Shrimp Scampi with mussels

This is such a good, simple dish. Shrimp, mussels, garlic, wine, and parsley. A few sweet peppers for a flavor boost, and some peas because that's how I like it. Served with some GF pasta. 

Ingredients:

12 frozen mussels

1/4 lb raw shrimp

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. olive oil

3 small sweet peppers, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

white wine (I don't drink a lot of white wine so I used those little single serving bottles of pinot grigio)

1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

1 lemon, juiced

salt and pepper

1/4 c. frozen peas

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. In the meantime, heat a pan to medium-high heat. Sautee the peppers and oil until they are soft and have a little char. Add in the garlic and heat that for a minute. 

At this point the pasta water should be boiling. Add your favorite GF spaghetti noodles. 

Pour the bottle of wine in the pan with the peppers and add in the mussels. Cover the pan. Set a timer for 10 minutes. When 3-4 minutes are left, add the shrimp and leave the lid off. Stir in the red pepper flakes, parsley, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the timer goes off, it's done. At this point I like to add frozen peas. Drain the noodles and toss them into the pan with everything else. 

Discard any mussels that did not open. 

Serves 2.

hidden veggies pasta

Today I made a pasta sauce completely loaded with veggies. I even used beets, which I've never cooked with before.

I tasted something with beets a long time ago and thought it tasted like dirt, so I've never been a fan. I always wondered why people ate them if they tasted like dirt. I gave them a second chance, and it turns out... they do not taste like dirt. I must have had a bad beet dish those many years ago.

Anyway, I started this sauce with ground beef, sauteed with onions. Then I added in some shredded beet, zucchini, and carrot. I like using shredded veggies because after you sautee them, they practically disappear.

Then I added a jar of GF pasta sauce and frozen peas, and let that simmer while the noodles cooked. 

I had a sample bag of Jovial brown rice penne from a GF festival a while back, and while it's not my favorite pasta, it worked just fine.

Such an easy, tasty meal that was ready in 30 minutes.

My kind of Thursday night. 

Thai Peanut Noodles

Why, yes. I AM obsessed with this peanut sauce.

Since I discovered it, I've had it on salad, with spring rolls, with takeout sushi, and now I'm eating it with noodles. It's THAT good.

Thai Peanut Noodles

Gather ingredients:
1 batch peanut sauce (made with peanut butter instead of cashew butter)
cooked and still hot GF spaghetti noodles
chives, chopped
frozen peas
red pepper flakes
parsley
Optional: chopped leftover chicken breast

Mix it all together in the still-hot spaghetti noodle pot, and dig in.

Creamy tomato pasta

When in doubt, always start by cooking bacon and onions. The rest will work itself out.

That's how tonight's dinner started.  I knew I wanted pasta, and all the meat was frozen. Enter the old standby.

Start with bacon and onions (and garlic). Throw them in a pan on medium high heat until the bacon is cooked and the onions and garlic are browned.

Add in a couple (4 oz) cans of tomato sauce and some kale and leftover Greek yogurt. Plus the last handful of parsley and oregano that grew in the summer's herb garden. Grab the frozen block of parmesan cheese and grate some over the top. Salt and pepper to taste. If your tomato sauce tastes a bit tinny, sprinkle in a bit of sugar.

Serve over noodles. A mighty fine dinner.

The final picture was snapped after hubs started to eat, because mine was already gone.

Chicken Spaghetti

I am fully aware that these photos suck. They look like messy chicken slop. But let me tell you, this is DELICIOUS messy chicken slop. AKA Chicken Spaghetti.

As with most of my chicken recipes, this involves leftovers. Yeah!
I looked up Chicken spaghetti recipes online, and most included Velveeta and Cream of Mushroom Soup. Ugck. No thanks. Here's one without all that gluteny plasticy mess.

Chicken Spaghetti

leftover chicken, chopped
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. milk
onion, chopped
sweet red peppers, chopped
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
fresh parsley, to garnish
Cooked GF spaghetti noodles

Get the water boiling for the noodles.

In the Kitchen Aid mixer, mix the cream cheese, milk, and cheddar cheese until blended.

Heat the onion and peppers in a pot with some olive oil until softened. Add in the chicken and let it warm up.

Stir the cream cheese mixture into the pot, and heat through. Season to taste with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Mix in the cooked noodles.

Enjoy your chicken slop! Err, chicken spaghetti.

Now, Hubs commented that his grandma would transfer chicken spaghetti to a baking dish and broil with some extra cheese and breadcrumbs on top. I honestly thought about it, but I wasn't interested in dirtying up another dish. I you want to, go for it.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Inspired by Betty Crocker's GF Buffalo Chicken Casserole.

Disclaimer: I realize the last several posts have featured chicken. We eat more than chicken around here. I swear.

Now, I am a huge fan of chips and brownies and wine for dinner, but I couldn't bring myself to serve what is basically a party dip with chips crumbled on top as a nutritious wholesome meal.

So, I tweaked it a bit. It turned out like a glorified mac n cheese. Which totally counts as nutritious.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Boil some gluten-free penne pasta.
Cook 2 chicken breasts (or thighs, or whatevs). I boiled mine.

While the chicken is cooking, place in the bowl of your kitchen aid mixer: (OMG I LOVE THIS THING):

1/2 c. pain greek yogurt
1/2 block of gluten-free cream cheese, cut into chunks
1/2 cup gluten-free hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

These ingredients should come to room temperature while the chicken and noodles cook.

Add the hot cooked chicken and mix on the lowest setting to combine.
Stir in the noodles.

Holy moly it's good. Like go back and pick at the leftovers a couple of times before you put it away good.

Serve with broccoli. For your conscience's sake.

Clever leftovers: Chicken Spaghetti

Remember how I said the Chicken Stuffed Chiles made a TON of extra filling? Well. Into the freezer it went, and today it got new life as chicken spaghetti.

A super quick dinner that even got compliments from hubs. I get the most compliments from him on my leftover-type scrap meals. Go figure!

All I did was defrost some of the creamy chicken and combine it with GF noodles (oops I was out of spaghetti noodles so penne went into the pot!) and an extra chunk of cream cheese. And peas, because I can't help myself. Peas and pasta belong together.

And yes, it is now acceptable to boil water on the stovetop because the temperatures have dipped below 100 degrees.

Chicken Spaghetti

Combine:
-Leftovers from Chicken Stuffed Chiles
-boiled GF noodles
-An extra chunk of cream cheese
-Extra shredded cheddar cheese, because I think it needed it
-Ooh, maybe a shake of chili flakes for a kick.

Serve with leftover shredded lettuce and tomatoes from the nacho bar you had over the weekend and call it a salad. Yay for no waste!

Quick & Easy- Spaghetti

I can't believe I've been blogging gluten free for 6 years and I haven't posted once about spaghetti.

It's the go-to meal when I don't know what to make. It feeds a crowd. It sticks to your ribs. It's cheap. It's quick. It's easy to keep the ingredients on hand.

The key to making the sauce extra-delicious is fresh basil. I've used various store-bought spaghetti sauces and basil always punches up the flavor and makes it taste better.

Seriously, if you don't have a basil plant right now, go buy a pot and some dirt and some basil seeds. It's super easy to grow. Just water it when it starts to droop. This simple addition really makes a difference.

So back to dinner.

Spaghetti:

• Ground beef, sausage, chicken-- whatever you've got. Cook it in a pan. Drain the grease if there's a lot of it.
• Stir in spaghetti sauce-- jar, can, whatever was on sale.
• Fresh basil-- chop it up and add it to the sauce.
• Noodles- cook your favorite gluten free noodles according to package directions-- my favorites are corn-based. They seem to hold up better as leftovers.

You're done and it's dinner time.

I generally serve with some kind of vegetable and, if I've got any, butter & garlic powder spread on a piece of gluten free bread. Noms.

Stroganoff

Wednesday night: Beef Stroganoff. Enough for 2, plus 1 lunch.

This is the first time I've ever cooked with mushrooms.
I used this recipe here, with a few changes:


1/2 pound of ground beef
8-10 mushrooms, washed, dried & sliced
1 t. minced garlic
1 T. butter
1 c. broth
sprinkle of salt
1t. Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins is GF)
2 T. sweet rice flour
1/2 c. greek yogurt

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add butter, and cook mushrooms & garlic for a few minutes; until the mushrooms are somewhere between completely raw and mushy. Place them in a bowl.

Cook the beef in the skillet until it's browned. Stir in 3/4 c. of the broth, salt, and worchestershire. Heat to boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir the remaining 1/4 c. broth into the flour, and stir into the skillet. Add mushrooms. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The sauce will start to thicken. Turn the heat off, and stir in the sour cream.

Serve over your favorite GF noodle.

P.S. I added in chopped spinach, because I have sooo much in the fridge.

Tuna mac & cheese with peas and spinach

Trying to eat more veggies, so I veggi-fied this batch of tuna mac & cheese.

Here you go:

Cooked gluten free noodles, still hot
1 batch of cheese sauce, substituting cheddar cheese
frozen peas
chopped fresh spinach
1 can of tuna, drained
1 tsp mustard powder

Mix the ingredients together in a pan, topping with extra shredded cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with paprika for extra yumminess.

P.S. If you choose to make the lower-fat version of the cheese sauce, a little cream cheese melted in helps make it creamier.

Baked Ziti (with greek yogurt)

As usual, this dish started with something in my fridge that needed to be eaten before it spoiled.

I recently tried greek yogurt. I love that it has more protein than regular yogurt, but it's too sour-cream tasting to eat by itself. I found that if I mix it 50/50 with regular yoplait yogurt, the texture and taste are perfect.

Anyway, I'd been eating yogurt for a while and the kick was nearing its' end. To use up the rest of the container, I made baked ziti. I'd never made baked ziti, and it was delicious.

You need:

Cooked gluten free pasta, drained and still hot
equal amounts greek yogurt and pasta sauce
shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese

Mix the pasta, yogurt, pasta sauce, and cheese and place it in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with more cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted.

Sprinkle with parsley. Easy peasy.

Pasta with creamy pesto-ish sauce

IT'S EFFING HOT.

I overheard somebody call these the dog days of summer. Everyone's seeking solace in air-conditioned havens, myself included. You think I'm going to heat up my kitchen? Don't think so. It's been lunchmeat and cereal city over here. For a while.

But my belly is hungry, and getting tired of mediocre meals. So in one simultaneous move, I cranked the AC on full blast and turned on the stove.

The only thing to survive in my herb garden this year is a basil plant. Apparently this particular plant loves the drought and 100+ temperatures. In fact, it's going pretty strong. If it looks droopy I just water it and it perks right up.

This was inspired by leftover spinach that needs to be eaten soon. No, I can't eat another freaking salad. Was going to make a pesto but I also had cream cheese to use up. So I changed the plan a little, with great success.

I give you, this.

Okay, I'm not a food photographer.
Please, it tastes much better than it looks.

Have you seen that cooking creme? It's like that, but better.


Heat up your skillet to medium-high heat, salt & pepper your chicken, throw it in the pan and cook it until it's done.

Meanwhile, bust out your little tiny food processor that's cracked and old but still works.

Add to it:

1/2 block of softened cream cheese (or neufchatel cheese)
a splash of milk
a dash of garlic powder
1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese
1 handful each of fresh basil and spinach leaves
as much pepper as you like

Process that until it's relatively smooth, and pour it into the pan. Remove it from heat, and toss with your favorite gf pasta.

Then have ice cream for dessert, kuz it's just too darn hot not to.

Sorghum Noodles

Found in some random asian food store and presented to me in a gluten free noodle extravaganza gift by my friend Jen.

These noodles are great. Wonderful texture, and one little bundle is perfect for a meal.

I think the company that makes them is Havista. I love these random little finds.

By the way, at 25, I still can't eat spaghetti without making a huge mess out of myself.

King Soba Black Rice Noodles

I was doing some grocery shopping in HEB, kinda browsing around, when I came across these noodles. I thought, "Black noodles? Hey wow, neat!" and threw them in the basket. They're made from black rice. I had no idea there was such a thing as black rice.

I checked out their website and they have all kinds of neat, unconventional blends of gluten free noodles.

When I cooked them, they turned kinda purple, just like the package said they would. Unlike regular noodles, they blend in with the pot and sort of disappear when you put them in the water and you're like, "Where'd they go?" Kind of a novel thing, making black noodles.

Cooking quirks aside, they also have a good flavor. Kinda nutty, but mild. Not as pronounced as, say, the flavor of quinoa. It doesn't compete with whatever you're mixing it with; it's more of a complimentary flavor.

Not only were they tasty, but there's something kinda cool about having purple-ish black noodles on your plate. I'd like to serve them at a dinner party some day and be all, "Oh those? They're just black noodles," and feel completely unique. Because black noodles are definitely unique.

Zesty Pasta

Another one of those "I need to use stuff up" dinners.

1/2 can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles
a handful of frozen peas
some leftover shredded spinach
a few tablespoons of sour cream
Whatever GF pasta was in the pantry
parsley, basil, and pepper to taste

Heat the tomatoes, peas, spinach, parsley, basil and pepper on the stovetop on low while the noodles cook. When they're ready, top with the "sauce." Mix the sour cream into the tomato mixture just before serving.

It sounds kinda funky, but it was really very delicious. The sour cream brought everything together and cut down a little on the heat without being too heavy. It had a nice spicy kick- if you don't want a kick, then just use regular diced tomatoes.

Cold Tuna Salad

I should have eaten leftovers for lunch, but I really really wanted tuna salad. I got one of those random cravings.

It was so nice and cold, with chewy noodles, tender tuna, crisp peas, and just enough mayo to bring it all together. It was perfect with some green iced tea.

And also, since my mind is gearing in that direction, it would be a great take-to-school lunch.

Notta Pasta- Fettuccine & "pesto"

picture links to product website

Today the wonderful woman that I call Mom brought home some of this Notta Pasta gluten free fettuccine. Of all the gluten free noodles I've found, I have not tried fettuccine. I thought their website was really neat. It has a lot of recipes, and I signed up for the monthly recipe club.

You cook it up like any other pasta. I was super surprised at how great it was. It has a great texture and really cooks al dente well.

I fixed it up a little differently, as I was in the mood for something that would be lighter on the palate. I saw earlier this week that Gluten Free Goddess made some pesto pasta with meatballs, and the noodles look soooo good. They were my inspiration for this dish.


Sadly, my fresh basil had reached its expiration date and was growing some really great mold. I had to improvise with dried herbs to make a pesto-like thing (SOO not as good, but they worked well enough).

While the noodles were cooking I mixed some basil, marjoram, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper, a little bit of sage, and red chili flakes for a kick. I mixed that with a little extra virgin olive oil.

When the noodles were done I rinsed them with hot water, and tossed them around with the "pesto." I gotta say, it was tasty. I bet it'd even be good cold, too. I'm totally wanting it with sundried tomatoes now.

Anyway, if you haven't tried the noodles, I recommend them.

pasta salad again

I made a really good pasta salad for lunch the other day. I was in a study group and when I busted it out my friends, who were eating pb&j or instant soup, said, "I wish I had that!"
Ohh yeah.

The picture I took was crappy because it was with my camera phone.

This is quick & easy, and to keep my paranoid self from worrying about the dressing going bad, I just froze the salad dressing in a baggie and by lunchtime it was thawed.

I chopped up some cucumber and carrot really small, and mixed it with some brown rice pasta and red beans.

Added the dressing and mixed it up right before I ate it. Yum.

Mac n Cheese!

This has been on the recipe pad in the back of my mind for a while now. Can you believe I have yet to make mac and cheese (that does not come from a box)?

So when ginger lemon girl posted this super easy recipe with an ammendment for a cheese sauce, I decided: it's time.


Two bowls and less than 20 minutes later [start to finish you guys], I have a happy tummy. I added 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, but I think I will add 1 1/2 to 2 cups next time.

I also sprinkle in a bit of ground mustard, lots of pepper and a small pinch of garlic powder.

When I reheat the leftovers I'm going to throw in some tuna. I don't know why but I love tuna mixed with mac and cheese.

Alfredo Sauce

A couple of weeks ago Dayna mentioned she'd like to know how to make alfredo sauce. Well, I learned! I was intimidated because I've heard cheese sauces are tricky but it's super easy.

There are 2 versions I've tried: a regular one and a lower-fat one that was less rich but still tasty.

For the regular one, use:

1/4 c. butter
1 c. heavy cream
1 clove of minced garlic or a shake of garlic powder
1 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 c. mozarella cheese

I heated the butter, garlic and cream on med-low heat until the butter melted, then stirred in the cheese until it melted. Threw in a bunch of cracked pepper, a few shakes of salt, and a splash of the wine I was drinking. I let it heat for a minute, while stirring, and served it over penne rice pasta, since those are the only noodles I had. I sprinkled some parsley over it one time, and some italian seasonings another time. Both tasted good.

For the lower fat one, I used:

3 T. butter
2 T. GF flour
1 c. milk
same amounts of garlic & cheeses

I melted the butter, then stirred in the flour until it formed a paste. I slowly stirred in the milk and heated that up for a minute. I threw in the cheese and other ingredients the same way as before. If you are drinking wine (as I do when I cook), splash a bit of that in too. The wine will help to keep the mixture smooth. Since it's a white sauce I would use a white wine. Put it over pasta and enjoy!

P.S. A small hunk of cream cheese will help make the second version thicker as well