Gluten-Free Meatballs & Spaghetti... Yes, it can be done!

You guys, I'm really successfully doing it! (I sort of half expected to start crying and give this up after a day) but now in day 3 I'm gluten-free and going strong (even though I did have a dream about bagels the other night.)

On Day 1 I made a FANTASTIC and delicious Braised Coconut Spinach & Chickpeas with Lemon and served it with rotisserie chicken (provided by the good folks at Whole Foods... they do a fabulous job of rotisserying - is that a word?) The recipe calls for a pound of baby spinach but I used 12 oz of baby spinach and 6 ounces of BABY KALE because I saw it at Whole Foods and couldn't resist (yay, extra vitamins and antioxidants?)

But here comes the real crux of my post... MEATBALLS! 

Let me tell you about meatballs. Once upon a time I was scared of meatloaf. Why? I didn't know what it was. Back in my younger days (college) I was invited over to my then-boyfriend's house for dinner and his mother fixed me meatloaf. I was terrified. My family was not a Meatloaf Family. But then I realized when she served it that meatloaf is really just one big meatball served in a pan. Also sort of like eating a hamburger without the bun. I like hamburgers. I like meatballs. Hence, meatloaf ain't so bad!

So when drawing up recipes for my gluten-free experiment I thought that meatballs would be gluten-free. Why? I was always under the impression that meatballs were just round hamburgers. Again, wrong. Apparently I have so much to learn about meat. Meatballs (and meatloaf) also include breadcrumbs. A lot of them.

I found this great recipe for making meatballs (but of course, it is loaded up with breadcrumbs) so I thought about what I could do for a substitution. I searched around my cupboard and the internet and settled on crushing up some Rice Chex (which are gluten-free!) and Rice Krispies (the gluten-free variety... NOTE: Regular Rice Krispies are NOT gluten-free, we'll get to this in my next post.)

I crushed these up, added JUST A TOUCH OF WATER, some Italian spice and baked a little so the spices mixed in. It worked out pretty well to add some "filling" to the meat for the meatballs. I added bits of sliced onion also to boost up the flavor.

Of course, this was my first time making meatballs, so what do I know? They sort of fell apart a little while cooking. Is this normal? I tried not to pack them too tightly as the recipe warned, maybe I should have packed them a little harder... either way, they pretty much stayed together enough to actually be meatballs in the end. I cooked them on the pan for a while but I was worried they were just searing the outsides and not cooking through so I also baked them for 10 minutes in the oven while the pasta cooked on the stove.

The outcome: Delicious! They were soft, moist, and very tasty! Also, the gluten-free pasta, made from rice, tastes exactly like normal pasta. Score.

Bonus: Here's my cat in a bowl. Isn't she cute? And no, I didn't cook dinner with this bowl, don't worry.

Pasta With Mushrooms & Rosemary

Last week a fellow Simmons grad student lamented about the difficulties of meal prep/planning on her food blog, and I couldn’t agree more. Planning meals is hard work! Especially when you have boyfriends to factor into the equation and can’t do the single girl thing of “eat a bunch of cookies for dinner and call it a night.” I have a hard enough time deciding what I want to eat for dinner on Wednesday night ON Wednesday night, let alone trying to decide that on Monday night as I pour over food blogs and cookbooks and try to plan out my week. But I’ve been trying… with some success. With such a busy schedule this semester I’m still relying heavily on take-out, but I’m trying much more to do some easy meal-prep and to shop accordingly.


I’ve also re-instituted “date nights” which makes The Boyfriend laugh when I call it that since we live together and all it’s not like we’re really going out for a date. But I insist we are… it’s a reward for my careful meal planning and preparations all week long. And it’s our chance to get out of the house.


I’ve been on a mushroom kick lately, so when I saw that Fellow Grad Student posted that one of her recent meals was pasta with mushrooms I knew I had to try it. 

After all, it already had a stamp of approval. The original blogger she got the recipe from HERE served it with a side of sautéed kale, but heeding Fellow Grad Student’s warning that pasta plus kale was a lot to cook together, I saved the tasty-sounding kale recipe for a later date and just stuck to the mushrooms and pasta. Definitely a good idea.

I couldn’t find the cute little ear-shaped pastas at Trader Joe’s so I had to settle for bow ties, which were still cute. It made an enormous batch and we had leftovers that I ate for lunch for a few days after. I liked that this recipe was so easy... it was definitely a good mid-week meal for when I drag myself home from class or writing group or pull myself away from the computer after writing/working all day long. I think next time I try to the recipe I might fancy it up a bit with some wild mushrooms to give it an extra kick.

I served the pasta with steamed artichokes and butter for dipping. Delish!

Pretty Pesto

I am typically not a fan of traditional red sauce on pasta, but I do love pasta and I love sauce. So what’s a girl to do? Enter pesto. Only recently did I learn that there are numerous ways to make pesto, featuring various different ingredients – Arugula? Mint? Basil? Oregano? You betcha. The options are really endless as long as you have something leafy and green.


I received an arugula bunch (an aromatic green, typically added to salads) in my recent farm share and figured I would try this whole pesto thing out. Gotta make use of my little food processor, right?

I hunted around the internet for a recipe, and most of them seemed pretty similar… some mix of arugula, nuts, olive oil, garlic, and cheese. I wasn’t quite satisfied with any one in particular so I figured I would create my own. Especially since I didn’t have pine nuts or walnuts on hand (which many recipes suggested to use) I created my own variety using pumpkin seeds. Note: if you’re going to make this with pumpkin seeds use the good pepita kind, not those white salty ones you usually find at the gas station or supermarket. (You can most likely find them at Wegmans -- for you Rochester readers -- or Trader Joe's and Whole Foods -- for you Boston readers.)

I like arugula but I was a little concerned about making a whole pesto out of it considering how bitter it is. But, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it had a bitter kick (so if you don’t like that, this recipe is not for you) but once it sat in the fridge for a few hours, some extra salt was added. and the pesto was poured over pasta it mellowed out enough to be quite enjoyable. A wonderful pasta accompaniment for hot weather, that’s for sure!


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Jillian’s Own Arugula Pesto


Ingredient suggestions are based off of what I did, you can obviously add more or less depending on your taste.


Ingredients –
• One bunch of arugula
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher sea salt
• ¼ cup shredded 3 cheese blend


Directions –
• With a knife chop the arugula just enough that it will fit in your food processor.
• Chop/gate the arugula in a food processor.
• Add arugula to a large bowl.
• Mix in all other ingredients.
• Return the whole mixture to the food processor and chop/blend.
• And salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with pasta as prepared by box directions. Enjoy!

A European-style Indoor Picnic

For the past week or two my apartment has been nearing 80 degrees. (Yesterday it was 77.7 if we want to be exact about it.) So, I figured I would take a night off from “cooking” – i.e. using my oven. I’ve been anxious to try out this recipe for Technicolor Tapenade for some time, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Pennette all Puttanesca Bianca

“30 Minute Pasta” this book claimed, so how could I turn that down? Among nearly 100 other generally easy to make pastas, I picked this one for its uniqueness. I am not a fan of traditional Italian “red sauce”. Wait, I shouldn’t be so nice – I HATE “red sauce”. But, I love pasta! So, I figured I would try out something different that didn’t have a typical sauce...

Artichoke, Olive, and Feta Pizza

By happenstance I’ve found myself part of a Tuesday tradition where I pick a recipe out of a cookbook then hit the kitchen to experiment. A tasty meal and some good (cheap) wine, and Tuesdays never looked better. Since I only recently started posting my food adventures I’ll give a little rundown of creations of the past few weeks. Here’s what I’ve been making: