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Spaghetti Bacon Primavera, the Bacon Fest Continues!

The tomato season is winding down but I have a few around and I thought I would enjoy them with pasta at least once more.  This recipe is a blending of two different recipes from two different cookbooks. One is a pasta primavera which has a creamy tomato sauce and fresh veggies and the other is a classical pasta carbonara with bacon and parmesan cheese.  This is their offspring! Bacon primavera pasta, ta da!  I have made and love both recipes but I wanted to have all their flavors together in one dish so I threw this together earlier this summer for the first time. It turned really quite yummy.  I made it again tonight and my three year old grandson ate lots of it; he loves veggies.  It was just so tasty that I had to have seconds.  The photograph is of that second portion before I dove into its creamy, bacony goodness.

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So round up some garden veggies, a block of real Parmesan cheese, bacon and a decent box of spaghetti and whip this recipe up for a late summer treat. I used spaghetti but you could use any shape of pasta that floats your boat!  If you are a wheat lover this is easy to make with your standard pasta off the shelf.  Of course, I made it with GF pasta, Barilla to be exact and it really tasted like regular flour pasta when made with this sauce.

Spaghetti Bacon Primavera

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, cut into ½ inch lengths

1 medium onion chopped

½-2/3 cup sliced yellow squash, 1/3-1/2 inch thick

½ to 2/3 cup sliced zucchini, same thickness

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 egg yolks

1 whole egg

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ lb GF spaghetti

1 tbsp. unsalted butter (optional)

Directions:

Heat a large pan of salted water and cook the pasta until just barely al dente, drain.  I do this cooking while I am cooking the veggies.

Saute the bacon in a large frying pan.  I used my mini wok which is great for many frying projects.  Cook while stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until rendering the fat is well underway; say half done bacon.  Add the onion and continue cooking while it softens. Stir often. After 3-4 minutes add the two kinds of squash. If you couldn’t get yellow squash just green is okay.  Keep stirring!  Cook a few more minutes until the squash is close to done.  Stir in the tomato halves and cook 1 minute. Mix the cream, eggs and cheese in a bowl.  Add the hot pasta to the frying pan and dump in the liquid from the bowl, stirring well.  Turn off the heat as soon as you dump it in.  Add the tablespoon butter, some sea salt and freshly grated pepper and stir a bit more.  Serve immediately.  If you like to guild the lily top with a good sprinkle of more grated Parmesan cheese.

Last time I made it I used some sliced red bell pepper, sweet onion and green squash. Yes on tomatoes, no on bacon; vegetarian style for my god daughter.  It was good but I think I prefer the bacon version.  So it is totally up to you as to which version you prefer to create.  I have also made it with half and half instead of heavy cream; works pretty well too.  Last time I used 3 whole eggs as I didn’t want to waste the whites. I left out the butter this last time, forgot it; still good. I slightly overcooked my tomatoes in the latest version but they were tasty non-the-less. I think it is a very flexible recipe, just the kind I like!  Enjoy an easy to throw together late summer Italian veggie feast!

Why being a coeliac is the best thing ever

I don’t generally repost other people’s blog posts but this one was so well said I just have to share it with anyone who reads my blog. Says so much that I think about and about how it is for me to live gluten free. Well done!

Sarah H (GF Blogger)'s avatarGluten Free Blogger

A bold title to a post, but hear me out.

Feeling healthy and happy Feeling healthy and happy

These past few weeks I’ve been struggling through injuries – a torn muscle in my shoulder and broken finger, ironically not even related at all! – and it’s given me time to really reflect on my time blogging. When I started this blog it was as a hobby, something to pass the spare hours at uni and something I never thought would take off quite as well as it did. I wanted to show that a gluten free life doesn’t have to be boring or isolating, that giving up gluten could open so many doors and bring your kitchens to life.

Through the recipes, restaurant reviews, product testing and general musing, not only has my blog grown, but so have I. I’ve discovered so many amazing products, grown confidence in the kitchen and in eating out…

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Blueberry Sheet Cake for a Picnic

This summery cake is very easy and totally delish.  It is blueberry season, this cake give you the best of all worlds, sweet berries and tender bites of cakey goodness.

blueberry sheet cake

This was the second time I made it. I have used two different flour blends, both worked. One is Better Batter and the other one is the brown rice mix I often use; see at the end of this recipe. Either works but I have to say I prefer the Better Batter for this recipe a little more than the brown rice.

As to the fruit, I bet you could use frozen blueberries or replace the blueberries with raspberries or blackberries.  Enjoy this summer treat with some friends or your family, it makes about 8 generous square servings or ten small ones.  I served it at a family picnic this past week, I was the only GF person there and everyone clamored for seconds!

Gluten-free Blueberry Sheet Cake

Ingredients; For the Cake:

  • 2 cups plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose, gluten-free flour blend
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (only if your flour blend doesn’t already have this!)
  • 2 sticks of butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2/3 to 3/4 cup of blueberries

For the Topping:
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with butter or gluten-free cooking spray.

  1. Mix 2 cups of flour, baking powder, sea salt and xanthan gum in a medium bowl with a whisk and set aside.
  2. Beat the butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until smooth.
  3. Beat in half of the flour mixture until smooth, add the milk and almond extract and the rest of the flour and beat until evenly incorporated.
  4. Toss 2/3 cup of the blueberries with the remaining teaspoon of flour and gently fold into the batter. Spread into the prepared baking dish.
  5. Mix the topping ingredients together and distribute evenly over the top of the batter. I like to press the berries in a bit so they are not just resting on top of the dough.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Let cool at least 10 or 15 minutes before serving.

8 servings

Brown Rice Flour Mix  – mix them all in a big jar or bag
1 c. brown rice flour

1/3 c potato starch

3 tbsp.  tapioca flour

Pretty Tasty Pickles in a Big Jar

Some of us adore pickles and some dislike them.  If you are a pickle fan read on.  If not, read anyway as these are far better than the tired flabby canned pickles found at the grocery store.  A good gardening friend gave me this recipe.  It is really easy and rather fun to construct.  Even better is that you can pickle most any veggies. I have tried zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, green peppers and red peppers.  Of course, cucumbers are in there too!

You do need a couple grape leaves.  You might be able to find a neighbor with a grape vine.  I am betting you could use wild grape leaves from a state park or along a country road.   They really add to the authenticity of it so snag a few from somewhere.

Also needed are 3 dill heads (the flowers of a dill plant).  This might be more problematic but if you know a real gardener, aka someone like me, you can beg the dill heads as frankly they are not used much for cooking and I was happy to give some to the friend who gave me this recipe.  Grow your own dill for next summer; it is so easy to do and it does reseed and come back year after year.  Dill is lovely in potato salad and in other salads like my stuffed tomatoes which I plan to blog about later this week!

Refrigerator Pickles

2 cups white vinegar

¼ cup salt;  I used kosher salt in mine

4 cups water (I used 3 as my jar was slightly smaller than a gallon)

¾ cup sugar

————–

3 garlic cloves cut up

3 dill heads

2 grape leaves

Bring the first four ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan and let cool fully.  Put the other three ingredients in the bottom of a gallon jar.  Cut up your veggies and pile in the jar.  Top with the vinegar mixture. Put on the lid. Put in the fridge and let marinate for 3 days before trying it.

I have used pickling cucumbers, regular cukes, short zucchini spears, broken up cauliflower heads, thin slices of white turnip and pepper strips.  pickle jar  I want to try broccoli next!  Maybe celery?

My grandson who is three and a half clamors for the pickle jar to come out when he eats meals here.  I say, eat your lunch and you can have some pickles! He gobbles up his food and waits expectantly for me to fish out a pickle or two.

I like how fresh they are and how crunchy the pieces still are. Plus they have no additives or preservatives.  Naturally gluten free is important to those of us with wheat allergies.

You can keep adding veggies as you use them up.  I think the tough part is fishing them out of the jar.  The other day I lost a fork in there but luckily it didn’t go to the bottom of the jar; a cuke round stopped its descent! Now, go pickle fresh veggies and have some fun with it….

Green Summer Soup – Kermit Would Approve!

I have been enjoying a cook book called “Feel Good Food” by Giada de Laurentiis of Food Network fame.  This soup recipe just jumped out at me; my fridge or garden contained all the veggies in it, it sounded interesting and so I had to try it.   Here is a picture I took of a bowl of it.  Doesn’t do it justice at all; it is brighter in color and lighter on the palate.  Refreshing when cold too!Image

My mom loves soup so I took her some and it disappeared rapidly.  Simple to make, healthy, tasty and my mom liked it! Home run.

I used loose leaf garden lettuce in my version.  Great way to use up an excess of garden lettuce before it can bolt!  The original uses a head of Bibb lettuce.  I wouldn’t suggest iceberg or romaine but any soft lettuce should work.  I skipped the topping of fennel fronds she suggests; up to you on that issue.  An alternative topping might be a few sprigs of finely chopped garden lettuce.  And if you are a vegetarian I am sure you can easily substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth. It is tasty both warm and cold which I like.   Image

A note on shallots.  They are excellent in many recipes; more subtle than onions so I suggest you try it with shallots if at all possible. I get them fairly cheap at Valley Farm Markets in Bethlehem. I am positive Wegmans carries them too.  Image

Green Pea, Fennel and Lettuce Soup

 

3 tbsp butter

1 medium fennel bulb chopped; about 2 cups

2 large shallots

1 medium head Bibb or Boston Lettuce, chopped (about 4 cups)

1 ten ounce bag petite peas, frozen (I weighted that out from a pound bag of peas)

1 ½ cup chicken broth

¾ tsp. fennel seeds

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Melt butter in a big heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Add fennel and shallots.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until they soften 6-7 minutes.  Add he lettuce and stir until wilted; 1-2 minutes. Mix in broth, peas and a cup of water, bring to point of boiling, lower heat, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Let cool partially.  Image

Puree in blender in 3 batches adding ¼ tsp fennel seeds to each batch.  Place in bowl and return all soup to sauce pan, add salt and pepper, reheat and serve warm but not hot.  Might need to thin with water.  Also yummy chilled.

This is naturally gluten free and will keep in your fridge for a few days, if it lasts that long.  I call it “green soup” for short and it is nourishing and tasty for lunch on a hot summer day.  This recipe is a keeper for me and I hope the same is true for you.