Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Anybody still here?
Ya you are, I can see you still checking in for some odd reason.

My last post a million years ago, was about how I have embraced a vegan diet and I added a photo of a delicious skillet full of pasta.
Now here I am, still on a vegan diet and still eating that same roasted vegetable pasta dish basically every night for dinner. I guess the only right thing to do would be to share that recipe with you...except I don't really have a recipe so much as a list of ingredients and vague instructions. I refuse to be categorized as a food blogger, so if I just give really crappy instructions on delicious food I feel like that takes that title off of me while still giving me some street cred. My head is a really weird place, and this plan somehow makes sense up there.

Ratatouille

Raise your hand if you've ever watched the movie Ratatouille, and wondered what it was all about! Raise your other hand if you kept misspelling ratatouille while trying to write this blog post!

Sorry guys, I have no hands left to write this deal,  I'll have to use my elbows. Toes? Nose maybe? It's just sitting there taking up a whole lotta room on my face, being completely useless so... I guess it can get a job.

This is not going in the direction I expected..but when do these posts ever make any sense, ya know?

hashtag rambling.

Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs

As part of my beat the pots-cure the migraines-be healthy enough to move to another country diet, I am trying desperately to avoid sugar and condensed carbs. Meaning no bread, no white potatoes, no pasta's and sorry to say, no cookies. That said. I happen to have the worlds strongest craving situations that ever did exist. If I suddenly develop the urge to eat a chocolate chip cookie for example, no other food will satisfy me until I eat that chocolate chip cookie. Days and weeks can go by, and I will still want one and will have eaten everything else in the cupboards while trying to avoid the one thing I actually wanted. 

Solution: Eat a darn cookie. Usually for me it only takes a bite or two to realize I was fussing over nothing, and then I get over it.
I forgot where I was going with this....
I think what I was trying to say, is don't deprive yourself. Eat what your gonna eat, just do it wisely.

Like a pasta dinner. But lets go ahead and take out the pasta part of that pasta.

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

Remember how I had that whole ordeal with internet shopping, that left me with a box full of pie crust mixes? I remember, because I'm the one with a cupboard full of them.

I have successfully used one mix so far, now only five more to go! ugh.

So this week, for bag numero two-o I made a chicken pot pie.

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie!

Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a post about homemade chicken noodle soup. 

I file this post under Thanksgiving leftovers, because you can make this same soup with a leftover turkey carcass, as you would with a chicken carcass.

Also, the word carcass is gross and creepy.

This is another one of those meals that we always had after turkey day. It went Thanksgiving thursday, casserole Friday, and soup Saturday. Always and forever.

To make this soup, you need just a few things-and you can add or subtract whatever you want, no problemo. 

To make a stock, you simply put the carcass in a large stock pot with water up and bring to a boil. I just know at which point in my pan to fill to, but its probably about 6-8 cups of water to my one chicken. You probably would need a bit more for a turkey.

I like to let the water stew for a few hours, to fully flavor the stock-but thats up to you and your time constraints. 

Once you water is hot and boiled, pull the carcass out, and pull apart as much meat off of it as you can. This part is gross. I could become a vegan like *that.*

Once the meat is off, throw it in the stock. 

Next comes the veggies.

Cut a half an onion and about 4 stalks of celery into small pieces. Saute in a small amount of oil, until slightly translucent. Then toss it in the pot.

Chop up about 4 whole carrot sticks, a cup of green beans, and 2 diced zucchini's and toss them into the pot.

 Let the veggies cook a bit, then add about 2 cups of gluten free noodles.

Serve warm with a sprinkle of sea salt!

 Enjoy!

Food Find Friday: Jovial Foods Gluten Free Pasta

So I have been sitting here staring at this screen for a good hour now trying to knock this post out.

I keep getting distracted by dilly-dalling, and cannot seem to focus on writing this post.

Also Blurred Lines is playing right now, and one cannot just sit still with that song busting out.

Not possible.

Part of my distraction is also that I have barely seen the glow of a computer for the last week, I mean I come back to cyber world and royal babies are being born, bachelorette mens tell all has already happened, and five million emails are sitting in my inbox.

Remind me to not go off the map again. 

Or remind me to do it again, I'm not quite sure yet.

Before all the craziness and visitors arrived last week, I had a mission to test and begin reviews for the eight hundred boxes of products I have received over the last couple weeks. I wanted everything to be done and gone in time for the festivities, if for any reason but to clear the boxes out of my hallway.

I mostly succeeded, at the very last minute. 

The fine folks at Jovial sent me a couple boxes of their gluten free pastas last week, and due to my ever expanding love of pasta; I couldn't wait to try them out.

Jovial is not a brand I see to frequently around these parts, especially not in the pasta section. I have seen a couple of their cookie products lining the shelves and assumed desserts where what they made. Boy was I surprised when I opened up a box of noodles!

And man was I even more surprised when I learned the majority of their products are pasta, or pasta related!

Jovial (which means happy, or cheerful. In case you where wondering.) has both wheat and gluten free products, all completely organic. In their gluten free corner, they have noodles, cookies, olive oil and canned tomatoes.

The noodles are all made in a dedicated allergen free facility (yay dedicated facilities!) and their cookies are made on sanitized equipment on designated days.

I can't wait to get my teeth into some of those cookies ;)

The first pasta I tried out was the tagliatelle. 

Tagliatelle if you don't know, is a traditional egg pasta. The ingredients are so incredibly simple with just brown rice flour and eggs listed. 

Because I had received two types of noodles, I wanted to try one cold and one warm.

The tagliatelle went for the cold.

I kept it simple by just adding lots of vegetables and a light roasted pepper sauce, and letting all the flavors meld together in the fridge for a couple hours.

This is really a catch all dish, no "recipe" needed (other then the red pepper sauce, click the link above for that) so you can throw in anything you want.

I added lightly steamed broccoli, red onions, bell peppers, spinach, and cherry tomatoes. 

It was yummeroo!

The noodles absorbed all of the flavors so wonderfully, just like real wheat noodles do. You may have noticed in your own endeavors that gluten free noodles tend to just get soggier in time, not more flavorful like glutenous noodles do.

But these Jovial noodles did not get all soggy and gross. Win!

Besides that, what do you really say about a noodle, ya know? It had good texture, and it took on flavors well. 'nough said.

 Next up was the spaghetti noodles.

I felt the only way to go with traditional spaghetti noodles, was to make a traditional spaghetti with meatballs. Right?

 For the spaghetti sauce in this dish, I roasted some tomatoes, garlic and bell peppers (roasted tomatoes forever!) in the oven to make the base of the sauce.

Have you ever roasted whole garlic bulbs? I do it all the time. Its delicious.

What you do, if you've never done it before; is cut off the top of a whole garlic bulb, and wrap the rest of it in foil. Bake for about a half an hour, or until the garlic has gotten all juicy and delicious.

Yum!

So after baking all that goodness up, you'll throw the tomatoes, peppers and garlic insides into a saucepan, along with a jar of tomato sauce. Add a little fresh basil and red wine vinegar, and call it a day!

Pre-made sauce made better.

Also, try not to forget you have meatballs in the oven during that whole time. They won't thank you for it later.

Now that you're digging into your spaghetti and meatballs, you'll notice how wonderful it tastes. Aside from the delicious sauce, or the too tough meatballs; there is a perfect noodle base. Firm noodles that hold their own against all of the other flavors and textures, and best of all don't shatter to a million pieces when you twirl your fork around them. All I want is to have a little Lady and the Tramp action going on when I eat spaghetti. 

Jovial succeeded in that.

Enjoy!

Bold Organics Pizza

So....Pizza.

As you probably know by now, pizza is one of my top five favorite food items. What the other five are, I'm not so sure, but I know pizza is in there somewhere.

When I first went gluten free, I had no problems just subbing in my favorite food items with less gluten filled ones. I could buy pre-made pizza crusts, or make one from scratch and it didn't really matter how it tasted, because the mountain of gooey cheese on top covered it up. Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. You do.

Once I eliminated dairy from my diet, life was a lot harder to enjoy my favorite foods. Still to this day, I struggle with the lack of cheese in my foods. It just instantly makes food better. 

I went through all the steps after burying dairy six feet under my memories. 

Denial

 (I don't reaaaaly have a problem when I eat it..)

check.

Anger

(why do horrible things happen to meeee!)

check. 

Bargaining

(cheese: I will eat you if you don't make me sick. Ok?)

check

Sadness 

(I miss you cheese.)

check. 

But I have finally reached the final step, and accepted my pizza will forever be cheeseless.

R.I.P cheesy deliciousness.

But as luck would have it, some wonderful people solved my problem for me. 

Gluten free pizza. With dairy free cheese. That tastes fantastic. 

Who are these marvelous people? The folks at Bold Organics, thats who.

They make the perfect pizza crust, topped with delicious toppings and daiya dairy free cheese. (cheese that I usually find to taste like rubber, but for some reason it doesn't on this pizza! win!)

All they make is pizza and all are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and made from the freshest, organic ingredients. I mean, the name is Bold Organics.

The four flavors of pizza are: vegan cheese, veggie lovers, meat lovers, and deluxe.

Something for everybody.

I was able to try two varieties of pizza, which where the veggie lovers and the deluxe.

The veggie lovers was the first one I tried, and It was love at first bite. It has a thin crust, that is both crunchy and soft, a light spread of sauce covered in the perfect layer of "cheese" and topped with delicious veggies.

As you can tell from the photo, the veggies it has are red peppers, onions, and shiitake mushrooms. Not necessarily the veggie explosion I would like, but it still tasted so good.

 I have bought other frozen pizzas in my life, that rudely had all the cheese and toppings bunched up in the middle of it. This little guy had them all spread out perfectly.

The sauce is nicely seasoned and provides the majority of flavors to the pie, while the the roasted peppers give it a nice flavor boost. The cheese, which back in the old dairy days, I would have loved piled on; was limited to perfection. The dairy free cheese does not really taste the same as the real deal, so a small amount gives you the elusion and the texture as cheese would, but without a over-strong soy taste.

The deluxe pizza was next to try. It has all the same toppings as the veggie lovers, with the addition of pepperoni and italian sausage.

I mean, just look at that^^^

This pie had a thicker crust, and more toppings than the veggie lovers does; but it still has the same light spread of cheese, flavorful sauce, and perfect crust.

It also has pepperoni, and I love pepperoni. Especially this pepperoni, it was good stuff.

The sausage was also good, but I would have really liked it better if it had more flavor to it. But that's just me, and me is a red pepper sausage addict.

One of my co-testers however, in trying to sound all smart and fancy; described the sausage as "delightful, very well aged hamburger." Okay then....

The pizza as a whole had a little spice to it, that the other did not. Just enough to kick up the flavor, without burning down your mouth. Just how I like it.

Overall, I loved these pizzas. They are sure to cure any pizza craving for the gluten free eaters and the gluten lovers alike.

They are not corn or soy free, and are a little but pricey; so they won't be an everyday meal. But as dialing up a pizza to my door stop is no longer possible, one waiting in my freezer is a perfect alternative.

One secret to making this pizza the best it can be, is to broil it after cooking. It does suggest to on the box, but you have to actually do it. I believe its what makes the cheese that much more bearable than it is other times. 

So my lovely readers, if you want to learn more about these scrumptious pizzas, click on over to Bold Organics website, here. You can also go here, for a dollar off coupon for any Bold Organic pizza!

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: While the product tested today was provided for review, no monetary compensation was given in exchange for this post. All opinions on this site are my own, without further influence.)

GimMe Organic Seaweed snacks

It's July now guys! Does that mean anything to anybody?!

For me, July means its time for the final countdown until my seesters wedding, it means lots of barbeques and popsicles, and maybe a few beach days thrown in the mix. I do live like ten minutes away from several different beaches, I should really go there more often then I do.

But then again, all them tourists will be filling up the place. What good is that?

This past week on the coast has been uncharacteristically hot. And yes I'm talking in the 90's, and some of you who live in reaaally hot places might scoff at my idea of hot. But lets be real here, you probably have a very good a/c and a pool. Around here, nobody has either one of those things.

What I have is a 4inch fan that I carry from room to room, imagining that its cooling the place down, when in reality it's probably doing diddly-squat. 

Because of the heat, cooking has not been happening. The grill is out of juice, and the oven shouldn't be turned on. 

I am also just lazy. Heat does that to a girl.

So what have I been doing to nourish myself during this oppressive time?

Snacks.

Mostly unhealthy ones. Like cookies and root beer floats.

But then what should appear at my doorstep one day, but a snack! a healthy one! a summery one!

 What is this perfectly timed food item, you ask?

GimMe Organic Seaweed snacks, from GimMe health. 

An all natural, certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, low calorie snack.

They come in two varieties (snacks and crumbles), and several flavors (salt, sesame, honey dijon, and cheddar cheese).

The first flavor I tried, was the sea salt snacks. These snack packs are only 25 calories each, and the whole thing only 2 servings! That means, you could eat the whole big pack for only 50 calories. Sounds like a good deal.

A quick disclaimer, I am not the biggest seaweed fan. I am very sensitive towards seafood, and its "fishy" taste. That said, this flavor is not for the faint of heart. Salt plus fishy equals an ocean in your mouth.

But these paper thin snacks did have a great texture compared to other seaweed brands I have tried in the past. While they melt in your mouth, they also had some crisp to them. I like me some crisp, ya know.

The sesame flavor is the only one that comes in both snacks and crumbles. I actually liked this flavor the best I think. It tasted like chinese chicken salad, subtly sweet and slightly sesame-ey. The thinness of the snacks still get to me, but they have a good flavor. The sesame also covered up a lot of the fishy taste, in my opinion; which is totally a good thing.

The crumbles however, I loved. In fact, I think these sesame guys might be a good addition to my chinese chicken salad, just mixed right in there.

They have the same great sesame flavor, but because they are in clumps instead of strips, they have a little more crunch to them.

Honey Dijon was the next flavor of crumbles to be tested.

They taste exactly as you would think honey and dijon would. When I opened the bag, I smelled a strong scent of mustard. Obviously, when I put it in to my mouth I expected a strong mustard flavor. Which I did get, but it was also surprisingly sweet. The crumbles have a perfect mix of honey sweet, and dijon tart. Good stuff.

Last but not least, is the Cheddar Cheese crumbles. This flavor is the only one of the bunch that is not dairy free. Because it was not dairy free, it is not a flavor I would eat-but for the good of the people, I went ahead and tried a small sample of it.

If you are not big on seaweed, but want all the benefits that come from it (go here to read about those benefits) this is the flavor for you.

The cheese taste completely covers up the ocean aroma, and it has the same flavor as all those other unhealthy cheese snacks. You know the ones I'm talking about.

So my friends, looking for a snack to beat the heat? to take along to the beach? or feed the kids? 

Look no further!

These all natural, healthy snacks are great for anyone!

To read more about these GimMe Organic Seaweed snacks, including how they got there name, what the health benefits are, and why this brand is so much better than all the others, go here.

What are your feelings on seaweed? Love it or hate? Let me know!

Enjoy!

*Disclaimer: While the products tested today, where provided for sampling-no monetary compensation was given. All opinions expressed on this site are my own without further influence.

Gluten Free Crostini with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic

I have developed a new addiction these days.

I also have several old addictions, and between the new and the old; I have created the most delicious snack on the planet.

Here it is, a marriage between my three favorite things: 

garlic (!!!), crostini (!!!) and roasted tomatoes (!!!).

The best part, it's super easy to make. 

So easy a caveman could do it, as they say.

You know how much I like easy.

How did this delicious masterpiece come to be, you might ask.

Well let me tell you:

I have been craving garlic bread for like, a month now. Between parties, and visitors and all sorts of stuff going on, I just haven't had the opportunity to eat some.

But as I was dreaming and salivating over the the very thought of that garlic-y, buttery, toasted goodness; a wonderful thought came to my mind.

A thought about bruschetta, which turned into an idea with roasted tomatoes.

And thus, the roasted tomato and garlic crostini was born.

*instead of slicing it lengthwise, like this^^^

you can slice the bread into circles, like so^^^

I say circles if you wanna get fancy, and boats if you just wanna stuff your face.

I obviously just wanted to stuff my face.

Enjoy!