I made Gluten Free Pasta Dough to ring in the New Year

Gluten Free Ravioli | Small Town Living in Nevada

Spinach and Meat Ravioli topped with Butternut Squash Sauce paired with a Caesar Salad and Gluten Free Garlic Bread

Of all the foods that I miss out on eating since being gluten intolerant, I miss eating Raviolis. Being from a loud, obnoxious Italian family — I grew up eating a lot of pastas and ravioli. Now, honestly I have never been a spaghetti kinda person and I am not a huge fan of Tomato Sauce. LOL, I can remember my Grandmother yelling at me “What kinda Italian are you? That you don’t like Tomato Sauce!!” It isn’t that I really dislike Tomato Sauce — I just can’t eat it with out feeling like my stomach is a ball of acid and will burn a hole through my stomach and esophagus. So I try to stay away from it to avoid my stomach issues.

Anyhow, to get back on track — I decided that I was going to finally tackle making a really good pasta dough so I could make my family and I raviolis. I actually converted my grandmother’s pasta dough recipe to Gluten Free and have to say it came out pretty good.

My husband loves Butternut Pasta Sauce and he actually made a fresh batch of sauce to go with our raviolis.

He skipped the roasting of the butternut squash and just boiled it and said he felt that was easier than roasting it in the oven.

And my mother made my grandmothers ground turkey and spinach filling to stuff the raviolis with! So the whole process from making the dough to filling the raviolis took a good 2+ hours and we ended up making 125 raviolis. But I actually used 10 cups of my Gluten Free Flour blend (my own mixture of Brown Rice Flour and Tapioca Flour).

I used my pasta dough roller to roll out the dough then I used a medium sized biscuit cutter to cut out circles of dough to fill the raviolis and then pinched off to seal.

My kids had a blast helping make the raviolis — it was like a production line at the table — but could had taken an hour longer if I didn’t have the help!

Ravioli

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Veal with mushrooms and capers

I really like veal yet never buy it. I can’t even tell you the last time I made a dinner with veal or have even been able to order it on a menu. Most veal dishes at a restaurant are dredged in flour and thus not gluten free.

My husband and I are going to Las Vegas for his birthday this weekend and my parents drove up to take care of my kids, home and animals while we are gone. Well, my mother brought up a package of Veal from the Italian Deli Antipastos in San Jose. I was excited and said, “I am making Veal Scallopini!”

Veal with Mushrooms and Capers | Small Town Living in Nevada

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Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

My family – myself included loves Dave’s Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. It is tasty, yet expensive to buy, so I only buy it when it is on sale. Well today I decided I was going to try and make my own version. And it came out really great!

IMG_8806 Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce | Small Town Living in Nevada

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Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce | Small Town Living in Nevada

INGREDIENTS
For the sauce:
  • 1 whole Butternut Squash – Roasted (4-lbs)
  • 1 roasted red pepper
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 4 stalks celery, sliced
  • 2 TBSP garlic, minced
  • 6 oz can tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 6 oz water
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Melt butter and olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Add onion and celery and sauté until onion is translucent. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Add tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Sauté another minute. Remove from heat and add all ingredients with water. Process until smooth texture.
  2. Serve over pasta.

Gluten Free Stromboli

Last night I made Stromboli for dinner. Is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses, typically mozzarella, Italian meats and / or vegetables. The dough traditionally used is Italian bread dough or pizza dough that is rolled into a cylindrical shape and then baked. For mine, the dough was a little sticky and I didn’t get that perfect cylindrical shape. Nevertheless, it came out really tasty.

stromboli1

INGREDIENTS:

Homemade Pizza Dough ( I used Hodgson mill gluten free pizza crust mix )
Mozzarella Cheese, grated
6 slices Provolone Cheese
8 Ham slices
1/2 cup Turkey Italian Sausage, crumbled
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
4 ounce can of mushrooms
Olive Oil
Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 450º F .

stromboli2On a lightly floured sandstone used roll the dough out to a large rectangle.

Sprinkle the Parmesan Cheese over 3/4 of the pizza dough leaving borders on all sides of the dough.

Layer your Provolone Cheese, Ham, Sausage and Mushrooms, then top with the shredded Mozzarella Cheese.

Fold over the sides then roll the dough 1/3 of the way. Grab the other side of the parchment and fold it over the rest of the way. Position the Stromboli seam-side down.

stromboli3Brush the entire roll with olive oil and make diagonal slits for venting. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and allow the stromboli to cool for 5 minutes before slicing 1 to 2 inch strips.

Serve with pizza sauce for dunking.

stromboli4

Italian Sausage, Garlic and Basil Pasta Gravy

I don’t normally buy sauce in a jar just because I can make it better and it is more affordable if it is homemade as well.

Add a caesar salad to go with your pasta and you have an awesome dinner!

Italian Sausage, Garlic and Basil Pasta Gravy

Italian Sausage, Garlic and Basil Pasta Gravy

30 oz tomato sauce
6 oz tomato paste
8 oz mushrooms
1 lb Italian sausage, sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp dried basil
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt

Heat a deep skillet or medium heavy bottomed sauce pot over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon, 1 turn of the pan, extra-virgin olive oil to pan or pot. Brown sausages 2 minutes on each side, transfer to cutting board. Slice. Add back to pot with garlic, mushrooms, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil and salt. Bring sauce to a bubble, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer sauce until ready to serve over your favorite pasta.

There was a Garlic festival at my house….

MojitoSo we had friends over for dinner and a movie – and Frozen Mojitos. I have been nursing my mojito for hours, LOL. It is strong on the Barcardi 151! My husband bought Cocktail Rx Freezer Cocktail mix – Mojito Flavor that comes in a 19.5-Ounce Bucket. Just freeze over night, pour in a glass, add some crushed mint and you have a yummy drink! Except my drink is living on foreverrrrrr……………

For dinner I decided on Shrimp Scampi, bruschetta, Garlic Bread and Crab Cakes with a garlic aoli sauce. So the vampires are staying away tonight!!!

After making more cookies and all the prep work for dinner – I still haven’t finished my drink… I am such a light weight.

AND I have no idea how I made dinner, but everyone Oohed and awed! No, just kidding I didn’t cook tipsy or even drunk, but it was really D-Lish!

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Pasta Alfredo

Originally written on July 23, 2014 I know we had pasta on Saturday — but the hubby is out with friends tonight and the kiddos asked for pasta, so why not. Instead of noodles I am cooking Penne Pasta tonight…. yum! PastaAlfredo

Pasta Alfredo 

I decided to use an Alfredo Sauce packet. Normally I make my own alfredo, but wanted to try something different.

Alfredo Sauce

1 pkg Simply Organic
1-1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tsp Butter
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Pasta:
Penne Pasta (I am using TruRoots ancient grain organic penne pasta)
Salt, to add to boiling water (I use Himalayan Pink Salt)
4-6 cloves Garlic, minced
Mushrooms, sliced (I used Baby Bella)
1 TBSP olive oil
12 oz Veggies of your choice

1. Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When it boils, add salt and pasta and cook to al dente.

2. While water is boiling sauté garlic with olive oil. When garlic is tender add mushrooms. Sauté mushrooms until tender.

3. Add butter and whipping cream to sautéd garlic and mushrooms. When butter is melted add Simply Organic Alfredo Sauce packet. Stir, but don’t over stir otherwise you will have the sauce separate. It will still taste great, however, it just will look oily. Once you have a smooth consistency remove from heat and add grated parmesan cheese.

4. Cook your veggies. 5. When every step is done — toss everything in a HUGE pot and toss! ENJOY!