Spanakopita Pasta

This recipe would be great for busy nights, because it seriously did go together in no more time than it took the pasta to cook!

Plus, it’s going to reheat well - though I haven’t reheated it yet, just trust me on that! - because I’m bento-boxing it up for dinners for the week. I’m guessing it would probably also freeze well!

I’m making a real simple sauce - just crumbling 8oz of feta and cutting 2T of butter into a four cup measure, adding some things from the spice cabinet, and then melting both feta and butter with the addition of some of the reserved pasta water.

The spinach I’m wilting in the microwave. I like a lot of spinach (spinach is one of my top diet secrets) so I’m wilting about 3lbs of fresh spinach, starting with what fits in my bowl/microwaving 4 minutes/adding as much more spinach as fits in the bowl/another four minutes/et cetera. 

Once the pasta is done, I add the reserved water to the four cup measure, whisk until the sauce is (mostly) smooth, and toss it all together. Feta doesn’t quite melt to ‘smooth’ the way other cheeses do. 

SPANAKOPITA PASTA

14oz Tinkyada fettuccine 

48oz fresh spinach

8oz feta

2T butter

1T dill

1t parsley

1/2t onion powder

Wilt spinach in the microwave in a large bowl, four minutes at a time, until all is wilted.

Crumble feta into a four-cup measure or small bowl. Cut the 2T butter into small pieces and add to the feta. Add dill, parsley, and onion powder. 

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 2C of pasta water before draining.

Whisk 1 1/2C reserved pasta water into four cup measure until smooth (well, as smooth as feta’s going to get), adding more pasta water if it is too thick. Add pasta to spinach, and toss with the sauce.

Servings: 7

Calories per serving: 300

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

 

You can see we’d already managed to make quite a dent in these before I thought to take a picture! 

If you want them to be Keto, just use a Keto powdered sugar, like Swerve. I didn’t in these, because almond flour is already expensive enough, and nobody’s actually Keto around here! But that’s what my original recipe called for.

Well, and I suppose you’d need Keto chocolate chips too. 

Also too expensive! Plus I already had the other chocolate chips from the cookies. 

Gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough balls

INGREDIENTS

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened

1/3 c. powdered sugar (confectioners sugar, it’s the same thing)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 c. almond flour

2/3 c. chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

1. My original directions said to use a hand mixer to beat the butter until light and fluffy. *This did not happen to my butter! So whatever. I moved on and added the sugar, vanilla and salt, and beat until combined. 
2. Slowly beat in almond flour until no dry spots remain, then fold in chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to firm slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. 
3. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough into small balls. 
4. You’ll want to store them in the fridge. My recipe actually said, “Store in the refrigerator if planning to eat within the week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month,” but these aren’t going to last longer than a week. I promise. 

EDITED SEVERAL MONTHS LATER TO ADD:

These babies do not actually need chilled in the fridge to firm up slightly before you roll them.

How did I find this out? My sister had wanted a batch, I’d had the ingredients, whipped up a batch in a ginormous plastic bowl - and then turned around to find a fridge that looked like this. 

Needless to say? I didn’t even bother trying to get it to fit in there. I just tried rolling them and figured I’d deal with the mess — but it wasn’t a mess. 😊 They rolled just fine.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies That Meet ‘Ashley’ Standards!

 

Gluten free chocolate chip cookies that meet even MY exacting standards!!

The secret is you’ve got to let the dough SIT.

That way the almond flour really has time to absorb the butter and egg, which will keep your cookies from being grainy. I let mine chill in the fridge for a whole two DAYS. Seriously.  And they turned out great!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter, cooled 

1/2 c. packed brown sugar 

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 3/4 c. almond flour

1/2 c. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/4 c. chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugars until smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth and slightly thickened.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Fold almond mixture into butter mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Cover. Chill in the refrigerator at least overnight. I chilled mine two days.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop balls of dough on prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake until edges are golden and center is just set, 10 to 12 minutes.

Yield: 3 dozen

Honey Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

You’re not going to get much of a blog with this, I’m afraid! I’m struggling a good bit health-wise today- we have a rogue nor’easter on the loose down here in NC - so pretty much what you’re getting is just the recipe. I hope a chicken and broccoli stir fry is basic enough you can fill in the gaps?

HONEY CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI STIR FRY

1lb boneless skinless chicken breast

2lbs broccoli florets

Pan spray

Minced garlic, to taste

Minced ginger, to taste - I recommend Spice World, who makes a squeeze bottle of minced ginger to keep in the fridge

Sesame oil, to taste 

Sauce: 1/4C honey, 1/4C soy sauce (Tamari brand is gluten free), a dash of rice vinegar 

Trim your chicken breasts, and cut them into bite sized pieces for stir fry.

Clean your broccoli and trim into florets. Steam, covered, in a microwave safe bowl until just the ‘crisp’ side of tender-crisp. (I did three minutes, stirred, and then another two minutes.)

Get your sauce ready. I mixed all ingredients in a four-cup measure and whisked until well combined. (This might require a few seconds in the microwave to loosen up the honey before it will whisk!)

Get out your wok and coat with pan spray. Add ginger and garlic, and stir fry until fragrant. Add chicken. Stir fry, stirring and keeping a close eye on it, until just barely done.

Add broccoli. Stir broccoli and chicken together. Pour sauce over the wok. Stir until heated through and well mixed.

Finish it off with a tablespoon or two of sesame oil.

Serve over rice.

Fettuccine with Broccoli, Peas, and Ham

Known in the family as ‘fettuccine with peas and ham,’ but - calories, you know? I added the broccoli to lighten it up calorically! (Is there such a word?)

I started by steaming a little over a pound of broccoli florets, added fresh parsley and a 12 oz bag of frozen peas.

 


Item: these herb scissors were a Christmas present one year, so I can’t suggest anywhere to go looking for them, but they are the BEST, I’m telling you! Love them.

Cook your pasta according to package directions. I’m using my usual brown rice Tinkanyada: whole grain, which is hard for us celiacs, and gluten free.




When the pasta is done, return it to the pot (without the pasta insert, if you’re using a pasta pot like mine), with the vegetables, parsley, diced ham, and two 12 oz cans of evaporated skim milk. Heat on medium low until bubbly.

Add 3/4 of a cup of dried Parmesan. Toss well and serve.

FETTUCCINE WITH BROCCOLI, PEAS, AND HAM

14 oz Tinkanyada brown rice fettuccine 
1 cup broccoli florets, trimmed and steamed
12 oz bag frozen peas, thawedFresh parsley 
8 oz diced ham
2 12oz cans evaporated skim milk
3/4 cup dried Parmesan 

Cook pasta according to package directions. 

When done, return pasta to pot with steamed broccoli florets, peas, chopped fresh parsley, and diced ham. Add two cans of evaporated skim milk; heat over medium low until bubbly and thickened slightly. Stir in dried Parmesan.

Top with additional fresh parsley for serving, if desired.

Servings: 7
Calories per serving: 350

Oatmeal Ideas!

Savory, not sweet for once!

I cannot STAND sweet oatmeal, but I have always loved oatmeal for breakfast. Getting diagnosed celiac was such a blow, because gluten free oats were not available then.

This is crumbled bacon and ricotta:

And this is a pumpkin oatmeal - I mixed pumpkin, ricotta, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla together in a tupperware to have ready for breakfasts. Once I microwave my oatmeal in the morning, I just toss a big spoonful in the oatmeal and top with sliced almonds. 

Chicken and Spinach Pasta with Lemon

UPDATED: 12/26/21

I just made this with shrimp and broccoli - just as quick, and just as good! Again, it all came together while the pasta was cooking. I steamed the broccoli in the microwave while the water was heating, and then cooked the shrimp and stirred the sauce together while stirring the pasta a couple times! 

Seriously, guys, this would be a great weeknight dinner, because it cooked up super-super-fast! 

I had it boxed up and portioned out for the fridge in no time flat, I really did. 

I started my pasta pot of water boiling while I steamed the spinach in the microwave and cleaned and diced my chicken:

So basically what you’re going to get blogged here is my sauce!

Starting out just with olive oil pan spray and a LOT of garlic in one of my favorite cast iron skillets.

Once that had browned a bit, I added my diced chicken. All over medium heat! We’re not trying to sear the chicken here. 😊

When my chicken was done, I stirred in a cup and a half of chicken broth and half a cup of lemon juice. That’s about the equivalent of the juice of two lemons, if you prefer!

*For those of you who are gluten-free: watch out for the chicken broth! Quite often broth is sold with wheat in it, by some name or other. I actually stick to my Orrington Farms broth base, because it’s labeled “Gluten Free” right one the front. 

After that came to a simmer, I tossed in about 3/4C of fresh Parmesan to thicken the sauce. Then just toss your spinach, pasta, and the chicken in the sauce all together and top with more Parmesan to serve!

SO quick, seriously. It was great.

I kind of feel like, as a food blogger, I should do something more complicated to thicken a sauce than just tossing in cheese. But I LIKE cheese, the meltier the better! So. Parmesan it is.

CHICKEN AND SPINACH PASTA WITH LEMON

Ingredients

1 lb gluten free pasta (I used Tinkanyada)

32 ounces fresh spinach

1 lb chicken breasts

Olive oil pan spray 

4 T garlic

1 1/2 C gluten free chicken broth (or water and gluten-free broth base)

Juice of 2 lemons or 1/2 C lemon juice

1 cup grated fresh Parmesan, divided

Put water on to boil for pasta.

Steam spinach in large, microwavable bowl, tightly covered. Microwave three minutes at a time, stirring between each, until wilted.

Clean and trim chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

When water boils, cook pasta according to package directions.

In a skillet over medium heat(cast iron is my preference), brown garlic in pan spray. When fragrant and slightly browned, add chicken. Keep stirring frequently as chicken cooks.

When chicken is cooked through, add broth and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer. Simmer 3-5 minutes, then add 3/4C Parmesan. Stir constantly while cheese melts.

Toss pasta, spinach, chicken, and sauce together in large serving bowl. Serve hot, topped with fresh Parmesan.

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: 305