30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 29 - Iris' Chickpea Tomato Sauce

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Iris author of the blog, The Daily Dietribe.

Day 29 - Iris' Chickpea Tomato Sauce

Pasta was a staple at our dinner table growing up. Once I began eating gluten-free, I started cooking a lot of rice, quinoa, and sweet potatoes. But since more companies have begun to make delicious gluten-free pastas, this is once again something I can enjoy on a regular basis.

There are a number of brands out there: some are decent, some are downright awful, and a couple are fabulous. Bionaturae is my favorite brand thus far, although this won't be the right one for you if you avoid soy, as I know Carrie does.

Carrie's Note:
Different types of gluten free & soy free pastas that I've found include:

• Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta
• Tinkyada Pasta
• DeBoles pasta
• Sam Mill's gluten free corn pasta
• Schar's gluten free pasta
• Mrs. Leeper's gluten free rice pasta
• Notta gluten free pasta
  

But there are plenty of other brands for you to try. I'm sharing a pasta sauce with you, but it could also work just as well over rice, chicken, or tofu. I like this sauce because it's quick and easy, but also because it's high in protein. I use chickpeas so that I can eat my pasta and not have to think about adding a protein component to the meal.



Iris' Chickpea Tomato Sauce

1 15.5 oz. can chickpeas, drained
1 6 oz. can marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
4-5 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1 cup fresh basil
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup pasta water*
2 Tbsp. olive oil

* If you're making this sauce for pasta, save 1/2 cup of your pasta cooking liquid. If not, you can just use water.

Directions:
1. Put chickpeas, basil, tomatoes, 1 Tbsp. of olive oil, and 1 Tbsp. of water in blender or food processor and puree.
2. Heat a large saucepan over medium-low with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil. Add spinach and saute just until wilted, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the chickpea puree, artichoke hearts, olives, and pasta water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the tomato sauce and stir in until it's heated through.
5. Serve hot over pasta, rice, chicken, tofu, etc.

Serves 4

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About Iris
Iris began writing The Daily Dietribe when she first started eating gluten-free over a year ago. In addition to sharing her gluten-free recipes, she writes about her experiences as a weight-loss counselor and her own struggle with weight and binge eating disorder. Iris got her MA in psychology, but then realized she wanted to become a registered dietitian so she could help others find a healthy balance with food. She’s going back to school now to get her MS in nutrition.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 30 of 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals. We'll have a fantastic recipe from Lauren of the Celiac Diva and there will also be a fun giveaway to celebrate 30 Days of Gluten Free Q&E Meals!

30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 28 - Jessica's Portabello Caprese Towers

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Jessica author of the blog, ATX Gluten Free.


Day 27 - Jessica's Portabello Caprese Towers


Fourth of July, a time to celebrate our country’s independence with the people we love most. For me, this holiday normally has some sunshine involved, a good burger, my loved ones and Lake Travis (a beautiful lake in Austin, Texas).

This year we are switching it up a bit and will be throwing a party at our house. I will be serving these sophisticated Portabello Caprese Towers.

I just got back from a wonderful vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where I had the privilege to dine at one of my favorite restaurants of all time- Wild Sage. The chef at Wild Sage that evening was offering basil-tomato towers that were stunning. This recipe is inspired by his creation. I love being inspired by creative dishes in restaurants. It is fun to take your experience at one restaurant and put your own creative spin on it at home.

I hope you enjoy!


Jessica's Portabello Caprese Towers
Serves 2
Approximate time: 15 minutes

• 2 Portabello mushrooms
• 1 small ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced into 4 thick slices
• 1 tomato from the vine, sliced into 4 thick slices
• 12 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
  

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300
2. Pull out the stem of the Portabello mushroom. Place upside down in casserole dish and drizzle olive oil over top. Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper over mushroom. Bake until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes.
3. Slice tomatoes and mozzarella into thick slices.
4. Place Portabello mushroom upside down on serving dish. Layer starting with one tomato slice, 1 mozzarella slice, 2 basil leaves, repeat once more and top with fresh basil. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over top of tower. Sprinkle salt, to taste.
   

About Jessica

Jessica currently lives in Austin, TX where she is a full-time graduate student (MS Nutrition) and is working on launching her business as a gluten-free private chef. Since she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, she has made it her mission to help others in their journey of living the abundant gluten-free lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter or her blog to keep up to date with original recipes, national and local gluten-free news and general life musings.

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Stay tuned for Day 29 of 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals! Tomorrow will feature a fabulously quick recipe from Iris of The Daily Dietribe.

30 Day Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 27 - Vicky's Chicken with Lemon & Parsley

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Vicky author of the blog, Gluten Free Sweets by Vicky.

Day 27 - Vicky's Pan Fried Chicken with Lemon & Parsley

It was a Wednesday when my friends decided that they were coming over for an afternoon of board games and chocolate cupcakes on the weekend. Great for them, and luckily I have the perfect cupcake recipe to impress but what about food- the actual savoury type?

Now you may or may not know that I’m more of the sugar, flour and eggs baking sort of girl. So to have lunch ready in a snap is practically unheard of. And yet, here I was, offering to feed everyone. It’s like suicide with a side of roasted potato and sour cream.

Then, doing what any other food obsessed person would do, I resorted to old copies of Delicious.

There it was, in all its dog-eared glory, a recipe that promised to be both creamy without the cream and tasty without the fancy ingredients. I decided I couldn’t get any luckier than this, and luckily, my friends said the same. And if you’re in a spot for dessert, head over to Sweets By Vicky for some good finds.


Pan Fried Chicken with Lemon and Parsley
(adapted by Sweets by Vicky from Delicious. December 2009/January 2010)
Serves 2-4

• 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup gluten free flour blend* seasoned with salt and pepper
• 2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, sliced into 5 mm strips
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
  

Directions:

1. Grate the rind of the lemon and peel the lemon and thinly slice the flesh. Set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté onions until translucent and lightly browned. If onions look dry, add 1-2 tsp of water. Remove from pan.
3. Coat chicken strips in the flour and toss to combine. Shake off excess flour.
4. Heat another tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and fry half the chicken strips until lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining chicken strips.
5. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the onions back in.
6. Add wine then simmer for 2 minutes, until alcohol has evaporated.
7. Pour in the chicken stock, lemon zest and flesh. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add in the parsley, give the chicken a quick mix and serve atop a bed of jasmine rice or gluten free pasta, accompanied with steamed broccoli.
   

* All purpose gluten free flours are available at many grocery stores, just a few examples of different brands are:

• Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour
• Gluten Free Pantry's all purpose flour
• Authentic Foods all purpose gluten free flour blend
• Montina Gluten free all purpose baking mix
  
• Hodgson Mills all purpose gluten free baking flour
• Arrowhead Mill all purpose gluten free baking mix

About Vicky

"I'm turning 22 soon, and have been in love with sweet things for the longest time. Currently I'm interning with a magazine (in Singapore) and am preparing to move back to Melbourne to be with my boyfriend of four years! :)
I'm a terrible shopaholic at heart but it's worst when I'm at the grocery store. And I really think everything is best served with a scoop of laughter on the top."
Please check out Vicky's super cute blog at Gluten Free Sweets By Vicky.



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Stay tuned for Day 28 in 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals. Tomorrow Jessica from ATX Gluten Free will be sharing a wonderful, super delicious recipe especially for July 4th!

30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 26 - Sara's Bruschetta Pasta Toss

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Sara author of the blog, The Messy Chef.

Day 26 - Sara's Bruschetta Pasta Toss


One thing I love about summer is spending time outside enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather. Needless to say, that usually doesn’t include spending time in a hot kitchen with the oven on. Fresh salads are a great way to avoid turning on that oven. However, they can get boring. Sometimes the thought of eating one more bite of lettuce makes me sick. The problem is that salads are a wonderful way of getting your multiple servings of fresh veggies in a day.

Instead of that boring lettuce, try using a gluten free pasta. Shop around to see which kind agrees with your tastes and texture preferences. I personally love quinoa pasta – its probably the closest to wheat pasta that I’ve found. Recently I created a Bruschetta recipe post. Bruschetta is simply an Italian style salsa, which incorporates fresh veggies, some herbs and garlic on top of a piece of toast. I figured that an interesting concept would be to make this Italian salsa into a pasta salad. So, while you will have to turn on your stove to make the pasta, this is a quick, light, wonderfully versatile dish that you can bring to picnics, potlucks, or any family get-togethers (or just enjoy on a hot summer day from the comfort of your own home).


Sara's Bruschetta Pasta Toss

4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 zucchini, diced
8 leaves fresh basil, chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1-2 tsp sea salt
1 box gluten free rotini pasta

Directions

1. Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large bowl (to cut steps, use whichever bowl you plan on serving your pasta salad in), mix together tomatoes, zucchini, basil, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, and sea salt.
3. Refrigerate for 15 minutes (this will allow the flavors to marinate).
4. Toss the pasta with the tomato mixture. Either serve or refrigerate.
   

About Sara:

The Messy Chef was created after an unhealthy lifestyle caused cancer for her husband and other health problems for her. Instead of getting depressed about having to change how she ate, she saw this as an opportunity and challenge to recreate their favorite “normal” dishes into healthy alternatives using fresh, whole ingredients. Her family and friends started asking for advice and recipes and The Messy Chef was born. It was created for all of the messy chefs out there who want to cook healthy but are afraid or just don’t know how. It’s for people who are sick of being sick. It’s for people who have been on diet after diet and continually fail. This way of cooking and eating isn’t a diet, it’s truly a lifestyle. Healthy is NOT low or no fat and tasteless. Healthy is delicious and Messy is the new black!

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Stay tuned for Day 27 of 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals. Tomorrow will feature a delicious summer recipe by Vicky author of Gluten Free Sweets at Vicky's.

30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 25 - Brooke's Shrimp Scampi

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Brooke ("Ness") author of the blog, Gluten Free... Who? Me?


Day 21 - Brooke's Simple Shrimp Scampi


Shrimp Scampi sounds so intimidating - so "fancy pants restaurant-y" that I never even considered trying to make it. Then I looked through several recipes, and thought about how to make it as simple and fresh as possible.

The following recipe is what I came up with - it's not rocket science of course; however, my anti-seafood husband even requests this meal and says it's one of his favorites. I have received a lot of praise for this simple & delicious meal.

Simple ingredients you probably have at home, quick to make, easy to clean up (1 pot, 1 pan, 2 plates) - what more can you ask for?


Brooke's Simple Shrimp Scampi

• 3 tablespoons butter (use coconut oil if you are dairy free)
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 12 shrimp (I use frozen shrimp that's already fully cooked and just thaw)
• 2 small zucchini (or any green veggie of choice such as fresh green beans or broccoli)
• Gluten free noodles (I LOVE tinkyada brown rice pasta - any shape works)

Directions:

Start with bringing water to a boil and cooking you’re pasta to a little less than al-dente. While making the pasta melt the butter, lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper in a non-stick pan and melt. Add in your zucchini and saute for about 5 minutes. Add in your shrimp and sauté for another 5. Add in your noodles and sauté for another 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

About Brooke (also known as "Ness"), author of Gluten Free... Who? Me?

Brooke is a new gluten free blogger. She's in her early 20's, is newly married, and spends her free time with her husband & two "kids" (doxies). Brooke works for a non-profit as a Social Worker and is very thankful for the daily opportunities she has to work with children who have survived brain injuries. Thanks so much for sharing a little about yourself and one of your quick and easy gluten free recipes with us Brooke!

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Stay Tuned for Day 26 of 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals. Tomorrow Sara from The Messy Chef will share one of her favorite easy summer recipes.