Fettucine La Wendakai

I get the feeling that some people really shy away from brown rice pasta, but while I have had some "glumphy" experiences with rice pasta, I have had some good luck and yummy results with Rizopia Brown Rice pastas. I don't know where all this is available, but I can say that this company continues to tweek their product and I have had little trouble with it in the past several years.

I didn't really use the fettucine that much though, because it was a little gloppy in the past. But I had a yen for some fettucine lately and bought some new stuff. All I can say is that they've been busy in the Rizopia food test lab, because this package of fettucine was fine, light and cooked quickly. I discovered this last week when I cooked a bunch of it for both hubby and me. With mine, I made a dressing of garlic olive oil, gluten-free dijon mustard, my own dried tomatoes, a little sea salt, fresh ground pepper and some dried herbs. I also added black olives, finely chopped onion, celery, red pepper and little broccoli florets.

(With Hubby's share, I made up a package of Alfredo mix using alternative milk, with some chopped up Black Forest ham. He loved it.) But I have to be gluten-free vegan, hence the different expressions of a fettucine dinner. So, what you see here is about ... oooohhh.. up to 400 calories worth of brown rice fettucine, 100 or so of garlic olive oil dressing, and some veges. So perhaps between 500 and 600 calorie gluten-free, vegan pasta dinner. It was yum. :)

*Now I want to point out something here for folks who may not realize this: brown rice pasta is complex carbohydrates. This metabolizes in a slower, much healthier way than white rice, in any form. IN FACT, almost all WHITE FOOD is simple carbohydrates. This includes white rice, white wheat flour (white breads, rolls, pitas, etc.), white wheat pasta, etc. White food enters the blood stream as simple sugar. This causes a spike in blood sugar, as well as cheap energy. (But what goes up must come down. The energy spikes in the other direction shortly after.) A continual diet that includes white food will result in high blood sugar, as well as digestive problems. So anyone with blood sugar issues should avoid ALL white food. (Yes, alas, this includes potatoes, despite it's other nutritional value.) Complex carbohydrates: good, at least for most people. Simple carbs: bad. Yep. Sorry. But if you care about your health, avoid white food.

Gluten-free Ravioli

Ok then, another gluten-free baked pasta dish... an experiment! I'd been putting this off for awhile, but the daughter asked me to make her homemade ravioli. I've been wanting to cut down on her gluten as well, so even though I'm content for the moment with my brown rice pasta, I decided to go gluten-free for hers.

She can have eggs, so I decided to make egg pasta using quinoa flour. 1 cup quinoa flour, 2 eggs and just a little water, then a bit more flour to work it in. I put it through my pasta maker, but I couldn't get it any thinner than the #5 setting, so you don't really need one. Just roll it out as thin as you can. I cut it with a tart cutter.

I filled each one, dampened the edges just with water, folded and sealed. I made the filling with sauted mushrooms, peppers, garlic, basil and a little already cooked natural beef. Make your filling of whatever you like!

Then I smothered the little raviolis in tomato sauce, again, your choice, and baked in a 350 oven for half an hour. The "cheese" on top is actually Galaxy vegan cheese. I'm told that all Galaxy "cheese" products are gluten-free, and of course, dairy-free.
My daughter had it for supper. Yes, she liked it. :) Still, on brain-storming with a friend who's also trying to make some gluten-free pasta, I think next time I'll add some almond "flour" to the mix to improve the taste of the pasta itself. I think I'll also make the stuffing finer and use a spicier sauce. Tweek, tweek. ;o)

Gluten and Dairy Free "Lasagna"

Ok, in the baked pasta mood. Daughter has been wanting some lasagna, even though she can't have dairy, including cassein. Here's what I did:

1 bottle of Classico Roasted Garlic and Onion tomato sauce
Rizopia oven-ready brown rice lasagna noodles
1 lb. ground elk (locally raised and marketed)
1 pkg. Galaxy Foods vegan rice-based Italian flavour "cheese"
mushrooms and herbs to taste

I browned up the elk, then added most of the tomato sauce, some fresh thyme, and blended. I used the sauce I held back to layer the bottom of the baking dish. This helps the oven-ready pasta to soften. I laid the noodles on the sauce, then a layer of meat and sauce, then a layer of mushrooms and a layer of grated "cheese." Repeat. Bake, covered, for 45 mins in a pre-heated 350 degree oven.
Even though the Classico sauce doesn't state that it's gluten-free, I haven't had any problem with the Roasted Garlic and Onion sauce, but of course, to be on the safe side, buy whichever gluten-free sauce you like for this baked "lasagna." Since posting this on my other blog, I've been told that the Galaxy products are all gluten-free. :)