeks ago, I was ready to try it again, I found this recipe in Everyday Pasta by Giada de Laurentiis, it's phenomenal. I made half the recipe, and it was still 4 fairly good sized portions.

Baked gnocchi 2 (17-ounce) packages potato gnocchi (use the vacuum-packed type - not the dry boxed kind, or make GF gnocchi using the recipe at celiac.com) 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup gluten-free chicken broth 1/4 cup rice flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 12 ounces baby spinach 3 ounces fresh goat cheese (I actually used Havarti instead..yum) 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the gnocchi in a lightly greased baking dish, set aside. In a saucepan, whisk together the cream, chicken broth and flour over medium heat. Continue whisking until the sauce is simmering and thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. Add the spinach and toss to coat in the cream. Pour the cream and spinach mixture evenly over the gnocchi. Crumble the goat cheese over the spinach. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake until the top is golden, about 30 minutes.