Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Bolognese GLUTEN FREE

yummmmalicious!!!

ok this is beyond easy and i had a small spaghetti squash and may have eaten 3/4 of the squash by myself...but anyways that's not what's important

Gluten Free Turkey Bolognese...that is what's important here...

Trader Joe's has this killer Gluten Free and Vegan Marinara sauce...it's soooooo good!!! I add garlic and next time I'm adding chopped onions but here it is!

It's $1.99..I mean come ON!! Yes, you can make marinara sauce yourself BUT this is really good and takes the headache out of figuring out if tomato sauce is gluten free, oils, bla bla bla blaaaaa...It's yummmm! I added mushrooms, shredded carrots and ground turkey!

OK...so the commissary had spaghetti squash for 60 cents/pound i think...i should have grabbed 2! 

Here is the recipe! It is BEYOND easy it's ridiculous!

Spaghetti Squash:

THIS TAKES AT LEAST 45 MINUTES! There is my warning...If you want softer "noodles" it will take an hour...The squash is a tough sucker! Use some muscle when you cut this OR do what Lindsay suggests below and nuke it for a few minutes to soften it up a bit.

Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean has a GREAT tutorial on 3 Ways to Cook Spaghetti Squash with photos! She also runs the Foodie Pen Pal Program every month! 

Here is how I cooked my squash:

I baked my squash...
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Chop the sides so the squash stands up flat
3. Cut the squash in half lengthwise
4. Scoop out the seeds and "hair" (i tossed it but you can just loosen them up and baked the seeds!)
5. I placed parchment paper on my baking pan and then lay the squash hole down and bake!
6. I like the "noodles" kind of crunchy and 45 minutes is perfect...if you want them softer then leave it in the oven for an hour/hour 15 min.

Turkey Bolognese!!

1 pound Ground Turkey
1 Jar Trader Joe's Marinara Gluten Free Sauce
1 Package sliced Mushrooms
1/2 cupish (i threw in a handful) shredded carrots

1. Cook your ground turkey and set aside
2. Pour your sauce into a pan and let it warm up
3. Pour in your mushrooms and carrots and let that simmer for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are your crunchy or mushy likeness!
4. Pour in your ground turkey and mix it all together!
5. Pour on top or to the side of your "spaghetti" and ENJOY!

If you don't have a dairy allergy, parmesan cheese will be SOOOOO yummy on this!! AND these gluten free garlic rolls would be a pretty good plate cleaner!

Here are some photos of the dishes progress!! 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!!!

I'm linking this recipe up at the awesome Friday Flair Link Party with Whipperberry!!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

– Lisa

Rolls,Rolls,Rolls!!!...The good kind

So since being told I have Celiac Disease the transition to a gluten free diet has been sort of smooth.

Baking...there in lies the challenge..ok and sauces..that's another post. i love baking. i love homemade. gluten free flour involves adding more things...ok just xanthan or guar gum. i have made up all new food boards on my pinterest even, so all of the food i pin are gluten free or can be easily modified. What's pretty awesome about transforming recipes to gluten free is it's pretty easy. you have your gluten free flour and then you just need to add a certain amount of xanthan or guar gum and usually that's it. the xanthan gum will last a while so that $8 bag might look a little crazy for the amount you buy but you're only using a teaspoon or 2 at a time. Bob's Red Mill flour was on sale on base last week so that's what I've been using but I'm going to try Cup 4 Cup next since we/I do a bit of baking (pancakes, rolls, cookies....).

ok...the rolls...i love bread...i used to eat potato bread from the bag plain...num num num...so last night i modified my rolls based on this recipe i pinned so without further adieu!! The best part about these...no rising...dairy free...no tummy ache! WOO

GLUTEN & DAIRY FREE GARLIC ROLLS!!!

Basic Ingredients:
 --Pretty much your basic, regular ingredients:

1 cup warm water (you can use milk instead but I have to dairy allergy thing)
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
4 Tablespoons melted butter (for dough) + more (for rolling dough balls in)
1 egg
2 1/4 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix (I have been using Bob's Red Mill)

2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic

**IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DAIRY ALLERGY:
1/2 cup shredded parmesan for the top of the rolls

These do NOT have to rise!! My dough came out like any other dough...on that note...CHECK YOUR FLOUR TO XANTHAN GUM RATIO ON THE GLUTEN FREE FLOUR BRAND YOU USE! Sorry to yell BUT it does vary so adjust the recipe accordingly. The rest of the recipe should be fine but the xanthan gum is like a glue so make sure you put in the correct ratios...

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 375 F

Place parchment paper in a pie tin/round pan

step 1:

Pour your warm water/milk into a bowl and mix in your yeast and honey. Let this sit and proof.

step 2:

In your KitchenAid bowl or whatever bowl you will mixing ALL of the dough in, pour in your dry ingredients:

     Flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, granulated garlic (of course you can leave out the garlic and have regular, awesome rolls or add in water flavor you want)

step 3:

Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients:

     Egg, melted butter, and your foamy proofing mix (if it hasn't foamed up yet, just wait a bit until it does otherwise your rolls might a little flat and dough a little stickier)

step 4:

Mix it all together slowly until it's an awesome dough! Once it's all mixed together then mix it a little faster for a few minutes.

step 5:

Melt about 1-2 tablespoons of butter and grab your dough rolls and roll them in the butter before you place them in your pan. If you use cheese, sprinkle your cheese on now.

step 6:

Place them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. I cooked mine for 23 minutes and they came out great! I slabbed some butter in the middle while they were warm too...nuuuuum num num!

OK...so...i forgot photos of mine...next time 

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

BUT HAVE NO FEAR! Kate over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked (via the pin i found) posted photos of hers...she even made pizza gluten free rolls with this recipe!!! Check it OUT!!

all in all...you should be able to replace your all purpose flour with your gluten free flour and then add the proper amount of xanthan gum (should be listed on the flour bag) and all should be good in the baking hood :-).

ps...Kyna over at great expectations featured my pesto pasta salad :-)...super cool! Check her out here!!

PPS...these rolls would be yummy with the pesto! ;-)

ENJOY!!!

Lisa

My eye won't stop twitching...

maybe it's because it's midterm week...i haven't been super stressed out aside from having 2 kids haha

emma and i took a mental day today...breakfast, seaport, and the mall...just mosied around, had some frozen yogurt and a carousel ride

so yeah...i have midterms this week. i really just have 2 midterms this week but they're like vocab tests in a business and copywriting class...yeah...vocab...maybe that's why my eye won't stop twitching

i found out earlier this week i have a Celiac Disease. honestly i don't consider it a "disease". gluten isn't actually good for any of us just like dairy (seriously...don't get me started. i use lactose free milk whenever a recipe calls for milk and no one notices). I gotta say i wasn't tooooo surprised. i'm lactose intolerant and pretty much every piece of food gives me a stomach ache so...we are going gluten free. yes, i spoke to the kids' pediatrician today at their dr appt and he said the same thing i said "technically none of us really need gluten". gotta love a civilian dr on a military base :). but really i love this guy because he's normal and we have the same point of view on foods and he lets me know if i'm on track or not...as a dr should haha. PS...this is sort of gross but i have had a WICKED canker sore for almost a week. i get them almost once a year...mind you it's a canker sore not a cold sore. i don't have herpes, i ate too many lemon frosted cupcake things from costco (this was before I had my dr appointment about going all gluten free haha)...too much citrus = wicked canker sore for moi ok and maybe i am a little stressed out haha...so irritating. so as you can imagine it hurts to eat which i guess is kind of a good thing while i get our groceries sorted out but apparently it is also a weight loss owie...i lost 5 pounds...no not healthy but hey hahaha juuuust kidding....

anyway...i found some awesome resources thanks to a buddy on IG (Instagram does it again!!) and am finding it pretty easy to rearrange our foods to gluten free especially since it hit the "fad diet" era earlier BUT Trader Joe's and Sprouts have become the cheapest options and the hubs has decided to go on a diet for right now so vegetarian dishes are more consumed since he's not open to the variety BUT he's getting there :). We all already like the pasta (it tastes the same so no biggie there), the kids already dig veggies, so the biggest dilemma/obstacle is really just homemade dishes. i just need to replace the flour and look into all of that. OH and the sauces! i never though about gluten free soy sauces and bbq sauce! i also deleted my pinterest food boards...not pinterest account...just the food boards...i figure i'm just gonna start over and reorganize the consumption...i love food

with all of that noted...any ideas are super helpful to me and i will thooooooroughly appreciate them!

alright well off to study...shoot me some gluten free ideas and i'll post a pic on instagram :-) 3girls_and_a_boy

sleep gooooooood!

Lisa