Cooked spaghetti squash with Kale in wine, very tasty. It is a quick and simple and a great way to eat your veggies!
In a large pot add 8 quarts of water, bring to a boil.
Add 1 T salt and then the spaghetti squash halves, cook for 15 min.
Let cool completely.
Once cool remove flesh from shell and leave in a bowl.
In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil.
Add garlic and red pepper flake, cook until tender
Add chopped kale and cook until tender.
Add spaghetti squash, and toss with kale
Deglaze pan, with chicken stock and red wine.
Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (3-4 min).
Serve with grated pecorino romano cheese (optional).
Not long ago, I ran across the idea of cooking spaghetti noodles and sauce, all in one pot. This method eliminates the need to cook the pasta separately, and even better, I don’t have to add tomato paste to make the sauce nice and thick. You can, of course, substitute dried herbs in this recipe and fresh tomatoes and juice, or purchased canned tomato products. The Jalapeno peppers make it spicy, but not overwhelming. Zucchini is optional, but this is a great way to use some if you have it… zucchinis take on the flavor of what they are cooked with, as they are so mild tasting.
In a large pot that has a heavy bottom, or a cast iron Dutch oven, melt the olive and coconut oils together on medium-low heat.
Add the onion, garlic, Jalapeño, green pepper, and zucchini. Stirring often, saute until the onions are getting soft.
Add the basil, parsley, oregano, and thyme and cook for about 30 seconds more. Add the ground beef. Turn the heat up a little.
Continue to cook, chopping up the meat and stirring until the meat is all browned.
Add the drained whole tomatoes and chop them up. Add the tomato juice, sea salt, and pepper.
Bring it all to a boil, stirring often, and then add the spaghetti noodles, stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring often for about 15 to 17 minutes. Once in a while, test a piece of the pasta to see if it is as done as you like.
Then, it’s finished, thick and lovely! Serve warm with grated Parmesan cheese.
This reheats well. Serve with a fresh crisp salad for a complete meal.
Lasagna is a favorite around here even though it isn’t made often. Why? I’m not really sure, because it is really rather simple, even when making everything from scratch. This recipe has the perfect balance for me. Not too much sauce or cheese plus it holds together well when taken out of the pan.
6-8 hours before you are ready to make your lasagna prepare your dough. Mix the flour and whey add about 1/2 cup water and start mixing. Add more water as needed until a smooth but stiff dough is formed. Let sit 6-8 hours.
At least two hours before you plan to eat start rolling out the pasta to dry. (If you have pasta already made you will only need 1 hour)
Roll out pasta to the thickness of a dime cut into strips that are 2 inches by however long your pan is (in my case I make them 2 x 13 and 2 x 9 because I like to do one layer the long way and one layer the short way.) Let dry for about 1 hour.
While the pasta is drying get sauce and toppings ready.
To make your sauce place all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan and cook on low until it just starts to bubble. turn off heat and let sit until ready to use.
Cook the meat, add salt and pepper to taste.
Cut veggies.
(Start here if you already have your pasta made) 1 hour before you want to eat start putting everything together. Put a little sauce in the bottom of the pan to keep the first layer of pasta from sticking. Put one layer of pasta in pan add a 1/4 of the sauce and then 1/3 of the meat, mushrooms, peppers, and ricotta. Top with 1/4 of the of the mozzarella. Repeat with another layer of pasta, sauce, meat, mushrooms, peppers, ricotta, and cheese 2 time. By now the meat, mushrooms, peppers, and ricotta should be gone. Put on one more layer of pasta the last of the sauce and mozzarella, then top with Parmesan.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Take out and let cool for 5 - 10 minutes before cutting and eating.
Sweet and spicy soft gnocchi are engulfed in a creamy cheese sauce that will please the whole family. This dish does take some time to prepare, but it’s not difficult. We make it a family event and enjoy each other’s company while we’re preparing it.
Combine all of the ingredients for the gnocchi in a large bowl. The dough should be thick like play-doh. Add additional flour if necessary. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it will become too tough. Only stir until ingredients are pretty well combined. Cover and allow to sit on the counter overnight, or at least 8 hours.
Prepare the gnocchi to cook by putting on a large pot of water on to boil.
Divide the dough into 4 or so pieces. Lightly flour your work surface and roll each piece into a long log that is no more than 1/2 inch diameter. Dough should not be too sticky. If it is, add more flour to your work surface. Slice each log into pieces no more than 1/2 inch wide. Trust me here. These things grow. Keep them small for better mouth feel. My kids like to help roll them out and cut them. 🙂
If you’d like to, roll each piece with the back of a fork to create the classic gnocchi shape, but it’s not necessary and it’s very time consuming.
Working in small batches, drop gnocchi into salted boiling water. Gnocchi should sink to the bottom and then rise to float. Just because they are floating does not mean they are done though. They take about 3-4 minutes to cook. Remove finished gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Continue with the rest of the gnocchi until done.
Make the sauce by heating a medium saucepan on medium heat. Melt the butter and add the arrowroot flour. Stir to combine. Slowly whisk in the cream and allow the mixture to thicken. Add the shredded havarti and stir constantly until melted into the sauce.
Remove from heat and pour over cooked gnocchi. Serve immediately.
When served with sprouted grain pasta, this sauce offers a nutrient-dense alternative to jarred commercial pasta sauces. It freezes well, too, and children love it!
In a cast iron Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed large stainless steel pan, melt the lard and oil together on medium/low heat.
Add the diced onion and saute, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
Add the ground beef and garlic. Continue to stir and cook, chopping up the meat until the meat is all browned (not crispy!)
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian Seasoning, salt, pepper, soda and sweetener, stir well and bring to a boil.
Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.
This will nicely top a pound of sprouted wheat pasta.
Italian flavors are not typical on a grain free diet, but this meal is sure to give you a fix I make a double batch of meat and freeze half of it. Then, all I have to do is bake another spaghetti squash and heat up the meat/vegetable mixture and dinner is ready. Love those kinds of ready meals. I save them for when groceries are low, for company (so that I can do more hosting and less cooking) and for trips.
Cut squash in half and spoon out seeds. Place halves, cut side down, on sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes. Do not over bake, noodles should be slightly crunchy. Melt butter in pan on medium high heat. Sautee onion and peppers until soft and beginning to brown. Add ground meat, break up as cooking. Once cooked through, add tomatoes, seasoning and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes until liquid reduces. Flake cooked squash with a fork and scrape out with a spoon and place in a large bowl. Add tomato paste and garlic to meat and tomato mixture. Mix in thoroughly. Combine squash and meat. Cook until heated through. Remove from heat and drizzle olive oil. Serve. We enjoy it with homemade sour cream.
A hearty whole wheat pasta with a savory pumpkin sauce.
Cook the pasta according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add in the onion and garlic.
Saute, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to soften.
Add in the sausage, and cook, stirring frequently and breaking sausage into small pieces.
When the sausage is fully cooked, stir in the pumpkin, half & half, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook until hot.
Salt to taste.
Serve sauce over the pasta.
Gnocchi is an Italian word for dumplings. Mainly made with potatoes and white flour. I thought I would up the nutrition and flavor by using pumpkin and whole wheat flour.
Mix the pumpkin puree and apple cider vinegar. Then add the flour 1 cup at a time until it comes together as a stiff dough, it should be about the consistency of dumplings. The amount of flour you use will depend on how much water is in your puree. If you are using canned pumpkin you will probably use much less flour than the recipe calls for. My puree still has quite a bit of water in it and therefore needed a lot more flour.
Let this sit at room temperature for 6-12 hours.
When the 6-12 hours has passed grate some nutmeg onto your dough and kneed it in. The amount of nutmeg will depend on how much of a nutmeg flavor you would like, I used about 1/4 t.
Divide your dough into 4 pieces set 3 aside and take the 4th. Dust the counter with flour and roll it into a snake. You will want it to be about 1/2 an inch. Take the snake and cut into 1 inch pieces set on a floured cookie sheet. Do the same with the other 3 balls.
Now at this point you have a couple of options you can put the cut gnocchi in the freezer and when frozen place in a freezer container and store for later use. Or you can let them sit out for about a half hour to dry up a little and then get ready to cook.
When you are finally ready to cook them get a pot and fill with water. You will want about a gallon of water to cook them. Salt the water and bring to a boil. When the water boils add the gnocchi. They will sink to the bottom. Once they begin to float let them boil about 1 minute longer or about a total of 3 minutes. When done drain.
Now pull out a large saute pan and melt 4 T of butter over medium high heat. When the butter is melted add the gnocchi and saute until they begin to form a golden brown crust on them.
Homemade egg noodles, soaked overnight. These are delicious in soups or cooked alone, drained and served with butter, grated cheese or tomato sauce.
The night before, combine the starter, eggs, flour and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together thoroughly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature.
In the morning, knead the dough, with a little unbleached all-purpose flour (or sprouted flour) for 2 minutes.
Bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add 2 Tablespoons sea salt and 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.
Cut your dough into 4 pieces. One at a time, roll them as thin as possible on a floured surface.
Cut the noodles using a pizza cutter. (Alternately, you can use a pasta machine.)
Add them to the boiling water and cooked them for about 4 minutes, (start counting after the last noodles are in the pot) stirring occasionally.
Pour into a colander placed in the sink and drain.
You may cook them in soup, not water, if you wish.
Sprouted Wheat Pasta tossed in a roasted pumpkin sauce. Another fun way to eat up those pumpkins in your garden.
Make Pumpkin Puree: Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds. Roast on baking sheet at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until fork tender. Puree using a food mill or food processor.
Bring water on to boil in a large pot.
In a frying pan, saute onions, garlic, and mushrooms for 5-6 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add wine to deglaze pan, cook until reduced by half, 2-3 minutes. Add pureed pumpkin, sage, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Cook until warmed through, add cream (coconut milk) salt and pepper to taste.
While sauce is cooking, add pasta to boiling water. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain pasta reserve 1 c. of pasta water.
Place cooked pasta into bowl, toss pumpkin sauce with pasta. Grate parmesan over pasta, add chopped nuts. Toss to incorporate. Serve with extra parmesan cheese, bread, and a tossed salad.