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Gluten-Free Pumpkin Stuffed Green Lentil Cannelloni

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Pumpkin Stuffed Green Lentil Cannelloni

It’s officially here….. PUMPKIN EVERYTHING!!! I’ll let you in on a little secret, I couldn’t be happier. I love all the months of the year, mind you, but there’s just something about September 1 – January 1 that floats all my boats.

The recipe below is from Explore Cuisine (so you know it’s a knock-out). Have you tried their gluten-free pasta? It’s healthy, affordable, and best of all, crazy delicious. Explore Cuisine will, hopefully, become steadily available in more grocery stores – until then, you can find it easily on Amazon.  It’s just fantastic.

Pumpkin Stuffed Green Lentil Cannelloni

  • Prep time: 45 mins
  • Cook time: 55 mins
  • Total time: 1 hour 40 mins
  • Serves: 3-4 servings

For the Cashew Cream:

For The Filling:

  • 15oz canned pumpkin
  • 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ to ½ tsp salt (to taste)
  • ⅛ tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. To prepare the cashew cream (this can be prepared ahead of time), soak the cashews in 1 cup of boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the soaking water
  2. Combine the soaked cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt and the ½ cup of reserved soaking water in a high power blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use
  3. In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add salt to taste. Add the lasagna sheets and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often to keep them from sticking together
  4. While the pasta cooks, prepare the filling. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Set aside until ready to use
  5. Once the pasta sheets are cooked, drain them and run them under cold water (if any of the sheet are stuck together, separate them carefully). Set them aside
  6. Preheat the oven to 375F. Combine the prepared tomato sauce and red pepper flakes (if using) and pour on the bottom of a 10.5 x 7.5 inch baking dish. Spoon about half of the cashew cream over the sauce
  7. To prepare the cannelloni, place about a tablespoon and a half of filling on each pasta sheet and carefully roll each one. Arrange them on the baking dish, over the tomato sauce and cashew cream. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes
  8. Drizzle with the remaining cashew cream before serving. Serve warm


Easy Gluten-Free Lasagna with Explore Cuisine Green Lentil (No Boil!) Noodles

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Gluten-Free Lasagna with Explore Cuisine Green Lentil Lasagna Noodles

Gluten-Free Lasagna with Explore Cuisine Organic Green Lentil Noodles

Gluten-free lasagna just got easier and healthier – and if you love lasagna like Garfield the cat and I do, this is the kind of good news you’ve been waiting for.

Explore Cuisine makes a wonderful line of gluten-free pastas that will change your entire pasta game. They’re delicious – dare I say far more delicious than they sound like they’d be. I mean, let’s be serious, even those of us who love vegetables to distraction would be a little skeptical about Green Lentil Lasagna Noodles. I know I was! When I first used them to make lasagna, I was half-tempted to make one with traditional gluten-free noodles too, you know… just – in – case.

I didn’t take this crazy precautionary step and it turns out I didn’t need to. These noodles have a really wonderful, understated flavor that couldn’t work more beautifully with tomato sauces if it had to.

Not only are these noodles gluten-free and delicious, they don’t have to be boiled before building your lasagna. I am so over the process of handling limp HOT lasagna noodles, so that’s a dream come true for me and my hands.

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Explore Cuisine Green Lentil Lasagna

Explore Cuisine Organic Green Lentil Lasagna on Amazon

About Explore Cuisine:

Explore Cuisine products are vegan, organic, gluten-free, and kosher, ensuring your health and igniting your taste buds! For example, our delicious bean pastas contain nearly 20-25 grams of protein per serving and are low in carbs and sodium while simultaneously containing a high fiber content. With Explore Cuisine, you’ll experience the incomparable taste of pasta with all the benefits of nutritious beans! Read More…

There is a wonderful recipe for Vegetable Lasagna on Explore Cuisine’s blog – just click the link to check it out. It’s out of this world – fresh and delicious.

The first lasagna I made with these noodles was, however, my “go to” lasagna I’ve been making for 112 years. The recipe is below and, thanks to these no-boil noodles, it couldn’t be easier.

A Few Notes:

  • If you use a pasta sauce that already contains garlic – leave the garlic out of the recipe. The same is true of one with bell peppers, or onions.
  • You can add a small (drained) can of sliced mushrooms in with the onion and bell pepper.
  • I like my lasagna extra saucy, but if you prefer your lasagna a little more “traditional,” only use one jar of pasta sauce instead of 1-1/2.
  • Always check pasta sauce for the gluten-free label. Some actually are not gluten-free. Always, always check.


Review: Going Against the Grain – Italian Style!

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Going Against the Grain Italian Style Cookbook

When you find out you have to eat gluten free, yet LOVE Italian food with a capital L, O, V, and E, life loses a bit of its luster. Until, that is, you find a cookbook with authentic Italian recipes that are all.. you guessed it… gluten free.

Welcome back luster!

I received a copy of the wonderful new cookbook Going Against the Grain – Italian Style to review on the food blog. For whatever reasons, I expected the recipes to be complicated and filled with difficult-to-find-and-perhaps-even-pronounce ingredients.   Fortunately I was wrong on all accounts.  The recipes aren’t just doable, they’re very easy and the ingredients are readily available.

The beautiful author (Nuccia Ardagna) is Sicilian, so she knows better than most what makes an Italian meal taste Italian – she knows how to bring out the bold, beautiful, and unmistakable deliciousness that is Italian cuisine.

All while keeping everything gluten free.

 

{Review Continued Beneath the Picture}

 

Going Against the Grain Italian Style Cookbook

Some of these gluten free Italian recipes include:

  • Hearty Sicilian Broccoli Soup in Tomato Broth
  • Hearty Sicilian  Minestrone
  • Fresh Tomatoes and Pesto Rotini
  • Breadcrumb Pasta
  • Grilled Pork Tenderloin
  • Chicken Cacciatore
  • Grilled Fennel
  • Gluten Free Panna Cotta With Blueberries
  • Fruit Parfait with Ricotta
  • Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Arugula, Pesto, and Goat Cheese
  • Classic Potato Gnocchi
  • Stuffed Cabbage
  • Sicilian Citrus Salad
  • And many, many more!

Nuccia Ardangna also gives her tools of the trade, valuable tips, personal resources, and even her favorite gluten free pastas. She also lists her favorite bakeries and gluten free food and snacks.

Introduction: This two-part book is a vital adjunct to any home attempting to be gluten-free. The first part guides you through early diagnosis and is an essential guide for any beginner diagnosed with celiac disease or some form of gluten sensitivity. You will learn how to identify symptoms of the disease, how celiac disease is diagnosed, and the consequences if left untreated. It will help you to understand how to read labels and how to manage your gluten-free home in a shared environment. It outlines practical advice for parents of children with celiac disease as well as tips for eating out and dealing with social settings such as special occasions or when traveling. Honorary foreword provided by renowned Dr. Peter HR Green, MD – Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.

Growing up authentically Sicilian, Nuccia Ardagna thought that getting rid of gluten meant giving up her favorite traditional foods, but that could not be further from the truth! Nuccia combines her passion for eating amazingly Italian with her new dietary needs to bring you scrumptious, traditional Italian (and Sicilian) recipes. From simple, classic appetizers to decadent desserts you thought you could never enjoy, every recipe is easy-to-follow and offers beautiful full-color pictures throughout. You can feel confident about entertaining guests and family with these mouth-watering recipes. You can eat healthier, feel better, and truly enjoy living gluten-free while never having to sacrifice great taste! In this book, Nuccia not only shares her personal story with celiac disease but also the recipes she grew up with at home and uses to entertain guests. Look for the bonus section at the end of the book along with a section dedicated to her favorite links and resources. – From Amazon

Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is an essential resource for those who are fairly new to eating gluten free.  My oldest daughter, Emily, and I had to give up gluten for health reasons a couple of years ago. I’ve been adding gluten free cookbooks to my cookbook collection – bread, desserts, etc. As someone who is obsessed with Italian food, I’m thrilled to now have a “go to” cookbook for Italian gluten free recipes.

If you or anyone you know is new to the gluten free way of life, Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is a must have.

The wonderful thing is, this cookbook is also a must have for those who have had to eat gluten free so long that they’ve forgotten what whole wheat bread tastes like. The recipes are just outstanding and the author has a natural gift for writing that feels like a friendly visit.

In addition to the wonderful recipes, tips (I especially love her expert opinion on the best gluten free pastas on the market!), and advice, I also love the fact that the book is packed with big beautiful photographs of each recipe.  A lot of cookbooks will give you pictures of a few recipes… or sometimes even just a sketch. When a cookbook provides a big, colorful photograph of each recipe, I feel like they went above and beyond what they could get away with and… let’s just be honest here… I totally appreciate that.

I also appreciate that these recipes aren’t just “gluten free,” but are also healthy in every other way. As a mother to a ridiculously adorable little boy, the author, herself, puts a great value on healthy eating and it shows in her recipes.

Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is perfect in every way and I hope you’ll add it to your cookbook collection right away.  I know you’ll love it as much as I do.

Below are a few words from the adorable author, Nuccia Ardagna. Seriously, is she lovely or what? She reminds me of a combination of Rachael Ray and Nigella Lawson.  Beautiful… and she can cook?  Her husband did alright for himself!

Nuccia Ardagna

A Word on the Recipe Part of the Book
by Nuccia Ardagna
I really love food and I really enjoy preparing exquisite culinary creations for my family and friends. I am not a chef, but growing up with my Sicilian mom, aunts and grandmothers I certainly learned how to cook. We maintained our tradition of making our own sauce, marinating our own vegetables, making our own wine and growing our own garden. We may not have had much, but we always ate well that’s for sure. Maybe it’s in our DNA, who knows, but when I was suddenly forced to follow a strict gluten-free diet, after the initial panic subsided I knew I could make this work. It would take time and effort but I knew it wasn’t impossible.

So let’s talk about the recipes in this book and why I chose them. There are millions of cookbooks out there. There are many cooking channels featuring renowned chefs on TV. Each bring their own special something to the table. In this day and age, no one is reinventing the wheel when it comes to cooking, however we are all trying to eat healthier and putting a little bit of ourselves into our dishes.

I am no different. I don’t promise recipes you’ve never heard of before. Sometimes, just a tiny tweak to an old classic is enough to impress. In my case, I had to take old, favorite recipes I grew up with and in many cases modify them, as they now needed to be gluten-free.

My motto, which I emphasize in my book, is to stick to healthy fruits, vegetables and lean meats, all of which incidentally are gluten-free. There is of course the pasta and breaded dishes that required modification but short of making your own pasta from scratch or making your own breadcrumbs, these dishes require purchasing ready-made items.

I wanted my book to be simple enough for a beginner but wanted to include some of the more elaborate dishes as well in hopes that I could cater to those who aren’t so new in the kitchen. Many cookbook reviewers will not enjoy a particular book because of its simplicity while others might criticize the complexity of the recipes or the ingredients contained in other books. Bottom line is that you can’t please everyone and that’s fine too.

My goal was to keep it simple featuring classic recipes. Some may surprise you as to why I would include them in the book (like the prosciutto-melone antipasto) but I really wanted to because they are true classics and gluten-free to boot, not to mention a crowd-pleaser. Other recipes are native to Sicily and while some of these are simple and others require a little more effort, the goal was to share our heritage with you.

These recipes were was not meant to dazzle you with complex ingredients, but rather to help you eat well, simple while you are adapting to your new gluten-free lifestyle.
I hope you enjoy the carefully selected recipes. Stay tuned for a new book that will feature elaborate menus.

Find Going Against the Grain – Italian Style! on Amazon. This is one you’ll definitely want to add to your cookbook collection.

Going Against the Grain Italian Style Cookbook

Helpful Links:

Fettuccine Afredo Recipe

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Today (February 7) is National Fettuccine Day and if you love pasta like I do, that’s reason enough to celebrate. Granted, I now have to enjoy pasta gluten free, but that’s absolutely no biggie – gluten free pasta is as good as any pasta.

Fettuccine
The recipe below can be used with whatever fettuccine floats your boat or keeps you healthy. If you’re in need of gluten free fettuccine, click the link and find lots of options on Amazon.

8 oz uncooked fettuccine
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black or white pepper
Chopped fresh parsley

In large sauce pot, cook fettuccine as directed on package.
While fettuccine is cooking, in 2-quart saucepan, heat butter and whipping cream over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper.
Drain fettuccine; return to sauce pot. Pour sauce over warm fettuccine; stir until fettuccine is well coated. Sprinkle with parsley.

Recipe Credit: PastaCheese.com

Lasagna Recipe: Red Gold Tomatoes Make it Easy and Delicious

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Red Gold Lasagna Recipe
1/2 cup water
1 (28 ounce) can Red Gold® Crushed Tomatoes, or 2 (15 ounce) cans Red Gold Crushed Tomatoes
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Red Gold® Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt to taste
1 (16 ounce) box traditional lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 (15 ounce) carton low fat ricotta cheese
3 cups (16 ounce) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350o F. In large mixing bowl combine water, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt.
  • Cover the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan with 1½ cups of sauce mixture.  Arrange 1/3 of noodles on top of sauce, slightly overlapped.  Top with ½ of ricotta cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and 1 cup of sauce.  Repeat layers and top with last 1/3 of noodles and the remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
  • Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 to 1½ hours; until noodles are cooked. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
  • The recipe makes 12 servings, but you could divide the recipe into two 9×9 inch baking dishes and freeze one for a wintry night supper.

Variations:

  1. Add 1 pound ground Italian sausage or lean ground beef, cooked and drained, to the tomato mixture of the basic recipe.
  2. For added color, flavor and nutrition add 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and water removed, as another layer after the cheese layers.
  3. Add both Italian sausage and spinach for great nutritional value and appearance.  Use each as a layer in the recipe.
  4. Add fresh basil to sauce for added color and flavor or sprinkle fresh basil on top as a garnish.
  5. Use fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced, as an option to shredded mozzarella cheese.

Gluten Free Options:

If, like me, you have to eat gluten free OR you simply choose to, don’t think for a minute you have to give up on lasagna. I have even seen gluten free lasagna noodles in Wal-Mart! The box is half the amount of a normal size box of lasagna noodles, however, so be sure to grab two.

Even easier, you can also find Gluten Free Lasagna Noodles on Amazon. Stores don’t always have just what you need, so Amazon is always a viable option – one I use almost weekly.

Another alternative for the gluten free crowd is simple enough – use “sheets” of zucchini. I’ve done this before and LOVED the results. In fact, my mouth is watering right now thinking about this Red Gold recipe with zucchini noodles!

Find more WONDERFUL Red Gold Tomatoes Recipes online.

Paderno Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer (Review)

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Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer

Like everyone these days, I’m always on the look out for ways to add more vegetables and fruits to my family’s diet. The recommended daily amount is higher than most people realize PLUS most experts recommend we go even higher than the recommended number for optimum health. See the Recommended Daily Fruit and Vegetable Calculator to find your own personal recommendations.

My family also likes to cut back on unnecessary carbs whenever possible, too.  We’ve found a pretty cool way to accomplish both of these goals (while providing me with another fun kitchen gadget in the process).  We bought the Paderno World Cuisine Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer off Amazon a few weeks ago and I love it even more each time I use it.

Zucchini Pasta

The first meal I used this cool slicer for was a Zucchini “Pasta” Salad. I made long, spiral noodles (pictured above) from a couple of zucchinis and combined them with chopped grape tomatoes, diced red onion and chopped red, yellow, and green bell peppers. I mixed up the always delicious dressing recipe on the back of all Hidden Valley Italian Dressing Mixes and covered the vegetables. After about 30 minutes in the fridge, it made an absolutely delicious cold salad. I mean, reallllly delicious.

I’ve also used the Spiral Vegetable Slicer for salads and soups. It’s faster and easier than traditional shredders and slicers. This walking accident-waiting-to-happen has found it to be much safer for the fingers and hands as well.  And, trust me, if it’s safe for this accident prone clutz, it’s safe for just about anyone.

Colorful Tossed Salad

One night, I was craving Italian, so I pulled out the spiral vegetable slicer. I had  read, online, that A LOT of people enjoyed their spiral cut zucchini (raw) with hot spaghetti sauce or marinara sauce over it.  I was anxious to give it a try, so I grabbed a few zucchinis. I had cans of Italian Style Diced Tomatoes on hand, so I simply warmed them up – adding fresh basil, oregano, chopped garlic, and salt. We put the tomato mixture on top of our raw zucchini and were SHOCKED at how great it was. I didn’t peel my zucchini but a lot of people prefer it peeled. Most of the time, I hate to peel veggies because it seems kind of wasteful to me.

Besides, I like the colors. 🙂

About the Paderno Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer:
Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer

  • Make quick work of fancy vegetable peeling with the spiral vegetable slicer – it’s incredibly fast, easy, and even fun to use.
  • Suction cups on the legs hold the slicer in place beautifully while you work your mojo. I read a review once that said the suction cups didn’t work – all I can say is they must have been trying to use them on a wet surface or something because I’ve had less than zero problems getting it to stick.
  • Clean up couldn’t be any easier. I hate, loathe, and despise contraptions that have 101 parts to clean after each use. This spiral slicer is a cinch to clean.
  • Includes 3 sets of blades: 1/8-inch spacing, 1/4-inch spacing, and straight blade for ribbon cuts.
  • This VERY affordable plastic spiral vegetable slicer would make a great gift idea for foodies, vegetarians, and anyone who enjoys good food!
  • Simply place vegetable or fruit on prongs, turn wheel while pushing base toward blade.
  • Made of durable plastic.
  • Backed by a 1-year warranty.

Zucchini Pasta with Shredded Parmesan

Even one of the biggest pasta lovers in the world (that would be me) thought the zucchini noodles, tomatoes, and shredded Parmesan made a delicious meal.  Served with a colorful tossed salad, this meal is an excellent way to get your daily vegetable serving count up.

I haven’t used the slicer for coleslaw yet, but it occurs to me how much it’ll simplify the process – cabbage, peppers, carrots.. all sliced in one place for an especially lovely coleslaw.

Apple Strips

 The spiral slicer isn’t, of course, just limited to vegetables. Just look at the cute apple strips above. You don’t even have to core the apple before using the spiral slicer. Just cut off the top of the apple, place it on the spiral slicer and push it through the blade. In seconds, you have cool little rings for fruit salads, oatmeal, pastries, or snacks.  Honestly, I could sit a bowl of apples on the end of the counter and my bunch will walk right past them 100 times a day. But if I put a dish with spirals or strips out… BAM! They disappear.

Zucchini Pasta Salad Lunch

I’ll be using the spiral slicer regularly and can’t wait to find exciting and cool new ways to get the most out of it. See Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer for more information. I highly, highly recommend this slicer.

Prego Alfredo Sauces: Bacon, Homestyle Alfredo, and Artisan Cheese

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Prego Alfredo with Bacon and Pasta

October is many things to many people.  Not only is it one of the greatest months of the year for sport’s fans, it uses its time compassionately to bring attention to wonderful causes such as breast cancer awareness and prevention of bullying awareness.

Did you know that October – such an over-achieving month – is also National Pasta Month?

Whoot!  I love pasta so much I could eat it every day and never complain. Truth be told, I’d be too full and content to complain!

Last month I was sent three Prego Alfredo Sauces to review on Gent Cooking. Knowing that National Pasta Month was just around the corner, I decided to cool my heels and save the post for a series of Pasta Posts I knew I’d have in store for October. I certainly didn’t wait to enjoy the sauces though!   In fact, I photographed the lovelies – then proceeded to enjoy them all within a single week.

I told you I was crazy for pasta.

I have, since that time, bought these three guys several times over.

These Delicious Prego Alfredo Sauces are:

  • Prego Artisan Three Cheese – a creamy sauce with an amazing flavor that cheese fans will flip for.  Like all of the Prego Sauces, it tasted decidedly homemade. Heat and serve…. Prego, I love you.
  • Prego Homestyle Alfredo – this one is also fantastically creamy, maybe even creamer than the others, if that’s possible.  It’s just Heavenly, with a blend of garlic, fresh cream and Parmesan cheese and the sight of it clinging to the pasta is a thing of beauty.
  • Prego Flavored with Savory Bacon – this one is the first one I actually tried (it’s pictured at the top). I have to say, I was a little skeptical. I’ve never invited bacon to pasta meals other than as salad toppings.  Don’t get me wrong, I love bacon, but I never thought of pairing it with pasta or pasta sauces.  One bite into the pasta and I realized I’d been a perfect fool.  The flavor of the rich, creamy Alfredo alongside the unmistakable flavor of BACON wasn’t just delicious, it was stupid delicious. Not only was it the first one I tried, it was also the first one I bought.

I have tried and tried to think which one is my favorite. I wanted to be able to say, “Y’all will want to try all three, but be sure to try____ first…” But, alas, I can’t decide.  They’re each freaking amazing and you couldn’t go wrong with any of them. As I said, I’ve bought each one several times since my original review.

So, I guess I’ll just have to say, Y’all buy the one that sounds best to you… then buy the other two immediately after that! They’re perfect 10s.

See links to some fantastic recipes using these sauces below the picture.

Prego Alfredo Sauces

 Did You Know?

  • Prego is Italian for “Thank you!” or “Don’t mention it!”
  • Prego Sauces are from the Campbell Soup Company – which explains the exceptional flavors and unmatched quality.
  • The three cheeses in the Prego Artisan Three Cheese Alfredo Sauce are White Cheddar, Parmesan and Romano. See a recipe for Simple Chicken Florentine Alfredo with Fettuccine using this awesome sauce.
  • Each of the sauces here are just 70 (Three Cheese / Bacon) or 80 (Homestyle Alfredo) calories per serving.
  • See a recipe for Creamy Burger Bake using the Homestyle Alfredo!
  • Prego Heart Smart Sauces are Cholesterol-free, low in saturated fat, and are certified by the American Heart Association. They’re also fantastic!
  • More Prego Sauce Recipes from Campbell’s Kitchen.

Prego Artisan Three Cheese  Prego Homestyle Alfredo Prego Alfredo Sauce with Bacon

Easiest Macaroni and Cheese in the World

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Amish CookbookOne Step Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

4 cups elbow macaroni
6 cups milk
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
2 Cups Velveeta Cheese
dash paprika

Combine ingredients and put into a large casserole dish.  Bake, covered with aluminum foil, at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Recipe from Cooking With the Horse & Buggy People

Spaghetti Casserole with Jovial Whole Grain Pasta

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I was recently sent a few boxes of Jovial Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta to review for Get Cooking and I’m most grateful for the opportunity.  Like a lot of people, I’m trying to feed my family healthier meals and that all begins (and ends) with making healthy, smart choices.

These little choices add up and pay off in a very big way.

If you eat as much pasta as we do in our home, you’re going to love Jovial Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta as much as we do. Finally, you can feed your family their favorite pasta dishes without the guilt.

Wheat pasta served with tomatoes and tomato sauce and/or chopped vegetables makes an excellent, delicious, and healthy meal.  Of course, we just have to remember to go easy with the meat, bread, and cheeses.

Wheat pasta can be used in place of traditional pasta in your favorite recipes. My youngest daughter, Stephany, was my hardest sell on wheat pasta but with the right blend of garlic and herbs, even she’s on board. In fact, she thinks Jovial is the best wheat pasta we’ve tried.

High praise, indeed.

Below is a favorite recipe for Spaghetti Casserole.  Substitute Jovial Whole Grain Pasta and make it even better!

Spaghetti Casserole Recipe

16 oz box spaghetti
1 jar meat-flavored spaghetti sauce (I use Prego)
1 pkg. Mozzarella shredded cheese (I use Sargento’s)
1 pkg. Cheddar shredded chese (again Sargento’s)
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil the spaghetti to al dente. Add a little olive oil to the spaghetti to keep it from sticking as it’s boiling. Drain the spaghetti. I always add just a little more olive oil at this point. I love the flavor, it’s healthy, and it forbids the noodles from clumping up.

Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. No surprise, I use the Olive Oil variety. Layer spaghetti on the bottom of the dish. Cover spaghetti with sauce. Now sprinkle the cheeses on top of the sauce.

Repeat the entire process and cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes.

Serve with some great bread and a wholesome salad.

From Jovial:

When scientists unearthed the body of Ötzi, the Bronze Age man found perfectly preserved in a glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991, they discovered he had eaten an ancient species of wheat called einkorn for his last meal. A group of Italian researchers became curious about the grain and started what would be more than a decade of discovery. Their findings so intrigued the founders of Jovial™ that they began to work closely together to bring the supply of seeds and grain back to life.

Jovial proudly presents First Ever™ Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta, made from the world’s most ancient wheat, first cultivated 12,000 years ago at the birth of agriculture. The resulting products are wholesome, nutritious and surprisingly delicious. Einkorn was lost in time when new varieties of wheat with much higher yields were created by natural and commercial hybridization. In developing the Jovial™ brand, the company’s founders decided it was time to go beyond organic and take a closer look to find the purest of plant varieties.

“Jovial had its official start in 2010, but was idealized for many years,” said Carla Bartolucci, co-founder of Jovial. “It is our dream to change the future of agriculture by creating consumer demand for the purest, most ancient varieties of food. Our sustainable economic model focuses on farming first and then considers the entire process all the way through to the shelf. We believe the purest food we are all seeking can only come from the purest seed.”

Jovial Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta is available in five varieties: Rigatoni, Penne Rigate, Fusilli, Spaghetti and Linguine. The pastas range from $3.39-3.69 per 12 oz box and are available at Whole Foods nationwide.

Ancient grains are inherently more nutritious than modern varieties. Einkorn is the most ancient wheat. It is more nutritious on many levels than modern organic wheat, and even outperforms other “superfoods” including the blueberry in its nutritional value.  Although Einkorn is a healthy source of dietary fiber, it does not have a grainy or gritty texture. Packed with protein, B vitamins and minerals, a meal with Einkorn pasta is very sustaining.

Einkorn Nutritional Highlights

  • High in Thiamin, essential dietary and trace minerals.
  • Good source of protein, dietary fiber and a number of B Vitamins.
  • Higher Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC-antioxidant capacities) twice that of durum and bread wheat.
  • Higher content of tocotrienols than other species of wheat, a potent form of Vitamin E.
  • Lower percentage of nutrient loss during processing
  • One 2oz. serving contains as much of the antioxidant Lutein as a whole egg (which provides nutritional support to our eyes and skin).

Jovial Einkorn Pasta is masterly crafted in Italy by expert pasta artisans, who work to enhance the inherent goodness of this most ancient wheat. Einkorn’s starch is so different from modern durum wheat, it does not crush during milling and does not absorb as much water during mixing, resulting in a superior finished pasta. Jovial uses traditional bronze dies to press pasta shapes, resulting in a coarse surface that better absorbs sauce. The pasta is slowly dried at low temperatures to maintain Einkorn’s exceptional flavor.

Einkorn is innately rustic, with a hardy root system that overpowers weeds, eliminating the need for herbicides. It grows well without fertilization, making it ideally suitable to small-scale, organic agriculture.  Jovial works with a growing network of organic farmers in rural areas of Italy and other parts of Europe to grow 100% certified organic einkorn.

The First Ever™ trademark on Jovial products is the company’s guarantee of the purest Einkorn product and the purity commitment extends from “Seed to Shelf.”  Jovial Einkorn Pasta is packaged in a carton made from 80% recycled cardboard and is 100% recyclable. The window is certified 100% compostable, made from FSC certified wood pulp.

Even the packaging is healthy!

“We believe that the future of our food is a thing of the past,” said Bartolucci. “We were so excited to discover that a food from ancient history was preserved in time and could still be grown today.”

Gorgeous Casserole Dishes on Amazon:

Casserole Dishes

Giada de Laurentiis Products from Target: Must Haves!

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Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon

Okay. I normally don’t make broad, sweeping statements (unless it plays something like, “Drink coffee, it makes you sexier,” which doesn’t really count because that’s been proven). However, the time has come to make a doozie: If you ever see a cookbook, food item, kitchen gadget, pot, pan, dish, coffee mug, spoon, small appliance, large appliance, apron, salt shaker, or bulldog puppy (???) with the name Giada de Laurentiis on it, buy it and prepare to be amazed. The woman does not attach her name or beautiful face to anything less than a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

Apparently it’s against her code.

Good code.

The Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon, pictured at the top of the post?  Ridiculously excellent.  Like all of Giada’s food products, you get so much more than you pay for or even hope for.

Product Description:
An incredibly tasty Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest. The hand-harvested, all-natural sea salt with lemon zest comes from a combination of the pure Sicilian sea water and the freshest lemons grown under the Sicilian sun. Giada’s Sicilian sea salt presents a delicate and intense aroma, with distinct hints of sweet, fresh lemons. Its fresh and delicate taste is characterized by intense notes of lemon, making this gourmet product a perfect ingredient to be coupled with light dishes, ideal for cooked or raw fish and shellfish, poultry, vegetables and desserts. Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis present a piece of Italy to Italian food lovers and food connoisseurs, to taste, enjoy and share. Together, Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis have launched the much anticipated range of high quality, authentic Italian gourmet products.

I regularly buy Giada’s pasta, sauces, and other food products at my local Target…. a store I have nothing but love for. Her spaghetti sauces are amazing – my favorite one is a creamy pasta sauce that boggles the brain.

A recent gift from my husband (for a birthday I acknowledged but didn’t count) is the gorgeous ceramic lasagna pan pictured above. Naturally, like a kid with a toy, I had to use it right away. I normally would have whipped up my favorite vegetarian lasagna but we’d recently had spaghetti — I’m nothing if not anal — so I made a cheesy potato au gratin. Outstanding. The pan refused to allow the potatoes or the cheese to stick, which made serving, eating, and cleaning joyful, delicious, and simple.

It’s such a gorgeous ceramic pan I kind of hated to use it. You really have to see it to appreciate it. It’s worth a special trip to Target to see Giada’s collection of pans, gadgets, and more. She even has a line of sexy aprons as well as her own coffee.

Somebody tell me why I haven’t tried that yet.

By the way, when you click through to the ceramic lasagna pan, if you scroll down you’ll see what appears to be a great recipe for Baked Gnocchi, calling for spinach, nutmeg, gnocchi, chicken broth, heavy cream… is your mouth watering yet?

Another gift the wonderful husband bought me was the Giada De Laurentiis for Target 12″ Stainless Steel Nonstick Sauté Pan (Click through this link for details as well as a recipe for Orzo with Sausage, Peppers and Tomatoes!). This gorgeous pan was initiated into the family with salmon patties and is currently simmering a little pasta sauce for my oldest daughter’s lunch.

It’s quite possibly the best pan I’ve ever owned.

Features:
Pan-Pot Material: Stainless Steel
Handle Material: Stainless Steel
Features: Riveted Handle
Care and Cleaning: Hand-wash Only

Click through any of the links (except for the Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon – it has a mind of its own) to browse Target’s outstanding line of Giada de Laurentiis products.