Gluten Free Italian Pasta Bake

Today's dinner was super easy and really good, and it made a ton! The four of us ate it for dinner and there was enough leftovers to pack for all our lunches for tomorrow.

I absolutely love Tinkyada pasta, I've tried a couple other kinds of gluten free pasta and nothing else compares to it. Last weekend I used it to make homemade baked macaroni and cheese and the whole pan was devoured in no time. So tonight I decided to make another macaroni noodle style dish, but more along the lines of a baked ziti or similar Italian pasta bake.

The result was delish and family friendly.

Gluten Free Italian Pasta Bake

Makes 6 large servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 (454g) package Tinkyada brown rice elbows (macaroni)
• 1 pounds ground chicken (or beef, pork or turkey)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 jar (640ml) pasta sauce
• 1 can (398ml) Italian stewed tomatoes
• seasonings to taste (Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions (less 1 minute). Rinse with cold water and drain well.
2. Cook the ground meat and onion in a large pot over medium high heat until the meat is well browned, stirring often. Drain fat.
3. Add in the pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the pasta, 1 cup mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
5. Put the mixture into an 9x13 baking dish and top with the remaining mozzarella.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I know, I haven't posted in ages. At first I was just going to take the summer off, but before I knew it September came and went and now it's almost mid-October.

I had an interesting experience this summer... I decided that maybe I shouldn't be gluten free, maybe I was supposed to be dairy free instead! (yep, brilliant suggestion of a doctor I saw over the summer). Ummm... let's just say that wasn't the best advice I ever followed. I paid dearly for that little experiment and it took about a month for me to get my body back on track. 

However, one little bit of knowledge gained through that dietary experiment, is that I learned that I'm quite possibly sensitive to soy.  This was something I learned after my mom noticed I had terrible bouts of diarrhea (sorry TMI) after I had Starbucks made with soy milk instead of dairy (a few times).  Glad she was there to point out that connection to me, apparently I'm a little slow! lol.  

So after that I started looking up soy allergies and sensitivities and quickly realized that soy is in EVERYTHING.  So I started out being really diligent about looking for hidden soy in everything, but it's just too difficult, so now I'm compromising by avoiding the majorly obvious soy containing foods and ignoring it in some other foods (like salad dressing and chocolate chips).

And on that note... here's a recipe for Gluten Free (but probably soy containing) Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. These turned out really good and my kids loved them too!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Makes 12 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Fill 12 muffin cups with muffin liners.
3. Cream together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl. Add bananas and continue mixing until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and cinnamon to egg mixture. (I use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients)
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking well between each addition (add dry ingredients in about 4-5 increments).
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Fill each muffin cup approximately two thirds full.
8. Bake for 23 minutes.