Sizzling Surf and Turf Pasta

Recipe Title: Sizzling Surf and Turf Pasta
Recipe Link: http://quickiesonthedinnertable.yolasite.com/recipes/sizzling-surf-and-turf-pasta
Status: Approved
Rating: 8/10

Jen's Notes: This recipe is not specifically gluten-free, but it's easily made that way by substituting gluten-free pasta. The prep for this is pretty simple - just slice up the chicken and dice the garlic. If you start the pasta at the same time as the chicken and shrimp concoction, it should all be ready at about the same time. You can have this on the table in twenty minutes, no sweat. Always a nice thing on week night!

If you can't find chili paste, you can also substitute garlic chili sauce, found in the Asian section of most supermarkets. If you go this route, and you aren't a garlic fanatic like me, you'll probably want to cut back on the amount of diced garlic. Also, if you don't like spicy food, cut the chili paste back to 1 or 2 tablespoons. I used the full three tablespoons, and the result was extremely spicy.

We really enjoyed this dish - the combination of shrimp and chicken is unusual but tasty. The recipe recommends adding some salt to the final dish, but I think this could be cut. I added about a teaspoon of kosher salt, and found the mixture to be a little on the salty side. I also would have liked for some veggies to be mixed in there, so I think next time I'll add some spinach so that this is a complete meal.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 25 minutes

Gluten-Free Pasta with Potatoes, Zucchini and Shrimp

Recipe Title: Gluten-Free Pasta with Potatoes, Zucchini and Shrimp
Recipe Link: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2007/08/honeymoon-approaches.html
Status: Needs Work
Rating: 7/10

Jen's Notes: Shrimp on a Monday. Oh, don't we feel decadent. Shrimp is one of those things that is so, so tasty, and not really THAT expensive (ok, it is a little expensive), and yet I never make shrimp for dinner. Well, not so last night!

So the first thing I'll tell you about this recipe is that it really is quite tasty. Even with the goat cheese (that's the chevre, in case you wondered), it's really low in fat. Basically the only fat in the whole thing is from the goat cheese. Now the next thing I'll tell you is that I wasn't very organized last night. First, I made out my grocery list for the week while I was at work. Then I left the list at work. So I decided to try to buy the ingredients for this recipe from memory. That almost worked out. Almost. I remembered everything except the zucchini.

Then I was in a rush to get the potatoes started, and I didn't read the part where it said to julienne them. I just diced them into large chunks and tossed them in the water. Then I forgot to cook the garlic before I threw in the shrimp. I actually think this worked out for the best, because the shrimp ended up still being a bit watery when I cooked it. It was frozen solid at the grocery store, and I defrosted it partially by soaking the shrimp in hot water but clearly, it was not completely thawed out.

So once the potatoes and the pasta and the shrimp were all cooked, I tossed it all into a colander to drain it all and mix it together. So now it was time for that goat cheese I mentioned earlier. You'll notice that the recipe called for dabs of goat cheese, and the picture even shows little tiny chunks of goat cheese mixed in with the pasta. I tried that for approximately two minutes. Tearing the goat cheese pretty much just managed to make a mess on my fingers, so I sliced it up a little, tossed it into my still-warm colander of stuff and mixed it all together until the goat cheese melted and coated everything. Basically, like a goat cheese sauce. I haven't used goat cheese much before (ok, ever). If you want the dab effect shown in the picture, try leaving your goat cheese in the fridge right up until you need it. Mine was fresh from the store, and just never went into the fridge so my problem might have been that the cheese had gotten too warm. No promises there, but something you may want to keep in mind. If not, the goat cheese sauce method works just fine.

But here come the reason for the ratings ding. When I first tasted the pasta, it was very bland. I had to add quite a bit of salt and pepper to get it to have any flavor. When you have a husband with a kidney disease, adding salt makes you nervous. I'm hoping that remembering the garlic next time will alleviate this problem. I'm also thinking of adding some fresh basil into the mix somewhere. Other changes: I doubled the shrimp (it came in a two pound bag anyway) and the goat cheese (hey, it came in a 4 oz package).

Potatoes paired with pasta: this seemed strange but interesting to me. The verdict? Meh. It didn't do much for the flavor in my opinion, and I didn't like the fact that I was basically getting double servings of carbs. Even gluten-free, a girl still has to watch her thighs, you know? So I think that next time, I'll cut the potatoes and double the zucchini (assuming, of course, that I can remember to buy it).

In summary, here's a list of things you can learn from my kitchen bumblings last night:

1. When making a grocery list, it helps to take it to the store.
2. Don't make this recipe the same day that you go to the grocery store. The shrimp needs time to thaw out completely.
3. Double the shrimp and goat cheese = WIN!
4. Skip the potatoes and go for more zucchini.

Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus time for the shrimp to thaw
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Start to Finish: 40 minutes

Lasagna Vegetariana

Recipe Title: Lasagna Vegetariana
Recipe Link: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/04/lasagna-vegetariana.html
Status: Approved!!!
Rating: 10/10

Jen's Notes: I made this night before last, with a friend of mine helping me out in the kitchen. Whether you are a vegetarian or not, you need to try this recipe. It was so insanely good. My husband polished off his plate in about two minutes (he's a fast eater), and my friend said that it was good enough to order from a restaurant. We will definitely be making this one again.

That said, this is a very time consuming recipe. There's a lot of ingredients, and a lot of them have to be chopped up or measured. It took me a little over an hour to get this in the oven, and that was with my friend helping me out. Part of this is probably because I kept having to stop and read the recipe in between doing stuff. Even so, I can't imagine the prep time being any less than 30 or 45 minutes, even if you have the recipe memorized. If you work full-time like I do, you might want to get this prepped the night before so that you can just stick it in the oven when you get home. I didn't get to start dinner until almost 6:30 this particular night, so it was almost 9pm by the time we ate.

The other adjustment you can make is the cook time. This was an accident, but it worked out. I was in a rush trying to get this thing in the oven, and I just skimmed through the cook time instructions and totally missed the fact that it was supposed to go in the oven covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 50 to 60. I only saw the second part of that, so I stuck it in the oven uncovered and set the timer for 55 minutes. I did realize my mistake before it finished cooking, but I decided to just let it ride - and everything turned out just fine. I really can't imagine that it would have turned out better (seriously, I don't think that's possible) if I had followed the cook time, but I may try it next time just to see. So, watch this space for updates!

What are you waiting for? Go make this lasagna!

Prep Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Start to Finish: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Penne Arrabiata with Brown Rice Pasta

Recipe Title: Penne Arrabiata with Brown Rice Pasta

Recipe Link: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/12/christmas-penne.html
Status: Approved!
Rating: 9/10

Jen's Notes: I used chipotles instead of chiles on the first run – very tasty, but very very spicy. If you don’t like spicy (and I mean really spicy), don’t use chipotles. I also added some lean ground beef to it – I think it made it a much more satisfying meal. I used some of the sauce from the canned chipotles too - I'm sure this didn't help the spice factor but I think maybe it helped the YUM factor.

I also just used about six fresh Roma tomatoes, instead of fire roasted ones. I was a little worried about this recipe because I hate fresh tomatoes (it’s a texture thing), so I was afraid the tomatoes would be too much for me. I just let them cook for a good long time, and it was all good in the hood, baby. I've met a lot of people with the same tomato issue as me - if you are one of those people, do not shy away from this recipe. If I like it, so will you. I've been refusing to eat tomatoes since I was five, so trust me, I hate tomatoes just as much as you do ;)

Kitchen snags? Not much on this one. It was also my first time using Tinkyada pasta (try Whole Foods if you haven't been able to find it - much better than the DeBole's stuff I bought the first time around), and the penne tended to clump together worse than I am used to, so just make sure to give the noodles a quick stir here and there.

Prep Time: 20 minutes to chop up the onion, garlic and tomatoes. Also, if you are using canned chiles, you might need to chop those up too (I did).

Cook Time: 30 minutes, but this could probably be slimmed down a bit since I am not always the most effecient cook.

Start to Finish: 50 minutes, but you can reduce this if you let the onions and garlic cook while you chop up the tomatoes.