“Nature has provided for us the exact foods we should be eating; we just need to eat them.”. I don't know where I read that quote but it has definitely stuck with me. The last few years there have been large changes in our family diet and throughout it has been important for me to think back on this very simple phrase. We just have to eat what we already have provided for us. I don't believe in mixes, formulas, diets, detoxing or anything else that we have created as the current hip diet. I believe that what we eat should be as simple as what we have had all along. My family has worked hard to change our diet, not only to healthy but primarily gluten-free (so that we can all eat the same meals together). There are days where I have realized how simple eating healthy can be and yet I have also learned how expensive it can be as well. 90% of my family's diet is simple meats, vegetables, and fruits; between those items, we can make nearly everything we need. However, there is our go-to staples that just are not easily found without a whole bunch of extra ingredients, for example, pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles. Gluten-free noodles tend to be ridiculously expensive and pasta sauce is always full of so much more than tomatoes and herbs that it bothers me every time I purchase it. My sweet husband found a pasta maker and thought it would be a perfect gift for me. While his gift was appreciated, my confidence was lacking that I would ever be able to pull this off. So after flipping through a thousand recipes and reading them page-by-page over and over again I finally got the nerve to attempt to make gluten-free pasta and homemade sauce. There are days where I really lack confidence in the kitchen but luckily I always have the enthusiasm to give it a go anyway. Worst case scenario I have a disastrous kitchen and we're eating eggs for dinner. Stepping into the kitchen to make pasta was completely intimidating and I really wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull it off and for some insane reason, I decided to do it on a weeknight in the midst of homework and school activities. My goal, in the end, is to be able to make my husband his favorite meal which is lobster ravioli, however, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will be my skills at pasta making so we started with fettuccine noodles. In the end, making pasta was not near as horrible as I had imagined. It involved a giant mess in our kitchen, the laughter of the kids as they all tried it and compared it to playing with Play-Doh and a super satisfying feeling of completing a dinner that I knew had been made completely by scratch. I knew every ingredient that was going into my family's mouth and it doesn't get much better than that when serving them dinner. Overall the family reviews were great and while we always edit our recipes as we go along it is sure to be something we do again very soon. I wish I had a final beautiful dinner picture but it was so yummy that there was just no time for photos before we dived in. | |||
| I learned that the smell of tomatoes and herbs cooking for 6hrs is a magical smell that makes you long for dinner for nearly the same amount of time as it takes to cook. |
**Note to self....here is what worked best...a combination of all of those recipes altered to make it gluten-free.**
Pasta
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp Salt if cooking immediately, otherwise omit salt
3 (to 4) Eggs large
Instructions
1/2 tsp Salt if cooking immediately, otherwise omit salt
3 (to 4) Eggs large
Instructions
Combine Gluten Free Flour and salt (if cooking immediately) in the bowl of a food processor. If the dough will be stored for any amount of time, omit salt. Add eggs and process until a rough dough forms about 10 mins.
Remove dough from the bowl and knead on a surface dusted with gluten-free flour until a smooth and even dough forms. Let rest 10 mins.
The pasta dough may now be processed through a pasta machine or rolled, filled and shaped for filled pasta.
To cook and serve immediately, cook in salted boiling water for 2 – 4 minutes. To store, portion into individual servings, wrap well and freeze until ready to use. Cook frozen pasta in heavily salted water for 5 – 7 minutes.
Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
Two and a half pounds fresh tomatoes cording cut into 2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
A half a cup of fresh basil leaves chopped
Half a cup touring fresh parsley
6 cloves garlic smashed
One and a half teaspoon salt
One and a half teaspoons black pepper
Instructions
Combine tomatoes and butter for one hour. Cook on high in Crock-Pot. Uncover and mash the tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients and continue cooking on high for 4 to 5 hours stirring occasionally. In the last hour add extra ingredients such as green pepper, mushrooms, meat.
