New Finds & Reviews

I like sneaking to the various grocery stores around town without the kids, this way I can scan the aisles better and see if there are new products to try. Here are a few things that got me excited when I saw them AND they taste great.

Applegate Farms Genoa Salami

This salami is free of gluten and nitrites. I never thought I'd get to have salami again but thankfully Applegate Farms knows some of us avoid nitrites. It has a great flavor and I splurged with some tasty cheese to go with. You can find this at Rosauer's in their cheese area on the way to Huckleberry's Market.

De Boles Rice Pasta & Cheese

I have never seen this box of mac & cheese before and when I saw it was GF I had to pick it up. I was skeptical at first because the noodles were tiny and it makes a white mac & cheese rather than yellow but it was very good. Both of my kids scarfed it down and kept asking for more, it will be a nice option for variety when I need a quick meal for them. I found this at Smith's.

Nesquik Chocolate Syrup

My kids love having chocolate milk when we get home at the end of the day and I've been using AH!Laska since that's the only brand I've found free of High Fructose Corn Syrup. We ran out so I planned to pick some up at Lee & Dad's but they were out, I about died since the kids were expecting chocolate milk. In my panic I grabbed the Nesquik syrup to see if it was free of HFCS (I knew Hershey's wasn't) and saw that it was, then I looked at the front of the bottle and noticed the large statement of being free of HFCS. I'm so observant. It tastes great and flows like "normal" chocolate syrup, the AH!Laska, which we like, is kind of boogery in texture. Not sure how else to describe it.

Shrimp with Garlic Parmesan Sauce

This is a recipe that I had in my head but couldn't find an exact recipe online. That's when you know it's time to just grab some ideas and mesh them together. I was really happy with this dish and it has a great flavor. The kids both loved it and Hubby said he liked it so it's going in the dinner rotation.

Shrimp with Garlic Parmesan Sauce

Adapted from Epicurean.com

8 cloves garlic chopped

12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined if needed

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 C heavy cream

2 T parsely

1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

1 medium tomato, chopped

4-6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

8 oz GF pasta, cooked and drained

salt & pepper to taste

Bring water in a medium saucepan to a boil and add the shrimp. Cook 2-3 minutes or until cooked or heated through if you're using pre-cooked shrimp. Drain and set to the side.

Cook the pasta according to the package while doing the next steps. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute then pour in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Stir frequently until it thickens, it took about 8-10 minutes for me. Stir in the salt, pepper, parsley, and parmesan until combined. Add the shrimp and bacon and stir until combined.

To serve put pasta on a plate and top with the sauce. Garnish with tomoatoes.

Skillet Lasagna

I love lasagna but I rarely have the foresight to plan ahead for it or the time because I didn’t plan. This dish is a quick version of lasagna that saves time and is easy enough to whip together after work. It was my first try at not cooking the lasagna noodles before using them and I was very pleased with the results. If you haven’t tried that yet please do, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Skillet Lasagna
Adapted from Kraft

1 lb ground beef or buffalo
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 C water
¼ C Italian dressing
12 GF lasagna noodles, broken into thirds (I use Tinkyada)
½ C cottage cheese
1 C mozzarella cheese

Brown the meat and garlic in a large saucepan. Add the spaghetti sauce, water, and dressing. Bring to a boil then stir in the noodles and cover. Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes or until the noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Be sure to separate any noodles that stick together or they won’t all cook through properly. Add the cottage cheese and mix well then top with the mozzarella and let stand until the cheese is melted.

For a dairy free option omit the cottage cheese and use DF mozzarella (Daiya is my fav). It will still be delicious. Be sure your spaghetti sauce is DF, our favorite had cheese in it so we had to buy the non-organic version which is DF.

Cheese Stuffed Shells

I made an Amazon purchase of the Tinkyada brown rice pasta Grand Shells and I was dying to make stuffed shells. Seeing as how I had 12 boxes I needed to start baking. I finally had time to put these together and they don’t take too long, plus you can make them ahead of time, so hopefully I will motivate myself to make these a bit more often. The shells were great, I had no problems while filling them and they didn’t fall apart at all. I was really happy with this dish though the final product didn’t allow for a very good picture, trust me it tastes great. Hubby loved this dish and commented on it for days, that’s in part to us having so much leftover but even after eating it for a week straight during lunch Hubby still loved it. This dish makes a lot so you can easily split this recipe in two and freeze half for later.

Gluten Free Cheese Stuffed Shells
Adapted from All Recipes

12 oz GF jumbo pasta shells, this is 1.5 packages of the Tinkyada Grand Shells
2 eggs beaten
32 oz cottage cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 oz parmesan cheese, grated (fresh is the best here)
1 T dried parsley
2 t salt
1 t black pepper
2 (28 oz each) jars spaghetti sauce
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 pound buffalo burger, or whatever you have on hand

In a large bowl mix the eggs, cottage cheese, half of the mozzarella, half of the parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper until combined. Place in the refrigerator while you boil the pasta, this will make the filling more firm and make it easier to stuff the shells.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then add 1T salt and olive oil along with the pasta. Cook for about 17 minutes then rinse under cold water and drain well on paper towels.

Brown the burger while boiling the pasta and add the two jars of spaghetti sauce and mushrooms to mix evenly. Put a layer of the sauce mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish to keep the shells from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Fill the shells with the cheese mixture and place each shell open side up into the baking dish. I took a Ziploc bag and filled it with the cheese mixture, cut one corner off and used that to pipe the mixture into the shells, it worked great and was fast. After all the shells are filled top with the remaining pasta sauce mixture and then top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the edges are bubbly. Take the foil off for the last 10 minutes of baking.

You can get these shells for a decent price on Amazon and with free shipping it makes it even better. The cost ranges from $3.00-$3.50 per box depending on if you can catch a sale.

Conte's Cheese Stuffed Shells

One of my new finds at Bonanza was Conte’s Pasta. I’ve been eyeing up their ravioli online for quite some time but just haven’t had it in me to order it. I was so happy to see that Bonanza carried this pasta. Initially I was going to get the ravioli but it came with sauce already added so I opted for the cheese stuffed shells instead. We enjoyed this pasta the first night we were back, mostly because it was quick and easy and I didn’t have it in me to do anything but quick and easy. The instructions are simple. Cover the bottom of a baking pan with your favorite pasta sauce, place the shells on top then cover them with the remaining sauce and bake. This package came with 6 shells total and they were enough to feed my family along with having 1 shell left over. I topped them with grated parmesan when they came out of the oven and was really happy with the taste and texture. Hubby’s comment was that they were better than a lot of stuff out there so I would say he liked them.

I compared what I paid at Bonanza to what it costs through Amazon.com and Bonanza has them beat by about $2.50. It’s not cheap but it’s a fast option for dinner and is cheaper than eating out.

Montana Ale Works

I'm trying to make up for not posting anything last week so here's a two-fer for today.

We found ourselves at Montana Ale Works a couple weeks ago and I inquired with our server about whether the GF pastas could be served with GF sauces. I was hoping that the e-mail I sent them after our last visit had an impact. I’m happy to report that all of the pasta dishes can be made GF, just inform your server that you have an allergy. These pictures are terrible because it was dark in the restaurant and I didn't fiddle with the flash, sorry!

I had the Mac & Cheese with bacon and it was delicious, I had to give it to my dad so I wouldn’t eat the whole thing. It was so creamy and my one year old kept signing more because she couldn’t get enough either.

Hubby had the Chicken Gorgonzola and it was really tasty with a nice tang to it. He cleaned his plate.

Our boy had the Pasta & Parmesan from the kids menu and he enjoyed it, he never eats much when we’re at a restaurant but he did eat it.

Thank you Montana Ale Works for offering these gluten free items and for having such a knowledgeable staff! You are my new go-to restaurant.