Pages

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Gluten-Free Pasta for Dinner

On my grocery trip this past Saturday, I decided to peruse the Whole Foods store near us to see what gluten free items they had for us to try.  I compared several different products, and knowing that Andrew misses having pasta, I decided to try the Ancient Harvest Quinoa Shells.


This evening I decided to make the pasta I had bought because, like every other day during the work week, I wanted to make something easy.  I don't have an official name for this and quite frankly it's pretty easy.

Ingredients:
  • 2 boxes of the Ancient Harvest Quinoa shells
  • 1 jar of pasta sauce (whatever your favorite)
  • pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni to make it a slightly more low fat)
  • 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (give or take a little)
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Cook the pasta per the directions on the box.  You may want to cook the full time or a couple of extra minutes depending on your oven.
  3. Strain the pasta and pour into a 9 by 13 inch pan.
  4. Mix in 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (or so), 1/4 package of pepperoni and pasta sauce.
  5. Layer more pepperoni and cover with more cheese depending on your taste.
  6. Place in the oven until the cheese on top has melted and serve!

Enjoy and happy eating!!!

Jenni

Zucchini Bread

It's amazing how quickly time flies when you get caught up in other things (aka work)!!

A few weeks ago a friend of ours gave us a big zucchini that I honestly had no idea what to use for or even how to cook with it.  I will say that I used part of it in the broccoli chicken casserole that I typically make, but replaced the broccoli with sauteed zucchini.  But...I ended up having extra zucchini left over that I had absolutely no idea of what to use it for or to cook it with.  So, I decided that Andrew needed something different for breakfast and made him a couple of loaves of gluten-free zucchini bread.

For those of you who cook "normally" and don't have to worry about eating gluten-free, here's the website that I used: Mom's Zucchini Bread Recipe.

For those of you who cook gluten-free, here's the amended recipe for you to enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mill)

  • 2 tsp. Xanthan gum (Bob's Red Mill)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
  3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.


It really is relatively easy to do.  Just follow the directions!


Happy eating!!!

Jenni