I am crazy about italian food. I absolutely adore the smell of olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano....I could probably live on garlic and olive oil! So when I discovered that I have a gluten intolerance, it was partly a sad, sad day in that I had to say good bye to most of the dishes at my favorite restaurants. No pasta, focaccia bread (!), cannolli...no more italian food, right? Wrong! I am not one who gives up easily, and I find a way to make things work. No more pasta at restaurants...okay, I can handle that...but what I CAN do is make my own italian food at home. And that is what I have been doing, and it is going great! I'm on a mission to keep trying new recipes to serve at home so I can get my italian fix. I thought I'd share the two recipes I made this week. I was going to take pictures, but I don't have a lot of time, and my camera batteries are charging, so I will just pass on the recipes.
Tonight I made Zucchini-Polenta Bake. It's like lasagna, but....not. If you like zucchini, and you like spice, walk into your local Trader Joe's and grab a pack of polenta, a jar of arrabiata sauce, a pack of zucchini, and some parmesan cheese (and don't forget the $2.99 Charles Shaw wine to go with it!). The recipe is here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trader-Joes-Fan/15934023652?ref=ts#!/note.php?note_id=420761460669&id=15934023652&ref=mf
After enjoyig this already yummy recipe, the general consensus in my family is this: next time, I'm going to add italian sausage, cut back the zucchini, add more polenta, and top with mozzarella and fresh basil. That is going on next week's menu and I can't wait to try it! I'll let you know how it turns out.
A few days ago, I successfully made gluten free chicken parmesan. Everyone LOVED it, and especially the girls think it is the best chicken ever! Thank you to Linda at Gluten Free Homemaker. One of her great tips to to use tortilla crumbs for the breading. I just threw some tortilla chips into the blender and pressed "chop" and voila--chicken breading! It was really good. Here is the link to her recipe: http://www.glutenfreehomemaker.com/2009/09/chicken-parmesan.html I made this with gluten free brown rice noodles and no one knew the difference!
This isn't italian, but for a quick dessert, I highly HIGHLY recommend flourless peanut butter cookies. Even the gluten eaters in my family agree that they are better than ones with flour. They are so quick and easy, it's hard to believe that they turn out SO good. Here is what you do: mix together one cup of peanut butter, one cup of sugar, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. That's it. Roll into 1 inch balls, roll in some sugar, place on cookie sheet and make those nifty designs with the tines of your fork (you know what I mean...the way your mom always made them). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, and that's it! Enjoy!
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