Penne and Cheese Bake (Gluten-Free)

My marathon training has finally hit it's peak, and man, is my appetite feeling it. All I want is a carbohydrate or 10 in my belly, every second of the day.

Do I want half your sandwich? Sure, but first you need to take all that crap off the bread and then we have a deal.

Would I care for another serving of pasta? Uhh yeah, but a serving is too small. I'll take an additional three.

DO YOU SEE THAT?! It was so good it was gone too fast for it to even seem real. This recipe came from yet another cookbook that was neglected for sometime. This one Cooking Light put out, and it's their Gluten-Free Cookbook. We received it as a wedding gift, and I started out with a bang making recipes out of it after we were first married. Then it gradually faded away to join the other crying books until I yanked it out under the dust last week and finally cracked it open again.

What a good decision.

Naturally, there were kale chips involved. A nice, well-rounded (meaning it will make me rounded, balance schmalance) meal.

I used vanilla rice milk instead of regular milk because it's all we had on hand, and the taste was surprisingly very delicious. The vanilla taste was definitely present, but it made it seem almost creamier, and not in a weird I'm-eating-dessert way.

Let me know what you think! I'm sure you could throw in whatever veggies or protein you want to this. I would have done that...but that would take away my precious carbs, which just wouldn't do.


Penne and Cheese Bake (Gluten-Free)
Adapted from Cooking Light's Gluten-Free Cookbook

1 small onion, diced
12 oz. gluten-free penne (I used Trader Joe's) 
1/4 cup corn starch
4 cups milk, divided (as mentioned above, I used vanilla rice milk)

salt and pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray.


2. Put the pasta water on to boil. Since gluten-free noodles need frequent stirring while they cook and need to be mixed with sauce immediately after being drained to prevent them from sticking together, you will want this to be your final step before putting the casserole in the oven.

3. Heat some olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat; when it's heated, add the onion and saute until soft.

4. Add 3.5 cups milk to the onion in the pot and bring to a boil. Combine the corn starch and remaining 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl; gradually stir cornstarch mix into the boiling milk and stir constantly for about 2 minutes so the mixture thickens. Remove from heat.

5. Add salt, pepper and the cheeses and stir to thoroughly melt the cheese.

6. At this point, your pasta water should be boiling, so add in the noodles and stir frequently until just al dente. Drain and immediately stir into the cheese sauce.

7. Pour the pasta mix into the baking dish and cook for 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and the top is slightly browned.

Creamy Veggie Pasta, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free

Yes, another pasta recipe. I can't stay away! And this one was special, because I got it from my mama, and she said it was good, and so it needed to be created in my kitchen.

No one should shake off what their mama says (only shake what their mama gave them).

 As you can see on the recipe below, this originated as Pasta Carbonara from Real Simple. Then I realized that if you take away the ingredient that makes it carbonara, it turns into a detectably creamy base for whatever you want to it. (For all you bacon-lovers, feel free to add it in. I'm sure you can't go wrong.)

 If you look at its heart, this pasta is one you would rather eat in chilly December. However, check out its spring outfit! Tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, with watermelon as an appetizer. Total warm weather eats.

I've never been into creamy, Alfredo-esque pastas, mainly because I like the zing and fresh flavor of marinara sauces. Given this, I added some garlic salt and pepper to my serving of this while my husband added Frank's (Yes, the hot sauce. It goes on everything, really). My mom said she added some leftover pesto sauce to hers, which sounds am-AY-zing. However, if you're someone who enjoys the creamy, comforting taste of cheesy sauces, I would think you might not need to add any extra flavor.

So check it out - dress it up, leave it naked, throw some watermelon in the mix. Let me know what you end up doing with it, I would love to try it in different ways!

OH, and did I mention this is super quick and easy to throw together? Yeah, like you can have this on the table in a matter of 15 minutes. Hi, wild weeknight dinner.

(mom's perdy handwriting)

A few notes:

1. Instead of peas, I added broccoli, spinach and tomatoes to my recipe: frozen broccoli went in with the pasta for the last 2 minutes of its cooking time, and then I stirred in the tomatoes and spinach when I added in the sauce and pasta water at the very end.

2. You'll see in the recipe that my mom used evaporated milk instead of half-and-half, which is the same route I went. It eliminated some fat, while maintaining the velvety base.

3. I omitted the olive oil completely, and the texture still turned out great.

Spaghetti and Beanballs, Gluten-free

It's been pretty gorgeous outside and it's finally starting to feel like spring. The days are longer, the air smells like pollen and I am craving pasta. What? Why?

I've never been a big pasta eater. On average, I would say I eat it about 5 times a year. The starchy, plain business of it has never appealed to me much. Until now. Maybe it's because I've been running more, working longer and generally creating more of an appetite for myself, but hot dang, a big plate of filling pasta has never sounded better than before this week.

You would think that would be enough. But of course not. How could MEATBALLS fit into this gorgeous mess? Obviously, meat was out. But beans? Totally doable. Enter the beanballs.

These babies turned out fantastic - about 8x better than I thought they would. I used my go-to bean patty recipe (which I just realized I haven't been on here. Soon!) and slightly adapted it to make itty bitty balls for my not-so itty bitty batch of pasta. One main adaption being that I loaded them up with chunks of cheese, which as you see wanted to seep out into the world.

Seriously, these were so good and SO satisfying. I think my pasta ache has been met for the next while. We will see what counts as a "while."


Spaghetti and Beanballs

Ingredients for spaghetti:
12 oz gluten-free spaghetti (or however much you think you will need. I always make extra for leftovers)

2 leeks, sliced
1/2 small white onion, chopped
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 package sliced button mushrooms
2 leeks, sliced
1/2 small white onion, chopped


Ingredients for beanballs:
2/3 cup gluten-free oats - separated
1/4 small white onion, chopped
2 garlic gloves, minced
2 Tb. ketchup
1 T dried oregano
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
5 oz cheddar cheese, cubed into

To do:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put a large pot of salted water on to high heat for your pasta water. Prepare a baking sheet with sprayed olive oil or a silpat.

2. In a food processor,  grind 1/3 cup of the oats, onion, garlic, ketchup, and oregano together until ground fairly well together. Add in the chickpeas and process until the mixture is chunky and still holds together. Dump into a medium bowl and stir in the remaining 1/3 cup oats. It will be a little wet and sticky, but that's ok.

3. roll together roughly 1 tablespoon of the beanball "dough" and form it around a cube of cheese. Place on the baking sheet and repeat until the dough is gone.

4. Pop the beanballs into the oven for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the pasta.

5. Your pasta water should be boiling now. Add it in and swirl around a bit to get it all submerged and separated. Gluten-free pasta is tricky as it liked to stick together, so make sure you give it a good swirl every 2 minutes.

5. Heat the onion and leeks over medium heat in oil until tender, about 3 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes. (Remember to stir your pasta!) Add in your tomatoes when the pasta is done so they don't get too mushy.

6. When your pasta is done, scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water to add in later. Drain your pasta, rinse with cold water, and immediately transfer to the pot you cooked it in. Add your sauce and mushroom mixture stat so the noodles don't stick together. Give it all a good stir and pour in 1 tablespoon of the pasta water at a time until you obtain the consistency you desire.

7. The meatballs should be finishing up about now - they should be slightly crunchy on the outside. Plate the spaghetti with the beanballs on top and enjoy!

Arugula and Walnut Pesto

Sundays are pretty low-key around here. We go to church (Scott helped me in Sunday School today. That was pretty cute), we get fed lunch at his parents, stuffed with dessert at mine, and then we head to Freddie's for some grocery shopping. We return home late-afternoon, which leaves me more time than our usual week nights to prep dinner. This extra-long stretch means I can get super wild in the kitchen...which also means Sunday dinners result in adding another recipe to the books, or adding some more contents to our trash.

While we were wandering around Fred Meyer grabbing the usual suspects, I got to thinking of how I could use the arugula that was slowly dying in our fridge. I knew pasta was in the plan for dinner, so pesto came to mind. It didn't take me long to walk straight to the bulk department and fill up on some walnuts. Hi-ho, bulk department TOTALLY the way to go. 3/4 pound for six dollars? This equals out to many more walnuts happenings soon.

This turned out way better than I had expected. I used various other pesto recipes to form a base of how-to-do, including these two. While the peppery taste arugula holds was delish, it was really the salty parmesan that blew it out of this world. But that's me, who could have a hunk of parm in my lip the whole day and be totally content.

This played well with pasta, but I would definitely suggest warming it up in a sauce pan (while your noodles are boiling) and adding spoonfuls of boiling pasta water as necessary to get it all creamy and juiced up.

Arugula Walnut Pesto
Makes about 1 cup

3 cups loosely packed arugula
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 cloves garlic (preferably roasted)
1/4 cup heaping walnut halves
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
S&P to taste


1. In a food processor, get your arugula, lemon juice, garlic, walnuts, and cheese roughly grated and mixed up.

2. Stream in olive oil as the processor is running to get it all smooth and pureed.

3. Taste. Add salt and/or pepper. Taste again. Say "mmm."

4. Use as you wish! Leftovers will be on my sandwich tomorrow.

Mac N Cheeze

Cheeze and Co.

Despite the fact that I am not currently partaking in "Vegan-O-Con," there are still times when I see a vegan recipe and think "hot dam! Can this be better than the real deal?"

When I came across Branny's vegan mac and cheese, I knew what was about to go down in le kitchen. GF noodles and some cheeze, all in the name of good, clean fun. To make things extra kosher (wait, this recipe isn't kosher. or is it? what does that entail, exactly?), I added some frozen broccoli florets to please the boy, as well as some tomatoes for all those lycopenes. Lycopenes are bomb.

We ate this mid-April, the same night it snowed 5 miles away from us. YEAH, the frozen rain business that wasn't supposed to show it's face again until next November (at the earliest. You hear me snow?). But you know, this is comfort food through and through, and was content with how it warmed me up despite the 35 degree weather.

For those of you who are like I was and scared of nutritional yeast, don't be. It's perfectly fine to eat, and no one will know you threw fungus in their food unless you tell them (Don't tell them. Maintain your untarnished reputation). I buy mine in the bulk food department at Freddies, and I'm sure you can find it at most other grocery stores. It's cheap, and healthy, and best of all...gluten-free! Go figure.

Mean mug that shadow

Vegan Mac-N-Cheeze Bake
hardly adapted from Branny Boils Over
Makes 1 8x8 Dish


*Despite being ridiculously easy, this is a multi-tasking recipe and requires using your noodle to maneuver these noodles (sorry. I had to). Put the pasta water on to boil before you begin the cheeze sauce so the whole dish comes together roughly the same time.


Cheeze Sauce
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup oat flour
1 T olive oil
2 Tb. minced garlic
1/2 small white onion, diced
pinch dried thyme
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp. curry spice
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard

For Everything Else in the Bake:
1/2 pound small noodles
1/2 pound extra firm tofu
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
1 cup frozen broccoli
1/2 cup canned tomatoes


1. (Remember: Noodle water on to high heat for boiling!) In a small bowl whisk together the broth and flour until there are no clumps; preheat oven to 350.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the garlic and onion up for a couple minutes; add theyme, salt, pepper, turmeric, and curry spiced and stir all together for a brief moment.

3. Add in the broth/flour mixture, nutritional yeast and mustard; turn up heat to medium-high and whisk constantly for a few minutes until it's thick and bubbly and the consistency of melted cheese. When it reaches this texture, take off burner.

4. By this time, your water is either boiling or your noodles are on their way to being cooked. If not, your cheeze sauce will stay warm so no big.

5. Mash the tofu, salt, oil and lemon juice together in your 8x8 dish until it resembles ricotta cheese.

6. Microwave your frozen broccoli and add to the tofu with the tomatoes; mix all together.

7. Now add in the cooked noodles and all put 1/2 cup of the cheeze sauce; combine well and spread evenly in dish.

8. Pour on the reserved 1/2 cup cheeze sauce and place uncovered in the oven for 25 minutes; cool a good 10 minutes before serving.

Easy Love

We're pretty laid back over here, which is why on the night of February 14, I looked at the Mr. said something along the lines of "Oh, you're hungry? Hm, maybe we should eat dinner. As in, something more than the salad I had planned."

Typically, Monday nights the Mr. and I sort of go our separate routes. He has things to do and family to see, while I'll go to the gym or get home at my normal time and do something really productive (like catching up on the Modern Family I missed last week.) SPEAKING OF, did anyone else notice that Claire Dunphy is also Happy Gilmore's love interest? I could hardly believe it, but her voice is a dead giveaway. If anyone else says you knew that, then you get to hang out with my boyfriend and discuss how absurd it is that no on could recognize her upon first glance. C'mon, she looks like a completely different person.

Oh right, so I didn't make extravagant Valentine's Day Dinner plans because

A. My lucky butt was dined at Sawatdy on Sunday night, which is only the best Thai food around these here parts, and that was our Valentine's Day celebration meal.

B. Mondays make me tired and want to take a 10 hour nap, beginning promptly at 8 pm.

C. Like I mentioned, the Mr. has VIP's to visit, and usually fills up at his parents.

However, the weather had different plans and knocked out a bunch of power so long story short - we both arrive home ravished.

 

So I made this. It's a poopy picture, but the food was actually pretty tasty for almost zero planning. The recipe is quick and easy, but doesn't lack in flavor. If you're wary of using wine, I will tell you that it cooks out and lends some awesome flavor. Even if yours is a $3 BGO buy like mine. As you can see, I threw in some lettuce as an afterthought since we had a bundle rotting away in the fridge, which I ended up mixing in with the saucy pasta as an afterthought when I realized all my salad toppings were turned into pasta toppings. Long sentence alert. 

Saucy Mediterranean Pasta
Sauce makes about 2 cups

2 cups gluten-free pasta
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 pack drained tofu cut into 1" cubes
 1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 thinly sliced white onion
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 can okra (impulse buy at Freddies)
1/2 cup burgundy olives, sliced with 1/4 cup juice
5 stalks asparagus, sliced into 1" pieces
1 tablespoon capers
 1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper

Game plan:

1. Set your noodles to cook. If you're using gluten-free noodles, I get the water boiling first, put the pasta in for only about 3 minutes, turn the water off, let the noodles sit while I cook the rest, and check them every so often to make sure they're not mushy.

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; add tofu, garlic, onion, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes; saute until the onion is soft and garlic is turning brown.

3. Add in tomatoes with all the juice, okra with juice, sliced olives with juice, asparagus, capers and wine; stir and simmer for 20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated to your "sauciness" level; sprinkle on some S&P - I went easy on the salt given that the olive and okra juices are pretty salty.

4. Dish up and serve hot with some mozzarella cheese.